Engineering Management Group Report

As we all transition out of a challenging 2020 and into a brighter year to come, this article highlights the Engineering Management Group’s (EMG’s) successful online programming over the past year, and upcoming future events in 2021. The EMG provides opportunities to advance engineering management skills through membership within the group and events throughout the year.

We are actively looking for new members to join our dedicated and knowledgeable team of engineering professionals, and welcome anyone interested to contact us at EMG@BSCES.org to learn more. Look for networking and new membership events to join in 2021 and opportunities to join the EMG leadership team.

New EMG Mission Statement

The EMG updated our Mission Statement in 2020 to better reflect the current focus and goals of the group:

“To promote the growth of ascending engineers in management practices including forecasting, project controls, and business operations. Focus areas are leadership, best practices, and innovative technologies.”

To fulfill our mission, EMG provides an interface with engineering leaders to highlight their careers and insights into these focus areas, as well as provide recommendations on best practices for the ascending professional. In alignment with the overall BSCES goals, EMG events seek to engage all levels of engineers within the Boston area to share experiences, recommendations, and thoughts on the future of the industry.

Recent Events

With the onset of COVID-19, EMG transitioned to an online-format, providing a leadership webinar series to continue to connect industry leaders with our members, as well as providing additional technical information presentations in the absence of in-person meetings. In May 2020, EMG hosted a panel discussion with Ms. Lisa A. Brothers, PE and CEO of Nitsch Engineering, and Mr. Michael Scipione, P.E., CEO of Weston & Sampson. This event focused on the approaches of different sized engineering-consulting firms to the unprecedented changes both in New England and nationally.

Additionally, EMG hosted a lunch-time webinar in September 2020 by Mr. Charles Paskewitz, IT Manager for Tighe & Bond. This webinar highlighted changes in the IT landscape and best-practices for the transition to work-from-home and remote office environments. EMG would like to thank our speakers from this past year for their time and effort in making these events a success.

2021 Events

While our signature event, the Lawler Lecture (held annually in honor of Joseph C. Lawler, CDM Smith’s first president) was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, we look forward to an active year of EMG events in 2021. We plan to hold the 2021 Lawler Lecture digitally, including a presentation from prominent speakers in the engineering community followed by a virtual break-out and networking event. As a group, the EMG benefits from wide latitude to select topics and speakers of interest to our and BSCES membership. We plan to have a dynamic set of speakers for the 2021 Lawler Lecture – stay tuned for future updates on this signature event.

Upcoming Meetings and Member Recognition

Our individual members have high impact in the direction of the group and our programing. Opportunities for future committee leadership are available, and we welcome your support in the upcoming year. We could not achieve our success without our current dedicated leadership committee members and would like to thank:

• Past Chair – Daron Kurkjian, P.E., Weston & Sampson Engineers, Inc.
• BSCES Liaison – Gregory Mirliss, P.E., AECOM
• All of our active members and speakers without whom our programming would not be possible.

Please join us for our future 2021 planning meetings and events. For meeting and event details, please reach out to me at EMG@BSCES.ORG, our leadership committee members, or see BSCES’s event calendar at https://www.bsces.org/events.