Include CalCPA in Your Summer Plans

By Melody Thornton, CPA

By the time you read this, the 2010 CalCPA Annual Business and Council Meeting, held June 24–25, will be history. However, I will give you an update about the event in next month’s message.

I’m pleased to announce that our 2010–11 chapter leadership team is at full strength with the addition of Nancy Rix, managing partner of Dickerson Rix, who will serve as our AP&AS Committee chair. Nancy’s strong audit background in public accounting and private industry is an excellent resource for chapter members and she will continue the committee’s tradition of providing quality CPE.

I attended the 2010 Women’s Leadership Forum May 26 in San Francisco, and what an incredible group of dynamic women! Participants ranged from newly licensed CPAs to pioneers of the profession—think back to the time when public accounting was for men only. The presentations—“Leadership in an Era of Economic Uncertainty,” “Dynamic Communication,” “Standing Out in Today’s Crowd” and “Managing Your Own Success”—were relevant for both women and men. One of my takeaways was this: When you work a room, set yourself up to assess the style of the others in attendance. You need to make sure your words appeal to the person hearing you. To do that, you need to be able to assess their style. Another takeaway: We all have more opportunities than time. Therefore, set a goal for each meeting, whether it is in the office or at a networking event. Goals will help you assess the benefits of participation.

As chapter president, my goals include getting to know our members, learning their needs, and supporting the individuals who give of their time to plan and host an event. This helps me achieve my goals when I visit with you at events, and it is a privilege and pleasure getting to know you on a personal basis.

I recently attended, along with 200 others, the first International Business Mixer hosted by the Hong Kong Association of Southern California. There were business professionals from various industries and different countries. As the world becomes smaller, we find ourselves providing services to clients who have global operations. We need to be an integral part of this change with our clients.

This shift has inspired me to start a new project that I will share with you for accountability purposes. Since it will take me much longer than one year to be able to speak more than a few words in Chinese, I decided to start studying Spanish, which I studied in high school. Hopefully, I will be able to converse with our colleagues from Mexico in Spanish at next year’s U.S.-Mexico Conference.

I look forward to seeing you at July events when I return from vacation July 5. Happy Independence Day! ¡Feliz dia de la independencia!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 4:49 pm and is filed under President's Message. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.