By Frank P. Marino, Manhattan/Bronx Chapter President

As incoming president of the Manhattan/Bronx Chapter, I am honored to lead the largest chapter in New York state. The size and location of our chapter presents many challenges, but also offers significant opportunities.

Our Young CPA Committee is strong, and our One-On-One Program to recruit high school students for careers in accounting is effective and expanding. We intend to build upon those and other successes in order to bring quality events to our members and provide opportunities for members’ professional development and networking.

In addition, we hope to continue to increase the number of members that take an active role in the growth of our chapter. Central to that effort will be the recruitment of volunteers to serve on chapter committees; I invite chapter members to notify me of their interest by e-mail at fpmarino@att.net.

I am proud of what our chapter has achieved during the past year. Our accomplishments could not have been possible without the leadership of our outgoing president, Robert Brauer, along with the contributions of our outgoing officers, Vice President Walter Primoff and Treasurer Ellen Rea. Robert and Ellen will join our other chapter board members who have also played an important role in our success: William Aiken, Marcy Bajusz, Barry Doll, Anil Kumar, Judith Seidman and Theodore Wilson. In addition, due to the efforts of our Nominating Committee, chaired by Barry Doll, we welcomed Susan Brown and Todd Ichihara as new chapter board members in January 2003. I thank you all for your dedicated service.

I am also happy to welcome Michael Kirkland and Dionne Johnson as newly elected members of our chapter board, and I offer congratulations to the following newly elected officers of our chapter: Vice President Walter Primoff, Secretary Susan Brown, and Treasurer Todd Ichihara. In addition, I extend a special thanks to William Aiken, who continues to serve as our chapter’s representative to the Board of Directors of the New York State Society of CPAs.

Our chapter offers many opportunities for professional growth and personal development. I invite all members who live or work in Manhattan or the Bronx to work with us as we embark upon a new year!