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Message from the immediate past President

By Beth van Bladel, Northeast Chapter Immediate Past President

Editor’s note: The following are excerpts from Beth van Bladel’s speech at the Northeast Chapter’s Annual Officer Installation Dinner on May 10.

Our chapter’s success is a celebration of our leadership’s dedication and our membership’s diversity.

During my term as president, I have learned that although we are the same in having made the decision to become CPAs, we are in fact very different in terms of the driving force behind our involvement in the profession.

A year ago we set out with three goals: communicate, educate and advocate.

It is with these goals in mind that our Executive Board and committees maximized the tools provided by the New York State Society of CPAs and utilized the resources contributed by our membership to successfully broaden our reach to Northeast Chapter members, local media, students, educators, firm managing partners, government officials, state legislators and tech valley.

I would like to express my gratitude to each of you who have made an effort to participate in our chapter activities. Each time we gather our membership together, I find myself overcome with the feeling that our possibilities are boundless. This positive energy has been the driving force behind our chapter’s strong momentum.

If you were to ask me what was the proudest moment during my term as president, I would have to say it would be during this evening’s election and installation of our officers and board of directors.

At our January Executive Board meeting a resolution was approved to formalize our chapter’s organizational structure. A nominating committee was created and charged with the task of composing a diverse Executive Board. Efforts were made via e-mail and The Trusted Professional to invite members to suggest candidates to the nominating committee.

I am very pleased to announce that the nominating committee was successful in its task. We have elected and installed a diverse Executive Board consisting of members from public practice in small, mid-size and large firms, a member in public practice north of the capital region, members in industry, education, nonprofit and government.

Several of our members have completed their terms on the Executive Board. I want to take a moment to thank Tony Duffy, Dave Johnson, Jim McGrath and Jeff Rosenbaum for their service on the Executive Board.

I also want to congratulate two of our members as they continue their involvement with the Society. Later this week, Katie Doran will be installed as Vice President and Tony Duffy will be installed as the Northeast Chapter Representative on the Society’s Board of Directors.

I also want to recognize Jeff Rosenbaum, who sits on the FAE Board of Trustees.

As immediate past president, I will do my very best to support the chapter as a member of the Executive Board and chairperson of the Past Presidents Committee. Once again, thank you for all your support during my term as president. It was an incredibly fun and rewarding experience.

Beth van Bladel can be reached at 518-475-5156 or beth.vanbladel@negt.com.