By Mark Levy, Mid-Hudson Chapter President

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday season.

Our chapter had a busy fall schedule. We held a River Boat Cruise on the Hudson, some MAP breakfasts and various seminars covering topics such as business valuations, estate planning and eldercare. We had 225 people attend our Annual Bankers and Attorneys Dinner, with guest speaker Rusty Staub. Besides signing baseballs and trading cards, Rusty was kind enough to answer just about any question that was asked of him. He would not give us any insight on what he would do to improve the Mets, though. We also raised over $600 for Toys for Tots through a raffle of Mets memorabilia, run by the Young CPAs Committee.

We had about 130 people at our annual tax conference, featuring Sam Dyckman. During the conference, we held our first mini business expo. Ten vendors were represented. They included banks, tax software companies, an investment advisor and a payroll company.

The Career Opportunities in the Accounting Profession (COAP) Committee has been planning the first COAP program, to be held at Dutchess Community College for five days in June 2005. If anyone would like to find out more about the COAP program or any other committees or events, please feel free to give me a call.

I would like to thank those board and committee members who have volunteered and helped the chapter complete a successful fall calendar of events.

Have a prosperous tax season!

Mark Levy can be reached at 845-457-1100 or mlevy@nhcpas.com.