Dear Colleagues,

Happy New Year! I hope you had an opportunity to rest, recharge and spend time with family and friends over the holidays because so far, it has been shaping up to be a busy 2023.

Last month, I had the opportunity to attend the CPM conference in Orlando as a keynote speaker representing our Association. Approximately 40% of attendees of this conference, year over year, are AACE members.  After my keynote, I had a number of people approach me:

• Non-members who told me they were going to sign up for a membership that very week because they were very interested in the certifications and technical content AACE has to offer as described during my keynote.
• Non-members who wanted more information on certifications and how to go about getting certified and which certifications would be the most appropriate.
• Long-standing members who said it was refreshing to hear such good news being reported out on the Association.

What I took away from these interactions was the following:

1. AACE technical content, products, services, and certifications continue to be the cornerstone of why individuals want to engage with us. If we continue to share information with the wider world about what we offer, we will continue to increase interest and engagement.
2. The work that has been completed this past year against our strategic plan objectives has been recognized by Association members.

So, let’s recap some of that good news:

• Membership growth is up 5% over last year, and up 11% over three years
• Corporate membership is up 12% over last year, and up 28% over three years
• International corporate membership is up 49% over last year, and up 40% over three years
• Certification holders are up 4% over last year, and up 22% over three years
• Social media engagement is up 30% over last year, and up 85% over three years, we recently just passed 20,000 LinkedIn followers.

None of these improvements to our Association engagement metrics could have materialized without the work of our Association staff, volunteers, and section leaders, who continue to progress work against our strategic plan objectives.

Some highlights of the ongoing work of our staff, volunteers and leaders over the start of Q1 2023 include:

• Rollout of the section modernization plan recommendations continues to be progressed. This plan is a significant, multi-year initiative, involving many logistical and cultural changes for the Association. The full potential of the transformation will be very positive for AACE.
• AACE and RICS have been collaborating on a quarter construction monitor. (You may have seen communications last month for member participation.) The cobranded report, which will be made available to members once it’s been published, is the first time this report has included U.S. data, all courtesy of our members. This is a great example of meaningful industry collaboration.
• Registration is open for the Chicago ConEx. Check details regarding event registration, hotel, and the technical lineup on the website here.

And lastly, a reminder that elections will be running from March 1-31 this year. Headquarters is coordinating a Town Hall next month where members can have the opportunity to ask questions of the current Board leadership as well as election candidates. Stay tuned for more details as they are finalized.

As always, a huge thank you to all our volunteers, section, associate board and committee leaders, and headquarters staff. Our Association metrics speak to the impact your engagement has in our profession and our organization.