ALPFA’s New York Chapter Becomes Largest in the Nation

By Elizabeth Diep

Think big, act quickly and follow through on your promises.” That is the message that Manny Espinosa, national chief executive officer of the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting, ALPFA, has ingrained both in the leadership of the organization and in the membership. ALPFA’s New York Chapter has taken the message to heart, and in recent months has grown its membership by approximately 120 percent, thus becoming the largest ALPFA chapter in the nation.

ALPFA is committed to being the leading Latino professional association dedicated to enhancing opportunities for CPAs, accounting and finance professionals, and students, with the added goal of expanding Latino leadership in the global work force.

With these objectives in mind, the New York Chapter has been able to meet the needs of its professional and student members in a number of ways, resulting in increased membership in both categories. For example, the New York Chapter focused on developing its leadership by holding the first ALPFA New York Chapter board retreat, which involved creating a strategic agenda for the upcoming year that will yield the best results to date and ensure the chapter’s continued advancement.

The past year also witnessed very active participation by five student chapters within the New York Chapter, including those affiliated with Pace University, Baruch College, Queens College, St. John’s University and Marymount Manhattan College. Through their involvement with the chapters, many student members have been able to attend seminars sponsored by leading accounting and finance firms in New York that are geared toward developing skill sets necessary to move from academia to the workplace. The nation’s Latino population as enumerated in the 2000 Census is approximately 35 million, comprising 13 percent of the nation’s total population. The resident population of the U.S. in April 2000 showed an increase of approximately 13 percent over persons counted during the 1990 census, according to data from the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau. As our Latino population grows, leadership development in the Latino community will be paramount. In following through with its mission, ALPFA is here today to develop the Latino leaders who will be the future of the nation tomorrow.

For more information on ALPFA, please visit its website at www.alpfa.org.