Message From the President

By Christine L. Paul, Northeast Chapter President-Elect

As I sit at my desk with this new task of writing a president’s column, I find myself at a loss for words. For those of you who know me, this is not a typical problem of mine. But the Northeast Chapter suffered a great loss during the past month. Our president, friend and colleague Tim O’Connor passed away suddenly. Although I didn’t know Tim for a long period of time, I do know that he was dedicated to our profession and to this chapter. We will miss him.

Our Executive Committee recently met to discuss the future of our chapter’s leadership. It was unanimously decided that no one could, nor should we try to, fill his shoes. Therefore, you will continue to see Tim recognized as president of our chapter for the current year.

However, as they say, the show must go on, and it will. Tim always promoted a theme of continuity among the chapter’s leadership and committees, and through this structure we are well established to continue with Tim’s goals of communication with and advocating for our membership.

With this in mind, we encourage all of our members to watch our calendar of events for future programming.

The Annual Tax Conference is on the calendar for Dec. 2, and the Young CPAs Holiday Networking event is in the works. We ask that each of you consider attending these events and encourage the other members of your staff to do the same.

In addition, our committees are working hard to schedule other programming and events.

The CPE committee hosted an Empire Zone Seminar in mid-October, which was well attended and certainly an educational experience for those of us who deal with these issues.

Also, the newly revived Members in Industry Committee kicked off the year by hosting the AICPA’s Top Ten Technologies event at the end of October.

The Cooperation with Educators Committee continues to work at planning numerous events throughout the year, including an event for college students on Feb. 17, an outreach to high school guidance counselors and teachers in late spring, and the COAP program.

Many thanks to those committees for their service to our chapter.

Although this year has taken an unforeseen turn, we continue to look toward the future. Our goals are unchanged, and we will do all that we can to serve the members of the Northeast Chapter.

On a personal note, I would like to thank my fellow officers in advance for their cooperation during this transitional period.

If anyone has any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me. I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events.

Christine Paul can be reached at 518-456-4094 or cpaul@luriecpas.com.