About the Association

History

The Association was founded to provide education, professional standards and forums as the first professional association to recognize the evolution of due diligence as a separate field, discipline and industry. The history of The Association of Due Diligence Professionals dates back to 1984. The earliest concepts were driven by the need for an independent organization to proactively educate and assist people and organizations to understand and make better decisions with lower risk, by using an early version of the discipline originally termed 'management due diligence'. A new paradigm evolved from insights garnered from a) hundreds of experiments in risk analysis, fraud prevention, technology development and corporate and financial engineering, b) dozens of educational and training experiments in joint educational seminars with firms such as IBM, and c) a formal research and development program begun in 1993, all culminating with the refinement of the first scientific due diligence systems and the first due diligence standards by 2003. This combination of real world experience, formal scientific testing, formal education testing, and formal technology development, is the basis of the new paradigm of modern due diligence, and the critical foundation of The Association of Due Diligence Professionals.

Objectives

The objectives of The Association are:

• Educate society in all aspects of due diligence
• Develop the first due diligence standards and best practices
• Establish formal testing and certification programs for the due diligence profession
• Teach due diligence to all professionals, and to perform to the highest due diligence principles and values
• Establish a due diligence research center for the continuous improvement of due diligence
• Develop strong relationships with other organizations to help enhance all aspects of due diligence
• Ensure that the Association operates knowing that its every action reflects on the entire due diligence profession
• Develop a formal science of due diligence
• Develop tools to allow affordable due diligence for organizations of any size, not just the larger organizations
• Develop university-level accredited due diligence courses
• Develop university-level due diligence degree programs
• See all sectors of society reach a level of respect for due diligence, such that due diligence becomes an automatic part of all thinking and management... "Of course we have due diligence. If we didn't have due diligence, it would be like not having accounting or management or marketing or legal."
  

Team

• Board
  
• Charles F. Bacon, Chairman
• Michael W. Brown, Director
• Georgina K. Lee, Director
  
• Committees
• Membership
  
• Education, Professional Development and Training Committee
• Public and Legislative Advocacy Committee
• To become a volunteer and help the Association, please email Volunteers.
  
• To apply to become a member of the team, please email Team.
• To apply to become a member of the Advisory Board, please email Advisors.
  

The Association of Due Diligence Professionals is a Colorado Non-Profit Corporation