May 2012

Dear AZ Valley of the Sun Members:

What a wonderful way to end the month – the weather for the Steak Fry was perfect, the food delicious, and the company scintillating! We had a good 40 people attend, making it a rousing follow-up success to last year. Special thanks to Sal Forzano and Bill Fraser for making this happen. Thanks also to Rus Brock (Cheryl’s husband) for doing the cooking, Sal’s daughter Mary Ellen for handling the finances, and Bill Hooks for the marvelous steaks!

Our April session included a plant tour of the new Crescent Crown Distributing facility in Mesa, and what a beauty the facility is! Neil Baier, VP of Finance for Crescent Crown took us on the tour, as well presenting Financial and Regulatory Issues for the Beer Industry at the evening tech session. Informative and entertaining! The company is more than a distribution company, handling all the printing requirements of their customers as well as maintaining the inventory accuracy and aging of the stock at the retailers.

Coming up in May is something different in topic as well as location. We will be touring the Mountain Vista Medical Center on Crismon Road in Mesa and then having dinner at the Arizona Golf Resort at Power Road and Broadway, also in Mesa. Both sessions are designed to increase our knowledge of the Regulatory and Financial issues of the Healthcare industry. The speaker at the evening session will be Jim Haynes, the CFO for the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association. These are issues that affect all of us so this should be very interesting!

Starting with our June tech session, we will be returning to the Doubletree at 320 N. 44^th St in Phoenix. This is just south of the Red Mountain 202 at the 44^th Street exit. There were major scheduling issues with ASU Karsten so after investigation of alternate sites, the Doubletree was chosen. We had been there five or so years back and the food was always good. They have promised us we will be in the salon rooms and not the pool rooms, for those of you who remember the sessions there.

Since this is my last column as President, I want to thank the entire chapter board for all their work and support this year. We really have accomplished quite a lot! We started up the plant tours again, which have been very well attended, and held a CMA review class for Part I with 16 participants! One of our goals was to provide superior member service and your board delivered with excellent programs as well as making sure the CPE’s provided followed NASBA guidelines.

The Community Service projects were outstanding thanks to all of you! Your contributions of time for charitable walks, service in teaching MoneySmart and VITA participation, and gifts of water for the homeless and Christmas gifts to needed children, as well as money, were incredibly generous and display such a depth of character with your contributions to others less fortunate. Give yourselves a hand! You deserve it.

Thank you all for your commitment to leadership and the accounting profession! With Cheryl Brock at the helm as your President, I know that 2012-2013 will be an even better year for our chapter!

Respectfully,

Karen Timian, CMA, CPIM
2011-2012 President
IMA AZ Valley of the Sun Chapter