Everyone knows how important our Sierra Chapter newsletter is for communicating with our membership. For many, it is the primary tool for Chapter news and happenings. The fact is our Chapter has only had two newsletter editors over its long history. Our first editor was Sharon Hill, who worked for Psomas and also served as our longtime Chapter Executive Secretary.
In 1999, Lisa Thut took over the newsletter reins and propelled us into the next century (remember Y2K?). Lisa worked for Espana Geotechnical at the time, and I remember thinking how lucky we were to find someone to take over the critical task of newsletter editor. And boy did Lisa jump in with everything she had! The newsletter quickly upgraded to a polished, desktop published document that was “mailed” out to all members. In 2003, our newsletter went electronic and we started receiving it by e-mail. Lisa was a huge factor in that successful transition. Like clock work, our members began receiving calendar updates, speaker announcements, key news items, and the always entertaining “President’s Message” in the first/second week of every month. The digital age was upon us!
I was a Board member in those early days and did not fully appreciate Lisa’s efforts until I became president of the Chapter in 2010. It was then that I realized how important it was to get a well organized and attractive newsletter out to the membership on a consistent basis, and Lisa delivered in spades! We would all send our Word documents and low resolution photos/graphics to Lisa and somehow they would get turned into a beautiful, desktop published newsletter that made us all proud. I particularly enjoyed forwarding our newsletter to prospective speakers and first time members knowing it reflected well on our Chapter.
After 17 amazing years, Lisa is stepping down from her role as newsletter editor and handing the reins to Debbie LoCicero. I would like to ask everyone to join me in thanking Lisa for her many years of outstanding service to the Sierra Chapter. Her efforts and accomplishments made our Chapter a model for other ACEC-CA chapters. Thank you Lisa!!
