LetmebeginbysayingHAPPYNEWFISCALYEAR.doc

From the President First off, Happy Fiscal New Year to all ASMC financial management professionals. Congratulations on successfully closing out another year ! My team and I were in the office until 5 AM closing out FY09 remind me to book a room on base next year. Thanks to everyone who came out to work the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon on Labor Day. During my shift on the phone banks I had a little bit of a tricky time with one caller who insisted on speaking to Jerry Lewis before she would pledge her donation fortunately, not all of the callers were as demanding, and a solid amount of money was raised to benefit kids right here in the Lowcountry with muscular dystrophy. We had a GREAT turnout for our speaker Dave DAnnunzio at Septembers meeting. I think its important to expand our horizons as financial management professionals and get different perspectives from other professionals in the field. This month, we will have City of Charleston CFO Stephen Bedard speak at our meeting. Since our last meeting Ive met with the top brass at the College of Charleston business school, and they are very excited about the opportunity to network with ASMC on behalf of their students. I also met with SPAWAR Comptroller Freddie Hicks, and he was supportive of his agencys involvement in our Chapter. And, I traveled to Robins AFB in GA to be the guest speaker for their local ASMC chapter. Its been a busy month! I know youre all wanting to exhale from closeout as do I . but we really need to keep a full court press on our ASMC vision for growth. I appreciate every ounce of energy you put in to making our growth a reality!Dont forget to check out the upcoming community service events in the newsletter we have the CYDC Halloween Party this Saturday, so contact the POCs listed if youd like to pitch in the more volunteers we have, the more fun we have !Lets have an AMAZING FY10!Lt. Col Seung U. Paik, USAFPresidentASMC CHARLESTOWNE CHAPTER 2009-2010 OFFICERSLt. Col. Seung U. Paik USAF, President843-963-3785FAX 943-963-3740Joy Delk, VPat-Large843-963-2078FAX 843-963-3309SMSgt Michelle K. Lackey, VP Air Force843-963-4088FAX 843-963-3740John Ryan, VP Navy843-218-3688FAX 843-218-5190Wilbur (Bill) Spearin, TVanessa Stoney, Secretary843-329-8092FAX 843-329-8007Cynthia (Cindy) Willard, Executive Advisor843-218-4119FAX 843-218-4695The Charlestowne LedgerOctober 2009AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MILITARY COMPTROLLERS (ASMC) Charlestowne ChapterPO BOX 60986, North Charleston, South Carolina 29419-0986COMMUNITY SERVICE: THANKS TO OUR VOLUNTEERSThanks to the volunteers on the Jerry Lewis Labor Day MDA TelethonThanks to the following ASMC members and volunteers who generously donated their time on Labor Day to help out with the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon:Leslie CarltonTim CoveyJeff HeadVanessa HeadNancy HoodCapt. KellyRod NorwoodLt. Col. Seung PaikGrace PaikShelia ReedJohn RyanVoka StokesShantia WilliamsOne of the best things about this particular volunteer effort is that the donations raised locally are spent locally, and even the smallest amounts can help pay for everything from flu shots to scientific research. Way to go, ASMC ! Thanks to the volunteers on the Preservation Society Fall Tour Of HomesThanks to the following ASMC members and volunteers who worked on the Preservation Society Fall Tour Of Homes over the past three weeks:Cathy CaseGail ClarkVicki ChupasShannon GernonVanessa HeadNancy HoodKaren JohnsonLinda MitchellMarcy MurphyGloria NorfleetBobbie PuckettShelia ReedJohn RyanLt. Matt SchmitCindy WillardShantia WilliamsProgram Chairman Tim Covey was downtown on this past Sundays (October 18th) Tour taking pictures of the hard-working ASMC volunteers, so go to and click on the “flikr” link to see the pictures. The award for Best-Dressed ASMC Tour Volunteer will be presented to Senior Guide/VP Navy John Ryan at our next meeting. Upcoming events:CYDC (Carolina Youth Development Center) Halloween Party: THIS WEEKEND OCTOBER 24THThose of you who have helped out with our CYDC events in the past know how appreciative these kids are. This is their chance to live life like regular kids for a little while, and its our chance to help them do it. Every year, we throw them a Halloween party complete with a haunted house and a fortune teller Joy Delk is the principal architect on the Haunted House, and youd be amazed at what she can do with a few willing volunteers !We will need volunteers THIS SATURDAY OCTOBER 24TH to help serve drinks/snacks/pizza to the kids, as well as donations of assorted goodies. The kids LOVE this event, and the fun is contagious !WHAT: CYDC Halloween partyWHEN: Saturday October 24th, 3 PM 7 PMWHERE: Carolina Youth Development Center, 5055 Lackawanna Boulevard, North CharlestonSMSgt Michelle Lackey is coordinating the list items we have/will need for the party. Contact her at or 843-963-4088.POC for this event will be Nancy Hood. Contact her at or call her at 843-469-5789.Future Events Stay Tuned ! December 2009: CYDC Christmas PartyApril 2010: Cooper River Bridge RunApril/May 2010: CYDC PicnicMay/June 2010: Spoleto MISSING MEMBERS: THEYVE LOST THAT LOVIN FEELIN We had an EXCELLENT turnout at the September ASMC meeting held at Jim n Nicks Barbecue. Our speaker was Dave DAnnunzio, who is the CFO at Heritage Trust Federal Credit Union. His perspective on financial management in the private sector was a welcome break from our own fiscal-year-end craziness. We were glad to see some old ASMC friends from the Army Corps of Engineers, as well as a number of new faces. Weve got some equally (if not more) exciting speakers lined up for future meetings, so be sure and tell your old ASMC friends about the new things were doing. And, bring a co-worker or two to the next meeting so they can see what were all about ! Since we dont want any of our ASMC members to miss out on all of the new excitement were generating in our Chapter, please e-mail your current contact info to our POC for membership Cindy Willard at . We know you dont want to miss out on any of our upcoming events, so make sure we have your current contact information !Also, if you know of any ASMC members that havent been at the meetings recently please send Cindy their contact information. Were certain that there are a number of State Department/Army Corp of Engineers folks who are feeling left out of the fun, and wed like to welcome them back into the Chapter and get them involved in all of our activities. The following article was downloaded from the website. As our president Colonel Paik has embarked on an ambitious plan to expand our perspective as financial managers by inviting financial management professionals from outside of the Federal government to speak at our meetings, I have included Part 1 of a five-part series of articles on private-sector business-world methods to achieve professional success in the Department of Defense. Wealthy Ways to Succeed in the Department of Defenseby Keith Hicks Most everyone would like to be successful in his or her career, but is hard work the only way to achieve success? Hard work certainly helps; however, there is much more needed along the way in order to achieve ones career goals. First, lets consider what we may learn by studying individuals in the business worldboth business leaders and investorsto understand fully how we may apply their methods to help us achieve personal success. Those of us in the Department of Defense (DoD) or anywhere else in government service can look to the public sector for various examples of personal achievement. These private sector examples can become role models for our own behavior and serve as reflective attitude adjustments for those of us within government service. This article shows you that its possible to adapt some of the techniques, procedures, and mindsets of business leaders and wealthy investors to your own behavior in order to succeed in the DoD. Ill examine five ideas or techniques used in the world of business to help people achieve their own success. This is not an exhaustive list, for it only scratches the surface, but surely its a good place to start. The first idea is to be well informed, or simply to be aware of the world in which you operate. Sounds like a simple technique, but you may find it actually takes a little bit of effort to do it right. From there Ill focus on coordinating with others, or what is fondly labeled as “Team Sports.” The next two areas, not giving up and taking positive action, are commonplace in government, but lets review how the business community sees these two concepts. Finally, the article ends with a short piece about having fun, just a way to keep your sanity in an ever increasingly difficult work environment. By reading this, youll learn something new, and maybe change ever so slightly your approach so that you can tackle your job more successfully. Keep Informed“Vision is the art of seeing the invisible.” Jonathan Swift Being informed is critical in the business world. Companies that adapt to change eventually survive, while those that dont eventually go out of business. For example, can you name any typewriter company that is prosperous in this age of computers? I cant. Look at the way professional investors trade in the stock markets. They dont necessarily buy or sell shares based on todays value of a particular company. Instead, theyre looking forward, trying to see where the next changes will occur. Their decisions are based on what they think the company will be worth 6 to 12 months from now, or maybe even longer. Just as an investor will read The Wall Street Journal or the Investors Business Daily to keep abreast of the winds of change in the markets and in the business community, so should you keep informed of the issues that are important to your success. Your reading, however, should be related to the Defense community on a general basis and to your career field and your local organization on a more specific level. A good place to start is with the resources right at your fingertips. When was the last time you read the Early Bird (/)? Prepared each day by the American Forces Information Service, the Early Bird provides a concise compilation of daily news articles on a variety of Defense-related issues. Perhaps you can find 15 minutes or so during the slowest part of your day to browse through the articles. No need to read each one; just look for key titles that may affect you and your organization. Seek out those stories that provide a general understanding of current events within the DoD, such as the passage of key legislation by Congress. Since the articles are well organized by military service, by geographic area, and by top stories, its easy to focus quickly on relevant items. If you have extra time, you might find the Opinion and Editorial sections worthwhile. Another good way to keep informed is by reading professional journals and their associated Web sites. The fact that youre reading this article today on the American Society of Military Comptrollers Web site proves your understanding of this worthwhile activity. Aside from Armed Forces Comptroller, other journals you might want to consider reading are The Air Force Comptroller, Government Executive, CFO Magazine, Resource Management, Defense AT&L, and DISAM Journal. There are many more, and Im sure youll find at least one that is especially related to your financial responsibilities. If youre not convinced of the importance of being well informed, just read the short book Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson and Kenneth H. Blanchard. A brief tale of two mice and two humans who live in a maze, the story is about accepting change. But more importantly, the story is about adapting to the changes around you in order to act before the changes turn negativ