By Doug Smith, P.E. Western District President

Happy New Year and welcome to the 2024 edition of the ITE Western District news. The Western District is starting the new year very fast. I want to thank all of the Executive Officers, Committee Chairs and Section Representatives who work so hard to make the District the best in ITE! I get so much support and guidance from these ITE members and others who have come before me on the Executive Board. I also have to thank those employers that support all of our Board members and allow them to be so involved in ITE.

I will discuss this a lot this year, but it takes a lot of member involvement to keep all our programs going at the District and Section levels. We can always use your involvement and your support for our eleven ITE sections.

In December and January, I attended the Southern California Section and Riverside San Bernardino Section meetings to install their new officers and to provide an overview of upcoming District activities. I look forward to opportunities to meet with more Sections in our District this year.

Later this month, the Western District will be holding our Winter Board Meeting on January 26^th in Long Beach, CA. We held a productive Section Representative orientation on January 18^th and 19^th that was well attended. We would like to welcome our new roster of Section Representatives who will be working with the Board on our District’s initiatives:

Alaska: Matt Coburn

Central California: Katherine Lee

Central Coast: Tom Mericle

Hawaii: Keoni Wasano

Northern California: Ryan Chapman

Oregon: Molly McCormick

Riverside-San Bernardino: Brandon Wong

San Diego: Jacob Swim

San Francisco Bay Area: Kevin Carstens

Southern California: Marc Violett

Washington: Ryan Peterson

February will be a busy month with several events at the Section and District levels! The 2024 Western District Student Traffic Bowl will be hosted virtually on February 17^th at noon. Registration will end on February 2^nd. Please register by emailing the Student Funding & Initiatives Committee Chair.

The Cal Poly San Luis Obispo ITE student chapter will be hosting the 2024 Western District Student Leadership Summit on the SLO campus from February 2^nd-4^th. If you get the opportunity, you should attend this not-to-miss event; SLS holds a great career fair, resume workshops and speed interviews that benefit both the student and potential employers. The planning committee is doing a great job and is still seeking volunteers to support activities, including the networking events. It is a great opportunity to spend a weekend in SLO meeting our future transportation professionals.

We will be attending some valuable Section events in the District in February. If you are interested in finding out more about your section activities, you can access the section websites through the westernite.org website or contact your Section Representatives.

Looking ahead, the 2024 Western District Annual Meeting will be in Sacramento, CA from June 23^rd-26^th. This year’s program promises to provide exceptional technical content for everyone in the heart of our state capitol, and we hope to see you there! In addition, the 2024 ITE Annual Meeting and Exhibition will take place in Philadelphia, PA on July 21^st-24^th and will focus on “creating safer, smarter mobility”.

If you would like to talk about the ITE Western District, please reach out to me. I’m never too busy to make time to discuss ITE.