ACECH August 2025 President’s Message

Aloha ACECH Members,

What is the current state of being an engineer?  Prepare to divide time by zero.  Maybe not the most uplifting quote but a strong indicator of the health of our engineering industry.  The ACEC Research Institute prepares quarterly surveys and recently published their 2025 Q2 Engineering Business Sentiment Study that concluded “engineering firms (across the nation) continue to operate from a positive position of financial strength”.  However, the study also mentions that there is growing concern about the broader economic and political landscape in the coming year.  I bring this up to the membership, not as an expert in this area but as a reminder of the valuable resources that are available to each of you on the national ACEC website.  I also encourage all of you to read our National Director’s report that is put together each month by Nimr Tamimi.  Nimr is dedicated to his role and does a fantastic job at summarizing the happenings of ACEC National.

Ever wondered what ACEC has been up to?  Well, I haven’t been removed from office… yet.  Other than that, lots!

• Strategic Planning – Our Board of Directors (BOD) just gave thumbs up to our Strategic Plan! We anticipate publication within the next month.  This document summarizes ACECH’s values and sets goals and objections for our organization.  
• New Executive Director (ED) Position – The BOD has approved the ED job description and has posted and circulated to various media on Aug. 18^th. The posting will be live for 30 days, so if you know of any potential candidates, please share the posting or you can request a copy directly from ACECH.
• General Committee Information – We have filled almost all our committee chair positions and will be posting the updated chairs to our website next month. To provide additional clarity on the purpose of each committee, we will also be adding committee descriptions to our website.  Shout out to our marketing consultant, Manageability LLC, for the awesome work they are doing with our newsletters and website.
• DAGS/DOE Committee – Lead by the efforts of Tyson Toyama, this committee is continuing to work with DAGS to get the DAGS Maximum Rates updated.
• Emerging Leaders Committee – Our Student Mixer was held on July 16 at Dave & Busters with great attendance with 57 professionals and 44 students registered. We also had 10 students that crashed the party!  I witnessed a lot of great discussions and a lot of business cards exchanged.  For all of you that supported this event, thank you!  Let’s continue to recruit our local engineer prospects back to our great State! 
• Past-Presidents Committee – ACECH has always taken on the difficult issues that are faced by our industry, but let’s not forget the great networking and friendships that are forged by being a part of the organization. Our Past-Presidents are hard at work reminding us about this.  Here is a photo of a recent gathering of some of our greatest minds.  Cheers!

• Risk Management Committee – Our RMC chair Scott Hayashi is doing an amazing job leading this committee and navigating some of the toughest and complex issues facing our firms. Many of these issues take time and conversations with multiple stakeholders to advocate for change.  One initiative of the committee this year is to develop additional position papers to memorialize past efforts to help facilitate future discussions.  Note: The committee is currently focused on a significant ruling for design professionals that upheld contractual indemnity beyond the statue of repose.  Keep an eye out for a Member Alert that will be issued shortly. 

In an effort to keep our membership better informed, we have been working to better populate our Events Calendar (ACECHawaii website, under Program & Events tab).  Two events in September to plan for is our September 30^th GMM and the PBX Hawai‘i Expo on September 24^th.  ACECH is an Industry Partner for PBX Hawai‘i.  Additional information and registration can be found on the PBX Hawai‘i website (https://pbxhawaii.com/)

Lastly, expand your knowledge and give back to our industry and JOIN A COMMITTEE!

If you made it all the way through this message, I hope the information was worth your time.  If it wasn’t, you’re already dividing your time by zero, so no harm in staying informed!  Let’s continue to work together to make ACEC even better.  Mahalo for your support!

Mahalo,