Aloha ACEC Hawaii Members,
As my term as ACEC Hawaii President comes to an end this month, I find myself feeling both humbled and grateful. Serving in this role has been a true honor, and I want to sincerely thank the membership for entrusting me with the opportunity to help lead our organization. Your confidence, engagement, and continued support have meant a great deal to me throughout the year.
I also want to extend my heartfelt appreciation to the ACEC Hawaii Board of Directors. Their guidance, steady support, and willingness to jump in wherever needed made this year not only productive, but enjoyable. It is easy to be optimistic about ACEC Hawaii’s future when surrounded by people who care so deeply about our profession, our members, and the communities we serve.
Looking ahead, I am excited for what comes next. Our industry continues to face challenges, but it also continues to be filled with talented, thoughtful, and dedicated people who know how to solve problems and build for the future. I am confident ACEC Hawaii will continue to grow, adapt, and make a positive impact, hopefully with plenty of collaboration, a few good laughs, and the same spirit of aloha that makes this organization special.
Business of Design Consulting: Hawaii Edition 
ACEC Hawaii is committed to providing our membership with great career development opportunities. With the decision to pause our Emerging Leaders Program for this year, we are excited to offer a new development series aimed towards early-career engineers. A six-session professional development series specifically designed for emerging professionals with 2-7 years of experience with focus on how consulting engineering firms operate, grow, manage risk, develop clients, and build future leaders. Sessions start JULY 24, 2026. Join us for only the sessions you want to attend or sign up for all six and take advantage of a 44% discount! Attendees of an ACEC Hawaii member firm also receives a discounted rate.
Check out the curriculum here: https://acechawaii.org/bdchawaii/, space is limited!
ACEC Hawaii Committee Annual Reports
As our fiscal year comes to close, I would be remiss if I didn’t recognize the hard-work and dedication of all of those that donate their time and expertise for our various committees. ACEC Hawaii is thankful to all of you, especially our committee chairs and vice chairs. The Board of Directors (BOD) may have their hands on the wheel but your selflessness and commitment to our industry is the engine that keeps this organization running strong!
In alignment with our Strategic Plan, I have asked our committee chairs to provide Annual Report of the committee’s accomplishments this year. This is an effort to provide more transparency for our valued members, as well as to give much deserved recognition to the committee members.
New Executive Director!
Ginny Wright has been the heartbeat of this organization for 27 years. As ACEC Hawaii’s Executive Director she has had the “easy” task of herding a boardroom full of Hawaii’s most prominent engineering executives, acted as the organization’s historian, and advising us “know it all” BOD members on proper protocols. Her commitment to ACEC Hawaii has been second to none, but all good things come to end. Ginny, we hope you enjoyed your time with all of us. Personally, I very much appreciate the kindness and encouragement you have given me over the years. We hope that you enjoyed the BTS concert and we hope that you enjoy yourself as not ED!
After an exhaustive search that lasted well over 1-year, the BOD met with, and interviewed several great candidates and we are pleased to announce that Tiffany Tabbal of Manageability, LLC has signed on as our New Executive Director!
June General Membership Meeting Recap
Our last General Membership Meeting was held on June 12, 2026 at the Poipu Golf Course on Kauai and featured two great speakers. Thanks to our Kauai Committee members for taking the lead on putting this together. Under the leadership of our chair Jason Soriano and vice-chair Kraig Otani, this committee has made great strides this year. This was evident at the event with attendees from the Kauai Department of Water and Public Works.
Special thanks to Mayor Derek Kawakami for finding the time to have a great “talk story” session with our membership. Mayor Kawakami shared his appreciation of the engineering community and our commitment to building our infrastructure right. He was also candid about his need to get things done quickly. He spoke about his personal and professional accomplishments and challenges, his development as a leader, and his favorite poke spot. He openly fielded questions from those in attendance and our membership engaged him with thoughtful questions. Mahalo Mayor Kawakami!
Our second speaker was Meredith Clement from Kennedy Jenks. Meredith gave a presentation on traditional and alternative financing. She briefed us on different types of financing for projects, such as a traditional approach of paying for it upfront, loan and grant program, and non-traditional financing such as public-private partnerships. This was much more than just an informational talk, Meredith shared pros and cons and her experiences with advising and obtaining various types of financing for her clients. Thank you Meredith for making the trip and visiting us from California, we hope you felt the spirit of Aloha!
2025 Strategic Plan
As the organization moves forward to the second phase of our Strategic Plan (SP), we are developing actionable items to implement the goals and objectives outlined in Phase 1 (available here). Our SP identifies four strategic goals, or “Pillars”, of the organization and our committees are being organized under them. Chairs have been assigned to each of these strategic goals and their responsibility is to promote strategic alignment, facilitate collaboration and coordination across committees, provide synthesis, continuity, and institutional knowledge, and report progress to the Board. We continue to make progress to better support our committees, influence our industry, build capacity, and improve communication and engagement of our membership. We thank Shannon Holman for her continued leadership that is moving this effort forward.
Upcoming Events
ACECH-AIA-GCA Joint Event: ‘Iolani Arrillaga Building Site Tour + Pau Hāna. Join us on July 8th for an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the new ʻIolani Arrillaga Student Center! Hosted by ʻIolani School, this special joint-industry event offers a guided walkthrough of the innovative campus project followed by a pau hana reception. Connect with fellow professionals across architecture, engineering, and construction while exploring one of Honolulu’s newest educational spaces. ACECH registration is limited to the first 20 registrants from our Emerging Leaders cohorts.
Student Mixer with ACECH at Dave & Buster’s Ala Moana. On July 29th, connect with Hawaii’s engineering community at this upcoming ACEC Hawaii networking event featuring professionals from local and national firms.
Designed for students, recent graduates, and industry professionals alike, the event offers an opportunity to learn about career pathways in engineering, expand your professional network, and engage with leaders from across the industry. Guests are invited to enjoy light refreshments while making meaningful connections and exploring future opportunities in Hawaii’s engineering field.
Mahalo
At the end of this cycle, two of our Board members have completed their commitments (typically an 8 to 10 year commitment). Nimr Tamimi completed his term from Director to Past-President and gave an additional two years to ACECH as our National Director. Nimr’s dedication and commitment to the organization has been an inspiration to me and his calm, professional, and thoughtful leadership has been a pleasure to be around. Shannon Holman is finishing her commitment as our outgoing immediate Past-President. Her enthusiasm, vigor, and optimism have energized ACECH over the years. Special thanks to both of you for the years of leadership.
As I close out my time as President, I want to offer one final thought. I am humbled to have represented this organization as the President this past year. I am unworthy but thankful to have been able to learn from all the great past-presidents through my term on the board and most of all, I am grateful for all the amazing friendships I have forged by being a part of the ACECH Board of Directors. Although we may compete for work at times, Hawai‘i is a special place and just like nature, our industry is an ecosystem, and it relies on all of us to continue to function. I have been fortunate to see that spirit up close, and it has made this experience meaningful, memorable, and more often than not, a lot of fun!
Mahalo,
Charles Jury
ACEC Hawaii President