News 19October President Update

October 2019

NACE Update from President Tim Hens

One of the goals of my term is to try and make connections with as many people as possible because I'm a firm believer that NACE is built on relationships. Many of us attend our first annual conference because it's in our home state, or because we need professional development to fulfill licensure requirements, or just to do our jobs better. However, it's the friends we make at NACE that keep us coming back.

As I write this, I'm on plane heading to Peoria, IL to meet with our friends from the Illinois Association of County Engineers (IACE). In case anyone thought they'd get through one of my updates without mention of my beloved Buffalo Bills, you're wrong. I'm actually flying to Illinois from Nashville, as Eve and I made the trip into town for the weekend to watch the Bills beat the Titans and keep their road win streak alive.

September is a relatively quiet month for NACE and most of our state affiliates. I think most of us are getting kids settled into school, sending kids to college or just scrambling at work to complete the summer construction schedule. There are very few conferences, meetings or events to attend; many state legislatures are not in session. This changes very rapidly in the next few weeks. After that, the travel schedule really ramps up and I will generally be trying to make at least two state visits per month for the remainder of my term.

It's hard to believe that I have six months of my term in the rearview mirror. We've made some great progress on several fronts: increased membership, better communication with an updated social media presence, development of a listserve/community platform that will hopefully be rolled out before year end, some legislative progress with a draft transportation re-authorization, and we've made connections with at least four different Congressional reps who are using NACE as a technical resource and quoting our members in their press releases.

We still have plenty of work to do. The NACE Board of Directors will be meeting in two weeks at the New York Local Bridge Conference in Syracuse, NY to tackle a few items. We need to continue to support our LTAP centers as they progress through strategic plan development at the federal level. Our LTAP partnership has been critical to NACE over the years and we want to continue with this valuable resource. We need to continue to find ways to make connections with NACE members any way we can. If you have success stories from back home that you can share with us, it would be helpful in many ways. Doing so is as easy as emailing [email protected].

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