Rick Rosen, MA, LMBT, Founder and Executive Director of the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education, announced last week that he will be stepping down from that position effective November 30.
In his letter to Alliance members, Rosen stated that he is returning to his full-time duties at the Body Therapy Institute in Siler City, NC. He founded the school in 1983 and has co-owned and co-directed it with his wife, Carey Smith, for the past 20 years. Their beautiful school and 150-acre property is for sale, and they intend to move permanently to their new abode on the Big Island of Hawaii whenever it’s sold.
Rosen has been a massage therapist since 1978. There are very few people in this profession who could claim anywhere near the amount of hours he has spent volunteering his time, and working for the evolution of massage therapy – both on the legislative and educational fronts.
I first met Rosen in 2000 when he was a founding member and the first chair of the North Carolina Board of Massage & Bodywork Therapy, a position he held from 1999-2003. He was very instrumental in getting massage regulated in our state and in assisting the Board’s legal counsel in drafting the administrative rules and statutes. As a former Board member myself (2006-2011), I appreciate fully the countless hours of unpaid work, and imagine that to be so much more for a start-up Board.
Rosen has always had a fondness for getting in on the ground floor and helping to lay the foundation for the future success of organizations. He also served as the first Executive Director of the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (2005-2006), and wrote the Request for Proposal that led to the development of the MBLEx as the licensing exam of choice.
In 2009, Rosen hand-picked some seasoned educators to help launch the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education. Under his leadership, the AFMTE has made its mark as the stakeholder for education among the professional organizations. Recently, the ACCAHC Board of Directors invited the Alliance to join its Council of Colleges and Schools as the designated education representative for the massage therapy field, further solidifying the Alliance’s role. Not bad for an organization only two years old.
Rosen’s school was the first to offer professional training for massage therapists in the Carolinas, and the first to offer post-graduate training. BTI was also the first school in the Carolinas to receive accreditation from the Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation. He has presented massage education all over the country and in West Africa. He has been a professional member of AMTA since 1983, helped form the AMTA-NC Chapter, and was Chapter President from 1985-1987. He has authored a number of white papers, and was a contributing author to TEACHING MASSAGE: Fundamental Principles in Adult Education for Massage Program Instructors, published in 2008 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Rosen’s pioneering contributions to this field over the past three decades have been many, and often unsung. In fact, I contacted him and requested a copy of his resume before I wrote this – and I could write a book about all the things he’s done in the arenas of bodywork, education and government relations that I had no idea about.
I gave a list of “kudos” and “thumps on the head” in a recent blog, and I had included a kudo to Rosen for starting the AFMTE. I’ll repeat that here, along with an additional word of thanks for all he has contributed to the massage therapy profession. It’s been a job well done.
Rosen shared with me that he is leaving the door open to future teaching, writing and consulting projects that can continue to advance the field. I’m curious to see what he gets into next!