Philadelphia Chapter – Institute of Internal Auditors
President’s Message – April/May 2010
Dear Chapter Members,
I find myself writing this message to you all with mixed emotions as we have had such a successful Chapter year and accomplished so much, yet the Chapter year end is fast approaching and as such my term is coming to its conclusion. Let me begin by saying it has been an absolute pleasure serving you as President for the 2009/2010 year. This year has allowed me to meet and speak with many of our members, attend some wonderful training/networking events, and see our Chapter become one of the premiere IIA Chapters in North America having attained “Gold” status for the fifth consecutive year!
I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on this past year’s successes and contributions by our membership. Many of you have volunteered your personal time and efforts to ensure that the Chapter continues to produce at a high level of service to our membership. In particular I would like to recognize the following contributions
- Our Board of Governors and its officers who met monthly in order to discuss strategy and direction of the Chapter. Without their insight and feedback, we could not have achieved all that we did this year including hosting a successful Eastern Regional Conference (ERC) with our colleagues from IIA Headquarters.
- The Programs Committee and the respective Conference Committees successfully delivered to you the ERC event and more recently a very successful Spring Conference which hosted close to 500 attendees. The committee also held various monthly events and was able to obtain relevant speakers who discussed the challenges that are facing our profession today. They worked diligently to find locations to host our events and provide you with quality CPE’s at a reasonable cost point. We were also very fortunate to partner with such great organizations as ISACA, ACFE, FIRMA, and the Penn State Smeal Business Club.
- The Strategic Planning Committee conducted interviews with our Board and surveyed our membership so as to build a robust three year plan which will keep the Chapter on the cutting edge and help us maintain our premiere status
- The Academic Relations Committee continued to foster positive relationships with regional universities, faculty, and students. They continued their pursuit to educate and bring recognition to the internal audit profession. We continue to award several students each year by way of our Annual Essay Contest.
- This year brought us more certification recipients than ever before. We are so proud of the recipients for achieving their goals and thank our Certifications Committee for facilitating the certification process in Philadelphia. The Chapter in partnership with Villanova University hosted two successful CIA Learning courses this year; we thank Villanova for its continued support of our membership.
- Our Chief Audit Executives Committee held four roundtable sessions with regional CAE’s, including track sessions at both of our conferences. We hope to continue to expand our CAE footprint in the upcoming year.
- Our Employment Committee continued to share with you employment opportunities so as to aid our members with their job search. The last year has been trying and we have experienced a difficult economic environment, I thank the committee for proactively managing and presenting new leads and advertising them, both on the website and in the newsletter.
- Our Social Committee will be coordinating our annual Membership Recognition and Awards Dinner. The dinner will honor many of the individuals that contributed to this year’s successes, our essay contest winners, and certification recipients.
- Our Newsletter and Website Committees continued to keep us up to date with breaking news about the Chapter and increased the frequency of communication to our membership.
- The Membership Committee gained a lot of ground this year with several new endeavors aimed at increasing membership. They continued to manage our membership roster, were present at our various chapter events, and hosted social events. Additionally, this team initiated the Chapters official Facebook page.
There were also several individual contributors who advanced our Chapter this year in roles outside of our Board and committees, including our Events Coordinator Lorraine Mariella, our Capologist Tonya DiGiuseppe, our Email Blast Coordinator Nicolle Bambach, our Nominating Chair Michelle Hayes and our District Representative Dave Naser. I would also like to thank AC Lordi Consulting for sponsoring the Chapter’s various email blasts, their support is sincerely appreciated.
Additionally, I would like to give personal thanks to the following organizations who donated their beautiful meeting spaces so that the Chapter could host its events, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Exelen Corporation, and Villanova University.
Finally, I would like to thank the entire membership for their support, feedback and attendance at our events, all of which contributed to the growth of the Chapter. My appreciation and thanks goes out to all of you!
Thank you again for allowing me the privilege to serve you as President and I look forward to continuing to network with you at future events.
Best Regards,
Ram Vijayanathan
President
IIA Philadelphia Chapter
