By: Melisa Galasso
One of the Charlotte Chapter’s signature events each year, Professionals Night, underwent some changes this year and the results were fantastic. We changed location to Vivace in the Metropolitan and while it was a gutsy move on the part of the Social Committee, the change was incredibly well received.
A staple event, Professionals Night is designed to bring together professionals from all over the Charlotte region for a night of networking and fun. On October 22, bankers, lawyers, consultants, educators, and other professionals came together to eat yummy Italian food, drink (a maximum of 2) drinks, and network with our CPA members. The results were outstanding. Attendance in 2014 was an all-time high! We want to thank the members for coming out to support the event and achieve our objectives of engaging and connecting!
The Social Committee, responsible for planning our networking socials year round, was able to also break our sponsorship record with a whopping 21 sponsors from a variety of different professional backgrounds. We want to thank our sponsors for supporting this great function and sending in representatives to network with such a great group of CPAs!
A big thanks goes out to the Social Committee (Randy Newton [Chair], Adam Elmore [Co-Chair], Michele Henderson, Dennis Swanick, Callie Reeve, and Jack Heil) who worked incredibly hard to organize the event!
Another big thanks goes to NCACPA staff members, Holly Bazemore and Sarah Murphy, for their efforts to make this event a success.
While, the Social Committee is responsible for planning Professionals Night annually, it also plans our chapter lunch-and-learns, as well as other fun events (New Licensee Celebrations, Candidates Night, an upcoming Hornets game, etc.) that are designed to bring CPAs together to network, learn from each other, and foster a sense of camaraderie among our members. We are looking for more people to help us think of other great ideas and locations for future events. If you are interested in joining the committee,email us at [email protected] and let us know if you are interested and we’ll take it from there!
Melisa is a Senior Manager in the Professional Practices Department at Cherry Bekaert, LLP, in Charlotte. She currently serves on NCACPA’s Accounting & Attestation Committee and is President of the Charlotte Chapter. Melisa can be reached at [email protected].