I would like to start my first message as your AACE President for the 2021- 2022 program year, by saying, “Thank you,” to the members of AACE for entrusting me with the opportunity to serve the Association in this role. I appreciate and admire the time, talent, and energy given by our devoted volunteer members around the world, and I am grateful for AACE’s dedicated staff. I will endeavor to provide vision and direction for the Association that honors the past; protects those values, services, and processes that form the core of our mission; and allows for creativity, flexibility, and new ideas on how to protect, promote, and enhance AACE.

Over the past couple of years, much work has been done to update and modernize the Association’s governance structure and documents.  With the membership approval and Board of Director’s adoption, the updated Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, and Organization Manual are in place. These accomplishments are foundational and vital to AACE’s long-term prosperity. This is why I am so thankful to my predecessors and excited about the upcoming year.  AACE members may not immediately see the value or long-term improvements that are being made; however, my goal is to work with the Board of Directors and headquarters staff to ensure that the membership starts to experience the benefits of this hard work.

Executive Director/CEO, Deb Lally, has completed her first, highly successful year with AACE and she and the staff are working well. Accomplishments include adapting to a fully virtual environment and working with volunteers and staff to continually produce high caliber programming, most notably our successful Conference & Expo, in response to changing travel and gathering restrictions.

Several other initiatives have been implemented or are forthcoming that will positively impact membership. Already in place is the Upcoming Events Calendar.  As the world has learned to more effectively operate in a virtual environment, AACE’s events have done the same.  The calendar will help members find a variety of events to fit their interests and needs.  To those members organizing and holding events, please make the effort to have your event added to the calendar.  The Upcoming Calendar of Events can be found at: https://communities.aacei.org/events/upcomingevents.

Steps are being taken to increase value to members not affiliated with a Section or who prefer to connect in a virtual environment. Members are encouraged to use the AACE Communities online forum as the key portal to more fully engage with their AACE colleagues. Learn more here: https://web.aacei.org/about-aace/aace-communities-tutorial

Work has been underway for quite some time on a Section strategy to identify how the Association can more effectively support membership at the Section level.  For those Sections that are thriving under the traditional model, how can the Association better foster that arrangement?  For those members that feel they need a different model, how can the Association provide an environment that provides greater value to those members?  In this process, AACE has retained an outside expert who has started to engage Section leadership and the response has been beyond expectations.

Another independent effort has begun to market and promote AACE and its value proposition.  I am most excited that this effort will start with active campaigns and NOT additional study.  The initial campaign will focus on engaged nonmembers, lapsed and former members, the international community, and organizational membership, all with an eye towards diversity and inclusion.  The campaigns are set to launch in August.

As we move through 2021 and into 2022, I am confident AACE members will begin to feel the benefits of the work of the past years.  As always, we need the efforts, thoughts, energy, and ideas of as many members as possible.  Thank you again and I look forward to a great year for AACE.

James E. Krebs, PE CCP

AACE International President, 2021-2022