Leadership Asheville gathered Wednesday, September 16th at Asheville’s new event space, The Venue, to discuss new community initiatives and partnerships, as well as honor both the graduated Class of 2009 and the incoming Class of 2010.

Highlighting the afternoon festivities was the recognition of three Buncombe County students, Jacob Edwards (Erwin High), Michael Hickey (Owen High) and Seth Fox (North Buncombe High), for outstanding community leadership and service. Jacob Edwards was the recipient of the first ever “Community Impact Award”, an annual award/ scholarship that will be presented to a western North Carolina citizen on behalf of Leadership Asheville.

Incoming class participants launch Leadership Asheville 28 Class this week with a two-day retreat at The Crest Center. Lew Bleiweis of Asheville Area Regional Airport Authority said, “As the airport director and a newer resident of this community, I expect to gain knowledge of the internal workings of the community as well as getting to know the community leaders.  Since the airport is an important asset to this community and the other counties of western North Carolina that we serve, I look forward to finding out how we can utilize the airport to its fullest extent to better serve the economic needs of the area.”

Members of The Leadership Asheville 28 Class include: John D. Beatty, The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa; Lew S. Bleiweis, Asheville Regional Airport Authority; Jamie Bolak, MOVE Communications; Connie Bowes, Daniel Boone Council; Steven D. Busey, WCQS/WYQS; Wayne R. Butler, Eaton Corporation; A. Leisa Capps, Southern Community Bank and Trust; David C. Carr, Montreat College; Judy J. Daniel, City of Asheville; Ally Donlan, Warren Wilson College; Jeffrey G. Dunlop, Van Winkle Law Firm; Leslie A. Elliot, University of Phoenix; Laresa M. Fair, United Way of ABC; Susan D. Garrett, Garrett and Associates; Lisa Gatewood-McMillan, Exquisite Events and Consulting; Dena P. Gettleman, Asheville City Schools; Mark R. Goldstein, Communication Mark, Inc.; Gordon L. Grant, Asheville City Schools; Blaine Greenfield, Community Volunteer; Susan M. Hammond, Mountain Housing Opportunities; L. Frances Harvey, Homeward Bound; Eileen Hutchison, Community Volunteer; Jeremy B. Jordan, The Buyers Agent of Asheville; Barbara Keaton, AB Tech Community College; Cathy M. Kramer, Warren Wilson College; Emi Kubota, i play, Inc.; Jana T. Lechner, Junior League of Asheville; R. Fielding Lowe, Jr., BB&T; Jessie S. McClain, Mission Hospital; Jo. L. Peterson-Gibbs, Asheville City Schools; George J. Pfeiffer, U Save Car and Truck Rental; Hayley R. Roper, McGuire, Wood and Bissette, PA; Selenah J. Seabrooks, Progress Energy; Stephen R. Shoaf, City of Asheville; Russell A. Towers, Lewis Real Estate; Michael S. Trayford, Hampton Wellness; Garry A. Whisnant, Progress Energy; Marcia B. Whitney, Rathbun Center; and Jeremy M. Wilde, Mountain Home Care.

Established in 1982, Leadership Asheville has graduated more than 1000 representatives of the region’s economic, service and governmental sectors. Drawing from profit and non-profit organizations, local government officials, private industry executives, university professors, stay-at-home parents, and school administrators, Leadership Asheville’s graduate network covers a divers array of interests, opportunities and challenges inherent to the region. Strategic, Community and Media partners include Southern Community Bank & Trust, The Van Winkle Law Firm, The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa, UNCA,  Mission Health Systems, WCQS and The Asheville Citizen-Times. Please visit www.leadershipasheville.org or contact Executive Director, Gerry Goertz at ggoertz@leadershipasheville.org for additional information.

by Jeff Dunlop

There are many reasons why you might have a non-U.S. bank account. Maybe you spend a significant amount of time in a foreign country and want a local bank account or perhaps you support family members in a foreign country and as a matter of convenience have an account in your family members’ country of citizenship. Regardless of the reasons for your use of non-U.S. bank accounts, every U.S. person has reporting obligations regarding their foreign accounts and the income generated on these accounts. If you have failed to report the income from or existence of a non-U.S. bank account, you could be subject to substantial civil monetary and criminal penalties.

To induce compliance from taxpayers who have inadvertently failed to report the income from or existence of non-U.S. bank accounts, the IRS recently instituted a program where owners of unreported non-U.S. bank accounts can make a voluntary disclosure to become compliant with the IRS requirements, avoid substantial civil penalties, and generally eliminate the risk of criminal prosecution by the IRS. Making a voluntary disclosure also provides the opportunity to calculate, with a reasonable degree of certainty, the total cost of resolving all non-U.S. tax issues.

If a person does not voluntarily disclose non-U.S. bank accounts under the IRS program, he or she could be liable for civil and criminal penalties, which are significantly higher than the voluntary penalties.

The voluntary disclosure program for unreported offshore bank accounts may not be for everyone and the last date to participate is September 23, 2009. For more information regarding this IRS program you can visit:

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=206012,00.html?portlet=7.

To comply with certain U.S. Treasury regulations, we inform you that, unless expressly stated otherwise, any U.S. Federal tax advice contained in this communication, including attachments, is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, by any person for the purpose of avoiding any penalties that may be imposed by the Internal Revenue Service.