By Simon Eskow

The membership of the New York State Society of CPAs will vote for candidates to sit on the Society’s Nominating Committee in the first committee ballot election in 10 years.

During the annual meeting luncheon on Nov. 13 in New York City, the Society officially confirmed that 13 candidates are seeking seven seats on the committee. The nine-member committee includes two members designated by the board of directors, which named Katharine K. Doran and Neville Grusd this year.

The 13 candidates are all active leaders in the Society, and include five former presidents and numerous vice presidents chapter presidents and committee chairs. The candidates are Michael L. Borsuk, Thomas Boyd, Brian Caswell, Debra Cutler, G. William Hatfield, Elliot Hendler, Scott Jaffee, Stuart Kessler, Don Kiamie, James Passikoff, Frank Pellegrino, Barry Seidel and P. Gerard Sokolski.

Former members of the Nominating Committee said the number of people interested in taking seats on the committee, which nominates directors and officers, is a good sign. The number of candidates in past years has sometimes been fewer than seven, forcing the board of directors to appoint the remainder. Observers said the surge in petitions this year shows a wide interest in the direction the Society will take in the near future.

“This is an excellent sign. I’m glad to see there’s that many because it’s going to be a contest,” Norman Lipshie, chair of the 2001 Nominating Committee, said. “It’s discouraging when nobody cares.”

Lipshie said people seek to be on the committee often to back a particular candidate for office, based on geographic, demographic or professional interests. Members also may be concerned over the direction the Society should go in the coming years. This year, there was some speculation on how the future of the American Institute of CPAs will affect the Society.

“There’s a lot of concern on the future of the state society,” former Nominating Committee member Robert Cheskes said. “I think a lot of people in the back of their minds wonder what the future of the AICPA will be and how relevant they’ll be anywhere and in New York state. So they’re saying, maybe they’re concerned about leadership in the profession.”

Members should have received a ballot in the mail by the time this issue is released, including instructions for voting and short descriptions of each candidate’s achievements. Members can choose up to seven candidates. All ballots are due to the official ballot counters—Vanguard Direct in New York—by Dec. 31.