Fellow NYCFE Members:

The NYCFE is off to a fast start in 2012. We have undertaken a very busy agenda, including two all-day seminars (the first scheduled for April 20), five membership meetings (our second meeting is scheduled for March 1) and two Young Fraud Examiner events (the first scheduled for March 28).

We are excited about our new larger midtown location at Trattoria Dopo Teatro at 125 West 44th Street, NYC. The reviews on our first meeting, held on January 26, have been excellent.

We held our election that night and the attending members approved eight candidates for the 2012 NYCFE Board, as proposed by the Nominating Committee.

President: Alan Blass
1st Vice-President: Kristen Bertucelli
2nd Vice-President: Jon Newcomb
Treasurer: Michael Jaeger
Information Officer/Corresponding Secretary: Michael Richard Powers
Sergeant-at-Arms: Franklin Hayes
Training Director: Anthony Luizzo
Board Member-at-Large: John Matula

We did have one nomination from the floor, Cheryl Wright. She will be opposing Chelsea Binns, who had been selected by the Nominating Committee, in a Run-Off Election for Recording Secretary, which is scheduled for February 27 - 29. Through this process, Chelsea Binns or Cheryl Wright will be the ninth member of the board, before the next board meeting.

Due to the resignation of our Election Chairman, I have asked Michael Powers and Jon Newcomb to serve in this capacity. They will be emailing information about the two candidates to all members a couple of days before the election.

Last week, I electronically proposed to the eight members of our existing Board, that we include six more members to the 2012 NYCFE Board of Directors, with full voting rights.

I am delighted to announce that all of the members that I proposed were approved. We now have our full complement of 15 members.

Congratulations the final six members of our 2012 NYCFE Board of Directors

Pete Castillo, Chairman of the Board
Andy Sulner, Chapter Counsel
Bruce Hulme, Legislative Liaison
Mary Vavruska, Chapter Historian
Steven Levine, Member-at-large

Either Chelsea Binns or Cheryl Wright (whomever is not elected as Recording Secretary), Member-at-large

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the outgoing NYCFE Board Members for their many years of service to our organization. I will continue to look to all of you for your expertise, experience and advice.

Michael Powers, our new Information Officer, will soon be posting all of this and our 2012 NYCFE Schedule on our website. Here is a sneak peak.

The 2012 NYCFE Schedule of Events:
Jan 26 - Membership Meeting - 6:00PM (Board Meeting 5:00PM)
March 1 - Membership Meeting - 6:00PM (Board Meeting 5:00PM)
March 28 - Young Fraud Examiners Event - 6:00PM
April 20 - NYCFE/LIU Full Day Fraud Seminar
May 31 - Membership Meeting - 6:00PM
June 28 - Membership Meeting - 6:00PM (Board Meeting 5:00PM)
August 30 - Young Fraud Examiners Event - 6:00PM
September 27 - Membership Meeting - 6:00PM (Board Meeting 5:00PM)
October - NYCFE/LIU Full Day Fraud Seminar
December 13 - Holiday Party - 6:00PM (Board Meeting 5:00PM)

Our goals for this year are simple. We want to provide you with outstanding, reasonably priced Fraud Training (All Day Seminars - 8 CPE's - $125; Membership Meetings - 2 CPE's - $55), great networking opportunities and increased membership.

We will soon be beginning our 2012 membership drive. Kristen Bertucelli, our 1st Vice President, will be sending out 2012 invoices. We urge you encourage your colleagues to join.

Michael Jaeger will be handling our finances this year. We will let you know how to get your membership payments to him.

Our first all-day seminar will be held at LIU - Brooklyn on April 20. As usual, Tony Luizzo, our Education Chairman, has put together an all-star line-up of outstanding speakers. We will be awarding eight CPE's and serving lunch and coffee and refreshments - all for $125.

Our first Young Fraud Examiners Meeting is schedule for March 28. Jon Newcomb, our 2nd Vice President, is the Chairman of the Young Fraud Examiner Events. He will be sending out and posting event information during the next couple of weeks.

We can always use more volunteers. Please let me know how you want to get more active in our organization. There is strength in numbers.

I look forward to personally greeting you all at our next Membership Meeting in the large private meeting room, the Wine Cellar, at Trattoria Dop Teatro on March 1 at 6:00 to 8:30 PM. Our Membership Meetings include a delicious three course Italian dinner and 1 hour and 40 minutes of interesting and pertinent training in a myriad of fraud related subjects and disciplines. Everyone seemed to also enjoy one of the new features at our Membership Meetings, Cocktails from 6:00 to 6:30 (so come early), with free wine and beer all night. 

We will be announcing all of the details of our March 1 meeting next week, so please check our web site at www.nycfe.org.

Fraternally,

Alan I. Blass, CFE, CPA
President, NYCFE Chapter 14