Top Exit & Succession Planning Blog for Professional Advisors

Exit Planning Institute Announces Updated CEPA Program

Written by Colleen Kowalski | Nov 10, 2022 5:00:00 AM

The Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) Credentialing program is the premier education program for professional advisors working with business owners. The CEPA program provides advisors with a holistic understanding of exit planning and helps prepare owners for significant exits from their businesses.

As we head into the third year of our CEPA Online program, we wanted to share some insights into the evolution of our award-winning education.

Filling the Need for Online Education

Our CEPA Online program began out of necessity during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, we pivoted our entire business from exclusively in-person CEPA programs, to entirely virtual classes. 

What used to be a four-day in-person course has transitioned, due to health and safety concerns, to a comprehensive multilayered virtual experience. CEPA Online provides a large community of advisors with the knowledge and tools they need to pass their CEPA exam and take the skills they learn into their advisory practice.

Scott Snider, President of Exit Planning Institute, shares, “My business partner and father, Chris Snider, and I had to take a risk. Without evolving our programming to meet the need for professional education in the exit planning advisor community, we would never have been able to grow value in our business and in the advisor’s practices.” 

We invested $250,000 into building a virtual platform for our products to be deployed and delivered to our advisors. Scott shares, “We were able to not only go virtual and continue our momentum, but we were able to build an entirely new way to deploy our programming. Our team, in a matter of 45 days, was able to create an entirely new platform in CEPA Online to deliver our education to our customers. This new educational offering transformed the way we were doing business and the way advisors were receiving our education.” 

Expanding Online Resources

We have seen great success with our CEPA Online programs over the past two years. Having educated over 3,090 CEPAs since the launch of CEPA Online in April 2020, we have gone all in on online education. In September 2021 we launched EPI Academy, our interactive online learning platform. In the coming year, EPI Academy will house all of our virtual education, our updated Member Center, our student dashboard, and interactive chatroom networking functionality. 

We designed the platform in tracks that allow advisors to easily find the content and education they are looking for to enhance their practice. These include recommended learning and professional development plans. Scott Snider says EPI Academy is “continued professional development in a convenient way. It allows advisors a way to build and advance their own practice by completing courses at their own pace online.”   

EPI Academy has since garnered international acclaim, having received a Gold Stevie Award for a Learning Management Solution this past summer. 

The judges thoroughly appreciated EPI Academy’s self-passed format, sharing, “The self-paced model is an amiable attribute as it provides learners flexibility, allowing them to engage in the content at their own pace, engage at varying levels, and resume at their convenience, offering an extra level of comfort for remote learning.” 

Meet Our New CEPA Faculty

As the CEPA community continues to grow, we are privileged to have many experts from across the globe to share our education with the world. Our newest CEPA Online Program features some familiar CEPA Faculty as well as some fresh faces in the Exit Planning community.

Our updated CEPA Online program is led by Christopher and Scott Snider as they introduce advisors to the Value Acceleration Methodology. Joining them in the instruction are Justin Goodbread, Joe Strazzeri, Shina Culberson, Sean Hutchinson, Bobby Kingsbury, Scott Mashuda, Mike McGrann, Leslie Lauer, and Amy Wirtz.  

Register for Our Updated CEPA Online Program

Our newest version of the CEPA Online Program will be available beginning in January 2023! 

Save $1,800 when you register during our EPI Season of Deals. Our CEPA Mastery Bundle includes your CEPA registration as well as three EPI Academy courses to deliver an immediate benefit to your advisory practice. Learn more about this package and begin your CEPA education today! 

View the CEPA Mastery Package and all other EPI Season of Deals packages here.

Follow our socials for more exit planning content and strategies.