Special August Offerings

By Melody Thornton, CPA

Hola! ¿Qué está haciendo? Hi, what are you doing? Hopefully, I will be able to tell you more about my activities in Spanish next month. For now, I must continue in English while sitting at my kitchen table, sipping an ice-cold glass of white sage & wild mint tea as I try to cool down after wandering through the aisles of the Vista farmer’s market, sampling sweet melons and late-season cherries. The fruits are sweet and delicious this time of year.

It seems that summer has finally arrived in San Diego. I welcome the season, while at the same time bemoaning the heat! Last month, CalCPA held its annual member and council meetings at Disneyland. The chapter was involved in making CalCPA history—for the first time there was a run-off to determine the elected at-large council representatives to the CalCPA Board for 2010–12. Since only two individuals are elected each year, a run-off between our own Joe Forlenza and Jeff Chen of the Los Angeles Chapter was required for one of the spots. Sharon Lightner won the other spot. Please join me in congratulating Sharon and Joe on their election! They are both passionate CalCPA supporters and will be excellent board members.

Although our state is facing difficult economic times, CalCPA had an excellent fiscal year. Membership reached 36,000 for the first time, revenue was 99 percent of the budgeted amount and attendance for chapter events was up 20 percent statewide. Locally, our chapter’s membership grew from 2,894 in May 2009 to 3,023 in May 2010—the largest growth coming in the candidate and student types. In most categories, our growth was steady. We value members at all stages of their careers and seek to provide benefit to everyone.

Thanks to Jill Elsner, chair of our Business & Industry Committee, we will have a unique event combining good food, the arts and an hour of CPE Aug. 17. Please join me at Jai by Wolfgang Puck La Jolla for hors d’oeuvres and a presentation by John T. O’Dea, director of finance for the La Jolla Playhouse. Attendees also have the opportunity to purchase discounted tickets for the 7:30 p.m. performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre, located next door to Jai. You can find more details online.

The end of August is a great time for relaxation and fun. Keep the summer fun alive Aug. 29 by joining us at the Catamaran Resort & Hotel for our End-of-Summer Networking Bash. Pacific Wealth Management is graciously sponsoring the event, so the cost (including dinner and two drinks) is only $25 for members, $30 for guests and $35 for nonmembers. It will be a great opportunity to make new friends, catch up with old friends and send off the summer in style. You can register online.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 1st, 2010 at 1:40 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.