Message from the incoming national president.

(Incoming National President Honorable Michael Montelongo gave the following remarks to attendees of the American Society of Military Comptrollers Professional Development Institute on the final night of the PDI.)

I'm honored and thankful today to he able to step up to the helm. Or, as we might say in the Air Force, "take over the stick" of this wonderful and unique organization.

The American Society of Military Comptrollers is not just any professional organization. We're fortunate to have the ASMC as a partner to Army, Navy, Marine, and Air Force comptrollers world-wide. It's one of the largest, most active, and successful professional societies around. Today, we boast a membership of over 18,000 men and women from all walks of comptroller life. We are known for our very active membership, and we are also known for our spirit of volunteerism: Society members donate their time generously in the name of education, professional development, and the betterment of our career field.

That's the legacy that I am so proud to inherit here at ASMC--an anchor that unites us all together. Indeed, ASMC, like the Services and DFAS, defines itself by its values and principles and strong sense of mission and purpose. And like the Services and DFAS, it understands the imperative for progress, change, improvement, and transformation. And so, we in the Services and DFAS are fortunate to have ASMC as a partner on our transformation journey. This kind of value-added just doesn't happen or appear. It happens because of strong, committed, and dedicated leadership ably provided by Jim McCall and his great team and most recently this past year by our outgoing president, Ms. Audrey Davis. They all deserve our gratitude and applause.

I'm thrilled to have the privilege and honor to serve you and to join Jim and all of you to help shepherd our organization through new challenges and opportunities over the next 12 months, including an upcoming move to a new headquarters building, where for the first time ASMC will be a landlord--renting space to others in a building that we will own ourselves! As many of you might know, the new headquarters building will be in Alexandria, Virginia, and the move has been a long time in coming. Of course, in addition to moves and landlord issues to think about, this next year will also feature our 2005 PDI in Salt Lake City.

As your national president, I look forward to helping chart the course toward a successful and eventful future where financial managers are "financing the fight" each and every day in innovative ways. I look forward to serving you and working with you to make this future come true. Thank you, and God bless America.

Michael Montelongo Incoming National President