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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

I would like to extend my gratitude to our member firms for the honor of serving as President for the past year and your support of our many activities throughout the year.

In reflecting on our activities over the past year, I am pleased about the achievements we made and the continued success for our organization and members. The committees have been very active in continuing industry and agency partnerships at the federal, state and local levels. Our successes in establishing and maintaining dialogue with the USACE, GSA, NAVFAC, VDOT, DDOT, WMATA, Montgomery and Fairfax Counties and others will significantly benefit our firms.

On the educational front, we organized two successful seminars – the NHI rating bridge seminar and low impact development (LID) practices. Our luncheon programs were equally well-attended; in fact, all luncheons exceeded prior years’ attendance levels and provided great value to our members through networking with industry peers and leaders from presenting agencies.

Our achievements continued with national recognition at the ACEC National Conference for exceeding our PAC goal for the third and fourth year in a row. Our political activity continued last month when representatives of ACEC/MW attended ACEC’s National Conference and the Consulting Congress Day in Washington, where we promoted ACEC’s Legislative Agenda by meeting with the members of our Congressional Delegation. With important initiatives such as transportation and water infrastructure funding before Congress and a looming 3% withholding by government clients on the horizon, our industry must be aggressive .

Finally, our successful Annual Conference on June 4 gave us the opportunity to gather in record numbers, hear about the local economy and market trends and renew our commitment to work as a team to achieve the many business, legislative and education goals ahead of us.

Many thanks to all for the opportunity to work with you and all the best to Courtney Brown, our new President, and the rest of the Board as we move forward on a new and promising year.

Mike Wiercinski, P.E.
A. Morton Thomas & Associates, Inc.
2007-2008 ACEC/MW President

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ACEC/MW 2008 ANNUAL CONFERENCE A HUGE SUCCESS!

Dr. Fuller addresses the audience...

The ACEC/MW 2008 Annual Conference was held recently on June 4 at the McLean Hilton. This year's conference was a tremendous success - attendance and interest was at record levels. This year our keynote speaker was Dr. Stephen Fuller, Director of the Center for Regional Analysis of George Mason University. Dr. Fuller gave an insightful overview of the regional economy and how it relates to the national economy.

The expertise of our speakers and the topic of focus for each session were primary factors in the positive response of the attendees. Many attendees remarked at the strength of these programs. If you are interested in viewing presentations from the conference, please click here.

Thanks again to our exhibitors and sponsors for making this year's conference a great success. We look forward to seeing all of you next year in June 2009.

2008-2009 ACEC/MW Board of Directors

Pictured from left to right: Simon Simon (Director), Steve Walter (Director), Lou Robbins (Director), Johann Dobak (Director), Mike Wiercinski (Immediate Past President and National Director, Gregg Spagnolo (Treasurer), Eric Rehwoldt (Vice President), Dave Greenwood (President-Elect), Courtney Brown (President) and David Eakin (Director - not pictured).

ACEC/MW Annual Award Winners
Schnabel Engineering - Member Firm of the Year
Peter Bonaccorsi - Impact Award
Philios Angelides - President's Award
Outgoing Board Members: Ron Ewing, Mark Steiner, Philios Angelides

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KEY MEETINGS WITH CLIENT AGENCIES

This year our ACEC/MW Committees have been very active in meeting with clients and agencies. Each of our committees hold numerous meetings with local, state and regional agencies that affect the business affairs of our member firms. These meetings are a key benefit to the members of our committees and hold enormous value.

Recent client meettings have included:

• Loudoun County
• US Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC)
• Prince William County
• US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District
• Virginia Department of Transportation, Northern Virginia District

We would like to highlight one of our most recent meetings:

ACEC/MW Environmental Committee Meets with the District Department of the Environment (DDOE)

On April 18th members of our Environmental Committee met with George Hawkins, DDOE Director and his staff to discuss various issues important to our membership. Topics discussed included the challenge of promoting development in the city while fostering high environmental standards and the DDOE commitment to storm water management and their ongoing efforts with DCWASA. In addition, the organizational chart of DDOE was shared along with future plans of the organization.

The next meeting with DDOE is planned for late summer - contact the committee to get involved! Send an email with your interest to hmcannon@acecmw.org.

To be a part of client/agency meetings like this - please join one of our committees and make the most of your ACEC/MW membership!

If you are interested in participating in any of these committees, please contact Mac Cannon at hmcannon@acecmw.org.

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

ACEC/MW sponsorships remain very popular and are a great marketing outlet for our firms.

With a number of events to choose from like our:
- Business Opportunities Networking Luncheons
- Annual Golf Outing
- Annual Conference
- Educational Seminars

Get your firm noticed by targeting the engineering community at some of our events. If you are interested in being a sponsor and learning about the rates at these or any of our events, please contact ACEC/MW Executive Director Mac Cannon.