The 2^nd Annual FICPA Ocean Reef Retreat was a huge success, despite Tropical Storm Bonnie. The FICPA Miami-Dade Chapter held the event on July 22 – 25, at the Ocean Reef Club Resort in Key Largo, FL – right in Bonnie’s path. Regardless of the weather, we raised more than $20,000 for the FICPA Education Foundation, and managed to still play golf and get a nice tan. The best part is that the money raised provides Florida accounting students with scholarships to local universities.

The retreat consisted of CPE presentations, planning meetings, plenty of networking happy hours and a golf tournament, not to mention tanning by the pool. Bonnie gave us a little scare – I was up early Friday morning checking the weather reports. We lucked out only having to reschedule the golf tournament, and by 2:00pm the sun was back out.

The retreat was well attended with many of our industry leaders. For example, we held a happy hour in honor of Michael Pender, the current FICPA President. Bill Ezzell, the former chairman of the Board of Directors of the AICPA and past president of its Foundation Board of Trustees, was our Keynote speaker for the Beach Luau dinner. And we honored nine past presidents of the FICPA ED Foundation including the current president, Jeff Green, at the 50 Past Presidents dinner. Beyond raising money to benefit a great cause, this retreat is an excellent networking event for CPAs and a great mini-vacation for their families. Mark your calendars now, and I look forward to seeing lots of new CPAs at the Reef next year as we continue to raise more money for the FICPA Ed Foundation.

Jason A. Chorlins

President, FICPA Miami-Dade Chapter