Welcome! President’s message 8
By Scott Catlett, 2022 CSMFO President
A
s we all left Disneyland in January 2020, none of us expected it to be two years before we were together again at a CSMFO conference. Due to the pandemic, CSMFO’s 2021 conference went virtual and was a great success. Soon after the virtual conference concluded, the Conference Host Committee met to begin planning CSMFO’s 2022 conference. The first question on the table was whether this would be a virtual or in person conference. With vaccine distribution on the horizon and a spirit of optimism, we pushed ahead with planning an in-person conference in San Diego. Those plans moved along well and were finalized ahead of schedule. As the conference dates approached, the Omicron variant emerged, and we found ourselves meeting in December to discuss whether there would be an in-person conference at all. We also wondered whether if we continued ahead with the in-person conference, would there be enough people who showed up to avoid a financial disaster? We pushed forward, and as luck would have it, the surge subsided and we had nearly 1,200 people in San Diego; far below the 2,000 in Anaheim in 2020, but a strong showing under the circumstances. It turned out to be one of our best conferences, and an emotional moment for a lot of people to return to fellowship with colleagues they had not seen in two years. Being selected to be CSMFO’s 2022 President will be a highlight of my career in government Finance, but I value the people I’ve met along the way so much more. This organization is about training, and it’s about building a professional network, but most of all it’s about friendships – many of which will last a lifetime. We got plenty of training in San Diego, with three days of breakout sessions, four amazing featured speakers, and three
preconference sessions on Tuesday. And let’s not forget the sold-out golf and pickleball tournaments that were a great success. But more importantly, the heartbeat of CSMFO was back with hugs, handshakes, and renewed friendships seen throughout the Town & Country Resort. I want to say thank you to the CSMFO staff, and most of all to our conference host - David Garrison and our conference planners – Janet Salvetti, Marisa Anticevich, and Teri Anticevich. They made the conference possible with their guidance and amazing ability to make almost anything we could think of a reality. I also want to say a big thank you to the 2022 Conference Host Committee, and in particular the commercial members of the Committee – Lily Ng from Bank of the West, Terry Shea from RAMS, and Sarah Meacham from PFM. Having their perspectives as vendors to help guide us through the conference planning process was invaluable. I also owe a special thank you to all of our conference sponsors and exhibitors, whose participation in the conference is critical to its success. Their commitment to CSMFO and to returning to exhibit at an in-person conference was very much appreciated.
