Message From the President

By Phyllis R. Graybow, Rockland Chapter President

During September, the Rockland Chapter busied itself by hosting two new initiatives. Both events turned out to exceed our expectations significantly, and we expect to continue them on an annual basis.

On Sept. 9, we coordinated a Small Business Resource Fair. To provide small business owners with a forum to obtain necessary information by which to succeed, we brought together various governmental agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, the Social Security Administration, the U.S. and New York state Departments of Labor, the Small Business Administration and numerous banks, payroll companies and mortgage brokers. There were presentations throughout the day offering question-and-answer segments, local legislators stopped by to address the audience, and the media were on hand to cover this inventive and innovative forum. I would like to thank Allan Stein for all of the hard work and effort he put into making this event such an astounding success.

The second initiative sponsored by our chapter was a Career Recruitment Dinner on Sept. 17. Thirty-five high school guidance counselors and business department chairs attended this informative session. We played the “Getting Down to Business” video and answered various questions regarding our profession. Executive board members explained how to become a CPA and how advantageous and sensible that career choice might be for students, especially in the current economic environment. Last, we proceeded to arrange for classroom visits to the local high schools in order to address the students directly and to notify them of the requirements to win a scholarship from the chapter. This event proved to be extremely worthwhile. Thanks to past President Steven Kaplan for envisioning this project and seeing it through.

When I assumed office in June, one of my goals was to aggressively promote our profession in a positive light within our community. The two aforementioned events supported that goal, and my board and I will continue to work tirelessly in that vein throughout my tenure.