From the Corner Office

Dear Fellow SCAFP Associates,

There's new grass on the field and the bouquet of hot dogs, roasted peanuts and cotton candy blend with spring breezes. This could mean only one thing my fellow SCAFP members. . .   EXPO L.A. is right around the corner! This will be the Association's 27th Annual EXPO L.A. and I am confident that all of you have been eagerly waiting for this year's affair since the final bell rang on the 26th Annual EXPO L.A. in May of last year.  Well, your patience will be rewarded and your expectations met with the program that EXPO L.A. Chair Janine Debban and her team have put together. Janine and her team have worked tirelessly to bring us a diverse and educational grouping of topics and speakers that will leave you feeling invigorated and ready to meet the challenges you face every day. If you haven't already registered, then what are you waiting for? I also urge you to share the details of this program with your colleagues and clients as the information provided will be extremely topical and beneficial to anyone in the Treasury Management field.

Speaking of topical and beneficial, I am sure that you have noticed a few new locations for our monthly lunch meetings. The current board of SCAFP felt that the Downtown meetings had become a bit limiting and decided a change was needed to reach out to our members to excite and reinvigorate them.  That's not to say that we will never hold another meeting Downtown, but in the spirit of thinking outside the box, our last meeting was held at Spazio, a Sherman Oaks restaurant and prior to that we made a trek to the Hilton Hotel at the Los Angeles Airport.  The idea is to give those of our membership that may not be close to the Downtown area an opportunity to attend a meeting or two in their own backyards and to possibly spark interest in SCAFP membership to prospects.  The results have been great! These "field trips" have been extremely well received, and while there is no disputing that it is the topic and program that will compel members to attend, many members have approached me to thank SCAFP for being inclusive and thoughtful of the members that don't always have the same opportunities to attend meetings held Downtown. I thank you all for your support in this change and hope that you will feel free to share your thoughts both positive and negative.

That brings me to the subject of increasing corporate membership. To all the corporate practitioners, I ask that you make a concerted effort to invite other corporate practitioners to attend a meeting. And bankers, we have brochures for you to hand out to your corporate clients. This not only helps your corporate clients, it makes you look good to your prospects and clients. You all are aware of the benefits of membership in The Southern California Association for Financial Professionals, now it's time to spread the gospel, as it were. Let prospective members know about the great speakers you have had the chance to see and the networking opportunities provided at each meeting. 

Finally, I want to thank you for all of the support that each of you has given me as President of SCAFP. It is a truly rewarding experience and I hope all members will consider serving on the Board at some point in the future. With our schedules as packed as they are and our jobs becoming more and more demanding, I know it may seem like you couldn't possibly make the time for the challenge, but the rewards are grand. I ask that you seek out a Board Member past or present if you have any aspirations for serving the Association in that capacity or on a committee. A strong Association is dependent on the continued and enthusiastic participation of its members. 

I look forward to seeing you at the 27th Annual EXPO L.A. in Pasadena!

All the Best,

Shannon

Shannon Wexler
SVP/Treasury Sales Officer
Bank of America
333 South Hope Street, 12th Fl
Los Angeles, CA 90071
shannon.wexler@bankofamerica.com

27th Annual EXPO L.A.

27th Annual EXPO L.A. April 29-30, 2008 Pasadena Conference Center 300 E Green St, Pasadena, CA, 91101 Register on-line Who Should Attend the 27th Annual EXPO L.A.? CFOs - Treasurers - Controllers - Assistant Treasurers - Assistant Controllers -Cash Managers - Accounting Managers - Treasury Staff -Treasury Consultants - Bank Professionals Why should you attend 27th Annual EXPO L.A.? 27th Annual EXPO L.A. takes place on a regional stage with a national cast of highly experienced experts. The EXPO features four tracks running concurrently over two days for a total of 26 different presentations. You are welcome to attend sessions on numerous topics or to just focus on a few that particularly interest you. 27th Annual EXPO L.A. is local and reasonably priced, which means that attending the event will be easy on your budget. Why is 27th Annual EXPO L.A. such a good value? 27th Annual EXPO L.A. is produced by the members of SCAFP. It is priced to be affordable for its members and the general public, especially compared to attending national conferences that incur additional expenses for travel and hotel accommodations. Five or more employees of the same firm, registering as a group, qualify for the Member Rate Special Thanks to our 2008 Platinum Sponsors Registration by: Member Non-Member Non-sponsoring Vendor After 4/11 & On-site $350 $400* $500 *To qualify for the non-member registration fee you must practice cash/treasury/financial management for an organization, or you must be an attendee from a sponsoring company **Group Rate: 5 or more employees of the same firm registering as a group, qualify for the Member Rate Join us at the Pasadena Convention Center to hear from the following scintillating speakers: -       Tuesday Keynote: Andrew E. Kane, OBC Andrew S. Kane, OBE, currently serves as Vice Chairman of West Coast Operations of Galen Capital Corporation, a merchant banking and private equity firm. Previously, he was Chief Executive Officer for HSBC Private Bank in Southern California from 2002 to 2006, providing banking and wealth management services. Prior to joining HSBC, Mr. Kane was a Managing Partner with Arthur Andersen in Los Angeles. Mr. Kane is a graduate of the London School of Economics, where he specialized in Accounting and Finance. In 1998 he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Mr. Kane is active in the community and has or currently serves on a number of boards, including Greater Los Angeles United Way, UCLA Medical Center Board of Visitors, California Hospital Medical Foundation, Los Angeles World Affairs Council and Center Theater Group (LA Music Center) -       Wednesday Keynote: Theresa Andrews, Olympian, will take us through an Olympic Year and its lessons. Theresa Andrews, a consumer market executive in Global Consumer & Small Business Banking, and Olympic double gold medalist, was recently awarded the 2008 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Silver Anniversary Award.  Theresa was a three-time NCAA champion and 18-time all-American swimmer at the University of Florida, where she helped the school win its first NCAA women's swimming and diving national championship in 1982.  She also captured back-to-back Southeastern Conference titles in the 50-yard and 100-yard backstroke, and was part of four conference title-winning relay teams.  Theresa went on to earn gold medals in the 100-meter backstroke and as part of the 400-meter medley relay team at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.  Theresa has worked for Bank of America since 1999.  In her current role, she is responsible for overseeing sales, service and operations for multiple banking centers in Pennsylvania and Delaware.  She said success in the Olympics and success in her professional life share a common theme:  "Whether it is achieving an Olympic Games gold medal or another measure of success, it is not about winning, but staying focused on the process.  If you break the goal down into parts, the ultimate goal will be achieved."  Other highlighted speakers include -       Tuesday Opening Session: Business Ethics in the 21st Century Linnea McCord, Graziado School of Business, Pepperdine University Dr. McCord first began teaching ethics and law as an in-house counsel and later as a General Counsel of a corporate division that was part of a Fortune 500 multinational corporation headquartered in New York and Paris. For the past sixteen years, as an academic and professional speaker, she has delivered keynote speeches and seminars on ethics and business law topics to all levels of employees and executives, from entry-level employees to Presidents and Key Executives for private and public corporations, government entities, associations, nonprofits, partnerships and universities across the U.S. -       Wednesday Closing Session: Los Angeles Economic Development Council's Economic Review and Forecast Jack Kyser, Senior Vice President & Chief Economist, LAEDC Jack Kyser is the Chief Economist on the staff of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC). Called the "guru of the Los Angeles economy" by the Los Angeles Business Journal, Mr. Kyser is responsible for interpreting and forecasting economic trends in the Los Angeles five-county area (Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties), and for analyzing the major industries of the area. Utilizing this information, he helps develop job retention and creation strategies for Los Angeles County. Mr. Kyser's advice is frequently sought by business, government and the media.

EDUCATION CORNER

CTP Review Course Are you planning to take the CTP exam this summer? If you are, please let us know if you would be interested in attending a review course in May.  We are attempting to organize a three day class in the Los Angeles area and need at least ten attendees to participate.  If you are interested or know any colleagues that might be, please contact Zoya Lieberman, CTP, our Education Chairperson: zlieberman@informars.com    818.880.8877 ext. 452 Federal Reserve Tour Dates will be posted soon for this year's tour of the Los Angeles branch of the 12th Federal Reserve District Bank.  The members will be able to view many different areas of the Fed including the check processing operations area, the coin and currency vaults, and the loading dock where armored carriers deliver deposits and funds undergo preliminary counting. Everyone is always amazed at the size of the cash vault; it's a football field in length and contains floor to ceiling shelving full of boxes of currency. The fully automated robotic machines that pull and store cases of cash in and out of the racks are also incredible pieces of machinery to be seen. A single box of $100 bills, for example, contains $40 million, so you can imagine how much money is stored in the vault! After viewing the processing areas, the unique money museum, and the lobby exhibit, "Fed Gallery: Your Central Bank in Focus" are usually the next stops in the tour. There, you can see antique equipment, purchase the new California quarters and the Lewis & Clark nickels, and work with simulations of the U.S. economy. Look to the SCAFP website or your email inbox for registration details in the near future. Visit http://www.frbsf.org/federalreserve/visit/toursla/toursla.html for additional information. Regulus Tour Have you ever seen a Lockbox processing operation in person?  If you have never, or if it's been a while since you have, please join us next time we tour the Regulus processing center in downtown Los Angeles.  Look to the SCAFP website or your email inbox for registration details in the near future. Headquartered in Napa, California, Regulus was founded in 1995 initially providing remittance processing services. Between 1998 and 2000, Regulus completed its envisioned end-to-end transactional processing solution with the acquisition of the print and mail distribution operations of Quantum Information Corporation and AccuDocs, LLC.  Regulus is the largest, independent payment processor with national collection coverage, uniting the entire billing and collection cycle under one provider. Regulus streamlines the process through one entity with a single resource point for everything and processes over 1.9 billion paper and electronic items annually for Fortune 50 clients. Visit http://www.regulusgroup.com for additional information..

DECEMBER 2007 Meeting roundup

A great time was had by all at the 20th Annual "You Bet Your Cash 2007" trivia game.  The competition was strong between the seven tables, and the "lightening" round where you can bet all or none of your cash for the final question determined the winners.  Each player at table six received a scrumptious Ghirardelli gift basket. Winners of the 20th Annual "You Bet Your Cash 2007" game: Pictured left to right, Tito Ibarrola-Union Bank of CA, Emmanuel Nwosu- American Honda Motor Company, Karen Herrell-Pallado, with hosts Phyllis Luehrmann and Bill LuehrmannClariza Lomotan-Mullins-Pepperdine University, Glen Gray-CSUN. We'd like to extend our gratitude to all of the sponsors of this year's meeting for donating some wonderful door prizes.  Winner of the Grand Door Prize, donated by Comerica Bank, with the Birthday closest to the December meeting date was Phyllis Luehrmann The annual Toys for Tots toy drive was a huge success this year We were happy to welcome back our Master of Ceremonies for the past 19 years: Bill Luehrmann from Occidental Petroleum, shown here with his wife Phyllis.

 Monthly Meetings
 Job Opportunities
 Membership Info
 Links
 27th Annual EXPO  L.A. 
 

Copyright 2008, Southern California Association for Financial Professionals