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Advice provided by: Rob Freeman Jr, LEED AP, Green-Buildings.com
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Emel asks: Is it true that current LEED AP's will be LEED AP Legacy and if they don't take the specialization exam to be LEED AP + in two years, they will lose their LEED AP title all together?

Answer: Hi Emel, thank you for your question. This is a very common question and there is clearly a lot of confusion among LEED APs who earned their credential before June 30th, 2009. The confusion arises not only from the complexity of the new LEED professional credentialing system, but also from GBCI itself which promotes enrolling in the new CMP (Credential Maintenance Program) as being somewhat of an inevitable thing. Whether CMP is a good thing is not only debatable, but also highly subjective depending on your profession, budget and position.

Some of the language GBCI uses in promoting CMP could be misleading. For instance, in one email GBCI states: "You have until 2011 to enroll, but if you wait until 2010, you will not be able to count the activities you’ve already worked hard to complete in 2009." However, this choice for LEED APs without specialty to enroll does not expire altogether in 2011. Another email states "Are you a LEED AP (without specialty)? Have you enrolled in a LEED AP with specialty credential yet?... Enrollment is a voluntary, one-time process through which LEED APs (without specialty) can complete credential maintenance or retest to earn one of the new LEED AP with specialty credentials. If you haven't enrolled yet, don't wait! While it clearly states that enrollment is voluntary, the use of the word "yet" in two separate places implies that enrolling is inevitable.

GBCI also promotes enrolling in the new CMP as something that Legacy LEED APs are doing because "they know that their clients and employers want a LEED and green building professional who has the most focused and relevant knowledge and expertise in their profession." While it's certainly reasonable to assume that all clients and employers want the smartest and most highly specialized professionals working for them, enrolling in the CMP does not absolutely raise a professional's level of expertise. What it does absolutely do is increase the amount of money that you are paying to maintain your credential and the amount of money that you send to GBCI. Both of which may be acceptable for some people, less so for others who may be on extremely tight budgets due to various factors attributed to the current economy, or otherwise.

So, to answer your questions, first, you may refer to yourself as LEED AP. Second, no, you will not lose your credential if you do not take a specialty exam in the next two years. If you are currently a LEED AP, without specialty, you do not ever have to take another exam if you choose not to. Also, you do not have to enroll in the CMP either. As enrolling is voluntary, unless you have determined that it is absolutely necessary to have the specialty acronym (eg. BD+C, ID+C, etc.) after your name, there is no rush (indeed, no need at all) to enroll in CMP.

If you do choose to enroll in CMP, you may do so for free today through GBCI's website. The enrollment fee is waived for legacy LEED APs through summer 2011. Enrolling in CMP after that time will cause you to incur the $50.00 fee. Of course, if you wait until 2012 and you decide at that time that you want to enroll in CMP, you may do so by either paying the fee to enroll in CMP and agreeing on fulfilling the minimum CEU requirements, or by taking another specialty exam. However, that is an option that should always be available.

In a related note, one of our associates was recently at a USGBC professional event and your exact question came up. The speaker was reported to have said that enrolling in CMP is not mandatory, that no one was going to take your LEED AP credential away from you if you did not enroll. Indeed, the speaker reportedly said that current LEED APs who do absolutely nothing may take their credential "to the grave" if they choose.