Here, “CFA” is used as what’s known as an attributive adjective, much like saying “aluminum can” (“aluminum” is a noun, but in this situation it’s used as an adjective).
What bugs me is when CFA Societies don’t get it right:
I did my part. I already sent a few dozen during the last 5 years.
to be honest, i didn’t know what an attributive adjective was before you mentioned it here.
i would counter argue that “CFA” within “CFA charterholder” is a proper noun much like “Empire State” in “Empire State Building”.
for example, you would say “John Doe holds the CFA designation” rather than “John Doe holds a CFA designation”.
the “the” before CFA designation implies that it is unique. you wouldn’t say “John Doe went to an Empire State Building”.