By Kimberly Leung, P.E., T.E., Western District President

The Western District Board met in mid-September for our Fall Executive Committee Meeting to onboard our new officers and to prepare for the upcoming year! We are excited to welcome Josh McNeill as our new District Secretary-Treasurer and Peter Koonce as our new International Director representing our District on the International Board of Direction. Major topics of our fall meeting included closing out fiscal year 22-23, allocating excess revenue from the Portland Annual Meeting to support future District Annual Meetings, reviewing our District’s charter and bylaws, and discussing District results from the all-member survey.

Following our meeting, we are pleased to appoint new Western District Committee Chairs! Henry Hammel from the San Francisco Bay Area Section will be our new Career Guidance Committee Chair, and Ryan Caldera from the Central Coast Section will be our new WesternITE Managing Editor. Jeanne Acutanza from the Washington Section was reappointed to another term as the Technical Committee Chair.

As part of our discussions of the all-member survey, our Board is continuing to explore new ways to meet the needs of professionals in the transportation industry with more content and resources. Next month, we will be hosting our annual fall webinar series to highlight award-winning projects that were featured in the Western District’s Transportation Project of the Year nominations. These webinars will be an opportunity to hear about real-life case studies throughout the District focused on complete streets, operations, safety, planning, and traffic engineering. Also, as many of our Sections continue to host virtual and hybrid meetings, we are coordinating with Section Representatives to share monthly upcoming Section events where non-Section members are welcome to join to learn more about topics throughout the District. If you have suggestions or feedback on how the District can better support our members, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Board and me.