Greetings,
We wanted to thank each of you for participating in our Chapter this year. Our team-first Board witnessed several accomplishments this year and set the stage for an even stronger 2019/20 year which we’re looking forward to sharing with you.
By accomplishments, here’s what we mean:
- Membership: Our member base grew for the second consecutive year. Almost thirty professionals joined the Chapter, in part due to our stronger and more collaborative efforts with the VSCPA, and also because our continuing education programs are practical, relevant and actionable to our members. Please check your in-box and spam folders for member renewals which went out recently, and act now to renew, since we’re gearing up for our first program of the year, being held MONDAY, June 3 at Maggiano’s.
- Programming (Retrospectively): Hosted our first-ever Member-Only summer event, a special Q&A town-hall with Raphael Bostic, President of the Atlanta Federal Reserve. We also took advantage of several opportunities for deep dives into certain provisions of the TCJA during the program year, which we’re hopeful will enhance your practice. Your feedback led us to try different program formats and we’re happy to report some of these changes will carry into the coming year. Continuous feedback is important to ensure we’re meeting your needs, and we invite you to share either by way of CPE evaluations or off-line to a board member using the directory listed on our website.
- Programming (Prospectively): We’ve scheduled a good part of the continuing education programs for the coming year as noted below, with a greater mix between facilities. We invite you to mark your calendars; please check our website as each date draws closer, for the most up-to-date information:
- 6/3/19: Maggiano’s Little Italy, McLean VA (4p-8p)
- 9/17/19: Maggiano’s Little Italy, McLean VA (4p-9p)
- 10/23/19: Maggiano’s Little Italy, McLean VA (4p-9p)
- 11/19/19: Fairview Park Marriott, Falls Church VA (4p-9p)
- 12/17/19: Fairview Park Marriott, Falls Church VA (4p-9p)
- 1/14/20: Fairview Park Marriott, Falls Church VA (4p-9p)
- 2/18/20: Maggiano’s Little Italy, McLean VA (730a-10a)
- 3/17/20: Maggiano’s Little Italy, McLean VA (730a-10a)
- Governance: We’ve started work on a governance project which so far has included centralizing documentation and updating and memorializing the Chapter’s institutional policies. You should see more about this, on-line, during the coming year. Documents currently available to Members are located under the “Resources” tab.
- Partnerships: Our business partners have played a huge role in our success this year, in terms of helping grow our active member base, strengthening our financial position and affording us flexibility to provide quality, relevant programming. As I’ve mentioned at each of our events, we could not do this as cost effectively, absent their investment in you – our members. We started working on enhancements to raise their profiles within our Chapter via the website, communications, and at meetings and expect to see this continue. Please consider how you, in turn, can help support our partners who have been so vital to our successes.
- Financially: Our current financial reports reflect that our Chapter is healthy and vibrant. We are also on pace to “beat the budget” this year, as provided for review at our March year-end meeting.
Administratively, we also have news. Our long-time administrative aide, Leslie Faenza, is moving on in her professional career. While it saddens us to see her go, we are joyful for her continued success. She has, as you know, had a big role in moving our website to a new platform, automating registration and CPE certificates and of course, providing stability at the registration desk and on-line. We will always be grateful to her for her contributions. Those of you who attended our March event may have met Page Eastman, whom Leslie has been training to ensure a smooth transition once Page assumes the responsibilities for the Chapter’s administration full-time, effective May 1. Please give her a warm welcome when you see her, and update your contact list for her email address, Page@NCVSCPA.Org. Leslie’s account will be monitored by Page for a short while only.
We could not have accomplished any of this without our Board of Directors, past presidents who continue to be invested in our Chapter, SIG Chairs and other Chapter friends who have all worked together, seamlessly, to help build a stronger Chapter. A special thank you to those who are “rolling off” our Board, but we’ll look forward to staying in touch with: Gary Brooks (past president), Lily Weill and Beth Berk. We are also excited about the opportunity to learn from and work with our newest Board members, and welcome Lynn Eller, Kim Gibson & Michael Zjornak to our Board. We hope you also share these sentiments.
Our incoming officers, Bill Maxwell (President), Brian Wendroff (President-Elect) and Russell Yates (Treasurer) share my optimism for our Chapter’s future, made possible by the collective efforts of all involved, including you, our Members. Interaction with each of you has been personally fulfilling, as well, and I’m looking forward to continuing those exchanges and continuing to learn from you.
We are excited to see what we can accomplish, together, in the coming year!
With warm regards,
Cheryl Hyder
