Chris Rivers, CFP®

President’s Message

Spring finally seems to have arrived here in DC, and with it all of the usual rituals – March Madness, Nationals opening day, spring break, and last but not least, tax time.

Just after the deadline, on April 18^th we have a happy hour event with CE scheduled in Georgetown, and the topic is, you guessed it…taxes. Tom Flynn from Russell Investments will be presenting to us over drinks and snacks. 

That follows on heels of two particularly timely presentations this March – Ben Lewis’s media training and retired FBI agent Jeff Lanza’s cybercrime talk.  Ben and Jeff gave us actionable steps to take back to our practices and for our clients, and we were grateful to have spent time with each of them.

One of our prime directives in the chapter this year is to devote additional resources to our programs, and the caliber of our speakers.  To that end, we have a great program lined up June 6^th, with Mary Beth Franklin and Ed Slott headlining.   Be sure to register before the early registration discount expires May 1^st. 

We also have a number of fun, smaller events on the calendar over the coming months.  On April 25^th we have a happy hour to celebrate the end of tax season at Kalypso’s Sports Tavern in Reston.   The following week, we have our annual Charity Golf Classic on May 2^nd at 1757 Golf Club. 

For the Nexgen folks, we have a study group on deck June 11^th, followed by a happy hour and summer interns bash on June 27^th at Tysons Biergarten. 

Lastly, we would love to hear any feedback you have about how to make your experience better as a chapter member.  To that end, we sent a survey out last month (with two $100 gift cards raffled off to participants).  We received about 55 responses, with a lot of valuable feedback and suggestions on ways to elevate the chapter. 

But, our chapter is 800+ members strong, so we need to hear from the rest of you.  Yes, I realize that if you’ve made it this far into this message, you’re probably one of those that responded to the survey.  But we all have friends and colleagues who are not active members, or not FPA members at all. Talk to them about the value you get from our chapter, and ask what might interest them in a chapter event. 

Imagine the networking opportunities, speaker budgets, value to sponsors, and community we could build if we could engage more of our 800 members, along with the thousands of potential members. The more planners we engage, the more we elevate the chapter experience and the profession in general.  

A great place to start is the June Symposium.  With such a star-studded lineup on deck, we’d love to see some new faces. Please spread the word to your colleagues, invite someone you don’t typically see at an FPA event, and encourage them to come out and see what FPA NCA has to offer.

Lastly, we are excited to welcome Grace Rogan of KCR Wealth to our Board of Directors. Grace will be co-chairing our Nexgen Committee with Emily Purdon.

Thank you for being a part of our vibrant FPA NCA community.  We look forward to seeing you soon.

All the best,

Chris

Chris Rivers, CFP®

2019 FPA NCA President

CRivers@AFMFA.com