Growing membership, getting connected.

• Author: Silbiger, Mark
• Position: Tax Executives Institute - President's page

I hope everyone had a joyous holiday season and has hit the ground running in 2015. Here at TEI, we are engaged on many fronts to advance our theme of Growing Membership, Getting Connected. I would like to share my own perspective on this theme and update you on the progress of several of the key initiatives we've undertaken to implement that concept.

The idea for Growing Membership, Getting Connected had its genesis in my strong belief that we should always be exploring ways to make TEI and its core principles--education, networking, and advocacy-- appealing to the broadest cross-section of the in-house tax professional community worldwide. Since 1944, we have grown from 15 to more than 7,000 members, from one chapter to 56, from one continent to five. Yet against this record of success, accomplishment, and service, the changing demographics of the in-house tax community demand more from TEI. We must critically assess whether the TEI of today effectively aligns with the needs and expectations of today's (and, to a large extent, tomorrow's) in-house tax community.

These are the challenges encompassed by Growing Membership, Getting Connected, and I am delighted to report on some of our progress as well as invite your participation and feedback.

Expanding TEI's Global Footprint to Latin America

Through the concerted efforts of Lionel Nobre (Dell) and Daniel Paco (Petrobras) and their fellow in-house tax professionals, a successful business case was developed and documented to the Institute's Board of Directors to support the chartering of a TEI chapter in Latin America. Their tireless efforts to spread the word about the importance of having a professional association of tax professionals took the form of more than a dozen "in-formation" meetings across Latin America over a period of 16 months. The groundswell of interest demonstrated the sustainability of a TEI chapter, and the Institute's Board concurred.

I offer my sincere thanks to Daniel and Lionel and all their colleagues, and look forward to helping the chapter "stand up" in the coming months. At the same time, I would like to applaud and thank Carita Twinem and Teri Wielenga, my colleagues and predecessors, for their foresight and drive to put Latin America on the TEI map. Now, TEI brings its mission and principle of education, networking, and advocacy to Latin America--hopefully with more to come.

Emerging Tax Professionals

Apart from expanding the Institute's global footprint, we...