Alan Getz receives TEI president's award.

During the 2009 Annual Conference, TEI President Vince Alicandri presented the Institute's President's Award to Alan Getz of the New York Chapter. Mr. Alicandri summarized the reasons for the award, as follows:

A member for almost three decades, Alan is well known to members of the New York Chapter. In addition, anyone who has attended a TEI conference--or delivered a keynote address--over the past several years will immediately recognize him. You could always count on Alan to "break the silence" by asking the first question to government speakers at our conferences and to be at once courteous, knowledgeable, and focused. He brought the same focus to his work on the International Tax Committee. Alan joined the committee in 1986 and during the next 20 years participated in committee activities, mentoring younger members and sharing his technical expertise. He chaired the committee's Non-U.S. Owned Multinational Sub-committee and was also a member of our Tax Reform Task Force. Over the years, Alan has also served on the Awards, Communications, and Nominating Committees. Alan has held leadership roles at all levels of the organization, holding chapter Vice President and Treasurer positions for several years. In 1996, he began his service as the Chapter's Representative on the Institute's Board of Directors--a position he ably filled until he resigned earlier this year. Alan also served on TEI's Executive Committee, was Vice President for Region II, and represented the Institute on the IRS's Information Reporting Program Advisory Committee. His 28 years of dedicated service truly make him a worthy recipient of tonight's award. Remember what I said earlier about daring to get involved? We should put Alan's picture next to those words. His qualifications can be summed up in six words: He was always there for TEI. Upon accepting the award, Mr. Getz offered the following observations:

During this political season one of the most often used phrases is one I feel compelled to begin my remarks with, and although it has been used time and again by so many speakers, it reflects my feelings and comes from the bottom of my heart. The phrase I'm referring to is: THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME TO SERVE. It is hard to know where to begin to thank you for this wonderful acknowledgement. I truly feel it is I who should be giving an award to TEI rather than the other...