Engineering Influence from ACEC

We welcomed Matt Reiffer from ACEC's advocacy team to the show to discuss the week's failed cloture vote on infrastructure and what it means for the future of the bipartisan infrastructure package. 

Cardno, an international infrastructure and environmental firm ranked #58 in the latest ENR rankings, recently hired Shawn Fackler as Principal Archaeologist in its Portland, Oregon office.

Shawn and Cardno Business Unit Manager Karen Beattie came on the program to talk about the role of an archaeologist in an engineering firm.

One of the biggest issues facing engineering firm leaders—or really those of any company—is how to manage the post-COVID business landscape. The pandemic forced huge changes in how firms operated and how employees worked. Some of those changes will likely fade away but many will stick. Figuring out which ones will continue to be beneficial is enough to keep leaders awake at night.

Kennedy Jenks President and CEO Keith London joined the program to discuss how his 420-person water and environmental engineering firm is moving forward.

ACEC was honored to welcome Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA06) to the program to discuss a variety of topics including infrastructure, her work as a founder of the Women in STEM Caucus in the House and her own experience as an engineer in Congress. 

During the interview, Rep. Houlahan discussed a number of bills she is working on to get more people into the STEM pipeline, including the STEM RESTART Act, which she introduced along with Rep. Jim Baird (R-IN) and Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), and Mark Kelly (D-AZ), which is aimed at funding mid-career internships, or "returnships" for mid-career workers seeking to re-enter the STEM fields.  More information on this legislation can be found here. 

Rep. Houlahan is a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, which endorsed the bipartisan agreement on infrastructure.  We discussed that, as well as the PPP FAR credits clause issue, which ACEC is heavily engaged on through our advocacy team.  

Earlier this week, ACEC released our latest Private Industry Brief, which provides practical, detailed information and targeted market insights on key A/E private sectors. The 2021 Mid-Year Economic Update overflows with data and insights about the current state and future prospects of the national economy and the engineering industry.

To dive a little deeper into the numbers and analysis, Erin McLaughlin ACEC vice president for private market resources and author of the brief, joined us on the program. 

Click here to download a free copy of the Private Industry Brief.

Click here to read Erin's The Private Side column in the latest issue of ACEC's Engineering Inc. magazine.

It’s been more than 15 months since most employees at engineering firms switched to remote work and many of them are still there. One of the impacts of this sudden change in how we work has been employee burnout, with many finding it difficult to strike the proper work/life balance. This is a big issue for engineering firms because high-performing employees tend to be more susceptible to burnout, and they can become disengaged and end up leaving the firm for greener pastures.

Talking with us about how to beat burnout is Peter Atherton, who is president of ActionsProve, LLC. Peter has presented a program for ACEC on burnout and has a book that’s available on Amazon titled Reversing Burnout.

Click here for the ACEC On-Demand online class Leadership, Engagement, and Burnout Prevention in a World of COVID and Change.

ACEC Alabama Executive Director Renee Casillas and Roger Guilian, general counsel and vice president at Volkert, join the program to talk about a big legislative victory for the industry in Alabama this spring, winning indemnity protections for engineers and other design professionals in the state.

The new law renders void and unenforceable contractual provisions in three key areas: (i)those that require engineers to indemnify others for damages that are not caused by the engineer; (ii) those that require engineers to defend another party if a defense is not covered by professional liability insurance; and (iii) those that require engineers to name another party as an additional insured on a policy of professional liability insurance. The new law also establishes a statutory standard of care for engineers and voids any more expansive contractual standard of care.

It was a nearly three-year effort by ACEC Alabama and its partners to get this done.

On this week's update, Matt Reiffer discusses the House's passage of the INVEST Act and what it means for the larger infrastructure push going on in Congress right now.

 Howard Birnberg, who is president of Birnberg and Associates and executive director of the Association for Project Managers, came on the program to talk about project management and project managers.

In engineering firms, projects are how things get done and project managers make that happen. The quality of a firm’s project management system invariably shows up on its bottom line, so it is critical to create one that is effective and efficient.

Howard is a frequent presenter and instructor for ACEC and beginning on July 13, he will lead a nine-week ACEC course titled Project Management 101: Laying the Foundation for Superior Project Managers. For more information and to register for the course, click here.

On this week's Government Affairs Update, Steve Hall re-caps the week's events focusing on the bipartisan Senate agreement on infrastructure.