By Richard Zerah, Nassau Chapter President

Beginning on a golden note with a gala installation dinner dance at the Cresthollow Country Club on May 9, our chapter is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. A montage display of past presidents’ pictures, outrageous dessert-tasting choices prepared by two culinary schools, various entertainment, and special presentations by past state and chapter President Michael Borsuk and current state President Jo Ann Golden made this event a memorable occasion.

As we all know, the past 18 months have been very challenging for our profession. We have all been put under a microscope by the press, regulators, elected officials and the public at large. Our chapter is committed to doing its part in restoring the trust and confidence our profession has worked so hard to achieve. During the upcoming year, we plan on accomplishing this goal in a variety of ways.

First, we will continue to support our committees, which provide an educational and networking forum for the heartbeat of this Society, our members. We are very excited about our newest committee, the CFOs and Other Financial Executives. We recognized a need to reach out to our members in industry, which represent approximately 30 percent of this chapter’s membership. As expected, this committee has been well received, and continues to flourish along with the rest of our committees.

We will continue our initiatives with our Young CPAs committee. The importance of attracting new CPAs into our chapter cannot be overstated. Although we have a thriving Young CPAs committee, we will continue to explore new ways to energize these new CPAs to assure a deeper commitment. In concert with this theme, we are currently developing a mentoring program between CPAs and students at various universities across Nassau County.

Through our Community Affairs and Public Relations Committee, we will continue our efforts to raise awareness of the chapter for both member recruitment purposes and positive public image at events such as our annual golf outing, 5k-run/walk, and blood drives. Last year, our 5k-run/walk raised over $10,000, which was contributed to the Long Island Community Foundation. We anticipate an even stronger turnout this year.

In the upcoming year, we all have a tremendous opportunity to make a contribution to this profession. I encourage you all to take on that challenge and make a difference.