The Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants (FICPA) has elected Sharon Lassar, director, School of Accounting, to the position of vice president of the executive committee for 2009-2010. An active member of the FICPA since 1999, Lassar has held several volunteer positions, including as chair of financial literacy, and as chair of accounting shows and the organization’s popular continuing professional education event, FABexpo.

In addition to her membership on the FICPA Board of Governors, Lassar serves on the corporate advisory board for the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALPFA), the audit advisory committee for the City of Miami and the Minority Initiatives Committee of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

She has served U.S. taxpayers as site coordinator for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program and as Minority Issues Chair of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, to which Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neil appointed her.

Lassar’s award-winning research has been published in journals such as Journal of Accountancy, Taxes – The Tax Magazine, The CPA Journal, The Journal of Legal Tax Research and Tax Adviser.

Honored as the 2005 Educator of the Year by the American Woman’s Society of Certified Public Accountants for her contributions to accounting education and dedication to students, she also was voted best professor by Executive Master of Science in Taxation students at Florida International University.

Lassar earned her PhD at the University of Southern California, her master’s degree in taxation at Bentley College and her bachelor’s degree in accounting from West Virginia University.