A message from the president.

• Author: Traubenberg, Neil D.

What a year it has been for Tax Executives Institute. On the educational, networking, and advocacy fronts, the Institute has had a busy year, and a year of accomplishment. TEI held conferences, seminars, and courses that provided our members with high-quality, cost-effective training. It launched a new website that broadened and strengthened the network of in-house tax professionals that now circles the globe. And our advocacy on behalf of the business tax community remained second to none. From comments on the proposed Schedule UTP to congressional testimony on state tax apportionment issues, from submissions on the harmonization of Canada's provincial sales taxes to comments on the OECD's business profits and transfer pricing guidelines, from liaison meetings with the U.S. Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, and their Canadian counterparts, to reinstated meetings with the Federation of Tax Administrators and Multistate Tax Commission, the Institute has met the challenges of being the preeminent association of corporate tax executives worldwide. This report summarizes our efforts.

Yes, We Can ... and Did

The goals established by TEI's Board of Directors in August 2009 focused on a single theme, "Yes, we can," and on maintaining the level of excellence that our members have come to expect from TEI: Remaining the preeminent organization for business tax professionals. Maintaining our tradition of providing comprehensive, cost-effective education. Effectively advocating the membership's views at all levels of government.

With the economic recession and resultant pressure on tax department budgets, our success was not guaranteed except by one thing: the Institute's 65 years of experience of responding effectively to members needs. Our founders and their successors did not flinch or withdraw, and the Institute's Board was determined that this past year we would not either. Faced with the potential effect of reduced travel and training budgets on attendance at Institute programs, our local chapters stepped up and expanded their offerings, ensuring that our members would stay up to date. At the Institute level, we broadened the scope of TEI's webinars and other distance learning programs.

Among TEI's greatest strengths is the breadth of our membership, in terms of the members' varying experience levels, the sizes of their departments and companies, and their industries' often divergent interests. Recognizing the challenge of being "all things to all...