Try It—You Might Like It

By Donna Bumgarner, CPA

We are quickly reaching the close of our fiscal year, and it seems hard to believe that my term as chapter president is coming to an end. In looking back over the past 12 months, I remember my first president’s message. I said then that my focus during my term would be to inspire more chapter members to attend chapter events, take on leadership roles and participate in community service activities. Several of my subsequent messages offered suggestions of ways to become involved: volunteering on a committee or a board of your favorite nonprofit organization, raising money for a worthwhile cause or participating in the efforts of shelters during the holiday season. I hope some of you were inspired to get involved and thank those of you who did.

We saw record attendance at many of our chapter events during the past year, which shows that we appreciate and value the opportunity to network and learn. We had a new ABC Event in Santa Cruz in November and another is scheduled for May. My special thanks go to the ABC Committee, which coordinated the plans for the event and encouraged professionals from “over the hill” to participate. Santa Cruz and its neighboring communities have long been an underserved section of our chapter, and it is good to see progress in this area. Patricia Kaufman chairs our new Governmental Accounting & Auditing Committee, which has held several meetings in Salinas to serve another section of our chapter. In addition, several of our committees and discussion groups have formed steering committees to assist our committee chairs in planning programs.

We recently learned at the chapter’s March 2 board meeting that our 2010-11 slate of officers and chapter directors were elected. Please join me in congratulating the following chapter leaders: president: Ben Towne (Berger/Lewis A/C); vice president: David Neighbors (Johanson & Yau A/C); secretary: Philip Hulme (Ruzzo, Scholl & Murphy A/C); treasurer: Carol Wagner (Abbott Stringham & Lynch); directors: John Haydon (San Jose Police Officers Association), Karl-Heinz Lachnit (Silicon Valley Law Group), James Martin (Burr, Pilger & Mayer LLP), Joseph Montes (Armanino McKenna LLP), Lynda Boman (Boman Accounting Group, Inc.), Nathan Curtis (Frank, Rimerman + Co. LLP), Nicholas Kawar (Deloitte & Touche LLP) and Natalie Quan (Berger/Lewis A/C). Welcome aboard!

Several of our officers and directors began their chapter involvement as committee members, which is a great way to participate in CalCPA at the local level. Without the efforts of our officers, directors and committees, we would not be able to offer quality programs for our members. I encourage those of you who attend our events to consider volunteering to become involved with a committee or to consider becoming a chapter director. I also encourage those who do not regularly attend to try it—you might like it! Your involvement is crucial to our success. Contact me if you are interested.

Finally, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to the officers, directors, committee chairs and discussion leaders who have served with me over the past year. Special thanks also go to program associate Stephanie Stewart, who kept me informed and assisted me in too many ways to count. I also thank Steve Grimaud, our Bulletin editor, whose experience and skill go beyond words.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 12:01 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.