2018 Global AGM highlights from San Francisco, USA
This year’s Global AGM took place on the 17-19 October in the City by the Bay, San Francisco. A wonderful, walkable city with world-famous landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, Alcatraz and the largest Chinatown in the United States.
During the 3 days, delegates had plenty of opportunities to network, catch up with friends both old and new, and experience a wonderful event that included an exciting line-up of speakers and enjoyable dinner programme where delegates could sample some of California’s favourite wines, explore the famous Exploratorium and participate in the first ever MGI Worldwide Awards! The meeting attracted 150 delegates, including accompanying persons with representatives from each of our 8 regions across 38 countries, which was great to see.
Thank you to Ed Fahey and team at RINA accountancy corporation for organising a wonderful and memorable event!
Exciting line-up of speakers
An exciting line-up of speakers challenged us to live the “spirit of entrepreneurship” that’s key to growing our firms and serving our clients. Speakers included Mark Coopersmith, a venture capitalist and award-winning professor at UC Berkeley, Geni Whitehouse, a recognised thought leader in the accounting profession and Michael Cooper, an internationally recognised executive coach, advisor and facilitator.
Stand up and stand out
A fun and entertaining workshop led by the Improvisational Team Building Company gave delegates opportunity to explore the basic building blocks of successful collaboration, and Karl Emilsson – son of Eric Emilsson of Revideco, Sweden - was our youngest delegate and most enthusiastic participant in the workshop!
Around the World in 90 Days
An “Around the World in 90-minutes’ session saw Regional directors and members come together and take a trip around the world, showcasing their latest successes and experiences region by region, and the wonderful variety of opportunities that are arising from MGI Worldwide membership, including cross-border collaborations, emerging partnerships and regional initiatives.
Welcome to our newest members
We were delighted to welcome Osama Zuhairi from Al-Hamli Group CPA & Consultants in Saudi Arabia and Jack Massarelli and Carlo Viola from Fazzari + Partners LLP in Canada. You can also watch a video presentation of all 14 new member firms joining us this year, go HERE
Dinner programme and entertainment
The dinner programme included an excellent wine-tasting event where delegates could sample some of California’s favourite wines from the famous Sierra Foothills, Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley wine regions. Fun at the famous Exploratorium museum where delegates took part in an ‘imaginative-selfie’ competition (congratulations Hani Sharestan of Wright Ford Young & Co.), and the first MGI Worldwide Awards Dinner where delegates enjoyed impeccable service, outstanding cuisine, and live music from The Cosmo Alleycats Band.
Well done to all our 2018 Award Winners!
The event marked the first-ever MGI Worldwide Awards presentation, which took place at San Francisco’s premier business and social club, The City Club of San Francisco. A wonderful venue to celebrate the high standards among member firms and recognize the amazing people and teams around the world who have gone the extra mile to make a success of membership.
A big thank you to everyone who sent their nominations and to our jury members Cynthia Petrie, former Partner and Ambassador for Hellam Varon CPA's in Bellevue, Washington; Splend Splendorio, Partner at Hoge Fenton, Silicon Valley, California; and Clive Mieville, Ambassador for Mackrell International. And of course, congratulations to our well-deserved Winners who were presented with a prestigious MGI Worldwide Award and Certificate on the night:
Medium-sized Firm of the Year - MGI De Leone-Triunfo-Galloni & Associati (Italy)
Large Firm of the Year - Selden Fox Ltd (USA)
Project of the Year - Milsted Langdon LLP (UK), MGI Gideon Adi & Rekan (Indonesia), MGI Alliance PAC (Singapore)
Tax Firm of the Year - RINA accountancy corporation (USA)
Employer of the Year - Seymour Taylor (UK)
Professional Staff Member of the Year - Liza Rowles, Seymour Taylor (UK)
We look forward to more nominations and continued friendly competition next year.
You can read the full highlights and download all of the presentation material online in the member area, meeting highlights section at mgiworld.com
For more information contact [email protected]
More photos
Don't forget to connect with MGI Worldwide on social media!
You can stay in touch and keep up-to-date with what’s happening across the MGI Worldwide international network on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and more recently on our NEW YouTube channel where we post new updates regularly. Simply search “MGI Worldwide” and click to Follow us, and subscribe to our new YouTube channel to help us reach 100 subscribers or more.
MGI Worldwide is a top 20 ranked international accounting network with some 5,000 independent auditors, accountants and tax experts in over 260 locations around the world.