President’s Message (October 2021)

A message from ASCE Texas Section President Patrick M. Beecher PE (2021-2022)

Wow! I am honored and excited to serve the ASCE Texas Section as your President. I am grateful for this opportunity to give back to ASCE, my professional home. I am thankful for your friendship, mentoring, and guidance that has inspired me to grow and develop into the person I am today.

As a civil engineering student at Texas A&M University in the mid-1990’s, I occasionally attended ASCE Student Chapter meetings, mostly for the free pizza. I became active in ASCE once I graduated and started working for Terracon in their Austin, Texas office. My manager at that time, James Bierschwale PE and another engineer, Todd Swoboda PE, tapped me on the shoulder and encouraged me to begin attending local Austin Branch meetings and take on the Austin Branch’s Newsletter Ads Committee Chair position soon. Looking back, I never would have thought that my ASCE journey would have led to being elected President of the ASCE Texas Section.

Thank you to our recent Past Presidents, Susan Roth PE and Sean Merrell PE for their exceptional guidance of the ASCE Texas Section through the COVID-19 pandemic and leaving the ASCE Texas Section in a great position for continued success. Their support and passion for ASCE is amazing.

Thank you to the CECON 2021 Planning Committee led by Jennifer Bohlander PE, Andrew Domke PE, and Tiffany Reed-Villarreal PE, for developing and executing a great in-person conference with interesting speakers and panel discussions. I can’t wait to see what is in store for CECON 2022 as we move to a new venue for next year in Frisco, Texas. More details to come soon!

Thank you to Kacey Paul PE and the Strategic Planning Committee for preparing our next Strategic Plan. This document will help guide us over the next five years to help us live out our mission as we advance civil engineering by protecting the public health, safety, and welfare; delivering value to our members; and creating a legacy of service. For my term as President, I have selected the following three goals from the Strategic Plan:

1. Cultivate community and public outreach partnerships, fostering member engagement in their community and local organizations.
2. Facilitate complete advancement campaigns for student and younger members emerging into young professionals.
3. Champion Texas Section membership among state and local level officials as the leading authority and technical resource for civil engineering topics.

I have expressed these goals to our incoming Board of Direction and asked them to consider these goals as their committees plan out their yearly activities as well as share them with our Branches who are key partners in all that we do.

Before I draw this article to a close, I have some news to share that is both sad and exciting. Lindsay O’Leary PE, our Executive Director for the past five years, has accepted an opportunity to support ASCE Global as Director of Technical Activities. She has faithfully served the ASCE Texas Section and developed a strong, capable Section office that provided great support to our volunteers. We will miss her leadership, but also excited for her to take this next step in her career as she continues to serve ASCE from a more wide-reaching platform. I will be promptly forming a task committee to identify our next Executive Director that will partner with us as we grow into the future.

Thank for the opportunity to serve you as your President. I ask for your encouragement and support as we take on the challenges of this year and strengthen the ASCE Texas Section for the benefit of all.

Thank you,

Patrick M. Beecher PE, M.ASCE
ASCE Texas Section President 2021-2022