Ken Ackeret, PE, PTOE, PHD

The International Board of Direction met on Friday April 1^st and Saturday April 2^nd, 2011 at the Walt Disney Swan Resort in Orlando, Florida, immediately prior to this year’s Spring Technical Conference. The theme of the conference was “Moving Toward Zero” as 2011-2020 has been proclaimed the “Decade of Action for Road Safety” and our conference supported this global call to drastically reduce transportation related injuries and fatalities worldwide. Our conference theme and associated presentations directly supported ITE’s Strategic plan Goal for Safety: The public will experience an improved quality of life through the elimination of road fatalities.

The Board discussed and took action on several key issues that will directly benefit our members. These actions included:

A review of the present Communication Media of the Institute in order to remain current and relevant to our membership

At this time the key methods of communication for the Institute include the monthly ITE Journal, the just-released first issue of the semi-annual Journal of Transportation (a scholarly peer-reviewed academic journal), the monthly E-newsletter , the website www.ite.org, and the new “ITE Community” web forum for members to communicate and build relationships.

The Board took action to invest Institute reserves in order to hire two new staff members and provide funding to:

Have a dedicated staff member to research and write timely content for the E-newsletter and the Institute’s 24/7 offerings

Achieve a new look and timely content to the ITE Journal

Develop an online Technical Literature Library in order to provide ITE members with a user friendly find and retrieve system

Participation in international safety organizations

Over this coming year the executive committee will review and evaluate opportunities to join/participate in global organizations associated with worldwide safety initiatives. These organizations include The Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) and The World Road Association (PIARC).

Continued support  for an ITE Leadership Training

Program

The Board received a detailed report from the Task Force on Leadership Training. Chairman Jim Westmorland presented various options for the development of leadership training for our membership. The Task Force prepared a Transportation Leadership Development Seminar for the Spring Conference as previously requested by the Board. The PDH approved leadership training modules included Leadership Development Overview, Dealing with Elected Officials and Leadership Communications. The seminar participants included Board members and other invited guests on Sunday morning, April 3^rd. The leadership modules expanded upon the leadership program developed over the past several years within the Southern District of ITE. There is a strong desire by the Board to expand this highly successful leadership program from the Southern District to the rest of our districts and sections. The initiative is to provide our members opportunities to develop their leadership skills at all levels as well as the possibility of developing an ITE Leadership program for our young professionals. A Leadership Development Planning Committee was appointed by President Robert Wunderlich with Jim Westmorland as chair to advance this initiative.

Framework for International Communities for Students and Professionals

ITE staff was directed to prepare a set of rules and procedures, along with a possible pilot program, for Board approval in October. These procedures will give our international members wishing to create sections and student chapters an opportunity to be a part of our new online community website with the creation of virtual international membership groups.

Report from Eva Lerner-Lam ITE Ambassador to China

Eva is a non-voting member of the International Board of Direction. She provided advice to the Board on how ITE should pursue the long term development of relations with the transportation community in China.

Metric units in ITE publications

In response to concerns from our international community the Board defined the policy for the inclusion of metric units in all ITE publications. All new publications will include within the text of the document properly converted metric unit values.

Changes to the Institute Policies

Proposed changes to the Environmental, Economic, & Social Policies were brought to the Board by the Policy and U.S. Legislative Committee. The requested changes were approved by the Board to be published in the ITE Journal for member comment. The Board also approved changing Policy S-4 for a title change from “School Crossing Protection” to “School Traffic Safety.”