Building an enduring network.

• Author: McCormally, Timothy J.

While education and advocacy are very important to the ongoing success of Tax Executives Institute, member feedback suggests that the primary reason that tax professionals join TEI is networking. That's one reason I share the experiences of members who have benefitted from the Institute's network of 53 chapters and more than 5,800 members. My last column, for example, bade farewell to two state and local professionals whose combined membership in TEI spanned six decades. My comments about Jerry Steltenkamp and Steve Friedlander prompted a message from Eugene K. Black, a long-time member of the Dallas Chapter and a former vice chair of the State and Local Tax Committee. Ken retired last July, and had found himself so busy in retirement that he hadn't had the opportunity to send in an "official" resignation. This was his message:

At the time I retired, I had been in the accounting field for 36 years, the last 28 in state and local taxation and a member of TEI for 21 years. I made many acquaintances in TEI over the years

who became really good friends. I can remember when S&L was a very small part of the make-up of TEI and through many struggles and participation of people like Jerry, it is now a very integral part. I want to thank you and others at TEI for making my years in TEI such a great experience, as just a member, as a S&L Committee member, as Dallas Chapter President, and in other functions which I assisted with. It was work, but it was a pleasure working with you. Thank you for helping me grow in the tax profession.

Like so many of TEI's volunteer leaders, Ken is modest in describing his role in expanding TEI's state and local tax activities. A faithful member of the State and Local Tax Committee at a time when its meetings could be held in a rather small room, Ken pushed and prodded and helped us respond to the membership's growing needs in this area. I recall our struggling over the agendas for liaison meetings with the Federation of Tax Administrators and the Multistate Tax Committee, and am grateful to him (and his fellow committee members) for teaching me the fundamentals of state and local taxation. (As a federal tax practitioner before I joined TEI's staff, I thought SALT was something I was supposed to avoid, like mayonnaise and sweetened soft drinks.) One of my regrets is that a change in Ken's employment status forced him to step down from the State and Local Tax Committee just after he had been appointed its...