President's Message

July 2010

Dear AZ Valley of the Sun Members:

I attended the 91st IMA Annual Conference & Exposition in Baltimore at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront hotel.  The first meeting I attended was the IMA National board meeting on Saturday.  I heard about outcomes for the year and plans and goals for the upcoming year.  Jeff Thomson, John Brausch, and other National board members and chairs spoke about topics including the new two part CMA Exam, the CMA prep 3.0 system, rolling out the leadership academy and mentoring programs,  spreading the word about IMA in our communities … membership growth, and an overall goal to continue to create superior member value. 

Saturday evening I attended the Stuart Cameron McCloud Society induction ceremony as an inductee (with Sal Forzano as my sponsor) along with several other  inductees including our IMA President and CEO, Jeff Thomson, with IMA Chair, John Brausch as his sponsor.  We began with the traditional SCMS induction march led by Pam Prinz Stewart, SCMS President, all inductees and their sponsors follow to the Induction ceremony.  We ended the evening by attending the SCMS & IMA Board of Directors dinner/dance on the ship “The Baltimore Spirit”.  We enjoyed a wonderful dinner, dancing and boat ride.  This was quite an exciting event where I had the opportunity to discuss ideas with and learn from national board members and past presidents and former chairs.

I attended seminars and networking events daily where I met many members from other chapters.  Maryann Jennings, Professor of Legal and Ethical Studies, Arizona State University was invited to speak again this year and her ethics presentation was very powerful… reminding all of us to think about how easy it is to slip from the gray area to something that will bring the regulators to the door.  Additional sessions I attended included an IFRS and, XBRL update, a session about the IMA Leadership Academy and Mentoring, and a very memorable and inspiring presentation from John O’Leary, President and Owner of Rising Above. 

The last night of the conference, I attended the Annual Reception & Dinner.  Our chapter was presented with four awards that evening.  The Wild West Council had both the Las Vegas and AZ Valley of the Sun chapters accepting awards.  At the end of the evening, John Brausch welcomed Dr. Sandra Richtemeyer as the 2010-2011IMA Chair. 

I want to be sure to share that the talk at the conference confirmed what I knew … our AZ Valley of the Sun Chapter is a very active chapter with many strong members and leaders… as board members were saying “Arizona Valley of the Sun … they have it going on”. 

I am very inspired by the ideas and goals I have heard about and discussed with several of you.  I look forward to hearing from everyone …our Chapter planning session will be Saturday morning, July 17th – at the Saguaro Library. 

Of note..... I am excited to let you know we have booked Jeff Thomson, IMA President and CEO to visit us in January…. more to come on his visit later. 

I hope everyone will join us at the upcoming double session on IFRS.  I also encourage everyone to start thinking about next year’s conference in Orlando, Florida.

This is going to be another great year for AZVOTS!

Sincerely,

Pam
Pamela Zanzucchi, MBA
2010-2011 President
IMA AZ Valley of the Sun Chapter