A New Year's Reflection: Goals Accomplished, But More Work to Do!

• By: James P. Hoffman, PE, LEED AP O+M, CEM
• On: 01/06/2022 13:06:26
• In: ACEC/MW Board Chair's Comments
• Comments: 0

• Emerging Leaders: The inaugural cohort of our Emerging Leaders Institute (ELI) has 20 bright, diverse, enthusiastic and gifted individuals representing 18 member firms. The program has met twice in addition to attending a Board of Directors meeting and our Engineering Excellence Awards Gala. The Executive Committee of our Board had the pleasure of meeting the ELI group at their first session, which included dinner and etiquette training. Our future is bright.

• Small Business Committee: Our small business committee started this fall and is led by Committee Chair Arpan Patel (Somat Engineering), and Vice Chair Tandrumn Reid (T3 Design). The committee hosted the December 14^th Small Business and Diversity Virtual Event with leaders from DC Water, DDOT, VDOT and WMATA and a total of 80 attendees. We are still adding new members to this committee. 

• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) Task Force: The purpose of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Task Force is to work to ensure that ACEC/MW is a welcoming organization where all members are included, involved, and have the opportunity to pursue key roles in the life of the Council. The task force has held initial meetings to inform the task force and our association's activities and efforts. We are looking forward to programming our first DEIB program in the spring. 

• Increase our Advocacy: We had a leadership retreat focused on advocacy and attend by the Board of Directors and our Committee Chairs.

• Deliver value and expand membership: Our vibrant committees and programs continue. We welcomed CES Consulting, our 100^th member firm, in December. We have a net increase of 5 member firms and our 100 firms have over 4,600 employees.

• Collaborate: We continue to collatorate with our sister organizations ACEC/MD and ACEC/VA. We have had two quarterly calls with leadership, and our committees are sharing information. 

• Committees: We are evaluating a new Dry Utilities and Energy Committee, and just received the survey results from membership. Our committees are strong and active. I note that we get out of associations what we put into them. I encourage everyone to be active participants in our committees to get the most value out of our association. If you are interested in serving on the committees, please contact the ACEC/MW office for more details.

• Programs: We have had and will have in-person, virtual and hybrid events. The Program Committee is led by Jenny Bowers (EXP U.S. Services, Inc.), and they are doing excellent work. The committee has a robust slate of events scheduled for spring. I would like to highlight our Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA) Gala, celebrated in person on December 8, 2021. What an event! 200 attendees celebrated 30 innovative engineering projects.  Congratulations to Parsons Transportation Group with VDOT for winning the Grand Pinnacle Award for the Route 7 and Battlefield Parkway Interchange! A special thanks to our EEA judges – Matt Doyle (Fairfax DPWES), Nick Gardner (WMATA), Rudy Gonzalez (DC Water), Thom Lipinski (Loudoun Water), Dawit Muluneh (DDOT), Roger Natsuhara (MWAA), Eric Rehwoldt (Seismic Surveys, Inc.), Susan Wong (NPS), and Leeann Sherman (ACEC/PA) – for volunteering their time.  

• Scholarships: We awarded three scholarships in the spring of 2021 to Roshan George (Virginia Tech), Leah Jamison (University of Maryland), and Abigail Wolfgram, P.E. (George Mason University). We are increasing the number and value of scholarships for 2022. We are able increase our awards thanks to the generosity of those that attended and sponsored our 2021 Spring and Fall Scholarship Golf Tournaments, which generated a combined $27,700 for our scholarship fund.  Scholarship applications are due January 28, 2022 – help us spread the word to engineering students that you know.