PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

I would like to thank our Immediate Past President, Courtney Brown of CH2M Hill for her outstanding leadership and service to ACEC/MW. Courtney has served our organization tirelessly throughout the past year. Not only did she build on her predecessors’ legacy, but she sharpened our focus on member service details to bring added value to you our members. We have been very fortunate to have Courtney 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 our firm and client senior leaders and fostering key partnerships with other entities and enhancing our communications with our members. We will:

• Implement a Senior Leaders Development Program for member firms and our clients.
• 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 DBIA, 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.
• 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.

David Greenwood, Michael Baker Jr., Inc.
2009-2010 ACEC/MW President

ACEC/MW Board of Directors 2009 - 2010

ACEC/MW Committee Chairs 2009 - 2010

FOCUS ON: transportation COMMITTEE

The mission of the ACEC/MW Transportation Committee is to develop relationships, make contacts, educate members, and influence the business environment for the highway, aviation, and transit market in Metropolitan Washington.

The Transportation Committee continues to be the largest and most well attended committee at ACEC/MW.  The committee regularly attracts 15-20 attendees at each monthly meeting and that number has consistently been on the rise.

The committee works to provide opportunities for member firms to meet with the clients they do business with including local municipalities and federal and state government agencies. The most recent example is our quarterly meeting in July with the District Department of Transportation (DDOT).   This meeting was held with Gabe Klein, Department Director, Kathleen Penney, Chief Engineer, and other key staff members.  The agenda ranged from updates on stimulus funding, consideration of new language as it pertains to RFPs and task orders, and discussion regarding updates to error and omission statements in DDOT contracts.

Committee membership is indicative of our industry with large, small and DBE firms represented.  Through our client meetings and monthly discussions and updates, this committee is vital to the engineering business community. 
In the coming months, the committee will be setting up meetings with the following agencies:  VDOT, DDOT, WMATA and MWAA., In addition to these agencies, the committee will continue to pursue meetings with our county municipalities in the Washington Metropolitan area.

We encourage participation from every member firm. If you are interested in becoming part of the committee, please contact Executive Director, Mac Cannon or Committee Chair, Fred Wiker.

The Transportation committee meets the last Friday of the month.
The next meeting is scheduled for Friday, September 25th. 

COMMITTEE UPDATES

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

Environmental Committee:
The committee plays an important role in building and enhancing ACEC/MW's relationships with affiliated associations, clients and local government agencies within the region. The committee is in the process of planning meetings with local clients (counties and government agencies).

Examples of the issues discussed within the committee are: sustainability, green building, energy efficiency, storm water management, wastewater management and more. The committee is currently working on coordinating meetings with local municipalities and government agencies.

The Environmental committee meets the 2nd Wednesday of the month.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 14th. 
Please contact the Committee Chair, Hunt Loftin if you would like to participate on this committee.

Facilities Committee:
The committee is in the process of planning meetings with local clients (counties and government agencies).

In July, we met with Loudoun County representatives.  Ten ACEC/MW representatives attended the meeting.  A good dialog was held that included discussions of upcoming projects and funding, prioritization of county needs, coordination of disciplines on projects, and quality issues.

On September 16, our committee will meet with NAVFAC representatives at the Washington Navy Yard.  Committee members are encouraged to attend or bring their issues to a committee member for discussion at the meeting.

Activity in coming months will focus on scheduling meetings with other local client agencies.  Local MD and VA counties are targeted.  We will also look to expand contacts to include colleges and universities, as well as K-12 schools.  Ongoing efforts with federal agencies are also in place.
The Facilities committee meets the 3rd Wednesday of the month.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 16th. 
Please contact the Committee Chair, Mark Leeman if you would like to participate on this committee.

Legislative Committee:
The committee monitors legislative activity in Maryland and Virginia in partnership with ACEC/MD and ACEC/VA to not only be reactive to items surfacing in the state assemblies, but to be proactive regarding potential issues.  The committee acts as a resource to our membership and local legislators on issues that affect the business of engineering. If there are any issues that your firm would like the committee to be aware of, please contact the committee with your suggestions.

The committee works each year to meet the National ACEC PAC goal and has exceeded that mark for the last 3 years.
 
During the next year, the committee will host fundraisers for select congressional candidates that are supported by the ACEC PAC.   The Committee is in the process of organizing a Congressional Fundraiser for Representative Gerry Connolly to be held on Monday, September 28th in Chantilly, Virginia.
The Legislative committee meets the 4th Thursday of the month.
The next meeting is specially scheduled for Friday, September 18th. 
Please contact the Committee Chair, Bob Henchbarger if you would like to participate on this committee.

Membership Committee:
The committee plans to increase its efforts in the coming year to engage every firm so that they find value in our committees and business opportunity and networking events.  The committee will continue to prospect for additional firms to join. If you have suggestions on firms that you would like the committee to reach out to for membership or if you would like to participate on the committee, please contact the Committee Chair, Angela Marchetti.

The committee meets the 3rd Friday of each month via conference call. The next meeting is scheduled for Friday, September 18th.

Program Committee:
The mission of the ACEC/MW Program Committee is to conceptualize and plan monthly business opportunities luncheons, seminars, an annual conference, breakfast roundtables and special events. 

The Program Committee is excited to begin a new year of programs and thus has been very busy planning for another successful year.   On August 20th we held our first program of the year, our Environmental Luncehon, at Maggiano’s in Tyson’s Corner Galleria.  Our speakers included Carlton Ray from DCWASA, Jamie B. Hedges from Fairfax Water, Gary Gumm from WSSC, and James Robinson from Maryland Environmental Service.  They shared information related to their construction programs and upcoming business opportunities for our members and guests. 

For the month of September we have the Virginia Transportation Business Opportunities Luncheon scheduled for September 17th which will be held at Maggiano’s.  We will have representatives from VDOT, City of Alexandria and Virginia Mega Projects.  We also have our Annual “Fore” in the Fall Golf Outing which will be held at Penderbrook Golf Course in Fairfax, VA on September 24th.     

In addition to our month Business Opportunities Luncheon and golf outing, we are also planning for another “Bridge Inspection Seminar” to be held February 8-19, 2010.  Registration for FHWA-NHI-130055: Safety Inspection of In-Service Bridges will be open in September for ACEC/MW, MD and VA members.    

Please contact the Committee Co-Chairs, Tracy Allen and Joe Monahan, if you would like to join this committee, we are always looking for participation from our members.
 
The committee meets the 2nd Tuesday of each month via conference call. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 13th.

If you are interested in additional information on any of the ACEC/MW Committees, please contact Executive Director Mac Cannon.

RECENT EVENTS REVIEW

The interest in our luncheon topics and speakers continues to be strong - our first luncheon was a tremendous success.  A brief update of the most recent luncheon is below.

~ Thursday, August 20th ~
~ Environmental: Water Wastewater Luncheon ~

On August 20th at Maggiano’s Little Italy, Tysons Corner, VA – more than 85 attendees heard updates and insight from our speakers: 

Jamie B. Hedges - Fairfax Water
Director, Planning and Engineering Division

James Robinson - Maryland Environmental Service 
Head of Engineering for the Environmental Dredging & Restoration Division

Gary Gumm - Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC)
Chief Engineer

Carlton Ray - District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DCWASA)
Director, CSO - Long Term Control Plan Department

If you are interested in the speakers' presentations, please click on their names above.

James Robinson, Head of Engineering for the Environmental Dredging & Restoration Division of MES.

Luncheon Moderator Gary Weil of CH2M Hill introduces the speakers.

Luncheon attendees listen to each speaker present

Three of our speakers:  Jamie B. Hedges of Fairfax Water; Carlton Ray of DCWASA and Gary Gumm of WSSC.

UPCOMING EVENTS IN 2009

• September 17th  -- Virginia Transportation Business Opportunities Networking Luncheon (VA - Maggiano's)
• September 24th FORE in the Fall Golf Outing at Penderbrook Golf Club (New location managed by Arnold Palmer Golf Management, featuring 7 water holes and over 60 bunkers ) (Fairfax, VA)
• October 15th Colleges & Universities Opportunities Networking Luncheon (Maggiano's at Tyson’s Corner)
• November TBD Maryland Transportation Business Opportunities Networking Luncheon (University Inn & Conference Center, UMUC Adelphi, MD)
• December 17th  -- Holiday Celebration Networking Luncheon (Maggiano's at Tyson’s Corner)

If you are interested in being a sponsor for any of our events, please contact ACEC/MW Executive Director Mac Cannon.

senior leadership development Program

ACEC/MW is beginning a new 9 month program targeted at tomorrow’s leaders.  See below for more information.

PURPOSE

Strong leadership is needed today to guide companies through the turbulence of change, innovation and economic swings in our industry.  Leaders not only provide the strategic vision for the company, but also ensure they take care of the most precious resource – our people.  Good leaders set a culture that holds everyone accountable for the professional and personal welfare of each individual and the team as a whole.  As an organization, ACEC/MW desires to build strong bonds in order to “serve the business needs of its professional member firms”.  The ACEC/MW SLDP is intended to offer participants an opportunity to:

·        Develop Individual Personal and Professional Growth
·        Provide Networking Opportunities
·        Increase Awareness of Differing Firms
·        Provide Personal Recognition for Future Leaders

To Apply for SLDP

Interested individuals should complete the SLDP Application.  This package will be used by the Selection Committee to differentiate individuals and select the best class for 2010.  So obviously the quality and content of the application is important.  The selection committee will consist of 3-5 former or current board members that understand the needs of ACEC/MW.  Application packages must be submitted electronically to Mac Cannon by Oct 15, 2009.  The Class of 2010 will be selected by November 13, 2009.

WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST MEMBER

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

Johnson Mirmiran & Thompson, Inc. ~ Herndon, Virginia

DUES NOTICE REMINDER

The 2009-2010 ACEC/MW member year runs from July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010.  Thanks to the many firms that have already sent in their dues – a great showing thus far – 2nd notices have been sent.  ACEC/MW depends on our membership each year to give us the operating income necessary to bring you the events and programming you enjoy throughout the year.  Thanks again for a great 2008-2009 member year and we look forward to working with you again in the 2009-2010 member year.

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

Calling all volunteers! The goal of ACEC/MW is to share the benefit of our committee work with each member firm.  Many of our firms are on multiple ACEC/MW committees and understand how their dues dollars translate into business opportunities from this committee work.  Where else can you meet face-to-face with potential clients as a group of engineering firms to voice your concerns and provide suggestions on engineering business issues?  Not only will you benefit from client interaction, but from the updates and networking found within these committees.  Please consider tasking an employee from your firm to participate on any one or all of our 6 committees.  Each committee is open and will welcome new volunteers.

Don't let another month go by get plugged in and join a committee.  Please contact Mac Cannon to join a committee.