NAPW (“National Association of Professional Women”) has long been criticized for what has been described by others as “bait & switch” tactics, or psychologically manipulative recruitment methods. It is this author’s opinion that NAPW sales staff feign interest in the targeted individual’s career, essentially grooming that prospect by stroking their ego by way of a carefully scripted process. This script leaves the prospective “member” feeling satisfied that her two most basic needs have been met, that (a) she has been heard, and (b) that she has been understood.
If these allegations are accurate, it would be reasonably assumed that a cursory due diligence investigation would return a plethora of complaints against NAPW. One such complaint by a particularly articulate and verbose Michelle Villalobos provides an insightful description of the NAPW business model; and for which Michelle a legal response which persuaded her to retract some of her thoughts on the matter:
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Not only are they brilliant on the phone, it seems they’re also successful at online reputation management. While TONS of search results exist for complaints, a large percentage of the links are broken or have been emptied/cleaned out. Check for yourself. I’m guessing that these “empowering organizations” spend a decent amount of (ill-gotten) funds hiring online reputation cleaners and lawyers. Update: I have been contacted by bloggers around the country who have been threatened with lawsuits and/or offered monetary compensation in order to take down their posts. I have also been contacted by lawyers and received several letters for this post, from which I have had to remove information that I wish you could read.
Here is just SOME of what else I found:
- http://womenworksmart.blogspot.com/2008/08/watch-out-for-scams-attacking-new.html
- http://www.insiderpages.com/b/15246772989/executive-women-s-association-new-york (scroll down to the comments)
- http://www.scamchecker.com/content/napwhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Who’s_Who
- http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/proman-v-google
- http://community.crn.com/groups/women-in-the-channel/blog/tags/napw
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About Matthew Proman, NAPW’s Founder & CEO
Matthew Brian Proman (Registered Representative, Oceanside, New York) submitted an Offer of Settlement pursuant to which he was censured, fined $50,000, and barred from association with any NASD member in any capacity. Without admitting or denying the allegations, Proman consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that he arranged to have an impostor take the Series 7 exam on his behalf. The findings also stated that Proman failed to respond to NASD requests to appear for an on-the-record interview or to respond to NASD requests for information. (More info & even more info )