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History of the Chattanooga
Chapter
Association of Government Accountants
Period Covering: June 2007 to May 2008
|
Officers:
President
Brian Lopez-Cepero, MBA
President-elect
Beverly Adams
Secretary
Linda Tate, CGFM
Treasurer
Eleanor Liu
Immediate
past president:
Mike Hicks, CGFM
Board:
Deby Davis, CGFM
Mark Messer
Miguel Partap
Chris Haley, CGFM
Josephine Owino
Juliana Paucar
Pamela Smith
Preciosa Goduco, CGFM
CEC
Board meetings were held on June 12th and July 10th
getting the program for the new year in order to establish programs and
priorities. It is a primary goal to
emphasize membership growth. Brian
is asking for a “Plus ONE” program from each member.
Seven of the last eight years have been negative growth.
The
first membership meeting of the year was held on
August 28, 2007 at the Chattanooga CHOO CHOO. Brian Lopez-Cepero, our
current President, lead the meeting and the speaker was Jacqueline Strong-Moss
of the Office of Multicultural Affairs for the City of Chattanooga.
She gave us a good overview of the diversity changes taking place in Chattanooga.
We had 50 members in attendance.
The community service project for the month was the Nehemiah project
which was filling backpacks with school supplies for local students.
Earlier
we had to replace Linda Tate, CGFM, due to illness with Cheryl Pohle as
secretary. Also we replaced
Jennifer Owino with Denise Hamby as the Community Service Coordinator for the
Chapter. The September meeting was
on the 25th at the Chattanooga CHOO CHOO.
Brian Lopez-Cepero, MBA, ran the meeting.
The speaker was Mindy Stooksbury, RSBA, our AGA Regional Vice-President.
We had a good turnout of 44 people, and Mrs. Stooksbury was impressed
with our participation. Her topic
was “Generations… Bridging the Gap”.
The community service project for the month was volunteering at the
Hamilton County Fair on September 23-24. There
were many who turned out to volunteer at the fair.
The
month of October was the annual Accounting Lecture Series held at the Convention
Center. The meeting was the joint meeting with the Institute of Internal
Auditors and the TSCPA.
The speaker was Ms. Katherine Schipper, Duke
University, on “Two Current (and Recurring) Issues
in Financial Reporting”.
The
November meeting was held on the 27th at the Chattanooga CHOO CHOO.
The speaker was
Anne
Wilkins, from the University
of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Mrs. Wilkins spoke on “the Current Tax Updates”.
We
gave a $300 donation check to the Community Kitchen.
The
membership gave an additional $80 in donations at the door.
Mrs. Vanessa Blevins, Community Kitchen, accepted the donation.
Volunteer sign-up sheets were put out for help on Dec. 11th at
the Ronald McDonald House Adopt-a-Meal, for Dec. 16th for help
wrapping Christmas Presents for Kids on the Block at Hamilton Place Mall and
Dec. 18th with our Christmas party for the 4th grade at Orchard Knob
School.
The
annual Christmas luncheon was held at the Chattanooga Trade and Convention
center on Dec. 18th.
This was a fun meeting for everyone. Mike Hicks provided the entertainment,
which was a version of “Deal or No Deal”.
In addition, the Chapter scholarship for $500 was presented to Natalia
Romanova, UTC student who was graduating this month.
The chapter helped with the Kids on the Block Christmas wrapping on
Sunday, December 16th, at Hamilton Place.
AGA members gave the whole Orchard Knob
School 4th
grade class a Christmas party with school supplies and gifts for our community
project in December also.
On
Dec. 11th we hosted a dinner for the people staying at the Ronald
McDonald House.
The
January 22nd meeting started the New Year with Prof. Tom Gavin, UTC,
speaking on “Business Ethics”.
Through the generosity of our members, we were able to donate items requested by
RATI, and also make a cash donation of $130.00.
Ms. Erin Creal from Rooms at the Inn
was present to accept our donations.
The
February meeting was on the 19th at the Walden Club in a joint meeting with ACFE
and the IIA. The speaker was
Mr. Dennis F. Dycus,
CFE, CPA, CGFM, presently serves as the Director of the Division of Municipal
Audit for the Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury, State of Tennessee.
His
topic was “Why Auditors Fail to Detect Fraud”. Mr. Dycus was a very interesting
speaker and was appreciated by the approximately 125 people at the meeting.
AGA had about 45 members there.
The
March meeting was held on the 27th at the Chattanooga Trade & Convention Center.
Our speaker was
Ms. Beverly Inman Ebel speaking on "Communications".
Our chapter hosted the Regional Professional Development
Conference (PDC) also at the Chattanooga Trade and Convention Center.
This PDC was held on March 27th & 28th.
There were available 17 CPE hours.
Our keynote speaker was Relmond Van Daniker, DBA, CPA, and Executive
Director of AGA National Office.
The other speakers for the Regional PDC were Sefton Boyars, CGFM, who spoke
about Single Audits, David Bean, CPA, who spoke on GASB Updates, Dave Hancox,
CGFM, who spoke on Internal Controls and Understanding A-123, and Dr. Janet
Kelly, who spoke on financial Leadership. The Thursday night highlight was a
dinner cruise on the riverboat “Southern Belle”.
Our
April meeting was on the 22nd back at the Chattanooga CHOO CHOO. Our speaker was
Ann Wilkins, CPA and a teacher at UTC.
Her topic was on “IRS Form 990 and Non-Profits”.
At this meeting we gave a $200 donation to Room at the
Inn
for battered women. In addition,
the members in attendance added another $122 in donations along with a large
supply of Baby wipes. This
concluded our year of regular meetings.
All regular meetings were CPE certified meetings.
All in all, there were 43 hours of CPE certified programs provided to the
membership on the local level in-town.
Our
last meeting of the year is our Year-End Awards banquet, which was held at the
Chattanooga Trade and Convention Center.
Our Financial Manager of the Year award was given to Hamilton County
Mayor Claude Ramsey with over 30-years in public service.
County Mayor Ramsey has been very supportive of the AGA program in the
County
Accounting program and he
provided the first ever Proclamation declaring March 2008 as CGFM month along
with a similar proclamation from the City of Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield.
Our Chapter Service Award was given to Preciosa Goduco, CGFM for her many
years of service and dedication to the Chattanooga AGA Chapter.
Preciosa is currently serving as our Membership Coordinator.
Brian Lopez-Cepero, president, presented each of his Chapter Executive
Committee with a specially autographed mounted print entitled “Freedom Flight”
signed personally by artist Larry Dodson.
The
new officers for 2008 - 2009 were elected as follows:
President
Beverly Adams
President-Elect
Miguel
Partap
Treasurer
Eleanor Liu
Secretary
Cheryl Pohle
Immediate
past president:
Brian D. Lopez-Cepero, MBA
Board:
Preciosa Goduco, CGFM
Chris Haley, CGFM
Denise Hamby
Tanisha Hannon
Anthony Sammons
Harold Tallant
Coordinators:
Domina Alford (Co-chair)
Thomas Chong
Peggy Eagle (Co-chair)
Mark Messer
Juliana Paucar
Our
Year-end Award luncheon was held at the Chattanooga Trade and Convention Center
on Tuesday, May 20, 2008.
The newly elected officers were sworn in.
The annual awards were presented as follows:
Membership
Incentive Awards--
Fourth
Place:
Preciosa Goduco, CGFM
Third Place:
Eleanor Liu
Second
Place:
Beverly Adams
First Place:
Deby Davis, CGFM
Chapter
Service Award:
Preciosa Goduco, CGFM
Financial
Manager of the Year: Claude
Ramsey, Hamilton County Mayor
Perfect
Attendance drawing:
Daisy Madison, CGFM
Community
Service drawing:
Brian D. Lopez-Cepero, MBA
New Member
Sponsor drawing: Paula Ables
Respectfully submitted,
Brian
D. Lopez-Cepero, MBA