Mid-Year Highlights for 2002

The Northstar Chapter has had a great first six months of 2002.  We started out our year in February at the Metropolitan in Minneapolis.  We have signed another one year contract with the Metropolitan  because it is a great location that meets most of our members needs (centrally located).  Our February meeting topic was Metrics and was presented by one of our Board members – Jody Dahl. 

If you have ever worried about the safety and security of your payroll checks, you would have learned a great deal from the presentation in March by Frank Abagnale.  Standard Register sponsored Frank’s session and we partnered with the Risk Management group in the Twin Cities.  Mr. Abagnale is one of the world’s most respected authorities on the subjects of forgery, embezzlement, and secure documents.  For over twenty-five years he has lectured to and consulted with hundreds of financial institutions, corporations and government agencies around the world.  Please look for his best-selling book, “Catch Me If You Can” if you wish to learn more about this subject.  

Other great educational opportunities were:

Forty-eight Minnesotans attended the Annual Conference in San Antonio, TX in May, 2002.  National APA celebrated it’s 20 Year Anniversary with one of the most fun-filled and educational event  in its history.  We were all surprised by the talents of members of the organization.  Our own Dan Maddux, Executive Director sang America the Beautiful and brought tears to our eyes thinking about the September 11^th tragedy.  Lucy Key Price, CPP, President shared her clogging skills as well.  Our own Linda Obertin CPP, past President of the Northstar Chapter was named Payroll Woman of the Year for 2002.  Marcia Aamodt  CPP, past Payroll Woman of the Year 2001 gave a wonderful presentation on her year fulfilling this honor.  A survey was sent out to the attendees when we returned from Congress and the participants provided the following comments:

Kelly Swanson from Prostaff stated:  “I really enjoyed being able to meet fellow payroll professionals.  I met many people from our area as well as some contacts in Texas that work for a similar company as mine and have some common work issues.  They recently upgraded to PeopleSoft 8.0 and we are in the process right now.  They will be a great network tool for me and my company.  I would recommend Congress to other individuals in the payroll profession and will be attending Congress next year in Las Vegas.”

Terry Meggitt, CPP from HealthPartners shared:  “The first thing that comes to mind when I look back at the week is tons of training opportunities and a lot of fun too.  I met new people in the health care field and some that are training people to become CPPs.  I would recommend congress to other individuals in the payroll profession because it’s a way that you can meet other people doing the same things you may be doing.  Also, you have 9 training sessions to attend not counting the speaker topics.  Terry plans on attending next year’s Congress.  He thinks everyone should attend at least one.  After that, they will want to attend many more because it is a positive experience.”

Gloria Hoffman, CPP from NCS Pearson stated:  “Seeing old friends and networking was the first thing that comes to mind when she looks back at the week.  Gloria would strongly recommend Congress to others.  It is a great opportunity to learn more and get a different perspective than when ;you are in the office.  She will most likely be attend Congress next year.  Gloria found two things very interesting at this year’s congress:  1) information and services for electronic W-2s.  This is a reality and I really want to take advantage of it, and 2) a session on obtaining and retaining good employees.  This was excellent and certainly gave me more information about attracting staff, interviewing them and keeping them on board.  There were also some excellent ideas about alternative schedules.  There just isn’t enough time to do everything!!!!!”

Antonia (Toni) Ricks from Fortis shared:  “The first thing that comes to mind when I look back is how informative the workshops were, and how organized and smoothly everything went.  Toni said she didn’t meet many new people but she did meet a lot of vendors that I thought could be very beneficial in the future.  She would recommend Congress so everyone could see Dan Maddux in person (smile).  I would recommend it because there is so much information shared at congress to help with everyday options in payroll.  Toni indicated that she will not be attending next year because we have six people in our department so we will rotate and have two go each year.”

Cheryl Hatfield  stated:  “Lots of people and lots of networking opportunities (for many purposes) was the first thing that comes to mind when she looks back at the week.  Cheryl did meet new people that she can network with in the future.  She would also recommend congress to other individuals in the payroll profession – especially those who are new to payroll.  Cheryl will not attend Congress next year, but will probably attend the “best practices” or “leadership development” or something along those lines.  She was a little disappointed in the workshops.  Other comments Cheryl shared were:  classes and room location should be printed on the back of the nametages, there should be ice water and coffee in the back of each room, smaller lunches to keep us alert, and possibly a continental breakfast each morning to offset a lighter lunch.  Other than those “suggestions”, Cheryl thought it was exciting and fun and overall, a great experience.  I always look forward to this type of educational opportunity, especially when there are so many attendees with diverse backgrounds.”

Put next year’s Congress on your calendar – Last Vegas, Nevada  - April 29 through May 3, 2003.

The Northstar Chapter has had another successful year with many new CPPs and FPCs (97% passing rate).  Terry Meggitt, CPP has been the facilitator for each of the sessions.  He has also been working with National and Century College to enhance the recertification process.

In June, 2002, Marsha Smith, CPP and Robin Murphy, CPP went to Neighbor to Neighbor and presented a check in the amount of  $1,520.00 – collected through our Chapter for our second community involvement project of the year.