ACEC-CA held the annual Strategic Summit from October 2-4 at the beautiful Balboa Bay Resort in Newport Beach. The 3-day event began with the State Board of Director’s (BOD) Meeting on October 2nd. The BOD Meeting was run by our State President Gary Antonucci. The BOD meetings happen quarterly, and it is a chance for the ACEC-CA President and Executive Director (Brad Diede) to update the State Directors and Chapter Officers on the current issues and challenges facing our industry, and what we all can do to help. Many topics are covered at the BOD Meeting, and I thought I’d highlight a few items here for our members:
The State Executive Committee has been working towards streamlining membership and dues at the Chapter level so that there is consistency throughout the state. More info will be rolled out in the coming months.
Assembly Member Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach) provide an overview of his bill (AB-48) to provide $15B of school bond funds to support public schools throughout the state. If passed, the funding will be distributed from pre-K through the CSU and UC systems to upgrade campus infrastructure and programs. ACEC is in support of the bond, and the bond is slated to be on the March 2020 ballot.
Linda Bauer Darr, President & CEO for ACEC National, provided an update of the ACEC National Strategic Plan. You can learn more about the ACEC Strategic Plan at www.acec.org
ACEC-CA is approximately 67% of the way towards meeting our 2019 fundraising goal for the Minutemen Fund (Federal PAC) of $93.5k. Historically, more dollars from the PAC come back to support California issues than we typically raise, so it is very important that we do our part.
The following two days included a number of memorable keynote addresses and speeches, including a riveting first-hand recounting by Lieutenant Colonel Robert J. Darling of the events that occurred at the White House during the events of September 11, 2001; and a motivating speech by Ben Nemtin, one of the authors of the NY Times #1 bestseller “The Buried Life,” which was made into an MTV hit show and is currently being made into a movie.
The summit also included state-wide forums on transportation and water, as well as numerous seminars on topics that will help us improve our business practices, topics such as: Teamwork, Communication, Business Ethics, Mergers & Acquisitions and Legislative Issues.
It was a very informative and worthwhile event, and I encourage everyone to attend next years Strategic Summit.
