Dear friends and members of SAME,
 
Recently I had the opportunity to travel to Salt Lake City, Utah to attend the 2009 Joint Engineering Training Conference and Expo or JTEC. It was an impressive event with vendor displays, technical sessions, and distinguished speakers. For me, however, the most meaningful portion of the program was the Post Awards Breakfast. During this breakfast individual posts were recognized for their 2008 accomplishments in the form of streamers. I'm thrilled to report that the Greater Kansas City Post was recognized as a Distinguished Post and awarded the Outreach & Communication, Education & Training, Relationships & Recognition, and Readiness & Homeland Security streamers with Distinction. Congratulations! It feels great to be part of such a winning team! Congratulations to Jackie Hacker of The Shaw Group for winning the Small Business Award. The award was presented by Alvin Brown, small business council awards of SAME and General Van Antwerp.

                                              

• Expand your professional development and personal growth by participating in diverse training and educational opportunities at discounted rates
• Earn continuing education credits to maintain your professional licenses
• Share your experience and enthusiasm with other engineers in the community
• Rebuild excitement in engineering among America's youth through outreach
• Gain direct access and interact on a personal level with the leadership of all uniformed services; gain insight into the future of the uniformed services' engineering initiatives
• Gain direct access to engineering and construction industry leaders in the community and interact on a personal level with CEOs and presidents of engineering and construction firms
• Learn and discuss new technologies and lessons learned with industry front runners
• Become part of a network of individuals with like interests and common threads which become part of your personal and professional family

Perhaps no one can attest to these values and benefits better than Mr. Tim Fobes of HDR and Mr. Marc Nicolas of HNTB. As Post Treasurer and Young Member Committee Chair and a director respectively, Tim and Marc have served the Post with vigor and honor. It has been a personal privilege getting to know them and witnessing their incredible talents. The Post will miss their dedicated service, and owes them a great debt of gratitude as they prepare to step down from their positions. Good luck Tim and Marc, and we very much look forward to your continued involvement as members.
 
On that note, the Post is recruiting to fill several key vacancies such as Programs Committee Chair, Young Members Committee Chair, Fundraising Committee Chair, UMKC Student Chapter Committe Chair, and Auditing Committee Chair. These are rewarding positions that will enable you to help shape ongoing and future Post initiatives. If you are interested in volunteering to fill one of these critical vacancies, please contact the Post Secretary, Ms. Ann Ewy, to obtain more information. I welcome your interest, and am confident you will find it personally and professionally rewarding.
 
Thank you, and Build Strong!
 
Sincerely,
 
Colonel Roger A. Wilson, Jr.
President

Registrations for sponsorships and vendor booths are available now, so feel free to sign up for an opportunity to promote your firm. Attendance registration is now open. Please visit the Tulsa Post Link to register or for more information.

• Chief of Engineers, District Commander Panel & USPFOs
• Civil Works
• Military Works, Installations, LEED, BIM, Standardization
• Professional Development
• Technical Competencies
• Blues Band Entertainment
• Golf Tournament at Cherokee Hill

The focus of this year's dinner was appreciation of our sustaining and individual members for all the support they give to make us a successful post for SAME. The theme was Gambling Halls of the Old West and many folks dressed up in western apparel. Over 100 members and guests enjoyed an evening of eating, drinking and gambling at the Cascadia Hall of the Incredabowl Recreation Center in Overland Park, Kansas. Thirty of our Sustaining Members sponsored the event with donations and prizes to contribute to the high quality and fun times.
 
A power point presentation was presented during the evening displaying the Post's accomplishments from the previous year. Additional pictures of the evening can be found on the Post's website. The event raised $11,000 to support the Greater Kansas City Post's mission of education and mentoring to develop future design and construction professionals to support our country's military mission. I would like to thank the VP Dinner Planning Committee for their dedication, hard work and their exemplary skills in making this a fun process and enjoyable night.

Leadership Committee: Tom Poer, Tim Fobes, Larry Myers and Mark Loes

The Greater Kansas City Post again met all the criteria to become a Distinguished Post of SAME in 2008 for the third year in a row with the Top Post Designation being awarded to the Northern Virginia Post. The requirements for Distinguished Post are to achieve the four streamers with Distinction and meet the membership growth requirements. A streamer with Distinction fulfills all program elements in the submittal not just the required ones. The write up for the submittal to national demands a great deal of effort and is a year long commitment for the committees. The 2008 team included:
 
Readiness and Homeland Security - Don Curtis
Education and Training - Ann Ewy
Relationships and Recognition - Tom Poer
Outreach and communication - Ted Hartsig
Membership - Doug Dreiling, John Yacos, and Ron McCutcheon
 
Don Curtis, Regional Vice President of the Missouri River Region, presented the Distinguished Post Award to current Post President COL Roger Wilson at the Awards Breakfast during the National Joint Engineers Training Conference in Salt Lake City in May, 2009. Congratulations to Past President, Tom Poer for assembling a great team and leading the Post to this great honor.

June: Army Engineering & Training in the Iraq & Afghanistan Theater of Operations

Major Jim Flowers & Major Frank Hopkins from the Command General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth presented a briefing on their experiences while on assignment to units stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan at the June SAME Luncheon. 

The Greater Kansas City Post would like to welcome the following Board and Committe Members:

Treasurer - Kent Dvorak, Terracon                                                        

                                                           01/31/09          05-31-09          Change
 

Endowment Balance Summary   $187,852.61       $232,092.22    $44,239.61
Operations Account Balance       $26,253.99           $9,313.71  $(16,940.28)