What is Administrative Professionals Day?

According to timeanddate.com, the history of the profession began in World War II. 

During World War II, there was an increased need for skilled administrative personnel, particularly in the United States. The National Secretaries Association was formed to recognize the contributions of secretaries and other administrative personnel to the economy, to support their personal development and to help attract people to administrative careers in the field. The association’s name was changed to Professional Secretaries International in 1981 and, finally, the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) in 1998.

These changes in name reflected the changing nature of the tasks, qualifications and responsibilities of the members of the organization. IAAP now has an international orientation and continues to provide education and training and set standards of excellence recognized by the business community on a global perspective. The organization’s vision is “to inspire and equip all administrative professionals to attain excellence”.

The first National Secretaries Week was organized in 1952 in conjunction with the United States Department of Commerce and various office supply and equipment manufacturers. The Wednesday of that week became known as National Secretaries Day. As the organization gained international recognition, the events became known as Professional Secretaries Week® and Professional Secretaries Day®. In 2000, IAAP announced that names of the week and the day were changed to Administrative Professionals Week and Administrative Professionals Day to keep pace with changing job titles and expanding responsibilities of the modern administrative workforce. Many work environments across the world observe this event.

Here’s to you, Maggie!

For Optiform, what Administrative Professionals Day means is celebrating our Administrative Assistant, Maggie Walsh.

Our customers recognize her as the the one who keeps them up to date on their software renewals so they never get behind and always have access to the latest and greatest with their products.

Our team recognizes her as the one who generates the quotes for new sales opportunities, communicates with vendors for product information requests, informs us of process requirement updates from our vendors, scheduling appointments, making travel arrangements, and when any of us are sick or forget something, she makes sure that the show keeps going.

She is the rock to her two sons who keep her hopping with every sport under the sun.

Maggie is an important asset to the Optiform team and we are happy to have her!

Happy Administrative Professionals Day, Maggie! Thank you for everything you do to support our team!