· This virtual event, created exclusively by the Association of Asset Management Professionals (AMP) for Certified Reliability Leaders®, reflects the importance of certifications and the power of sharing successes, perspectives, and future projections.
· In its second edition, the event brought together dozens of CRLs, who offered their insights and experiences on how their professional development progressed (and the impact this had on their careers and lives) after passing the AMP certification process.
The future is malleable. At least from the perspective of Asset Management. Heir to the excellence and foresight of civil aviation, Asset Management is a complex and multifaceted discipline that cuts across all management and operational layers of any organization, of any nature, that demonstrates effective results and safe performance. The future of industries and organizations can be shaped through Asset Management, because its application allows us to defeat the greatest enemy of all human creations: entropy, wear and tear, and the ultimate dissolution of systems.
On June 12, the CRL Reconnect 2025 Virtual Event was held, organized exclusively for Certified Reliability Leaders by the Association of Asset Management Professionals (AMP), led by Terrence O’Hanlon, Executive President of the organization, and Maura Abad, Global Director of WIRAM. This event is a new effort by AMP to support the global community of asset management professionals, share participants’ experiences, and learn how CRL certification has advanced their careers, as a look back at the success this certification brings.
New times, new challenges, and AI as the protagonist
In the context of reliability, the Uptime® Elements framework is one of the most accurate ways to address challenges in the industrial context, as it offers practical solutions that can be adapted to each circumstance, and its flexible structure allows it to incorporate and integrate new elements that interact with and enrich existing elements as technology advances.
This is the case with the sixth element (or the sixth Beattle): the IoT, the Internet of Things Domain, which offers a digitalization strategy framework that is perfectly integrated with reliability strategies using Industry 4.0 technologies and Artificial Intelligence. “AI is a real tsunami; there will always be new technologies, but Reliability Leadership is what will carry us successfully through time, change, and new challenges,” explains O’Hanlon, adding that AI does not replace the Certified Reliability Leader. “The future of reliability is not just smart machines, it’s smart people using smart machines, guided by a smart framework, and that’s part of what we’re celebrating at CRL Reconnect 2025,” he emphasizes.
Testimonials
This second edition of CRL Reconnect 2025 gathered testimonials on the impact that CRL certifications have had on high-performance professionals. Maura Abad, Global Director of Women in Reliability and Asset Management, emphasized the importance of a unified language when talking about Reliability and Asset Management, as well as AMP’s effort to bring this knowledge to as many organizations as possible.
“We now work more globally with our worldwide chapters. We have women in reliability and asset management spread across the globe. And we also have global asset management chapters. Reliability is a training path that begins with CRL Certification, continues with Badges, and then progresses to the Belt and Black Belt levels. But what we want at this meeting is to hear from you and how this certification has impacted your careers,” explains Abad.
For Russ Parrish, a reliability enthusiast, it all started during his days in the United States Navy. He became CRL certified in 2016, in addition to obtaining other certifications. “Since I learned about the Uptime® Elements Framework, it has made a lot of sense to me. I have earned many certifications, but reliability is my passion. It is a changing environment, and new elements are added. We had to deal with the challenges of COVID, and our perspectives changed over the years. I earned my Black Belt last year, so I encourage everyone to keep learning and moving forward,” said Parrish.
Tammy Ryley, director of the WIRAM Chapter in the United States, explains that her journey with CRL certification and Uptime® Elements began in 2019 when she attended the I International Maintenance Conference (a Reliabilityweb.com event). “It was so simple that it could be understood at any level. I did my CRL certification in 2020, and it helped me in my work as reliability program manager for Starbucks. Now I’m working on getting the Badges, and I believe in my case it has transformed the way I think, approach, and solve problems,” Ryley said.
Patrick Dasis is Director of Operations for the Bristol Myers Squibb account at JLL. He has been involved in reliability for over 30 years, but it was when he received his CRL certification that he truly felt fully committed. “We pushed for about 200 people within JLL to become CRLs, JLL probably has over 50 CRL Black Belts, and it’s a pleasure to see people flourish, get their certification and then apply that knowledge to projects they were already working on and get their Black Belts. If you follow the process, it’s very achievable and rewarding,” Dasis said.
Gail Petersen, author and asset management expert, noted that CRL certification “has changed my life. I live by the code of telling the truth no matter what because it’s important in terms of leadership.”
Kevin Connor, from Unites Utilities, earned his CRL during Covid. He said at the meeting that the Uptime® Elements framework allowed him to “understand reliability in a very visual way.” Kevin earned his Yellow Belt a couple of years ago, and becoming certified was absolutely positive for his career.
For Mary Sam, Director of the Canada WIRAM Chapter, her reliability journey began by encouraging her team to take the CRL certification, which she ended up taking herself, as a way to inspire and exercise leadership. “It was a refreshing experience; once you start, it’s hard to stop. The CRL’s focus on leadership and how to support the team is important. And then I started running the WIRAM Canada chapter, and all of this enhanced my personal journey,” Sam explained.
The little details matter. Brett Fisk, Black Belt, began his journey when he saw a mail signature with the initials CRL. He wanted to know what it was all about, and that’s where it all started. “I went to the IMC, Maura encouraged me to get my CRL certification, and now I’ve been improving efficiency and telling everyone how to improve the things we already do for years. I loved the community of everyone studying for CRL, as we had the same problems and spoke the same language. I set my sights on becoming a Black Belt, and the whole community was there to support me. And now I want more people to get their CRL,” said Fisk.
William Hollman, now enjoying his retirement, said his reliability journey began with a hole in the ground in Detroit, Michigan, where a biosolids processing plant was being built. “We wanted to build a culture, a new mindset for the company. I went to an IMC, and we decided what kind of mindset we wanted for the company, the kind of people we wanted to work with, educate, and instill that kind of thinking. The culture of reliability is crucial. In many industries, there is a lack of understanding of what reliability is, so now I strive to instill and achieve that understanding and have as much reach and impact as I can,” said the expert.
For Kate Kerrigan, CRL trainer for Reliabilityweb.com, her reliability journey began with an article she published about the process of obtaining certification. Terrence O’Hanlon invited her to take part in the CRL certification process, which Kate gladly accepted because she found the Uptime® Elements Framework absolutely compelling. “I’ve struggled with many types of frameworks throughout my career, most of which were pyramids whose elements did not interconnect. I do a lot of volunteer work, I’ve been working on the belts this year, and I’m exposing CRL to organizations that are so small and would never normally see this kind of thing” -Kerrigan said.
Jim Carrel, managing partner of Reliability Forum, explained that 100% of employees have obtained their CRL certification. ”It’s a condition of employment for our company. I think it’s important to have a CRL, and to renew it. We get information from the CRL workshops, but we retain that information by doing, by acting. The CRL is a certification, not necessarily for education, but to be educated enough to act. I started working in reliability and asset management 50 years ago. But I have only been CRL for 10 years. And having this framework helped me put all the knowledge I accumulated over those years in order. Recertifying is very important to continue being part of this wonderful culture, this family of certified reliability leaders,” said Carrel as he shared his testimony.
At the close of the session, Terrence O’Halon commented on new approaches to reliability, where well-being and work culture deserve special attention. The People and Culture at Work element represents a people-centered roadmap, because performance comes from people and work culture. This knowledge gained from experience in asset management and reliability will be synthesized into a new Badge, in addition to the development of other frameworks that will help professionals and organizations better apply and leverage everything related to reliability, starting with CRL certification, which is a pathway for training and continuous improvement.
