Leonard Cilli, A.M.ASCE, your Region 1 Director, is a member of the New Jersey Section. Leonard represented you at the Oct. 10-11 Board meeting in New York City, held in conjunction with the new ASCE 2015 Convention. The Convention featured a new format – an array of tours, courses, sessions, and speakers focused on key themes vital to today’s civil engineer. The excitement of Times Square as well as the chance to see the many marvels of civil engineering achievement in the New York area made for a great week and further inspired the Board members’ work in guiding ASCE and the profession..

ASCE’s incoming officers participated in the meeting as observers and were formally installed Oct. 13 at the annual business meeting.

Among the many issues discussed at the October Board meeting, the Task Committee on Governance Activity Review recommended and received approval on several actions aimed at improving and assisting ASCE’s work at the Region level.

• The Board approved the creation of a new task committee to study the revision of ASCE’s Geographic Region boundaries. This will seek to more appropriately balance the number of members in each Region while better aligning communities with common experiences and common needs. Currently, the number of members assigned to each Geographic Region ranges from 9,688 to 23,917.
• The new task committee was also charged with bringing forward a proposal to reduce the total number of Regions by one (and thus the number of region directors by one) to allow for another technical region director to be added to the Board without increasing its overall size.  In anticipation of this eventual reduction in geographic regions and related Board seats, the Board authorized proceeding with putting the Constitutional amendment required to add a third technical region director on the 2016 election ballot..
• The Task Committee on Governance Activity outlined core activities for Geographic Regions and Geographic Region Directors and Governors. This list consolidates into one easily referenced document those activities, including those already underway in many Regions, such as hosting Region meetings, awards, developing future leaders, maintaining Region web pages, and nominating members for Society and Institute committees.
  
• The Committee also recommended that funding be built into the 2017 ASCE budget for an annual agenda of interaction and training options for ASCE Geographic Region Directors, who serve as the Geographic Region Board of Governors chairs.
• The Board also approved a new Region funding model for future years, including travel reimbursement and an annual allotment.
  

Read more about the Board meeting, including its strategic planning actions, in ASCE News.