ACEC/MW Newsletter - September 2008

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

I would like to thank our Immediate Past President, Mike Wiercinski of A. Morton Thomas and Associates for his unsurpassed service to ACEC/MW. Mike served our organization tirelessly throughout the past year. Most importantly, he sharpened our focus on interfacing with clients to enhance the value we bring to our members. We have been very fortunate to have Mike lead ACEC/MW and our organization is well positioned for sustained success in the coming years.

ACEC/MW has a strong foundation comprised of a large and diverse group of member companies, financial stability, and effective and active committees. We plan to build on this foundation to further strengthen our organization. In the coming year, our focus will be developing and fostering key partnerships with other entities and enhancing our communications with our members. We will:

Focus on and enhance our relationships with our clients, continuously looking for ways to help them with their challenges and work through issues we face in the engineering community, such as Qualifications Based Selection (QBS).
Forge and strengthen partnerships with trade associations and professional societies such as we have done with the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) and the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) to achieve collective synergy.
Work closely with ACEC National, especially on membership and legislative matters so that we both may benefit from our close proximity and support each organization’s interest in these areas.
Enhance our government affairs involvement in support of ACEC National as well as ACEC/Maryland and ACEC/Virginia and continue our strong efforts in support of the ACEC federal PAC.
Establish a subcommittee of the Program Committee to develop a branding strategy for ACEC/MW and help us better communicate the value we bring to the engineering community. We will also provide more information to our members and partners through our newsletter and website.
Provide opportunities for emerging leaders in our member firms to participate in our organization’s activities to strengthen our committees and provide leadership training to help our member firms.

We have a very talented pool of people who serve on ACEC/MW’s committees and Board of Directors that benefit each of our member firms every day. Collectively, we will all make the effort to ensure that at the end of the next year we again will be able to say that ACEC/MW is stronger than it was a year ago.

We’re already off to a fabulous start with a great luncheon event in August sponsored by our Environmental Committee which was attended by nearly 100 people. We’re following up with another great event in September with four key transportation leaders in Virginia. I am very excited to serve you all as President of ACEC/MW for the 2008-2009 member year and look forward to working with you to achieve our goals.

Courtney Brown, P.E.
CH2M Hill
2008-2009 ACEC/MW President

ACEC/MW COMMITTEES ARE ACTIVE

The ACEC/MW committees have been very active in meeting with our strategic plan goals. In this issue, we highlight the achievements and key activities of three of our committees:

Facilities Committee:

Recent meetings with local counties including Loudoun, Prince William, and Montgomery in 2008.Planned outreach to Fairfax, Prince George's, and Arlington counties, and the City of Alexandria for the remainder of the year.
Ongoing outreach efforts with US Army Corps of Engineers, Navy, and GSA.
Planning a joint meeting between ACEC and DBIA is being planned to discuss common topics of interest to the two organizations.
Planning a seminar on sustainable development, LEED certification/green buildings, and energy conservation issues.

The committee meets the 3rd Wednesday of each month. The next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 17. New members are encouraged to attend.

Legislative Committee:

Achieved our 2008 fundraising goal for the ACEC National Political Action Committee (PAC) prior to the ACEC Spring Convention.

Developed internal protocols for communication of requests for action on legislative issues.

Working to establish online resources via webpage links to improve ability of member firms to access legislator contact data to facilitate responses to calls for action.
Strengthened relationship with ACEC/MD through development of a memorandum of understanding optimizing communication between the two member organizations (MOs).
Established dialogue with ACEC/VA geared to develop a joint memorandum of understanding aimed at building a stronger partnership with this sister MO .

The committee typically meets the Fourth Thursday of each month. The next meeting is scheduled for Friday, September 26th. All members are welcome to attend.

Membership Committee:

The membership committee‘s primary purpose is to grow membership through recruiting new member firms and retaining existing firms.

Recruited 5 new members in the first 2 months of the member year.
Seeking to enhance participation from each member firm by involving more emerging leaders, along with senior leaders, to introduce them to ACEC and provide leadership training opportunities.
The Membership Committee provides great opportunities to network throughout our industry

We invited interested members to join our committee, which meets monthly via conference call. The next conference call is scheduled for Friday, September 19th. Please contact the ACEC/MW Offices for more information.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY NETWORKING LUNCHEONS

The interest in our luncheon topics and speakers this past year was the largest to date. We look forward to bringing you another year of informative and insightful opportunities to hear from these great caliber speakers. Be sure to register early when the notices hit your inbox!

Our next event is the Virginia Transportation Luncheon to be held on Thursday, September 18th, 2008 at Maggiano's Little Italy in Tysons Corner.

Speakers:

Bill Cuttler, Assistant District Engineer - Preliminary Engineering, Northern Virginia District of VDOT

Ellen Gallagher, Chief, Capital Projects and Operations Division, Fairfax County Department of Transportation

Frank Holly, Vice President for Engineering, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority

Dennis Harris, Northern Virginia Coordinator, Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE AND REGISTER!

2008-2009 Luncheon Schedule

ACEC/MW "FORE" IN THE FALL GOLF OUTING

Mark your calendars and register today for our annual golf tournament this coming September 25, 2008 at Pleasant Valley Golf Club in Chantilly, VA.

Please join us for what will be another great day on this wonderful course. Join your colleagues, entertain your clients and try to win some of our fantastic prizes, just for playing:

Prizes:
$10,000 Hole in One
2 Round trip airfare tickets
Large LCD Flat screen Television
Set of Callaway Golf Clubs

Register today to play or be a sponsor of this fall tradition!

WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST MEMBER

We would like to welcome our newest members that have joined us in the most recent months.

Keast & Hood, Washington DC

JOIN OUR COMMITTEES

ACEC/MW has 6 committees which are the heart of what ACEC/MW represents. If you are not currently involved in a committee, please consider attending a meeting and joining a committee. Below is a list of the committees along with their mission statements and 2008-2009 chairs.

Environmental Committee
Chaired by Gary Weil, CH2M Hill
- To develop relationships, make contacts, educate members, and influence the business environment for water/wastewater, site remediation and water resources in Metropolitan Washington.

Facilities Committee
Chaired by Mark Leeman, Facility Engineering Associates
- To identify key decision makers in the public and private facilities markets and establish a conduit with key decision makers for engineering companies to exchange information in order to improve the business environment in Metropolitan Washington. We will achieve this through educational programs and the activities of subcommittees focusing on the business sectors that we serve.

Legislative Committee
Chaired by Bob Henchbarger, Michael Baker Jr., Inc.
- Advise and educate local, state and national legislators in our jurisdiction regarding issues of importance in the engineering and surveying community.

Membership Committee
Chaired by Angela Marchetti, Schnabel Engineering
- Foster the growth of the ACEC/MW through stewardship of the membership recruitment and retention program.

Program Committee
Co-chaired by Lesley Arnott-Rogers, A. Morton Thomas & Associates and Tracy Allen, ECS Mid-Atlantic
- To conceptualize and plan monthly Business Opportunities Luncheons, seminars, annual meeting, breakfast roundtables and special events.

Transportation Committee
Chaired by Peter Bonaccorsi, HNTB Corporation
- To develop relationships, make contacts, educate members, and influence the business environment for the highway, aviation, and transit market within the ACEC/MW jurisdiction.

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 tool 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.