Celebrating the Suffolk Chapter’s 50th Anniversary
By William C. Huether
Suffolk Chapter President
Effective June 1, I have been installed as the Suffolk Chapter’s 50th president. I take pride in being given this opportunity and it is a great honor to serve in this position after several years involved with the chapter. It is also exciting to serve in this role during the time when the Suffolk Chapter celebrates its 50th anniversary!
The Suffolk Chapter was chartered on June 27, 1971. I am proud to follow a long line of great Suffolk Chapter presidents, and I thank all of them for laying the groundwork for our chapter and for their dedication and contributions to the chapter over the last 50 years.
I am following our outgoing president, Kenneth Laks, and I want to extend him a big thank you for his hard work and dedication to our chapter throughout his career.
The past 16 months have been so challenging for us all in many ways due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a profession and as a chapter, we had to adapt very quickly to a changing world to be able to serve our clients and our members. I believe our chapter and our profession have done a tremendous job in adapting to the changes brought upon by COVID-19, and in going the extra mile to really serve our clients and our members to help guide them through the uncertainties of the pandemic.
I always believe that when obstacles and tough times are put in front of us, that presents great opportunity. The pandemic has created many opportunities for us to strengthen our relationship with clients and our members and has provided new opportunities to better serve our clients. Now that restrictions are beginning to be relaxed, I am optimistic that we are on our way to a return to normalcy.
As a result of the pandemic, I feel that we have the opportunity as a chapter this year to reemerge and come up with new innovative ideas and plans to serve our members. I look forward to a return to a more active year and getting out to see our great members at networking events, charitable events, CPE events, etc.
I started my journey with the Suffolk Chapter around 2010. I had the pleasure of taking advanced accounting at Dowling College with none other than Suffolk’s own past president and NYSSCPA statewide past president, George Foundotos. In his class, he pushed the importance of getting involved in the NYSSCPA and Suffolk Chapter and invited the class to a student night that was being held at Dave & Buster’s in Islandia. I attended the event and learned quite a bit about the NYSSCPA Suffolk Chapter, and I met some great people who were committee chairs or officers at the time. At the event, one of the officers talked me into joining as a student member.
I tried to maintain contact with some of those individuals throughout the rest of my college career at Dowling College and invited some to speak at some of our business society meetings when I was president of the business society at Dowling College.
Attending that event, making connections that night and maintaining these connections presented me with the opportunity to join Sheehan & Company. One day, one of my contacts in the Suffolk Chapter whom I met at the Student Night and stayed connected with reached out and asked if I would conside joining public accounting at the firm. Within the same week, the private company I was working for at the time announced that it was moving operations to Ohio (I was the only one smiling at that meeting as I knew a new another great opportunity awaited). If it was not for that first student night, George and the other NYSSCPA Suffolk contacts I met and maintained contact with, I may not have been presented with the opportunity to join the firm, and for that I am grateful.
Shortly after joining the firm, I got involved with the NextGen Committee and then became a co-chair of the committee for several years. After a few years co-chairing the NextGen Committee, I was fortunate enough to move on to the executive board of the chapter and then, ultimately, the officer roles of treasurer, vice president, president-elect and now president. I also currently serve on the statewide Board of Directors as the Director as Suffolk Chapter Representative. My involvement in the Suffolk Chapter has certainly been rewarding, and I have created great relationships and friendships as a result. I have developed other skills, such as public speaking, how to manage and set up events, and created a large contact list of bankers, lawyers, and other CPAs that can be used as a resource.
The Suffolk Chapter has so many great committees to get involved in that do great things for our members. These committees are all run by great professionals and are always looking to add new members. Please reach out and get involved. Any one of our board members or committee chairs would be happy to guide you to the right committee, based on your interest. There are also opportunities for you to chair a committee.
During this upcoming year, we are looking to bring back the Supersized Networking event hosted by the NextGen Committee; the NextGen Golf Outing in the fall; the annual ethics update; a membership event; the presentation of the 2021-2022 George T. Foundotos, CPA Memorial Undergraduate Accounting Scholarship; Student Night; Toys for Tots; and lots of other CPE events. If there are any specific type of events that you feel would benefit the members, please do not hesitate to reach out.
In June 2021, we had a virtual installation of our officers and board members, but we look forward to being in person again next year for the installation event.
Outside of the Suffolk Chapter, there are also a ton of great NYSSCPA statewide committees that you can join. . A lot of these committees meet virtually, so there is no commute involved. I encourage all to explore and join some of the statewide committees as well.
The NYSSCPA Suffolk Chapter continues to be there for its members and we will continue to do our best to represent all of you. If I can be of any assistance at all, please reach out to me at the address below.
I look forward to a great upcoming year, to the continued growth of the chapter and to working with all of you.
whuether@sheehancpa.com.