By Mike Colgan, PICPA Executive Director and CEO

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As “busy season” ends for many of our members, the PICPA’s “busy season” is just beginning to roll with the start of chapter annual meetings, CPE programs, and committee meetings. I look forward to this renewal every spring — the weather improves, member activity resurges, and many networking opportunities open up for our members and the PICPA team.

Last year, a record number of members attended PICPA and chapter events and activities. Thank you for your support! This year, we expect to exceed last year’s participation records with new and innovative programs. Be sure to check out www.picpa.org for the latest information.

One of the PICPA team’s big projects this year is to enrich your website to incorporate responsive design. This will provide a better experience for you, regardless of whether you access the site from a desktop or a mobile device. Let me share a few statistics about your websitewebsite – a vehicle that did not exist 15 years ago! PICPA.org averages almost 50,000 visits per month, resulting in more than 250,000 page views. Each month unique visitors exceeds the size of our membership (22,000), and access through mobile devices continues to grow at a rapid pace. The website is a powerful communications tool, and our enhancements will ensure that it remains valuable to our members and the public.

PICPA’s strategy to help drive record participation in 2014-2015 revolves around four themes:

• Advocacy and Engagement 
• Learning and Collaboration 
• Demographic Changes 
• Operational Excellence

Advocacy and engagement objectives focus on positioning CPAs as experts with legislators, regulators, and the press; guiding consumers, small businesses, and not-for-profits to succeed; and enhancing CPA leadership skills through volunteer opportunities that highlight commitment to the CPA profession and the communities where you live and work.

Learning and collaboration efforts support members with technical and professional resources to improve the quality of their services and support life-long learning; advance professional education via diverse venues and vehicles to enhance competencies; and meet your online expectations for the information you value through the aforementioned improvements to the website and PICPA’s social media channels.

Demographic changes highlight the varied needs of a multigenerational membership, inspiring us to provide tools for prosperous career transitions at every stage, including succession planning, mentoring programs, the changing diversity within our communities and the profession, and the expansion of the membership pipeline through career awareness programs.

Operational excellence is a daily commitment to quality by your PICPA team to provide the highest level of service and exceptional products and programs.

Let me know about your experience with the PICPA team and our strategic themes for the upcoming year. I look forward to seeing many members this spring as “busy season” begins!