AACEI Cascade Section

Presidents Message (2009-2010)

Welcome
Welcome to the AACEI Portland, Oregon Cascade Section. We hope you have enjoyed our programs and our traditional annual spring workshop this past year and would like to invite you back for another successful year. Our last Spring Workshop was the first time that we were able to give away door prizes such as Apple’s i-Pod Shuffle (1gb) and the i-Pod Classic (80gb). This year we are planning on doing the same and with hopes that our turn out will be even bigger.

We encourage the participation of AACEI members as well as other local professionals in the design and construction industry to join us at our monthly dinner meetings and network with AACEI members and other professionals.
Potential new members interested in AACEI are encouraged to explore our website, attend out monthly dinner meetings and tours or call a past or present board member to inquire with any questions that you may have. Our programs are open to all who are interested in topics that will provide useful training, education and professional application to your business.
I would like to acknowledge and thank Mr. Steve Kunishige, Past President, for a job well done for the Cascade Section. With Steve’s busy schedule, he has performed superbly as the President of the Cascade Section, and I am very pleased that he will continue to serve on our Board of Directors as our Immediate Past President. Thank You Steve!

MEETINGS
This year we are planning on making some changes to our meeting structure. In the past, we have invited guest speakers to present a project or subject each month, and hosted tours and joint meetings with other organizations. While we will continue to do this on a quarterly basis, our emphasis this year will be to hold a series of monthly round-table and/or panel discussions on pertinent subjects that we all must deal with on a daily basis. We hope to get everyone in the membership involved in these discussions, in order to learn from each other and to stay current with local and national conditions.

For the past year, our meeting place has been at the University Place at SW 3rd & SW Lincoln in Portland, OR. Due to increased costs and current economic conditions, we want to be flexible.  With this in mind, our Board of Directors will meet this summer to investigate locations, costs, etc. of additional venues for our meetings. Please check this website each month to verify the location and time for each meeting.

The board also encourages members and non-members to give us suggestions on interesting topics or the opportunity to give presentations on specific topics that maybe of interest to our members in the design and construction industry. By attending our meetings, you may be a lucky winner of our door prize program, so sign-up for our upcoming meetings and start your networking.

SPRING WORKSHOP
This year, we hope to continue our one-day Spring Workshop. Our last workshop, which was a down to earth overview of “Project Management and Planning and Scheduling”, was very successfull. For details and date, please refer to our website for future announcement of our upcoming spring workshop.

WEBSITE
We invite you to share our address http://www.aace-cascade.org with your colleagues, friends and associates. We will continue to add relevant links so please continue to support our website with suggestions, input, and/or other items to be published.

CERTFICATION
AACEI offers a number of Certifications that had generated a tremendous amount of interest. For more details about the following certifications please go to the certification part of this website. Certification includes: Certified Cost Engineer (CCE), Certified Cost Consultant (CCC), Certified Cost Technician (CCT), Planning & Scheduling Professional (PSP), Earned Value Professional (EVP) and Certified Forensic Claims Consultant (CFCC).

STUDENT PARTICIPATION AND SCHOLARSHIPS
We are very fortunate and to have the support of our membership in financing the Scholarship programby helping those college students seeking degrees in construction management programs and project controls. This past year we awarded a scholarship to a deserving Oregon State University student from the proceeds of our annual spring workshop. Our goal this year is to reach out to students at local 4-year Universities and Colleges in the field of engineering so they have the opportunity to become recipients of AACEI Scholarship Program. This outreach effort will attempt to attract more participation from students as well as their professors.

Please watch our website for upcoming meetings and events. If you’d like to be added to our mailing list, please drop me an email or feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns or comments.

Sincerely,

Dennis Van Kirk, C.E.T.
President, VK Tech Services
Phone (360) 574-0736
Cell (360) 989-8047

Last Updated - January 8, 2009