By Roger Beer, Syracuse Chapter President

First of all, I would like to thank Don Taylor, who was an extremely effective president this past year and an outstanding representative of the Syracuse Chapter. Our new officers and board were installed at a lunch meeting on June 16 and are as follows:

President: Roger Beer
President-Elect: Lauren Kincaid
Vice President: Gail Kinsella
Treasurer: Heather Losi
Secretary: Michele Dickey
 
We had a good turnout at the lunch and appreciated having Bill Pape and Joyce Lewis from Chapter Relations for the New York State Society of CPAs attend, as well as Buffalo Chapter President Ray Nowicki. Ray shared some insights from the May 15 annual awards banquet in Manhattan, and all three promised their continued support. It was also noted that Syracuse is well represented at the state level by Dave Moynihan, Tom Riley and Bill Hatfield, plus Bob Fagliarone as our representative for the PAC.

The officers supporting me have already been extremely helpful and energetic. The board is an experienced group that has supported the chapter for several years. John Markert deserves special mention for supporting chapter CPE for many years, and also Madelyn Hornstein, who ensures the success of our annual golf outing. They have assisted many past presidents and I am fortunate to have their help again this year.  

In order to take full advantage of their efforts, please keep the following events in mind as we enter next year. The golf outing is scheduled for Monday, June 23, at Beaver Meadows. Flyers have been sent, so get your reservations in early. The summer sizzler and CPE will be at Hinerwadel’s on Wednesday, Aug. 20. The officers visitation and student awards banquet are very tentatively scheduled for mid-September. The annual tax conference is Thursday, Nov. 6, at the Marx hotel. Tony Abboud, our very energetic Young CPAs Committee chairman, has several events planned, which will be described in our next letter.

New initiatives include a reenergized Technology Committee, headed up by Chip Melvin; establishment of a COAP program by Jaimee Benson, assisted by Terry McCarthy and Gail Kinsella; plus a reinvigorated Members in Industry Committee, chaired by Franco Strangis of Carrier Corp.

More than ever before, we can safely say that things are really going to change in our profession. The State Attorney General, among others, is committed to making New York state a model of ethics for the financial services. There’s no way to know what those changes will be or when they will happen but, regardless, New York will lead them. We look forward to being a significant part of this positive effort.