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Special
message about the CGFM Examination (posted 07/01/2009)
President's
Message
Hello fellow
governmental accountants!
My name is Raul
Anaya and I am the 2009/2010 president of the AGA Albuquerque Chapter. I
would like to thank the NM Chapter president, Bryan Maestas, and the
newsletter chair, Peter Pacheco, for allowing the Albuquerque Chapter to be
part of this newsletter. Working with our neighbor chapter in Santa Fe has
been a beneficial relationship for both Chapters, as I hope Bryan would
agree.
We had an event
filled summer where our chapters partnered together to create the first
annual AGA Summer Series. We held a variety of technical CPE classes in
June and July ranging from “Reading Basic Financial Statements” to “How to
Pull Information from SHARE.” In August, we held a joint Welcome Back
picnic in Santa Fe where we shared some delicious hamburgers and an assortment
of desserts. This relationship between the Chapters will continue to
prosper and benefit members of both organizations. I encourage members of
both chapters to attend AGA meetings of either chapter, depending on the
city you may be doing business in on a given day.
I am very excited
about our board this year and would like to introduce them all to you. Our
Immediate Past President and current Educational and Points Chair is Javier
Machuca, CGFM, CPA. Javier’s duties include coordination of educational
opportunities and classes, tracking and reporting of all chapter points and
advising me based on his experience as past president. Brian Grega, CPA is
the chapter President-Elect and is in-charge of helping me run the Chapter,
as well as preparing to be the future chapter president. James Hartogensis,
CPA is the chapter Vice President and is responsible for coordinating
monthly luncheons, locations and speakers. Robert Cordova, CPA is chapter
Treasurer and is in-charge of all money collected and distributed by the
chapter. Gilbert Kometa, CGFM, is the Chapter Membership and CGFM
coordinator whose duties include the promotion of the CGFM certification,
creating CGFM educational opportunities, membership retention and
recruitments efforts of potential new members. Stephanie Yara, CGFM, CPA is
the Chapter Secretary in charge of the written documentation of all chapter
board meetings. Peter Gilmour, CGFM is our Awards Chair and is in-charge of
awards for speakers and chapter members. Marla Gorena, MBA is our Program
Chair and is responsible for the coordination and planning of all Chapter
special events and training classes. Laura Beltran-Schmitz, CPA is our
Early Career and Social Networking Chair and is responsible for the
promotion of AGA to early career accountants as well as organizing social
events for our members. Anthony Lo, CGFM, CPA is our Webmaster and is in
charge of the chapter website. William Sweeney is a valued board member who
aides in all board decisions and the promotion of the AGA. This board is
made up of talented individuals from various organizations and back grounds
that will aide in the advancement and betterment of the chapter.
One initiative
that our board has embraced which has been a recent success in our Chapter
is the Student Sponsorship program. This sponsorship provides college
students who have an interest in governmental accounting a membership to
join the AGA, invitations to all chapter luncheons and events with all
expenses paid by the Chapter. In addition, the student will join the board
for the fiscal year and participate in all board activity. This is way for
the AGA to reach out to future governmental accountants and provides the
students with a valuable opportunity to network with governmental
professionals, be a part of a professional board and to learn more about
various careers in governmental accounting. We are very happy to announce
that Carson Townsend from the University of New Mexico and Maura Najera
from New Mexico State University have applied for the sponsorship and have
been approved by the Board. Carson will be joining the Albuquerque board
and Maura the El Paso board. A special thanks goes out to Laura
Beltran-Schmitz for putting this together.
Congratulations
to Javier for receiving the Gold Chapter Recognition award at the National
PDC in New Orleans this past June! Although Gold was good this year the
chapter is aiming for a platinum chapter recognition award. I look forward
to hearing from any and all members on how we can make your membership
experience as enjoyable as possible. Please contact me at ranaya@meyners.com
with
topics you would like addressed, events, possible speakers, events, ideas
or anything that you would like to see from the chapter.
Thank you for
allowing me this opportunity to introduce myself. I look forward to working
with you all.
Sincerely,
Raul J. Anaya
2009/2010
President
AGA Albuquerque
Chapter
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