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Post President's Message Archive - Winter 2004 2004 — A Year Like Never BeforeLooking back over 2004, it has been a truly remarkable year at the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) Washington DC Post! While many of our individual and sustaining members have been key players in supporting the country's historic efforts in national security, the Washington DC Post as an organization also made great strides to serve as a strategic partner for engineering support in these efforts. It's a major reason the Washington DC Post is one of the best posts in the Society. Here are a few other reasons why the Washington DC Post is an excellent post and one of the best professional associations in the Washington DC metropolitan area. Best Programs in the Washington Area Over 1,500 people attended Washington DC Post sponsored events in 2004! Attendees had the opportunity to network with their fellow colleagues and with new contacts from the private and public sector, and hear speakers on subjects that included the Iraq Reconstruction Effort; BRAC 2005; New DIA project; Naval Academy's Hurricane Recovery; Construction Management at Hospital Corp. of America, USACE, U of MD, and GSA; NAVFAC, Fort Detrick's Biodefense Campus, Architect of the Capitol, CNI and others. Kudos to Dennis Biddick and his Programs Committee (CDR Rob Tye, LCDR Brian Moore, Shea Delutis of Clark, and Paul Beckwith of Alpha) and the Arrangements Committee (Megan Hubbard of Syska Hennessy, Rosalie Kendall of Rolf Jensen, ENS Chris Casne and ENS Ben Waite) for the superb depth and breadth of programs best in memory for the Post according to many and arguably the best of any Washington area professional associations! Providing Professional Development for Young Professionals After over 100 people attended this past summer's highly successful seminar with the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) on Commissioning, the Post is continuing to partner with CMAA and NAVFAC Washington to identify and provide education and training seminars that will bridge the gap between our members' college education and formal training—training that is otherwise often too costly in terms of dollars and time. Our goal is to have industry experts from our membership and CMAA provide short, practical seminars that are easily accessible to young members in terms of time and money. Join us for our next seminar on Project Scheduling on 27 January 2005! Scholarship Fund's Strategic Plan for Growth Kudos is also due MAJ Mike McDonald, Julian Sabbatini of Jacobs, and Al O'Konski with URS for developing a 5-year strategic plan for growing our scholarship program to twelve (12), $2,500 each, annual scholarships. This is a fantastic way the Post supports future engineers and architects attending college—where costs continue to grow more stratospherically than strategically! Kudos also to Mike Pavlides and the rest of the PBS&J team for putting on another great golf tournament that raised over $9,000. And a special kudos to Murphy Tuomey of A. Morton Thomas for her tireless fundraising efforts throughout the year that have the Post right on track to meet our strategic goals for the scholarship fund. Help Take the Post to the Next Level I had the good fortune to serve with a great board this year that was filled with highly talented and motivated individuals. They also served as committee chairs for our various committees that accomplished much and surpassed expectations this past year. But we need more volunteers to help take us to the next level of mission performance. Many of our committees are only one or two-deep; therefore, we really can dramatically improve the Post's capability with a few more volunteers. Come join a great team and have fun while expanding your professional network! A Great Team In addition, I would like to thank all of the board members of our Post who have made this past year such a huge success. It has been a pleasure to work with all and I look forward to yet another year of excellent programs and events at the Washington DC Post. A Special Thanks As I write this, I am mindful that I am the only thing between you, our readers, and Anna Ross of Michael Baker Corp., a great Communications Director and editor of our newsletter. Anna has been an example of unparalleled devotion to SAME and the Washington DC Post. One of my biggest challenges has been to keep up with Anna's enthusiasm and drive, as she lives her job title while relentlessly pressing forward on numerous initiatives at our Post (i.e., web site redesign and realignment, Post By-Laws task force lead, etc.). So a concluding thanks to Anna for her support this past year. I hope you'll join me in 2005 at an SAME Washington DC Post event. Happy Holidays!James Peck, PE, CCM |
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