NASACT President D. Clark Partridge, state comptroller of Arizona, and our Arizona co-hosts, Legislative Auditor Lindsey Perry and State Treasurer Kimberly Yee, welcomed almost 500 to Scottsdale for the association's 104th annual conference. The conference was held August 17-21 at the Fairmont Princess Scottsdale, and included meetings of NASACT's Executive Committee and the Committee on Accounting, Reporting and Auditing.
 

President Clark Partridge chats with Lindsey Perry and the singer of the National Anthem prior to opening ceremonies.		Left to right: Conference hosts Lindsey Perry, Clark Partridge and Kimberly Yee.
GASB's David Bean and David Vaudt received Distinguished Service Awards at the conference.		Rodrigo Lllanos addressed the conference on behalf of Miguel Angel Murillo, state comptroller of the Mexican state of Sonora, representing the Sonora Gov. Claudia Pavlovich, chair of the Open Government, Transparency and Accountability Commission of the Mexican NGA.

 

Technical Agenda & Other Activities

The conference featured six general sessions, with keynotes from Dr. Marianne Jennings, professor emeritus at Arizona State University; the Volcker Alliance's William Glasgall and Dan White of Moody's Analytics; Faith Gaines of the Gallup Group; and John Hall of Hall Consulting. Attendees also heard from a panel on cybersecurity including Chris Buse, deputy legislative auditor (MN) and former Minnesota CISO; Dan Lohrmann, chief strategist and chief security officer with Security Mentor and former Michigan CISO; Aaron Munn, CISO with the Washington Office of the State Auditor; and Doug Robinson, executive director of NASCIO. With 28 concurrent sessions too, the conference featured a wide range of topics of interest to state government financial management leaders. View the complete program (including speaker bios and presentations) here.

Six resolutions were approved at the conference during the annual business meeting:

1. Thanking D. Clark Partridge for his service as NASACT President.
2. Thanking our Arizona co-hosts for their efforts to plan the 2019 NASACT Annual Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona.
3. Commending Teresa S. Polley on her long and distinguished career as president and CEO of the Financial Accounting Foundation.
4. Commending Wendy M. Payne on her long and distinguished career as executive director of the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board.
5. Commending Lynnette Kelly on her long and distinguished career as president and CEO of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.
6. Commending Governing magazine and its publisher, Mark Funkhouser, for giving voice to issues affecting state and local governments.

Additionally, NASACT members elected a new Executive Committee.
 

NASACT members elected a new Executive Committee for 2019-20. Shown above: Roger Norman (AR) administers the Oath of Office to new officers Elaine Howle (CA), Manju Ganeriwala (VA), Richard Eckstrom (SC) and Clark Partridge (AZ).		Incoming First Vice President Elaine Howle (CA) presented a plaque of appreciation to Clark Partridge for his service as NASACT's president.

 

Awards 

On Tuesday, August 20, four individuals were inducted into NASACT's Hall of Fame:

• Martin J. Benison, former comptroller of the commonwealth of Massachusetts and former chairman of the GASAC
• John F. Rogan, former finance director in Wisconsin
• Jan I. Sylvis, former chief of accounts in Tennessee and former vice-chair of the GASB
• Mary Ellen Withrow, former state treasurer of Ohio and former U.S. Treasurer

In addition to announcing the new Hall of Fame inductees, President Partridge presented several other awards:

Distinguished Service

• Ed Ross, controller of Kentucky
• David A. Vaudt, chairman of the GASB (award was presented on Monday, August 19)
• David Bean, director of research and technical activities (award was presented on Monday, August 19)

Special Recognition

• Lynne Bajema, state comptroller of Oklahoma
• Staci Henshaw, deputy auditor of public accounts of Virginia
• The NASACT staff

President's Awards

• Beth Wood, state auditor of North Carolina
• Alan Skelton, state accounting officer of Georgia
• Steve McCoy, former state treasurer of Georgia
• R. Kinney Poynter, executive director of NASACT

Ed Ross (KY) was honored with a Distinguished Service Award.		Lynne Bajema (OK) received a Special Recognition Award.
Alan Skelton (GA) was presented with a President's Award.		Beth Wood (NC) was presented with a President's Award.

Acknowledgments

NASACT wishes to thank all those who helped with the conference, including our Arizona hosts, speakers and moderators. Special gratitude goes to our corporate partners for their financial support and technical expertise.
 

Next Year

The 2020 Annual Conference will be hosted by incoming President Beth Pearce, state treasurer of Vermont, in Burlington, Vermont, on August 22-26. Mark your calendar and join us next year!