From Chapter President Andrew Lewis, CGFM, CPA

Welcome to an exciting and rewarding 2010-2011 program year! I am joined this year by 31 dedicated members of our executive team who started working over the summer to plan out a variety of events, programs, and workshops that will provide great educational, social, and networking opportunities for you and your colleagues. Keep checking the events tab on our website (www.marylandaga.com), and you can see all of the upcoming events, including dinner meetings, workshops, audio conferences, community service programs, and early careers events. More events are added every week, so check back often. Also, check us out on Facebook for updates as well!

At the beginning of the summer, a number of our chapter members responded to a member survey to help us plan our 2010-2011 program year. The results were quite positive, including almost 50% who rated our chapter programs as “very satisfactory” (the highest rating on the survey). The other responses proved very useful to our board members as we looked at the programs and events that meet your needs, and gaps in our programs that you’d like to see us add in the coming months. One message that we heard loud and clear was the desire by many for support to earn your Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM) credential - a valuable and important credential in the Federal, state, and local government accountability communities. As a result, look for programs this year to help you reach this goal, including additional CGFM review materials available to our members for free, a CGFM mentor program, and a CGFM peer study program.

One of my goals as chapter president is to work with key area employers, such as Federal and local government agencies in Montgomery County and Prince Georges County, to remind them of the benefits that they and their employees can gain through support and attendance at our events and programs. Some of you have heard me refer to this as our FIMBY initiative (“Friends in My Back Yard”). I will share progress with you in this column as we work with our area leaders through this initiative, along with through AGA’s national accountability initiative.

It’s important to me that this chapter meets all of your needs. If you have comments to share or would like to learn more about how to get involved, please don’t hesitate to contact me at aclewis@kpmg.com, or by calling me at 202-533-4886.

I can’t wait to see you at one of our many upcoming events!

Andrew