Chers adhérents, chers amis,

Recently returning from Miami, Florida, where I had the opportunity to participate in the Conseillers du Commerce Extérieur de la France (CCEF) Worldwide Symposium, I am pleased to announce that several FACC Chapters were present for the first time amongst the symposium’s 600 participants, including over 40 French SMEs with projects in the United States. Many FACC-Chicago members were proudly representing the Midwest, as well. Thanks to the combined efforts of the local French-American community in Miami, and under the leadership of Paul Bensabat, the event was a great success (… despite the unusual stormy weather!!)

As we prepare the final details of our 20th Anniversary La Nuit des Etoiles gala, we are delighted to share with you the list of returning honorees, as well as a list of truly exceptional “A Day in the Life of” raffle participants who have agreed to donate their valuable time to a happy few. As always, our Live Auction lots are sure to inspire our whole community with new lots around this year’s culinary theme: French and American Michelin restaurants! We look forward to seeing many of you at this special French-American Red Carpet event of the season! If you haven’t done so already, we encourage you to purchase tickets through our event page or by calling our offices at (312) 578-0444.

To even further share the inspiration, we are opening our Raffle to gala attendees and non-attendees alike. If you cannot join us for La Nuit des Etoiles but would still like to meet one of our community’s greatest leaders, you can buy tickets online here, and FACC will enter your ticket for you.

We’d like to extend a sincere thank you to those of you who offered your unique FACC-Chicago experience with us through a video testimonial. The completed video will be shown on March 2 during our Gala dinner.

We will welcome WeiserMazars LLP’s French Desk representatives from New York on March 1st for a SPECIAL Business Breakfast WORKSHOP on “Recent Tax Changes in France & the Impact on Taxpayers Residing in the U.S." This is an especially timely program, as the end of 2011 saw the unprecedented proliferation of new taxes in France. Participants will have the opportunity to exchange with our Franco-American tax experts.

As always, please see the Calendar of Events page of our website for more information on these events and to register.

You will notice in this month’s newsletter that we are including a list of our renewing members since the beginning of the year. As the base of FACC-Chicago, we thank you for your continued support and the dynamic energy that you bring to our organization!

Avec mon meilleur souvenir,

Emmanuèle van Houdenhoven

Executive Director