To begin, I want to steal from one of my predecessors. CPA – Coolest Professional Around. Thanks Ty Dennis! We all need to do a better job of presenting this message to the next generation of high school, community college, and four-year college students. One of my passions for many years has been financial literacy. I think that the outreach that CalCPA does in this area for students can easily be combined with our efforts to increase the numbers of candidates in the CPA pipeline. We need to inform them of the myriad of niche opportunities in our profession. They may know about tax and audit. However, they may not know about what I do. My practice consists of business management services for entertainment clients and financial planning/investment advisory services. What about forensic accounting or work with non-profits? We need to address this void of knowledge about our profession if we are to succeed in increasing the number of students entering our profession.

While trying to engage the next generation of CPAs has to be a priority, we still need to provide benefit and meaning to our current membership. When I first became involved with CalCPA in the 90s, there were many monthly discussion groups. Today, they are quite rare. While we can’t turn back the clock, we have made a real effort to have several exciting events in various locations around our chapter area. I think that you will find them engaging and useful. I know that we all utilize webinars. However, this online learning does not replace in person events. You can’t compare online groups with networking in the flesh. I know I have learned a lot from my colleagues by talking with them at various events. I hope that you will join me at our ABC (Attorneys, Bankers & CPAs) networking event on June 13th. We also have our Student Summer Leadership Program on June 25th and June 26th. Volunteer and be a mentor. We also have a networking mixer for our SLP attendees and Emerging Professionals on July 25th and then our Honoree night for new licensees and scholarship award winners on August 8th. As you can see, we have a lot going on. This is your chapter and organization. If you have any ideas on how we can better serve members, please let me know.