The ACEC-CA 2013 Annual Conference was held in beautiful Monterey April 7th through 10th. Your Sierra Chapter members in attendance included Tom Holdrege, Paul Enneking, Steve Greenfield, Ted Hopkins, Tom Blackburn, Eddie Kho, and myself. An excellent showing for the State’s 2012 Silver Chapter award winner!

The conference location was the Clement Monterey Hotel in historic Cannery Row and practically next door to the world famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. Things kicked off with a lively Board Meeting on Monday afternoon as we discussed a host of association issues focused on strategic planning, increased communication efforts, and advocacy. That evening we all gathered at “A Taste of Monterey” for wine and hors d’oeuvres overlooking Monterey Bay, as the waves crashed below us (literally!).

Tuesday kicked off with sessions covering a wide variety of topics from Global Leadership to Ownership Transition. Steve Bein also did a great session on the E-Office that covered the wide spectrum of electronic gadgets that fill our daily lives. The featured lunch speaker was Larry Bird the oceanographer / mechanical engineer (not the basketball player). Larry works for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) and did an excellent presentation (lots of pictures and video) on his work in the submarine canyons off the Monterey Coast. The afternoon sessions covered Large and Small Firm roundtables as well as the Infrastructure Delivery Council (IDC) Meeting. Tuesday evening featured a Night at the Aquarium with dinner and a private tour of the facilities.

Wednesday featured a Design-Build Panel on industry lessons learned and an excellent 2013 Economic Outlook by Dr. Esmael Adibi of Chapman University. All in all an outstanding conference for all those who attended.