Message from the President
With the start of the New Year, the National Board would like to wish each of you joy and prosperity. At our recent National Board Meeting, we discussed presenting our board minutes in an article form rather than a straight dry recitation. We hope this will keep you informed and updated on issues from the National Board. From the October's National Board Meeting, the Strategic Plan that was develop during the spring/summer was approved. The Board feels that this will allow us to focus our attention and efforts in bettering ASHE. As a grass roots and volunteer organization, time is a precious commodity.

With great interest, Shirley Stuttler was able to track down the first SCANNER that had been published. One of the articles from the Membership Committee was on retaining membership of the existing section and growing our membership through new sections. How times have changed. Our Membership Committee under the leadership of Richard Prentice is tasked with improving membership services. Dick has worked diligently in getting ASHE National accredited as a Certified IACET provider. This means that once trained, each section will be able to offer IACET CEU's at their seminars, programs or conferences. IACET CEU's are nationally recognized and should offer more portability of the CEU's from state to state. A training session will be held at the National Conference in June. Those sections needing training prior to this should contact Dick to arrange the training.

While the entertainment theme for the annual banquet of the past National Conference was New York / New York, we are encouraged by the work being done by Al Algazi in Region 6 to establish a section in New York City. ASHE has been recognized by the New York DOT as an organization that it would allow its employees to participate in. This is a big step to major expansion of our organization. The New Sections Committee led by Ron Purvis is continuing to work towards establishing sections in Indianapolis, Indiana; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Charleston, WVA and Columbia, South Carolina. It takes hard work to get the Section started. The tough economy makes it even harder. Your help is always needed. If you know someone who could benefit from ASHE in these cities, please pass their names along.

The Public Relations Committee chaired by Steve Tidwell is tasked with improving ASHE image on a national level. His committee is beginning to work on a marketing plan and budget to reach this goal. The Nominations Committee met and recommended the following slate of officers and board members for the 2004-2005 National Board:

President - Rodney Pello, P.E.
First Vice President - Ronald L. Purvis, P.E.
Second Vice President - Richard S. Prentice
Secretary - Terence D. Conner, P.E.
Treasurer - Robert E. Yeager, P.L.S.
Past President - David W. Jones, P.E.
Region 1 Director - Robert A. Hochevar, P.E.
Region 2 Director - Jean Zarger

Region 3 Director - Perry M. Schweiss
Region 4 Director - Andrew W. Bitner, P.E., P.L.S.
Region 5 Director - Andrew S. Stasek, Jr.
Region 6 Director - Vacant as of 01\25\04
Region 7 Director - Richard D. Clifton, P.E.
Region 8 Director - Thomas P. Ziegler, P.E.
Region 9 Director - Steven J. Tidwell, P.E.

This slate of officers and Board members were been approved.

All of the Sections President's and Secretary's should have received the National Directory CD. As stated in the transmittal letter, this directory is for the use of our membership. Each section should review and forward all discrepancies to Terry Conner. While address changes and new members will always take time to incorporate, the National Board hopes that this directory is a useable service to the membership. I want to thank all of you for your time and effort that you put into ASHE. If you find what I find, the effort is returned five to ten fold in friendship, knowledge gained and the betterment of our industry.