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Daily Schedule: Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday
Professional Development Hours
ACEC offers engineering Professional Development Hours (PDHs) during the national meetings. Attendees may earn up to 20.25 PDHs, which may, depending on the jurisdiction, be applied to fulfill each state's requirements. Please check with your state's board of registration for the specifics. A PDH form will be in your on-site registration packet. Upon submission of your PDH form, you will be mailed your certificate. A copy is kept on file at ACEC.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
8 am - 3 pm
Registration
2:30 pm - 5 pm
NAECE Business Meeting (I)
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
6:30 am - 6:30 pm
Registration
7 am - 8:15 am
Leadership Breakfasts
7 am - 3 pm
Sales & Marketing Forum
Robert vanArsdall, XL Design Professional
Join industry professionals and share ideas, promote best practices and network with peers. Separate registration fee required if not paying the full Conference fee. See registration form for details.
7:30 am - 4 pm
Discover Maui: Tour of Haleakala, ‘Iao Needle and Lahaina
8:30 am - 12 noon
Board of Directors Meeting
12 noon - 1:30 pm
Board of Directors Lunch
1 pm - 5 pm
Hospitality Lounge
2 pm - 4:30 pm
NAECE Business Meeting (II)
2:15 pm - 5:15 pm
CEO Roundtables
Executives are invited to attend these engaging group discussions led by CEOs and senior principals. These idea-sharing sessions are consistently highly ranked by attendees. Topics include profitability, business practices, liability, human resources, and marketing. Five roundtables are offered: Small firm (1-30 employees), Medium firm (31-100 employees), Medium-Large firm (101-250 employees), Large firm (251-500 employees) or Very Large firm (501+ employees).
6 pm - 7 pm
Aloha! Welcome Reception
Join us as we welcome you with Aloha to this year's Conference in paradise. For registered ACEC Conference attendees and registered guests.
7 pm - 9 pm
 CASE 20th Anniversary Banquet
The CASE banquet will recognize the Coalition's accomplishments. Mr. Glenn Bell, CEO of Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc., who helped develop such innovative structures as the geodesic dome at Disney's Epcot Center, will discuss challenges associated with engineering-driven architecture. All ACEC Conference registrants are invited to attend. Tickets may be purchased on the Conference registration form.
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
6 am - 5 pm
Registration
6 am - 7 am
Breakfast with Exhibitors
7 am - 8 am
CASE Opening General Session: Facts & Fallout of Next Generation Offshoring
Charles Freiboth III, Exterieur Resources Worldwide, Inc.
What are the big picture impacts of offshoring on the engineering profession and how are they affecting the design industry in the U.S?
Concurrent Sessions
 7 am - 8:15 am
Improving the Quality of Environmental Documents
Hal Kassoff, Parsons Brinckerhof; Carol Lee Roalkvam, Washington State Department of Transportation
This session will discuss the published results of a joint effort by AASHTO, ACEC and FHWA to identify ways to improve the quality of environmental documents. The emphasis will be on the most problematic and persistent issues identified by practitioners and reviewers: length, complexity, jargon, and a general lack of coherence. The solutions focus on clarity, brevity, and "telling the story" in a way that professionals, public officials, the press, and private citizens can all appreciate. The group's report, Improving the Quality of Environmental Documents, is available from the ACEC Bookstore.
7 am - 8:15 am
The Business Case for Disaster Planning
Brian Vines, Hartford Financial Services, Inc.
The ability to respond effectively to a major incident continues to be at the forefront of executives' and business owners' concerns. This session will focus on the key areas of building an effective and resilient business continuity plan, including business impact analysis, risk assessment, plan development, and exercises for testing your plan.
7 am - 8:15 am
Marketing the Generations
Sally Corey, Outsourcing Marketing, Inc.
Different generations gather and process information differently, make decisions based on criteria unique to their generation, and have a variety of buying motivations. Participants will gain new insights into effective ways of bridging generation gaps through understanding generational buying patterns and decision-making processes, and utilizing appropriate communications that are key to successful multi-generation marketing.
7 am - 8:15 am
New Engineering Business—Conducting Sustainability Audits
William Howard, CDM; Andrea Ramage, CH2MHill
The country is going green. Customers and clients including public and private owners are asking for an audit of their processes and practices to determine whether their businesses are sustainable. Some are using LEED standards, but more sophisticated companies are employing triple-bottom line and Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. Learn how you can augment your own sustainability auditing practice with these progressive approaches.
7:30 am - 8:30 am
College of Fellows & Life Fellows Breakfast
8 am - 3 pm
Hospitality Lounge
8 am - 5 pm
Legal Counsels Forum (I)
The Legal Counsels Forum provides a valuable opportunity for counsel to ACEC member firms to meet and share information about legal issues facing engineering companies. Past discussion topics have included the Economic Loss Doctrine, Building Information Modeling (BIM), and professional liability insurance. The Forum will continue until noon on Friday, September 28.
 8:30 am - 9 :30 am
Opening General Session: Wally "Famous" Amos
As founder of Famous Amos Cookies and father of the gourmet chocolate chip cookie industry, Wally Amos has the experience of creating and managing several businesses. He addresses the challenges of entrepreneurship with his own unique approach, focusing on commitment, integrity, attitude, imagination, enthusiasm, self-esteem, giving, faith and love. Wally will show your organization how to turn lemons into lemonade. Join us for the inspirational story of this true American entrepreneur!
Concurrent CASE Sessions
8:15 am - 9:30 am
Expanding Your Horizons and Resources through “Outsourcing”
Garry Myers, Houghton & Partners, Inc.
Who is doing it and what are the results?
8:15 am - 9:30 am
Staying Ahead of the Curve—Building Information Modeling (BIM)
James Jacobi, Walter P. Moore and Associates, Inc. and Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin & Associates
Clients are demanding it, design professionals want to provide it, but it's not as simple as it seems. Coordinating all disciplines into one model presents a myriad of problems and the software still leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Listen to those at the forefront of this technology and get a glimpse of the future.
8:15 am - 9:30 am
Understanding Key Risk Drivers
Robert vanArsdall, XL Design Professional
What drives risk? It could be the time frame or a limited budget. It could be lack of communication, code complexity, or regulations. Hear one expert's evaluation of what really does drive risk.
8:15 am - 9:30 am
Two Risk Management Strategies: How to Increase the Wisdom of Your Young Engineers and Improve the Financial Value of Your Clients
John Mercer, Leboeuf & Associates; Corey Matsuoka, SSFM International, Inc.
Once you find out what causes risk, you need the tools to manage it. CASE has produced a number of tools, including a step-by-step guide to implementing a risk management program in your firm.
8:30 am – 10 am
Spouse Breakfast and Program
9:30 am - 10 am
Networking Break with Exhibitors
9:30 am - 11:30 am
NAECE Business Meeting (III)
Concurrent Sessions
10 am - 11:15 am
 What Municipal Owners Really Want from Their Engineering Advisors
Kurt Corey, City of Eugene, Oregon
In this special APWA-sponsored session, Kurt Corey explains how a wide range of public needs are met by private sector providers. From technical services to policy guidance, hear what public owners are really looking for in their stable of engineering firms.
10 am - 11:15 am
Spotlight: Industry Improvement Initiatives—Are U.S. Firms Behind?
Paul T. Bryant and Chandra Weiss, Pivotal Management Consulting, LLC
This session will look at what others are doing to improve the A/E/C industry, raise awareness, increase accountability, and drive improvement across firms. Participants will look at their counterparts in another country and discover what key elements of performance they have deemed most critical and how they measure them, all in the context of performance improvement.
10 am - 11:15 am
Two Risk Management Strategies: How to Increase the Wisdom of Your Young Engineers and Improve the Financial Value of Your Clients
John A. Mercer, Jr., Mercer Engineering, PC; Corey Matsuoka, SSFM International, Inc.
Once you find out what causes risk, you need the tools to manage it. CASE has produced a number of tools, including a step-by-step guide, to help you implement a risk management program in your firm.
10 am - 11:15 am
Staying Ahead of the Curve—Building Information Modeling (BIM)
James Jacobi, Walter P. Moore and Associates, Inc. and Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin & Associates (Repeat of 8:15 am session.)
Clients are demanding it, design professionals want to provide it, but it's not as simple as it seems. Coordinating all disciplines into one model presents a myriad of problems and the software still leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Listen to those at the forefront of this technology and get a glimpse of the future.
 11:15 am - 1:15 pm
Awards Luncheon & Guest Speaker: Professor David Billington, Princeton University
Hear one of the world's foremost structural engineers speak on the scientific, social and artistic aspects of bridges, towers and other large-scale structures. Billington illuminates the concept of "structural art," an art form parallel to but independent of architecture. Following the speaker, "New Faces of Engineering" awards will be presented to five young engineers. Other special scholarships will be presented, as well as the Past Chairmen's Award, and special CASE and CAMEE awards.
12 noon
Legal Counsels Forum Lunch
1:15 pm - 1:45 pm
Dessert and Beverages with Exhibitors
Concurrent Sessions
1:45 pm - 3:00 pm
Thinking Outside the Inbox: Deploying an E-Mail Management Process Enterprise-Wide
Jim Forester, Newforma, Inc.
Busy project managers typically manage information through e-mail, yet its shortcomings are many. This session shows how engineering firms can implement a consistent e-mail management process enterprise-wide and offers take-away tips, strategies and technologies to help you empty your inboxes, comply with regulations and streamline the larger project management process.
1:45 pm - 3 pm
How Creative Engineering Won the Hawaii Convention Center Project
Jon D. Magnusson, Magnusson Klemencic Associates
The selection jury for the Hawaii Convention Center focused on two great attributes of the design—placement of the main exhibition hall on the ground floor adjacent to a navigable canal, and soaring columns and beams disguised as tall, leafy palm trees. Hear how the structural designers' ideas won the day for the entire design and construction team.
1:45 pm - 3 pm
CASE Closing General Session: Building Code Complexity and its Impact on Business Practices and Risk Management
James Harris, J. R. Harris & Company
Complex codes are good for business. Learn how to use them to reduce conservatism and thereby enhance creativity; define the state-of-the-practice and assume less risk; and increase value which can be leveraged into increased fees and profits.
1:45 pm - 3 pm
Association Management Session (I): Nominations—Recruiting the Best to Your Non-Profit Board
David Kushner, The Kushner Companies, LLC
Learn about the critical role staff managers play in working with association nominating committees. Identify 10 questions prospective board candidates should be able to answer before they agree to join the board. Participate in a mock review of association nomination procedures. Gain new perspectives on the effects of generational characteristics on nominations, and the impact this is having on governing boards today.
3 pm - 4:15 pm
Association Management Session: So What Does All This IT Stuff Really Mean for Me as an Exec?
David Kushner, The Kushner Companies, LLC and Cort Kane, designDATA
Small and large MO Executives are all faced with the same dilemma . . . how to deliver effective IT on a shoestring budget. Join a lively "talk show" format session featuring an interview with ACEC's IT guru Cort Kane of designDATA. Cort will be interviewed by David Kushner, an experienced association CEO, speaker and consultant.
Learn how to make your workforce mobile; how VoIP can deliver voicemail messages and faxes to your computer; how co-workers and members can use collaboration software to share information and work on issues; whether to purchase staff BlackBerrys or Treos – which is the best?; how to secure your network and protect member data; what is all the talk about SAAS and HAAS – what is it and what does it mean for you?; and other IT issues important to you and your association. This will be an interactive conversation with opportunities for your questions. We promise to keep things from becoming too "techie talk.” You will leave this session with loads of practical information that can save you time and money back at the office.
4 pm - 7 pm
ACEC/PAC Happy Hour Sail
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28
6:15 am - 4 pm
Registration
6:15 am - 7:15 am
Breakfast with Exhibitors
Concurrent Sessions
7:15 am - 8:30 am
Making Quality Happen
William Hayden, Jr., Quality by Design
Despite advice from quality system experts, far too many A/E executives and managers have attempted to "announce, demand, train, install, and repackage" quality into their people and projects. This session will demonstrate how the trilogy of Baldrige, ISO9000, and Six Sigma can be integrated to make quality happen right the first time.
7:15 am - 8:30 am
Still Having Problems with Design-Build?
Paul T. Bryant and Chandra Weiss, Pivotal Management Consulting, LLC
Design-Build (D-B) projects continue to grow in popularity while design firms continue to have problems getting paid, understanding D-B contractual obligations, and establishing proper processes and procedures. This session will explore key elements for success, including how to pick a partner, manage in a team environment, establish and meet expectations, and create building blocks for D-B processes and procedures.
7:15 am - 8:30 am
When Everything Seems to Go Wrong: Navigating the Perfect Storm
Gary M. Prather, Travelers Insurance
Learn to break the cycle of events that lead to the "perfect storm" in design and project delivery. This session will translate professional liability statistics into practical management tools to help firms better control risk and liability and offers a focused look at the importance of information and decisions in delivering successful design and satisfied clients.
7:15 am - 8:30 am
Escaping the "Wal-Marting" of Engineering
Robert vanArsdall, XL Design Professional
External forces on the engineering industry are creating the commoditization of the engineering industry—the "Wal-Mart" effect. To succeed in this environment, firms will need to learn how to differentiate themselves from competitors, understand and deliver on client demands, and maximize the knowledge value of their workers. This session will look at both internal project delivery processes and external demands of clients.
8 am - 12 noon
Legal Counsels Forum (II)
8 am - 3 pm
Hospitality Lounge
8:30 am - 9 am
Networking Break with Exhibitors
Concurrent Sessions
9 am - 10:15 am
E/A Mergers & Acquisitions: Improving Your Odds
Colvin Matheson, Matheson Financial Advisors, Inc.
Hardly a week goes by these days without several E/A mergers or acquisitions being announced—whether small deals or larger ones. Today’s financially savvy engineering firm operators understand the need to grow their firm and provide value to their shareholders and stakeholders. This session will review current drivers of the M&A market for our industry and then present matters from both a buyer and seller perspective regarding valuation, deal structure, navigating the process, and positioning your firm to play the game with better odds of success—actually closing the deals you want.
9 am - 10:15 am
Business Practice in a Software World - Time Billing & Project Management Software
Matt Hirst, Caldwell Richards Sorensen
This interactive discovery session and discussion will focus on the difficulties of Time-Billing-Project Management software, the use of the Internet to provide internal staff tools and external project communications tools, and project data archiving and retrieval. The end result will be new knowledge of software applications, tips, and solutions for working through these issues effectively.
9 am - 10:15 am
The Talent War - Recruitment and Retention in Today's Competitive Engineering Industry
Lori Oakes-Coyne, ZweigWhite
The number one factor limiting a firm's growth potential and competitive advantage is its ability to attract and retain top performers. While firm leaders understand their biggest asset is their staff, few know how to position their firm as a "choice" employer. This session will examine today's HR industry, explore the hiring and retention secrets of successful firms, and provide best practices to help companies become "employers of choice."
 9 am - 10:15 am
Roundtable on Issues Facing Mechanical and Electrical Engineers
Roy C. Wilson, Jr., George Butler Associates, Inc.; Robin S. Greenleaf, Architectural Engineers, Inc.
The CAMEE leadership will lead a discussion on major topics of interest to mechanical and electrical engineers. These include offshore engineering, marketing directly to the owner, sustainable design/LEED, BIM and risk management.
9:30 am - 10:30 am
Spouse Breakfast
10:15 am - 10:45 am
Networking Break with Exhibitors
Concurrent Sessions
10:45 am - 12 noon
Women in the Boardroom: How the Other Half Works
Chandra L. Weiss, Pivotal Management Consulting, LLC; Susana Florian, Parsons Transportation; Rae Loui, M & E Pacific, Inc. an AECOM company; Meelyn Uyehara, Rider Levett Bucknall
Top women executives in the engineering world talk about the secrets of their success. This interactive session will provide participants insights on how these executives moved out of the trenches and into the boardroom; motivations for women to advance to executive ranks; advice on how to recruit, retain and nurture women in their aspirations; and a discussion on the benefits women executives can bring to a firm.
10:45 am - 12 noon
Economic Loss Doctrine: Peculiar Name, Critical Loss Prevention Tool
Nicholas M. Wieczorek and Richard H. Nakamura, Morris Polich & Purdy LLP
The Economic Loss Doctrine is a legal principle with broad practical effects on design practice. Recognizing its application can avoid potential "unlimited liability" for claims and enforce mutually negotiated contractual terms and provisions. Attendees will learn the status of the Economic Loss Doctrine in jurisdictions across the country and how to recognize it in design practices. Using doctrine knowledge, firms can interface effectively with insurance carriers or third-party claims professionals to handle legal disputes.
 10:45 am - 12 noon
3D Laser Scanning Business Drivers
Bruce Jenkins, Spar Point Research LLC
What’s the business case for investing in 3D laser scanning? Properly applied, laser scanning work processes can deliver safer, faster, more accurate and complete, and more economic capture of existing conditions of capital assets than conventional survey methods. Case examples will document how the technology is improving not only design but also fabrication, construction and asset management in civil, transportation, building, process, power and offshore/marine industries. Entry cost, payback and ROI will also be examined.
10:45 am - 12 noon
Future Opportunities for A/E Firms in the Pacific Region
Clyde Morita, NAVFAC-PAC
Naval Facilities Engineering Command - Pacific will be discussing the status and opportunities that are currently available for A/E firms in the Pacific region which includes but are not limited to the Western Coast of the United States, Hawaii, Guam, Japan and South Korea. In addition, NAVFAC-Pacific will also discuss any future A/E work in the Pacific region.
 12 noon - 1:30 pm
Luncheon Speaker: Gary Wendt
A celebrated engineer and business leader, Gary Wendt revolutionized the financial services industry. As President and CEO of GE Capital Services, he turned GE’s fledgling division into the company’s largest income-producing unit—40% of GE’s income. Currently Executive Managing Partner of Global Opportunity Advisors, Wendt will discuss key trends and opportunities in today’s marketplace and will suggest how engineering firms can best take advantage of globalization.
1:30 pm - 2 pm
Dessert and Beverages with Exhibitors
Concurrent Sessions
2 pm - 3:15 pm
Bringing Your Company Values to Life
Kenneth E. Nelson, Clark Dietz, Inc.
Great companies are those in which the right people are "on the bus." The challenge is defining who your "right" people are. The concept of core values provides a common language to use in defining not only who is right for the firm but who the right clients are as well. The presentation will discuss how to develop core values and then bring them to life through employee feedback, recruitment, career development and client selection.
2 pm - 3:15 pm
Business Performance Management: How to Empower Project & Operations Managers to Improve Firm Profitability
Darryl Williamson, BST Global
Front line project and operational managers have often been left out when it comes to having access to the information they need – information to make decisions surrounding project variances, schedules, receivables and profitability. This session will explore the challenges and benefits of implementing a business performance management solution and showcase examples of how leading firms are leveraging user friendly and timely web- and portal-based access to financial information to empower their project and operations managers and drive value in their organizations.
2 pm - 3:15 pm
NCEES's Bachelor's Plus 30 Initiative: What's the Impact for the Engineering Industry?
Craig N. Musselman, CMA Engineers; William Stout, Gannett Fleming; and David G. Mongan, Whitney, Bailey, Cox and Magnani & ASCE President-Elect
NCEES is proposing that by 2015, eligibility to sit for the PE exam will require that engineers have a bachelor's degree from an ABET accredited university, plus 30 additional credit hours of upper level or graduate education. What is the NCEES vision? How will it work? What will it mean for firms? This session will offer spirited debate on these questions.
2 pm - 3:15 pm
Accelerated Bridge Construction
Rukhsana (Shana) Lindsey, Utah Department of Transportation; Anthony Bennett, InteliSum Inc.
Accelerated Bridge Construction is an innovative process which allows for building of a new bridge in a staging area until it is moved into place. Using case studies, the presenters will examine in detail how “Accelerated Bridge Replacement” process improves work zone safety, reduces road closure time, minimize environmental impact, minimize traffic disruption, maximize bridge life cycle and maximize economic benefit.
5 pm - 7 pm
Local Color Night! Hawaiian Style Luau and Entertainment
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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
7 am - 11 am
Registration
7 am - 8 am
Sweepstakes Breakfast
Winners of the week's events and auction items will be announced!
8 am - 12 noon
SEI Alumni Workshop: Will Private Equity Financing Re-Engineer the A/E Industry?
Rod Hoffman, HDR and Kyle Davy, Kyle V. Davy Consulting
Join alumni of ACEC's prestigious Senior Executives Institute for a roundtable discussion on the rise of private equity funding for infrastructure/"public" projects and how that may impact the industry and the way firms do business.
Concurrent Sessions
8 am - 9:15 am
Ownership Transition Part I: Financial Aspects
Colvin Matheson, Matheson Financial Advisors, Inc.
Understanding the financial principles that drive ownership transitions is essential to accurately valuing your firm and successfully undertaking a smooth transition. In this session, attendees will learn about key valuation approaches and how to structure an ownership transition. The session will stress how increasing firm profits plus sound financial accounting to perpetuate growth for the next generations of owners are key to successful transitions.
8 am - 9:15 am
New Approaches to Design Management
Glenn Ballard, Project Production Systems Laboratory, UC Berkeley
Managing work flow on design projects, especially under new fast track delivery techniques, has sometimes proven to be an inexact science. Using "lean project management" tools, Glenn Ballard will show how pull techniques and relational commitments can help take wasted hours out of the design process.
8 am - 9:15 am
Finance and Strategic Planning—Know Thyself!
Michael A. Webber, And Managers
Not all projects or client types are profitable for your firm. Conversely, other types—of a specific size or a particular area—are incredibly profitable. Can you identify in advance which are which? This session will analyze real-world data—with surprising results.
9:15 am - 9:45 am
Break
Concurrent Sessions
9:45 am - 11 am
Ownership Transition Part II: Cultural Aspects of Ownership Transition Panel Discussion
Colvin Matheson, Moderator, Matheson Financial Advisors, Inc; Robert Overfield, Engineering Associates; Gregg Ten Eyck and Greg Roush, Leonard Rice Engineers
Confused about ownership transition? This session will offer a panel of small firm owners who have been on both sides of a transition and can speak knowledgeably about the internal politics of a firm that must be considered in order to ensure the firm continues to thrive under its new leadership.
9:45 am - 11 am
Gold Mine or Land Mine: Which Will Your Next Project Be?
Thomas M. Bongi, XL Design Professional
Absent a crystal ball, firms often rely on intuition when selecting clients and projects. But this session looks at a more reliable method. Utilizing over 30 years of data on engineering projects, attendees will get an inside look at factors statistically proven to be relevant to a successful project—and factors that foretell a potentially disastrous one. Explore the criteria for sizing up clients to determine their predisposition to litigation or nonpayment of fees.
12 noon - 6:30 pm
ACEC/PAC Golf Tournament and Reception
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