NSAA President Stacey Pickering recently welcomed state auditors to Biloxi, Mississippi, for the fortieth annual conference of the National State Auditors Association. The conference was held June 13-15 at the Beau Rivage and featured attendance of nearly 150, including 29 principal state auditors and representation from 34 states. The conference was preceded on June 12 by a day of meetings of NSAA’s committees. 

Technical Agenda & Other Activities
The conference featured a roundtable session and several general sessions covering a diverse range of topics. PowerPoint presentations and speaker bios from the conference are available. 

Awards
An awards lunch was held on Thursday, June 14. President Pickering announced the winner of the 2018 NSAA William R. Snodgrass Distinguished Leadership Award: R. Thomas Wagner, Jr., state auditor of Delaware.

 

Left to right: R. Thomas Wagner, Jr., state auditor of Delaware, and NSAA President and Mississippi State Auditor Stacey Pickering. Wagner is the 21st recipient of the NSAA William R. Snodgrass Distinguished Leadership Award, an award conceived by Wagner during his year as NSAA's president.

 

Two other special awards were announced. President Pickering presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Ronald L. Jones, who recently retired after serving for over 35 years as chief examiner of Alabama. He also presented a Distinguished Service Award to Randy Roberts, who will be retiring after a career with the state of Arizona spanning over 35 years.

Left to right: Randy Roberts, technical director with the Arizona Office of the Auditor General, and NSAA President and Mississippi State Auditor Stacey Pickering. Roberts is a long-time chair of NSAA's Audit Standards and Reporting Committee and co-chair of NASACT's CARA. He is a nationally-recognized technical expert among the government auditing community. Roberts will retire later in June.		Left to right: Ronald L. Jones, former chief examiner of Alabama, and NSAA President and Mississippi State Auditor Stacey Pickering. Pickering awarded Jones a Lifetime Achievement Award for his long, outstanding career with the state of Alabama and his many contributions to NASACT and NSAA.

 
Greg Hook, deputy legislative auditor of Maryland and chairman of NSAA’s Excellence in Accountability Awards Committee, announced this year’s Excellence in Accountability Awards. Receiving those awards were:

• Large Performance Audit: California State Auditor
• Small Performance Audit: New York Office of the State Comptroller
• Special Project: Oregon Audits Division
• Forensic Report: Ohio Office of the Auditor of State

 

Katie Cardenas and Kathleen Fullerton, from the California State Auditor's Office, accepted the award for Large Performance Audit.		Accepting a Forensic Report award were Dennis Graul and Melissa Barnett from the Ohio Office of the Auditor of State.
Oregon's special project on Medicaid won an award. Accepting on behalf of the Oregon Audits Division was Andrew Love.

 

Business Meeting
On Thursday, members of NSAA held a business meeting where they heard reports from each standing committee and elected a new Executive Committee. The Executive Committee for 2018-19 will be:

• President: Beth Wood, State Auditor of North Carolina
• President-Elect: Daryl Purpera, Louisiana Legislative Auditor
• Secretary/Treasurer: Suzanne Bump, Auditor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
• Immediate Past President: Stacey Pickering, State Auditor of Mississippi
• Martha Mavredes, Auditor of Public Accounts of Virginia
• Greg Griffin, State Auditor of Georgia
• John Geragosian, State Auditor of Connecticut

2018-19 Executive Committee, left to right: Greg Griffin, Daryl Purpera, Beth Wood, Martha Mavredes, Stacey Pickering and Suzanne Bump		Incoming NSAA President Beth Wood presented a plaque of appreciation to Stacey Pickering.

 
Several resolutions were approved by members at the annual June business meeting: 

• Thanking President Pickering for his service and for hosting the conference.
• Wishing Ronald L. Jones, chief examiner of Alabama, well upon his retirement.
• Wishing Debbie Davenport, auditor general of Arizona, well upon her retirement.
• Wishing Doris Flores Brooks, auditor of Guam, well upon her retirement.
• Commending Scott Frank, legislative post auditor of Kansas, for his work during his tenure and expressing the desire for his continued involvement in NSAA in his new role with the state of Washington. 

Acknowledgments
NSAA wishes to thank all those who helped with the conference, including Stacey Pickering and staff from his office, and especially Kelley Ryan, also from President Pickering’s office. Active involvement by the state audit community is the reason for that: thanks to all who participated and attended. 

Last but not least, thanks to this year’s conference sponsors:
 

• Alivia Technology
• Becker Professional Education
• Bronner Group
• Carr Riggs & Ingram
• CliftonLarsonAllen
• FICO
• Horne
• Tracker Suite Software
• MKinsight
• Governing Magazine (media sponsor)