“Growth is painful. Change is painful. But nothing is as painful as staying stuck somewhere you don’t belong.” —Mandy Hale

First off, I would like to thank all those members who took the time to vote this year. It was an exceptional slate of candidates and a close race for some positions. Each of them deserves recognition for taking the initiative to run for a volunteer position on the board and help drive our association to success with our strategic initiatives. For those who were not successful this time, your service elsewhere in the association is valued and appreciated and I hope you will consider running again in the future. I know that the successful candidates will bring their best to the fore in support of our Association in these positions and I’m looking forward to working with you on the upcoming 2023-2024 Board of Directors.

But this election was not just about board positions. There was a bylaw amendment up for consideration and, by an overwhelming majority, this also passed, Thank you. I know this amendment represents change, but as we’ve seen over the last few years, change can be good and is often necessary. This change allows the association and our Certification Institute to govern appropriately and ensure strategic alignment between these two entities.

Since our last update, I had the chance to visit and speak with members at the AACE Houston Symposium and the AACE Northeast Symposium.  Kudos to the organizers of both events for putting on such well-run events. A couple of takeaways I had from both of these engagements:

1. Members and section leaders still have questions about what the future looks like given the section modernization plan. I hope I was able to answer some of these while I was face-to-face with people, but we will continue to engage and seek feedback as we re-structure to ensure agility in the program and equity of access to people who want to coalesce locally for technical networking in global regions that cannot meet the current minimum standard and financial requirements which section currently need to satisfy. Should you have any further questions please reach out to Mary Kathryn or Deb Lally at headquarters for additional information.
2. Section face-to-face engagement is thriving in a post Covid world. While people appreciate having the option for remote participation, they now also want to engage and interact in person
3. There was interest in understanding what strategic partnerships the Association has, and what we are doing with them. AACE has a limited number of relationships with other organizations covered in Memorandums of Understanding or other agreements and we are currently working with each of them to develop collaborative offerings which will serve and support each party. The current list of organizations includes:

• American Bar Association Forum of the Construction Industry (ABA)
• Construction Management Association of America (CMAA)
• Department of Energy (DOE)
• SAVE International
• RICS

And as we get closer to the ConEx, please remember to remember to register and I look forward to seeing you in Chicago in June!

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.

“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” – Winston Churchill

I really like this quote—Not just because it resonates so well with the Plan-Do-Check-Act management methodology that is the cornerstone of our TCM Framework, but because it reminds me that while having an elegant strategy is a glorious thing, it alone won’t bring in the change we seek. For that, we require action—as well as some way to measure and reflect if the correct steps are being taken.

We need to check the results to see if progress is being made, and only then do we know if our strategy is working.

The Board met in October to review our strategic plan. This was our annual check-in to validate for ourselves that the objectives we outlined as an organization are still relevant, and the tactics we have put in place are achieving progress. I’m happy to report that one outcome from this meeting was a consensus that our strategic plan is sound and valid for the facilitation of our Association’s mission and vision. To date, the work of our Association staff and volunteers to implement and execute the plan’s tactics is showing demonstrable evidence that the objectives of our plan are being met. I couldn’t be prouder of us as an Association. We have accomplished a lot, as well as all we have set to do in the coming calendar year.

As we come into this season of holidays and yearend reporting, I can’t help but think it feels a bit busier. This may be because this year we got to do more of these things in a face-to-face manner. Maybe it’s because it just feels like there is a lot going on in the world and it is all vying for our attention. Whatever the root cause, it’s a good time to remind ourselves to stop and take a moment to reflect on our accomplishments, give thanks to those who have helped and supported us in these accomplishments—including our friends and families.

I’ll close with a tremendous thank you to all our members, volunteers, and staff who make AACE the wonderful professional Association it is and wish all of you and your families all the best in this holiday season. However you choose to celebrate, may you have health and happiness into the new year.

Best regards,
Shoshanna

If you’ve been perusing our Community, you may have noticed that former AACE President Chris Caddell posted a reminder that the 2023 election Call for Nominations is now open. He also shared his AACE experience, describing a multi-year involvement with the association, where he has been able to make friends, build connections, and strengthen his career while also giving back to the profession… and it all started because someone encouraged him to get involved.

Chris’ story very much echoes my own. When I joined AACE, I was what you would consider a “lurker” –  happy to scroll through all the wonderful technical content we have in our library so I could utilize what I learnt there to further my career. But in 2017, after completing the CCP, I had a conversation with some members of the Education Board about the quality of the study materials at the time. They invited me to join the Ed Board so I could help update these materials as well as create new content…and so I did… And I was hooked. How could I not get involved…become an intentional participant as they say…to help make better an association which has already given me so much?

We’re a few years down the road now and, like Chris, I have continued to be intentional in my participation. I have held several elected roles, including the one I am in now. And through these, I have made connections and friends whom I value quite highly, improved the depth and breadth of my professional experience, and have grown in my career. And these are very meaningful benefits I have gained from my relationship with our association. Today, as President, I have the privilege of being a part of the decision-making processes, which are shaping and driving the work our association is doing today to continue to add value to our members based on our updated vision because someone encouraged me to get more involved.

This also feels like the right moment to acknowledge some accomplishments of the AACE Board, volunteers, and staff who have been working hard on furthering the objectives of our vision and mission  and implementing tactics to meet the goals of our strategic plan.

1. We are working on an upgrade to our Communities platform, which will launch in November. Members will find it much easier to use, and it’s definitely more attractive. We’ve seen an uptick in usage of the current platform already! (Many thanks to Mary Kathryn, our newest staff member, who has been a significant addition to our membership engagement efforts behind the scenes.)
2. We also have plans to revitalize the mentoring program in the coming months, which will be called the AACE Mentor Network. To become a mentor, help grow our online community, or volunteer in another capacity, please fill out our volunteer form.
3. The Membership Advisory Committee (MAC) is also hard at work on a Section Modernization Plan. The implementation plan is slated to be ready for the Board to review at the October meeting. Headquarters has briefed section leaders on the plan during the section leader Zoom town hall, which was held recently – thank you to the over 100 volunteers who attended! More details to come soon.
4. Our DEI task force continues to meet to follow up on actions which came out of our June Board meeting and will present a report to the Board at our October Board meeting
5. The Ed Board is working on curriculum materials with selected post secondary institutions and expansion of the online learning modules. Volunteers for these efforts are always welcome. Please contact Teri Jefferson for more details.
6. The Tech Board’s estimating sub-committee is gearing up for a gap analysis effort. Please contact Dave Kyle, the subcommittee chair, for more details.
7. Our Women in Project Controls and Rising Professionals committees continue to innovate on member presentations, content, and methods of engagement.

Let me encourage you to reach out, have a conversation, share your concerns and interests, and consider volunteering. You can also follow our brand new Instagram and Facebook pages and share with us and about us through those platforms. All social links can be found in this one easy place: https://linktr.ee/aaceinternational.

Best regards,

Shoshanna

Over the last two years, the conversations we have been having as professionals, volunteers, and members have changed. Our conversations are less about the “what we are doing” and more about “why we are doing it.”

What has become most important to us are the results we expect to achieve for the effort we put in. Also, what value doing something brings to us as individuals, and to our organizations. Our association has been no different in this regard. We saw an inadvertent shift in how the association had to support and serve our members as a result of the pandemic. In doing so, we learned a lot about what works, what doesn’t, and what is valued. We now have an opportunity to use everything we’ve learned—with intention and a focus on member value.

This year, we were able to meet again face to face in San Antonio for our annual ConEx. It was such a thrill to see everyone back in three dimensions. This year’s conference saw a few changes, but there were many of the same things too. There was an excellently curated list of seminars and papers, an engaged and knowledgeable group of sponsors, and an enthusiastic turnout.

As Jim Krebs noted in his remarks, we’ve spent a lot of time looking at ourselves since the implementation of our strategic plan.   As professionals, who seek to bring best practices to our organizations to effect successful outcomes, we have been actively practicing what we preach for our association. We’re seeing early results of our efforts—which is very encouraging. But, as this year’s Board of Directors moves from the development stage to the implementation stage of our strategic plan, we still have a lot of work to do.

The strategic plan is predicated on and structured around addressing issues, concerns, and recommendations from members. The objectives are set to tackle some of our big-picture issues. Many of these have been lingering for a long time, waiting for proper review and address. But most importantly, the goals of the plan were created with the intent of preserving and enhancing all the best things about us. Also, innovating on those things which can be improved—as all strategic plans should.

Over the next year and beyond, we will continue to put in place the strategies and tactics to achieve the objectives of our goals. Initiatives that are already under way or recently completed include:

• The hiring of a new member engagement staff member who will work with volunteers, communities, and sections to provide support.
• The ratification of our new Certification Institute. It was established, in alignment with best practices, to elevate and promote our certifications in ways which were not possible before.

Some Areas of Focus This Year Include:

• The development and strengthening of our key strategic industry and association partnerships. This will expand the depth and breadth of the value these partnerships may bring. Examples include our recent renewal of the partnering agreement between AACE and the DOE; our MOUs with CMAA, ABA, SAVE; and a continued industry survey participation and engagement with RICS.
• A continuing expansion of our online educational materials and concerted efforts toward the development of higher education curriculum.
• Ongoing technical improvements to our website and online interfaces.
• Dialogue and deliberation with respect to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA). For our association, this is an issue far bigger than what is portrayed in the media or discussed in the human resource (HR) offices of our various organizations. If we are to be truly international, we need to recognize that we are already diverse. Therefore, we must tackle such questions as:
  • How can we be equitable in achieving the value proposition for every type of member – from the member who is a subject matter expert in their field with 30 years’ experience, as well as the member who is just starting their career path.
  • How can we be inclusive to our members in sections who want to connect but cannot fit into the existing engagement definitions.
  • How can we be accessible by making available guidance in other languages, or with accessibility tools.

While we do not have all the answers to these questions yet, I appreciate that we are an association that is ready and willing to ask them. Also, we have the intent of truly seeking answers and making change happen. The answers to many of these questions will tie into our marketing and section engagement initiatives. These are best served by us being informed by your voice. And so, I will close this message with a request—remember that project scope, correctly executed, has a higher rate of success when stakeholder feedback gets incorporated. So, answer the survey, respond to the post, send the email, comment on the article, take your mic off mute—however you want to share your thoughts—just let your voice be heard.

It’s amazing how short a year can feel, and how quickly things evolve and change in the world today.  As I look back on my year as President, I think how quickly it has passed yet how much was accomplished by our amazing members and tireless staff.  I treasure the opportunity I had to encourage, coordinate, communicate, and, frankly, stay out of the way.

Some of the major accomplishments of the past year:

• The Technical Board published the 100^th Recommended Practice and kept on going. AACE can be described as a content based association and the Technical Board continually sets the gold standard for technical content.
• The Education Board launched a variety of on-line learning opportunities including the recently completed CCP Review Course. With these releases, our educational offerings are now available to members and non-members around the world at times that work best for the individual.
• AACE established the AACE International Certification Institute. This effort is the embodiment of a change the keeps all of the strengths of the long established and highly recognized AACE Certification program and now positions it to increase its reach and renown.
• With the guidance and encouragement of the Executive Director and Staff, the Board of Directors has implemented, and is dedicated to the continuation of, an on-going strategic planning process that will help ensure that AACE continues to address the needs of the membership and the cost engineering professions.
• Very recently the Executive Director, with the full support of the Board of Directors, added a full time staff position fully dedicated to member engagement and the promotion of AACE International.

Before starting this message, I took some time to review some of Chris Caddell’s President’s messages.  I was struck by how the COVID pandemic was woven into each message and how during Chris’ term, every action and every discussion, by necessity, had the pandemic at the core.  That realization only increased my respect for Chris and his leadership.  I thank Chris for his guidance and assistance over the past year.

The past year was certainly heavily impacted by the pandemic, but we saw significant moves toward normalcy.  The Board of Directors returned to in-person meetings, the Conference and Expo had a limited physical meeting component in Boston, many sections returned to face-to-face meetings, limited travel on behalf of AACE resumed, and the 2022 Conference and Expo will be a full in-person event in San Antonio.  All key milestones and major steps forward.

AACE has had a tremendous impact on my career.  AACE has provided me with the tools to form the foundation of my skills, delivered educational opportunities to help me grow beyond the foundation, and presented certifications that allowed me to confirm my skills and education and present that validation to those people influenced in my career.  My story is not unique; I have heard many members share the same experience.  But beyond the content of AACE, my experience has been enriched by the people I’ve met along the way.  From my colleagues and friends in the Great Lakes Section, to member around the globe, to the hardest working most dedicated staff in the association world, I count myself lucky to have made and continue to make so many friends through AACE.

As I reflect on closing my year as AACE President, I want to thank the management and team at Administrative Controls Management, Inc. for the financial and time support to make this year possible.  I want to thank the membership, the current Board of Directors, and the staff for all the help and support.  I want to thank the entire AACE staff, who quite simply make anyone’s success as President possible.

Finally, I want to give a special thank you to: Deb Lally, whose leadership and guidance was priceless; Jennie Amos, whose support and assistance is unwavering regardless of the time allowed; and Shoshanna Fraizinger who has been a joy to work with, her energy and drive are infectious and regardless of the situation she does everything with a smile and goodwill.  I am so eager to see what her year as President will be like.

It has been a privilege to serve as the President of AACE.

Over the past several months, I have written about the value of AACE membership, notable activities and achievements within the association, recent strategic planning efforts, and how much I admire the profound professionalism and respect that is prevalent across our members and interactions.  The common theme of these messages is that AACE is a wonderful association, with much to offer the membership and the profession.  As leaders and members, we must work together to further the success of AACE.

During my many years as an AACE member, there has been a reoccurring emphasis on increasing membership.  Many programs and initiatives were employed, such as bringing new members to meetings, outreach to universities, marketing campaigns, and direct contact.  During my nearly six years on the Board of Directors, there existed that same focus on membership growth.  These efforts have tended to focus on new member acquisition, which is correct and necessary.  Attracting new members is integral to the health and success of any organization.  However, attracting new members is only part of the membership growth equation.  Equally important to the membership challenge is the retention of existing members.

A look into recent membership numbers yields some interesting information.  In 2020, AACE added 2,221 new members and in 2021, 1,657 new members while in the throes of a pandemic.  Those new member numbers equate to 30% and 22% of the prior year’s membership total.  Although it would be wonderful to announce that AACE membership is growing at 25% per year that is not the case.

As an association, we do a good job of attracting new members.  The current and ongoing efforts are working, the renown of technical and educational offerings is increasing, and our certifications are valued.  Logically then we must look at the member retention side of the equation.  As the member acquisition numbers highlight some success, the member retention numbers highlight an opportunity.  Data from recent studies from outside consultants shows that AACE lags association industry norms in member retention.

In any interaction with members, it is universally understood that our technical, educational, and certification products and programs set the standard in our industry.  The reality is that nonmembers can access our technical and educational products and by definition, certification cannot require membership.  Therefore, the challenge to all of us, members, boards and committees, and headquarters, is to define, enhance, and communicate the value of membership in AACE.

Association leadership and headquarters are well aware of and focused on addressing this challenge.  Work is underway on expanding and enhancing the Section experience, centralizing and modernizing the exchange and flow of information and interaction, and marketing and communicating the value of AACE.

One of the primary and most prominent benefits of membership in AACE is interaction with fellow members.  People are more inclined to stay when they feel like they belong and they have a person or people here who support them.  This experience cannot be purchased at a testing center or downloaded from the internet. 

This would not be a President’s message without an “ask” of the membership.  Those of us that are long-time members, have been more involved, and have realized the value of AACE must reach out and make connections to new members.  This task, as simple as saying hello and welcome, can yield big returns for the membership and the association.  It is particularly effective to connect with those new members in your organization, section, region, or country.  A listing of new members, updated monthly, can be found on the website at:

https://web.aacei.org/membership/join-and-renew/membership-appreciation/new-members

The full directory of members can be found at:

https://web.aacei.org/membership/member-directory

One step further would be to invite members that have not yet become active to participate in a “micro volunteer” effort.  Not starting as a section officer or giving a multi-year commitment to a board, but rather a first step to more closely interact with fellow members with no long term obligations.  As I discussed in my last message, AACE members are highly open, respectful, and receptive professionals.  If each of us takes a little time and makes the effort to reach out and share our experience, then 25% annual membership growth could be achievable.