San diego chapter gary correia headquarters liaison: the san diego chapter of financial executives international has maintained a strong local board of directors, and an exclusive list of active sponsors, as well as a relatively stable membership. we are blessed with a diverse economy, great local universities, high-growth industries, an entrepreneurial spirit and great weather.

• Position: COMMUNITY STRATEGY - Conference news

Under the guidance of our new President, Barrett Lambert, the board and committees have delivered superior educational programs in the form of professional development sessions, program speakers and special events. By way of some stats, we have 20 voting active board members (who rarely miss a meeting), consisting of three officers, a past president, 16 board members, and a part-time chapter administrator.

San Diego maintains an annual planning meeting in July, where goals are set, budgets reviewed and discussed, and all committees present their plans and status for the upcoming fiscal year. Many of the committees have already met and schedules have been laid out. Within the Programs and Professional Development Committees, most of the topics and speakers have already been selected (this generally takes place four to eight months in advance). San Diego Chapter generally maintains a set schedule of our eight meetings, starting with our Professional Development session hosted by our sponsor from 4:305:30 pm, followed by our cocktail hour and by dinner/announcements at 6:30 pm, and our featured speaker by 7:30 pm. The program usually ends by 8:30 pm.

In 2014, San Diego FEI partnered with chapter sponsors to offer two special professional development opportunities during the lunch hour. Managed by our Professional Development Chair Thomas Brown, one session focused on Personal Income Tax Issues and Strategies for CFOs, and the other session focused on Cyber Liability. We held the sessions in areas of the city closer to where our members work. Our sponsors hosted the meetings as well as providing the program speakers. These special events were received enthusiastically by the members in attendance, and provided a great chance to network in a setting outside the normal monthly chapter meetinas.

In assessing our overall professional development offerings, the sessions dealing with non-accounting business topics were the most popular and effective in drawing interest from our members. Our members usually receive accounting and tax information updates from FEI, their accounting firms, and a variety of other professional sources during the year. So, programs covering uncommon business topics were highly regarded and well-attended. Successful examples include the local economic outlook, career management for CFOs and what board members...