September 2018
A Message from the President:
Hello to our membership and friends. The AGA Northern New Jersey Chapter welcomes you to the 2018 – 2019 program year. It is an honor and a privilege to serve at this year’s AGA NNJ Chapter President. Our Chapter’s beginnings go back to 1968; before the Jets won their first and only SB, the Mets won their first World Series, and the first person landed on The Moon! There were so many great events in the past and now it’s time to focus on the future!
I consider the near term a challenging time for the AGA NNJ Chapter. As you may be aware, during the prior year the NNJ Chapter hasn’t held as many meetings, or hosted as many seminars as in previous years. As the President of the NNJ Chapter, I plan to change our fortunes this year, but this cannot come without the membership, the Chapter Executive Committee and Directors who volunteer their personal time and resources to make the AGA Northern New Jersey Chapter what it can be. I am up to the challenge; are you? A major goal is to build upon the AGA Northern New Jersey Chapter’s past success.
During the new program year, we will continue to work as a team to meet our objectives and set new goals. Such goals will be to continue to increase Chapter membership, enhance educational opportunities, and provide activities & social events. This cannot happen without the collaboration, teamwork and leadership that are the key to success in any organization.
Quality educational training and networking opportunities is important. We will continue to work to improve this valuable benefit for our members by seeking new and intriguing topics to be presented at our educational seminars and dinner meetings during this upcoming program year. We will work with the AGA Trenton Chapter and Rutgers University in order to make this happen. We welcome feedback to help guide us to accomplishing our goals and successful programs.
I would like to thank Robert Rizzo, President-AGA Trenton Chapter; Andrew Bishop, Immediate Past President-AGA Trenton Chapter; and Brian Larkin, Webmaster-Trenton and NNJ Chapters for their guidance and support for the upcoming year. By adding the AGA Trenton Chapter events to the AGA Northern New Jersey website, we are providing our membership with additional educational opportunities and social events for our membership.
We will continue to recruit candidates for our Board who become active members of the Chapter. Through participation in organizational activities and attendance at meetings, these new members become instantly engaged in the chapter and provide bright ideas and new perspectives to our organization.
The Northern New Jersey Chapter will continue its efforts to promote the value of the CGFM (Certified Government Financial Manager) designation and what it brings to government and public sector employment as well as our organization. To encourage becoming CGFM certified, we will continue to assist, candidates in conjunction with National efforts, in providing the information and resources needed to successfully achieve this certification.
The AGA Trenton Chapter will be providing a Fall Seminar at Mercer County Community College on Friday, October 26, 2018. For the latest information regarding AGA events, please visit and register online:
https://www.agacgfm.org/Chapters/Trenton/Training-Events/Event-Calendar.aspx
or
https://www.agacgfm.org/Chapters/Northernnewjersey/Training-Events/Event-Calendar.aspx
Is anyone interested in community service? We may have opportunities for you!! In the past we reached out the Habitat for Humanity, Eva’s Village, as well as Wreaths Across America in conjunction with the Historic Jersey City and Harsimus Cemetery. A Heart-a-Thon is scheduled for February. Donations to the Heart-a-Thon assists the Catskill Regional Medical Center purchase medical equipment. Details on these and other community service events will follow.
Community and educational events will be posted on our online monthly calendar. Please check our monthly calendar on the AGA website: (https://www.agacgfm.org/Chapters/NorthernNewJersey/Home.aspx). This is also our new website address.
I am looking forward to hearing from our members throughout the year. With the help of the Chapter Board, and feedback from our membership, we will have a year filled with educational events, special events and volunteer opportunities. I would like to thank the volunteers once again who make our chapter successful. Also, thank you for being a member of the AGA Northern New Jersey Chapter.
I hope to see you soon.
/s/ David Gotlib,
President AGA Northern New Jersey Chapter