'Embracing change, building on tradition'.

• Author: Wielenga, Terilea J.
• Position: Tax Executive Institute - President's page

There was something very special about the first time I addressed TEI's Board of Directors as TEI's International President. As I prepared to call the meeting to order in Dana Point, I paused for a brief moment to reflect on my twenty years of membership in TEI, and to consider just how many of the professional milestones in my career had been connected in some way to my involvement with TEL I remember thinking about that journey as I first thanked the Board for its support and then began articulating my vision for the coming year, under the theme of "Embracing Change, Building on Tradition."

My quick journey through time reminded me when Bill McLeod, then Vice-President of Tax at Allergan, encouraged me to join TEI. We had worked together at Deloitte, and when he hired me at Allergan, he became my boss, mentor and friend. My path at TEI began as a founding member of the Orange County Chapter, my current TEI home. Being on the "ground floor," presented opportunities to roll up my sleeves, and get involved. It also afforded me the opportunity to "step up" to leadership roles, including chapter committee chair, chapter president and chapter representative. While serving as chapter representative, then Executive Director Mike Murphy called and asked if I wanted to serve on Les Ezrati's Executive Committee, Bill was instantly supportive, remarking "you have to do this--it is an honor to be asked!" Institute-level responsibilities further enriched my development as a tax professional, and revealed how vital it is to stay true to your principles, build a reputation for integrity and serve the needs of TEI's membership.

Melding service and integrity lie at the core of who I am as a person and as a tax professional. My service to TEI has been and continues to be guided by those principles. Thus, when laying out my goals for the coming year, it was only natural that those principles were taken into consideration.

In the coming year, I have challenged our leadership and membership to examine three central aspects of TEI: who we are as an organization, how we govern ourselves and how we bring educational value to our members around the world. Let me say word or two on each aspect.

Examining who we are as an organization reflects my belief that it is both healthy and essential for TEI to assess whether the needs of the entire in-house tax professional community are being effectively served? More specifically, have the demographics of the in-house...