September 2024 SEAOSD President's Report

Hello. As we begin a new year with SEAOSD I am honored and humbled to serve our great organization as the next president. I hope to follow in the footsteps of some of the best engineers in our community and serve you over the coming year. I would like to welcome our newest board members Jeremy Callister (Vice President), Laith Quntar (2024-2026 Treasurer) and 2024-2026 Directors Brooke Tracy and Wayne Brown to the board who will be serving with returning members Harshda Prasad (Past President) and Directors David Gonzalez and Gaetano Bologna. As a volunteer organization it takes a lot of people to make this association function, and I am grateful to have a dedicated Board and Committee Chairs to keep us running. I write this after returning from the SEAOC Convention in Portland. I am inspired about the talent and passion that our fellow engineers have here in California. The wide range of technical presentations were amazing, especially all the talks on functional recovery, make me realize how much we are on the cutting edge of our profession. Visiting all of the exhibitors at the Trade Show and all they have to offer to make our job as engineers easier and more efficient is time well spent. Not to mention the great social events. Seeing Eric Lehmkuhl be inducted into the College of Fellows and the ever-popular CSI party were highlights (special thanks to Ashraf and CSI for all their support). Concluding with the closing plenary secession and Jeopardy style game show showing our engineering leaders competing and educating us on the structural engineering profession. Having taken part in convention planning for many years I know what it takes to put on the event, and I extend my praises to this year’s committee. Next year the convention is being held at the Lowes Coronado here in San Diego. Planning by our local San Diego committee is well underway and I am looking forward to what great things they will have for us. Hopefully I will see you all there next time. In the meantime, October’s Committee Night meeting is a great way to see what is happening locally and how to get involved. I hope to see you all soon at one of our local meetings or events.

Stephen Kerr

SEAOSD President 2024-2025