The American Council of Engineering Companies of Hawaii (ACECH) has embarked on its FY25-26 journey. Our Strategic Planning, initiated in 2024 under our past-president Shannon Holman’s leadership, will guide us for the next 3-5 years. With input from past-presidents, emerging leaders, committee chairs, regular members, affiliate members, and industry partners, and facilitated by Marie R. Miyashiro of Elucity Network, Inc., we are moving forward swiftly. The Board of Directors (BOD) will soon discuss the first draft of the Strategic Plan, which will be shared with the membership in the coming months.
Reflecting on ACECH’s past, I am inspired by the incredible engineers and leaders who have built our reputation as Hawaii’s leader in enhancing the business climate and promoting the professional environment of engineers, surveyors, and industry specialists. As this year’s ACECH President, I feel a great obligation to honor their efforts while moving the organization into the future. Our guiding principles will help us adapt to the evolving workforce, technology, and industry landscape.
ACECH has long supported future engineering leaders through our Emerging Leaders Program, graduating 94 students from 42 member firms over five cohorts. The 6th cohort will graduate in October. These students have infused new energy into ACECH, with three current BOD members being program graduates. Engaging our future leaders and keeping our current leadership active is critical to our long-term strength.
During our Strategic Planning process, there were discussions about whether ACECH is at an inflection point, a point of continued upward success or a point of decline for an organization. ACECH is growing in membership, is the leading organization for advocacy in our industry, and remains well respected in the community, I see continued upward success but with a call to action for the future of our organization.
CALL TO ACTION:
- Future leaders: Your passion, energy, and motivation are needed. Stay involved or get involved in our local and national organization. Contribute to our future success.
- Current leaders: Your expertise, experience, and guidance are needed. Stay involved or as your time comes to transition away from active participation, support ACECH by supporting your future leaders in participating in our local and/or national efforts.
- Board of Directors: We have been elected to our positions to represent our member firms. Let’s better communicate the goals of ACECH and our national ACEC, our active initiatives, and provide the highest value to our membership to justify the support we are requesting.
Together, we can shape the future of engineering in Hawaii. Let’s embrace the challenges ahead with determination and optimism, knowing that our collective efforts will lead to a brighter and more innovative tomorrow.
In closing, I want to thank our BOD for all the hard work and thank Kyle Kaneshiro, as he now exits the board, for the years of commitment to the organization and thank you to all the FY24-25 committee members and the committee chairs that worked tirelessly for the organization:
- ACECH-GCA-AIA – Chair: Kyle Kaneshiro
- Honolulu Board of Water Supply – Chair: Brian Sekiguchi, Vice-Chair: Ken Kawahara
- City & County of Honolulu – Chair: Dean Nakano, Vice-Chair: Collins Lam
- County of Hawaii – Chair: Bruce Meyers, Vice-Chair: Michelle Sorensen
- County of Kauai – Chair: Jason Soriano, Vice-Chair: Kraig Otani
- County of Maui – Chair: Garrett Tokuoka
- Of Accounting & General Services/Dept. of Education – Chair: Tyson Toyama, Vice-Chair: Myong Choi
- of Transportation – Chair: Michael Kamaka, Vice-Chair: Kate Teruya
- Education/Scholarship – Chair: Eric Arakawa
- EEA Banquet – Chair: Carly Kaneko, Vice-Chair: DeAnna Hayashi
- Legislative – Chair: Charles Jury, Vice-Chair: Ikaika Kincaid
- Emerging Leaders – Chair: Simone Simbeck
- Membership – Chair: Sean Sugai, Vice-Chair: Jon Nishimura
- NAVFAC – Chair: Robin Lim
- Nominations – Chair: Sheryl Nojima
- Public Relations/Events – Chair: Tiffany Tabbal
- Risk Management – Chair: Scott Hayashi, Vice-Chair: Charles Jury
- Symposium – Chair: Dawn Szewczyk, Vice-Chair: Shannon Holman
- University of Hawaii – Chair: Matthew Fujioka
- S. Army Corps of Engineers – Chair: Puna Kaneakua, Vice-Chair: Ryo Nakamoto
- Wastewater Engineering and Construction – Chair: Garrett Leong, Vice-Chair: Sey Ito
- Climate Resiliency – Chair: Jami Hirota
Our FY25-26 committee rosters are currently being finalized. If there are requests or other inquiries, you are free to contact me directly at cjury@okahara.com.
Mahalo,
Charles L. Jury
ACEC-Hawaii President