The 2010-2011 chapter year was very successful for the Long Island chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). In October, the Long Island chapter was selected as a recipient of the Long Island Business News' "Fifty or so Around 50 Award." The Long Island Business News holds this annual awards event to honor various companies and business leaders that are over 50 years of age. Founded in 1951, our 59 year old chapter was proud to be a recipient of this award.
We increased chapter membership 20%, from 300 to 360 and we increased average attendance at our monthly dinner meetings by 33% to an average of 75 people per meeting. The IMA also conducted a food drive for Island Harvest that collected over 32,000 pounds of food for needy Long Islanders. I would like to thank Bob Arnold and Bob Arnold, Jr. who spearheaded this effort. Lastly, we are pleased to announce that the IMA will be the presenting sponsor of the Margolin Weiner & Evins Accounting Challenge this coming November. The Accounting Challenge is an academic competition among Long Island colleges. The IMA will be providing scholarships to each of the students that participate in this event
As I met members from other IMA chapters, I came to learn that our Long Island chapter is one of the most active and highly respected chapters in the U.S. In 1987, our chapter established an annual award event to honor the financial executive of the year of a Long Island company. IMA National embraced our concept and in 1989, created a similar award on a national basis. Board members from other chapters periodically sit in on our board meetings and chapter events to learn the secrets of our success.
I believe our success is due to the collaborative effort put forth by a Board of Directors that is comprised of a highly motivated group of dedicated professionals from multiple disciplines. These disciplines include public accounting, private accounting, government, education, banking, the legal profession and a variety of niche consulting practices. When these different professions and individuals work together as a team, great things happen! As our dedicated board changes each year, fresh ideas continue to sprout from our IMA chapter. We are also fortunate to have a group of dedicated past chapter presidents who provide continuous guidance and leadership.
Our successful events would not be possible without the various sponsors that support our organization. We have four sponsors at our dinner meetings and two sponsors at our quarterly breakfast meetings. Sponsorship opportunities for the upcoming 2011-2012 chapter year are still available for some of our dinner meetings, quarterly CPE breakfasts, newsletter and on our website.
Each year our chapter hosts eight dinner meetings which are usually held the 2nd Tuesday of the month at the Milleridge Inn, in Jericho. The evening starts at 6 p.m. with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres and at 7:30 p.m. we have a panel discussion on a topic important to financial executives and their staffs. We provide one CPE credit for each meeting. Our December meeting is usually a festive holiday party. We also hold four quarterly breakfast seminars which offer 2 CPE credits. These quarterly seminars are free to members of our IMA chapter. Each May, we hold our annual award dinner to honor the financial executive of the year. On May 10th, we honored Ronald DeVos, vice president of finance, CFO, and secretary of Nathan's Famous, a $450 million publicly traded company based on Long Island.
The IMA is an association comprised of 60,000 members dedicated to the educating, certifying, and the training of management accountants and corporate financial managers around the world. As 80% of accountants and financial professionals work "inside" businesses and organizations, their work is essential to financial management, organizational development, and the achievement of strategic goals
I encourage you to attend our events, join our chapter and become actively involved in the IMA. You can learn more about our chapter, the IMA and register for our events by visiting our website, www.longisland.imanet.org.
My successor for the 2011 - 2012 chapter year is Arthur Sanders who recently retired as an officer from the accounting firm, Israeloff, Trattner & Co. PC. Sanders and his Board of Directors will be planning a comprehensive schedule of interesting monthly and quarterly meetings which will commence this coming September.
I am proud to have served as the president of this prestigious organization for the 2010 - 2011 chapter year.

Neil Seiden is the president of the Long Island Chapter IMA.
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