This year, there are two winners of the New York State Society of CPAs' (NYSSCPA) Distinguished Service Award – Stephen Valenti, CPA, and George Foundotos, CPA. The Distinguished Service Award is given to CPAs who have set themselves apart as Society leaders and provided outstanding service to the NYSSCPA and the profession through dedicated service, contributions to publications, public service, and other activities.  The award will be presented to them at the Society's Annual Election Dinner and Meeting on May 10. 

 

Valenti is a clinical professor of accounting at New York University and a sole practitioner. He is a former NYSSCPA vice president and a former member of the board of directors and the Executive Committee. He has chaired six different committees, including Tax Division Oversight, Closely Held S Corporations, Higher Education, and Taxation of Individuals. He has also been a member of thirty different committees, including Relations with Financial Media, Relations with Commercial Credit Grantors, Employee Benefits, and Relations with IRS.

 

Foundotos is a professor of accounting at Dowling College and is currently the president of the NYSSCPA Political Action Committee. He is a past president of the NYSSCPA (1998-1999) and a member of its Executive Committee. He was president (1988-1989), president elect, vice president, secretary, and treasurer of the NYSSCPA Suffolk Chapter. He was also vice chair of the Staff Compensation Task Force and the chair of the Deferred Compensation Task Force and the Fire District Task Force. He served as president of the Society's Foundation for Accounting Education (FAE) (1999-2000), and he is a member of the Higher Education Committee and the FAE Scholarship Awards Committee.

 

Foundotos has been a NYSSCPA member for more than forty years. During that time, he has given his service to more than forty committees, including Chapter Operations, Legislation, Professional Ethics, and Finance. He chaired the Audit, Chapter Relations, Small Business Outreach, Professional Standards Task Force, Suffolk Chapter Government Relations, and Suffolk Chapter Cooperation with Education committees.

 

In 1992, Foundotos was also the recipient of the Dr. Emanuel Saxe Outstanding CPA Education Award. This award highlights outstanding service and professional development in education. The award is designed to recognize accounting educators for distinguished service and excellence in teaching, and for contributing to and promoting the accounting profession.