Editor’s Alley: Goodbye, but Not Goodbye

It is with both great joy and great sadness that I write my last Editor’s Alley for CSMFO News and turn the reins of Committee Chair over to Jennifer Becker, Financial Services Director for the City of Burbank and former Vice Chair of the Communications Committee.  Despite her obvious flaws as a USC fan and graduate (I am a Notre Dame fan and graduate), Jennifer is a far better, more creative, and much more interesting writer than I am and will no doubt do an exceptional job in her new role; leading the Committee with her intelligence and wit and providing membership with both useful technical content and stories to lift all our spirits during those long days and nights of budget and audit seasons.  But she is certainly not alone in those efforts as she’ll be supported by all the Committee members as well as new Vice-Chairs Wing-See Fox (Managing Director – Urban Futures) and Heidi Schoeppe (President/Managing Director – Webb Municipal Finance, LLC).  Both Wing-See and Heidi have been a tremendous help to the Communications Committee the past few years and we are thrilled with the new change in CSMFO bylaws allowing our commercial members to have a place in leadership.  They contribute to and support so much of what we do as an organization and we greatly value their partnership.

So as I reflect back fondly on my past two years of being Communications Chair, I would like to thank my two Vice-Chairs, Jennifer and Susan Talwar (Administrative Services Director – City of Citrus Heights), every member of the Committee, and CSMFO staff who all put in countless hours coming up with article ideas, reaching out to potential authors, editing stories, taking pictures wherever we could, and working together as a team for the benefit of each other and membership. I cannot thank you enough and it made my job as Committee Chair so much easier.  There were some bumps and hiccups along the way, but we did good work and that is all that I could have hoped for when I took on the challenge two years ago.  But fear not though.  While this is a goodbye as Communications Chair, I am happily staying on the Communications Committee as a Senior Advisor; a nod to my knowledge and experience and not my age!  So this is a goodbye, but not goodbye.

And as I move over into a new role on the Committee as well as taking on another role as new Vice-Chair of the Peninsula Chapter, I leave you with these words of advice and encouragement: push your comfort zones, challenge yourself, and volunteer.  I’ve never been much of a volunteer for professional or other organizations since believe it or not, I was rather shy as a kid and much of my early adulthood.  It was only as I got older that I became more social and understood the value of professional networking, the joy that forming personal connections brings to your life, and the gratification you get from helping others grow in their careers.  Thus, I know that many of us in this profession are introverts by nature, but I encourage you to look at the many great volunteer opportunities that CSMFO has to offer (https://www.csmfo.org/training/volunteer/), join a committee, be a mentor, attend a chapter meeting, go to the conference, and just be involved.  Although it takes time and effort and is sometimes out of our natural comfort zone, you will not regret what you get back from it professionally and personally.  I started my CSMFO journey in earnest in 2013 and I have never regretted the friends I have made along the way, the bonds I have built, the people I have helped, and truly, the fun that I have had.  So, I look forward to seeing you all at the upcoming 2024 CSMFO Conference in Disneyland.  And as always, you’ll know who I am…because I’ll be the one dancing!

Jennifer Becker, Chair of the Communications Committee, and Will Fuentes, Senior Advisor of the Communications Committee