I am honored to lead the ACEC-CA Sierra Chapter for 2012-13! This is my second  opportunity to lead a volunteer board, last serving in 2008 on the Davis Chamber of Commerce Board. Coincidently, or perhaps not, I once again find myself at the helm of a politically motivated group during an election year. Given the Sierra Chapter’s presence in the capitol that means we’ve got a lot of excitement and work ahead of us this year to continue our mission of being “dedicated to building a better California.”

Although the recession officially ended July 2009, the California economy certainly has not experienced robust growth since then, and based on conversations I’ve have with many of you, many of our chapter’s firms continue to struggle. We need to continue to focus our efforts on supporting policies and candidates that we believe will not only be better for California businesses, but specifically for our engineering/surveying profession.

To that end, the Sierra Chapter has not sat idly over the summer. We have arranged a fundraiser for Peter Tateishi running for the hotly contested Assembly District 8 seat. Details for the September 5 breakfast event can be found in this month’s newsletter and I strongly encourage you to attend. The ACEC PAC will match our support so your attendance will double in value.

In addition to candidate support there is an extremely important proposition on November’s ballot that has the potential to greatly impact the ability for unions to unfairly develop huge political war chests. Dubbed the Stop Special Interest Money or the Paycheck Protection proposition, Proposition 32 bans unions and private corporations from taking automatic deductions from employees’ paychecks for political use. Chad Coleman, our newest Sierra Chapter Director, has stepped up to the plate to lead chapter support for the proposition and has written an excellent summary for this month’s
newsletter (see Pg. 2). You should have received a fundraising invoice in support of Prop. 32 from ACEC-CA and possibly a follow-up call from one of our directors. I strongly urge you to support the campaign as this will have lasting positive benefits for businesses in California!

That’s enough on politics for the moment! Our year ahead will continue to have many opportunities for you to network with member firms, meet potential teaming partners and clients, honor our past Presidents, celebrate excellence in engineering, and support your profession. To that end, I encourage you to attend the dinner meetings throughout the year and to “pay it forward” by bringing along one (or more) of the rising stars at your company to encourage the next generation of leadership to embrace the business side of our profession. I look forward to seeing all of you at our September dinner meeting and
throughout the coming year!