Your Association has an incredibly energetic Board of Directors and they are making some big waves indeed:

• Jessica Fox (Union Bank of California) has assumed the chair’s responsibility for Symposium 2002 and is working with her committee to produce an exciting, high quality two-day event for us. Mark the date now: Wednesday & Thursday, April 24 – 25, 2002, in downtown Los Angeles.
• Tiffany Cook (Fidelity Investments) has her Membership Committee developing new materials to retain members and encourage new members.
• Celeste Caulfield (USA Petroleum), Chair of the Communications Committee, has completely revamped the Association’s Web site (note the new URL: www.scafp.net), where meeting notices and this newsletter are posted.
• Incidentally, thanks to Beth Hosen (JP Morgan Chase) for putting the newsletter together.
• Teri Ozurovich-Kane, Treasurer, has completed the budget process and the Board has approved that budget to guide our activities during the coming year.
• Jim Garbat (Whittier College), chair of the Education Committee, is developing plans for several one-day seminars as well as a CCM Review Workshop next spring.
• Jackie Benderski (Morgan Stanley) and Janet Vogel (Pepperdine), co-chairs of the Meeting Programs Committee, have developed programs for our monthly meetings out to March, 2002 and they are continuing to search out exciting speakers on interesting topics.
• John Mattly (Kern County Treasurer’s Office), Chair of External Organization Relations Committee, has advised us that The Patriot’s Act (H.R. 3162), which President Bush signed on October 26, potentially affects corporate treasury operations, and he is taking steps to post the relevant portions of the Act on our Web site. Check it out.

Meanwhile, your Association’s by-laws were revised and approved by the Board, reflecting the changes recommended by the Strategic Planning Committee last year. This includes the obvious change in our name from the Treasury Association of Southern California to the Southern California Association for Financial Professionals. Spearheading the by-laws revisions were Paz Hernandez (Foothill Capital), who chaired the ad hoc committee, together with Michael Hards (JP Morgan Chase) and Morgyn Taylor (Fremont General), all of whom participated on the Strategic planning Committee. Any member may request a copy of the revised by-laws from our Association office by calling (818) 843-5660.

Incidentally, our meeting programs aren’t always as timely as the "Disaster Planning" program in August, but many of them are extremely valuable to members. So try to attend every one of the nine meetings that we hold each year. By the way, the "Disaster Planning" meeting was produced by Jessica Fox, who headed Meeting Programs last year.

I’m excited about how everything is coming together this year. We can always use additional help from members who want to become involved, so please call me at (818) 892-2093 and tell me, "Dick, you can count on me." Do something for your Association and win the Association’s highest honor, the coveted "You Can Count On Me!" button.

Dick Bort, CCM

President