Chapter History

East Bay - Northern California Chapter History

On July 1, 2014, the Amador Valley Chapter and the Oakland - East Bay Chapter merged, as the Oakland - East Bay Chapter had been inactive for a number of years.. The Merged Chapter retained the Oakland - East Bay Chapter Number. The Merged Chapter is named the East Bay - Northern California Chapter as there was an historical East Bay Chapter in IMA's history, the Oakland - East Bay Chapter held high historical significance to the local members. The Chapter members are located in Western and Southern Contra Costa County and Alameda County. The Chapter continues to make history as the strives to meet the Chapter's goals and objectives.

Amador Valley Chapter History

In 1990, the Chapter went through reorganization by moving its meeting location to the TriValley Area (Dublin – Livermore – San Ramon) and changed its name to Amador Valley.  The new name reflected this new geographical location of chapter meetings.  After the move to the TriValley, the chapter received support from many of the companies located in the two major business parks located in the area, Hacienda and Bishop Ranch.  The chapter continued to participate in national events and helped host a National IMA Conference in San Francisco and one of its members served as the national operation’s co-chair.

But the 90’s saw many changes in the economy that affected participation in voluntary professional organizations across the country.  In late 1999, the Board of Directors voted to let the Chapter go dark citing that there was a lack of volunteers to assist in the Board functioning of the Chapter and a lack of attendance at technical meetings.From inception to 1999, the chapter was successful in its operations receiving awards in the National Competition 7 times.

After recruiting new volunteers to function as a Board of Directors in late 2001, the Chapter on January 16, 2002 held its first technical meeting of the new era. As the TriValley is known for some of the finest wines in California, the Chapter’s first speaker was Gary Bentling, CFO of the Wente Wineries. The topic for the night was on the accounting requirements for a multi-functional (winery, restaurant, concert series, and golf course) medium size winery.  Since this meeting, the Chapter has held technical meetings ranging from the accounting for professional soccer and horse-racing, to fraudulent activities, to taxes for individuals and corporations, and to the new IFRS.  

From 2002 to 2010, the chapter has again been successful in its operations, being awarded in Global Competition with a 19th place one year and medaling in the Newsletter and Membership Roster competitions.

During the 2009-2010 IMA year, the Chapter started partnering with the Diablo Valley Chapter whose area of influence is the middle and north-eastern portion of Contra Costa County with a couple of joint technical meetings. As a result of this collaboration, the two Chapters have decide to join forces for the entire 2010-2011 and partner in all chapter activities while still maintaining their individual Chapter responsibilities to the Global IMA organization. At the end of the 2010-2011 year, the respective Board of Directors decided to continue run each Chapter individually and collaborate in advertising each other's activities.

Alameda County South Chapter History

The Chapter was chartered July 1, 1966 as the Alameda County – South Chapter with a charter membership of 82.  The Chapter spun off from Oakland-East Bay in order to service members who lived and worked further south of Oakland. Peterson Tractor Company and several of the “Big 8” CPA firms (including Deloitte) supported the Chapter; many of the officers who served on the board were from these companies.  The Chapter grew over the years and participated in the national chapter competition; the highlight was winning the Stevenson Trophy in 1987 for finishing 1st in the nation during Joe Vautier’s term as president.  Many chapter members served at the regional and national levels on committees and as members of the National Board of Directors. 

Oakland - East Bay Chapter History

By the early 1950s, the opportunity for a chapter of the National Association of Accountants (as we were known then) in the East Bay became clear, and the Oakland-East Bay Chapter was chartered in 1952, joining the existing San Francisco Chapter to serve Bay Area accounting and finance professionals. Our first Chapter President was Leonard A. Doyle, CPA. A review of our chapter roster library shows his name reappearing in the late 1960s as a Professor at UC Berkeley - obviously a significant contributor to our profession.

From the very beginning, the Chapter's members have worked together to provide educational and networking opportunities for our fellow professionals, as well as giving support to accounting students and various community services.

The OEB Chapter won its first banner in the National Chapter competition in the 1958/59 chapter year, under the leadership of Chapter President Hugh Eyerly. The earliest Roster and Program Guide in our chapter library, for the 1960/61 chapter year, listed Mr. Eyerly as the Controller for Cutter Laboratories in Berkeley.

(Speaking of the 1960/61 Roster, it contained advertisements for, among others, a mechanical calculator that must have weighed 50 pounds, with the tag line "that makes figure-work output soar", as well as a personnel agency for "MEN and WOMEN". Progress was rampant!)

The OEB Chapter has since garnered nine more National banners and a wide variety of other National awards for excellence in membership and communications.

In the early days, the accounting and finance world was male-dominated, and that was reflected in the chapter membership and leadership. In the 1960s era Rosters, one could still see the notation "Wives Invited" under a listing for a Non-Technical meeting, as well as a meeting topic of "The Businessman's Health - Coronary Artery Disease, Our Contemporary Plague". But thankfully that has changed, and the OEB elected its first woman President (not to mention one of its most dynamic), Pat Newton, in the banner-winning 1983/84 chapter year.

In the early 1990s, we had become the Institute of Management Accountants, to better reflect the roles most of our members played in their organizations. By then the East Bay area was also served by IMA chapters in Walnut Creek (Diablo Valley Chapter) and Pleasanton (Amador Valley Chapter), not to mention chapters in San Jose, the Peninsula, and Santa Rosa. Change in the world and in our profession greatly accelerated, and continues unabated to the present day. The OEB Chapter's activities have also been evolving, to reflect the changes in our daily life and to keep pace with technological advances.

But even as the Oakland-East Bay Chapter recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, it is still as important as it was in 1952 for accounting and finance professionals to actively manage their careers. In fact, it is more critical than ever to be prepared for that next career opportunity... and certification, continuing education, leadership development and nurturing a professional network will always be the cornerstones of that preparation.