A Lot of Exciting Things!

Welcome to fall! Most people associate the season of spring with the words rejuvenation and excitement. But, here at CPAFMA, we have a lot of exciting things happening now.

At our conference in June, I spoke to you about leadership. Recently, I had the privilege of attending a luncheon that included a keynote address by Maryum “May May” Ali, daughter of Muhammad Ali. Maryum’s field of passion is social work, specifically in the area of gang prevention and intervention for at-risk children and family. While it was interesting to hear her stories regarding her father and his qualities, she focused her talk on leadership. In relating leadership to her field, she mentioned the importance of several success factors, including “multi-faceted solutions and collaborative planning.” Wow – universally, leaders are focusing on the same things.

On a daily basis, the CPAFMA board works hard at developing solutions and planning collaboratively to add value to our organization and our members. This past week, we had a board meeting to continue implementing all aspects of our strategic plan: growing leaders, solidifying our PAFM program, developing content, engaging our members and articulating our value proposition. I welcome you to reach out to me or any other board member for details and to get involved. The organization can continue to grow only through future leaders and your ongoing involvement.

We welcomed two new board members to the team in July. Tiffany Taft, PAFM (Baker Holtz, CPAs and Advisors) and Michael Mariano, PAFM (Leaf, Miele, Magnanelli, Fortunato & Engel, LLC) are wonderful additions and bring great enthusiasm, ideas and passion to the team. We are lucky to have these two talented individuals working on our behalf of our organization.

Several of your board members gathered in August to plan for next year’s conference. We are excited to be partnering with AICPA to develop the robust offerings of the 2018 ENGAGE conference to be held in Las Vegas from June 11-14. We know that our members love to connect and network with one another. To that end, we have ensured daily activities to allow our group to be together: walks, receptions, evening activities, etc. We are going to have a great time of learning and networking. Make plans now to attend!