A Conversation with ACEC Board Chair Robin Greenleaf

Welcome to another edition of Engineering Influence, a podcast from the American Council of engineering companies. And today we are very pleased to be joined by our board chair, Robin Greenleaf and full disclosure – we actually did this before and we had a technical issue, right when Robin was elevated to chair, we had a podcast scheduled and then the file for some reason in the cloud, the gremlins in the system never actually transferred the file. So, we’re doing it again, but now we have a little bit more time has passed and Robin has been engaged in a number of things. I mean, summer ExCom has happened. We’ve had a number of things occur, so it’s going to be great to get her kind of impressions and thoughts about where, where things stand with ACEC and her outlook as chair. So Robin, thank you very much for joining the program once more.

Greenleaf :

Jeff, I’m happy to be here and you’re right. I think that I went from having what was a part-time job to a more than full-time job. So happy to have a chance to talk about it.

Host:

Yeah. You have really hit the ground running. And you’ve been traveling – you’ve been in Washington, DC multiple times for different events, both at the townhouse and then the office, of course we have the summer ExCom at Mackinac Island. I think I’m pronouncing that correctly. I’m not sure, but in Michigan, sorry for those Michiganders if I did pronounce that incorrectly, but yet the summer ended up ExCom in person. I really, I, you know, from, we spoke early when you just took the office and, and now we’re at the beginning of August, where are things right now with ACEC as you see them, how has it changed over that time?

Greenleaf :

So I think that at this point we have the two biggest issues that we were facing that were on the radar screen, but had not really gotten started to the degree I’m seeing now is infrastructure and the PPP FAR credit issue, and both are in full-blown things are happening minute to minute. It’s very exciting that, you know, the House got their bill done. And then the Senate went and put a bipartisan bill together, which is, is I think, going to happen. And I’m very interested in seeing what happens to the Senate bill when it gets back to the House. There’s a lot of I think there’s still a ways to go there, but it looks like we may have a trillion dollar infrastructure bill in the short term, which would be fantastic for our industry. And I think that the the issue with the PPP FAR credit clause has gone from getting traction in the House to at this point. What I’m hearing is that we are very close to having a bipartisan group of senators who are willing to put an amendment in the manager’s amendment for a full waiver on the issue, which would be huge for so many of our members. So, you know, we’ll know more in the coming days and see what happens when it goes back to the House.

Host:

It really is amazing. We’ve been talking about this for months. This has been such a long process and when it finally picks up speed, as we saw last week with the cloture vote, and now with a 20 little over 2000 page two, I think 2,207 page bipartisan bill finally introduced yesterday on Sunday, we’re recording this on Monday the 2nd. And then the expectation that the Senate could move the past as soon as Thursday if they’re able to get through some of the other barriers that they have on amendment debate, and then getting it over to the House and potentially having something by the late September, let’s say mid, mid to late September wants the House comes back at the end of their August recess to get something on the president’s desk and get it signed into law. It’s amazing how, how fast things have picked up.

Greenleaf :

There’s still things that we need to keep our eye on. I think that hearing that the Speaker of the House is wanting to tie the reconciliation bill to getting this through. You know, there’s still some hurdles to clear, but yeah, I think in terms of our own issues and, and being so close to having a great resolution to a big issue, probably one of the bigger issues I’ve seen since I’ve been active with ACEC you know, I’m just keeping fingers and toes crossed that we get there.

Host:

Absolutely. And I, this is a great time for our members that are listening, that, you know, the Senate is going to be doing their work this week and the House is already out in recess, but in no way, does that mean the process is going to stop. Negotiations are going to continue. They’re going to ramp up if anything, and it’s the perfect time with those members back in their districts to meet with them and educate them on why this bill is so important, not only to your business, but also to the economy as a whole, and then to show them as much as you possibly can, the work that you do and to crystallize in their mind. So when they come back to Washington at the end of the recess, that they have one thought in their mind, which is, this is a bill that has to pass because those complications, as you mentioned, the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill that Speaker Pelosi and the House Progressives are, are very firm on addressing first, before they talk touch infrastructure is something which is a, is, is a slight complicating factor instead of just dealing with one bill.

Host:

So this is a great time to educate members and that’s something our grassroots does a great job of, and it’s just continue that and keep that pressure on.

Greenleaf :

Yeah, I agree.

Host:

So what else has kind of changed when we talked early on in the spring? Of course we had a couple of things that were, were key items that you were working on first of course, is the three-year budget cycle. And that was addressed during, during, you know, the, the board meeting. It was addressed again during ExCom meeting, you know, that as well as our initiatives related to the Strategic Plan, especially on diversity and inclusion and add changing the name of the committee so that now it includes the word belonging and, and opening that committee up to as many people who can join. So where, where do things kind of stand right there? And how is that, where is that in the list of priorities for you today?

Greenleaf :

Well, sure. So let me address the budget issue first, because that’s ongoing. We’ve had a couple of meetings with the budget committee. I just had a financial oversight meeting just prior to starting the podcast. And we have another budget committee meeting on August 9th and staff has done a great job putting together the preliminary numbers for what the next three years looks like. And they look okay, you know, kind of pleased that it looks like we’re going to be able to put together a good stable, predictable budget. There are still things that need to be fine tuned. And once we get this all together, Matt Hirst, our treasurer will present it at the October meeting. And then we’ll start a series of town hall type meetings with our national directors and the executive directors to just make sure that everybody understands what goes into the budget process.

Greenleaf :

If they have questions about things that they see would want to make sure that we’re very transparent about just giving good information so that, that every single number in that budget is defendable. And and then for the DEI and belonging committee, they they’re up and running. And you know, Lisa Brothers is doing a great job pulling that committee together and moving ahead on their goals. So I think that it’s something it’s an open committee, anyone can join, and it’s a great way to, to participate in moving our organization towards being diverse and inclusive. And, and you know, for me, the word that really resonates is belonging, because that is if I was going to describe kind of why I’ve stayed in the organization for as many years as I have, it would be because of the sense of belonging I experience when I’m with fellow members.

Greenleaf :

The planning cabinet is hard at work on developing the metrics for the strategic plan. And we have a meeting in August that I’m thinking is still going to be an in-person meeting to go through each of the subcommittees. You know, they all, they went through each of the five pieces of the strategic plan, and there’s a group working on each one on what, what are the metrics for success to be able to know that the plan is working as it should. And we’ll probably take some of the research that comes out of that and pull it back to the budget and make sure that, that the entire strategic plan is financially supported, where it should be.

Host:

Yeah, that’s something which I know that our team is working on as well, assisting with that metric building process, which is extremely important that you need to know what you’re measuring, so you can actually get to success. And it’s interesting going through that process of finding out exactly, you know, what, what, what can we measure, where, where do we need to build up our capabilities for measurement? You know, what are our targets for actually, you know, being able to check the box on some of these items, but to that point, I mean, throughout COVID throughout the pandemic of last year into, into, of course this year, implementing against that strategic plan has been still our, our focus here. It’s been making sure that we’re always pushing that ball forward. So it’ll be interesting to see what that meeting this month, you know results in as far as moving forward.

Greenleaf :

Yeah. I’m looking forward to it.

Host:

Now you are also taking this message to our members far and wide. You have been traveling a lot over the past couple of weeks and you have more scheduled. I know that most, I guess, most immediate you have the Summer Coalitions meeting, which is a Nashville in-person you’re as a former coalitions leader, yourself, someone who has some very some very personal knowledge of the coalitions and its importance to ACEC, what are you hoping to, to tell them what are you hoping to to encourage them about when it comes to ACEC Coalitions?

Greenleaf :

So I was one of a few people back, and this was a long time ago. I, I need to look up and see when we got CAMEE up and running. And so my experience with, with the CAMEE Coalition, which is Coalition of American Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, is that there was a practice group that we always got together as a committee at the fall conferences. And there became this moment where it just coalesced into being something more. And we realized that if we had a more formal group with an executive committee and you know, our real mission that we could start moving our practice group into just greater value within the association. And I think that that’s what all of the coalitions bring at this point. It’s, it’s something more than a committee it’s why we feel that it’s okay to be charged a small amount of dues to be a member, because there are products that are being developed. And they’re very specific to each of the disciplines, whether it’s contracts or kind of client evaluation tools, or self evaluation tools, they’re all really, really helpful. And the message I want to deliver at the coalitions meeting next week is that yeah, I think ACEC across the board at the national level has recognized the value of the coalitions and really wants to support the work of all of them.

Host:

Yeah, absolutely. And I think that’s evidenced by our new Coalitions Director, Michelle Kroger. She came on, she is working on on an initiative for new members coming in of a, a year of free coalition membership, which is a great member benefit. Given the fact that, you know, number one is it’s not a significant amount of, of, of investment money-wise to join a coalition, but the benefits you get from coalition membership are just so, you know, so outweigh whatever you spend to actually be part of it. As well as a new look we have kind of a new coalition logo and look, that’s going along with them. We’re trying to get a brand going that kind of establishes coalitions as its own entity within the ACEC family. And to get a little bit more of a, of a highlight there. So that’s going to be very interesting again, it’s great the fact that we actually meet in person back in Nashville and in next week really next week,

Greenleaf :

I think it’s a week from today from today. I have to think I’m thinking back through where I’ve been going really….

Host:

Recap for the audience where you’ve been so far, because again, you know, with all these travel issues going around airlines like American, just canceling every, every other flight, it seems you’ve been a trooper you’ve been, you’ve been really hitting the road. We’re where have you been and what do you have coming up?

Greenleaf :

So I’ve already been to, I’m going to start with the townhouse. If I can put in a plug for the townhouse, then, then I’ll get into the, the emo meetings. The townhouse is an incredible resource and having been there for at least half a dozen meetings with, with congresspeople at this point where you’re in a small group setting, they walk in, they look around, they go, wow, this is great. And then they get to work with Dave Bender to schedule future meetings of their own, but you get an hour or sometimes more sitting in a very small group of people being able to talk about ACEC issues and agenda and how can they help us and how can we help them? And the conversations are just incredibly productive. And I think before I went down to the deep south conference, I was in Washington Monday through Wednesday of that week and had an opportunity to meet with Seth Moulton, who’s a Congressmen from Massachusetts and on the T&I committee and hearing about you know, what, what he’s hoping that this infrastructure bill will accomplish.

Greenleaf :

And we had a very, very small group of us meeting with Jim McGovern Congressman from Massachusetts as well. Who’s Chair of the Rules Committee. And he may play a really key role in our PPP issue when it goes back to the house. So really good to spend some time with him. The next step on the tour was the Deep South Conference, and it was great to attend their Executive Committee meeting and hear what the issues are in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi Tennessee, Florida. And then I had the honor of doing their officer installation at lunch on the last day, which is a lot of fun. And it’s a real pleasure. I just love doing that. And then I was home for a couple of days. Then I just got back from the ACEC North Carolina conference and know it’s another great group of people.

Greenleaf :

And it’s, it’s wonderful to see people in person. It’s great to be part of round tables and realize that that no matter where I go, I hear a lot of the same issues and people are really, I won’t say struggling. That’s not the right word, but front and center is the return to work issue for so many of our members and, and across the country, it’s a lot of the same experiences. Let’s see. Tomorrow. I am flying to Palm beach for the ACEC Florida conference. And then next week I’ll be in Nashville for the Coalitions meeting and then off to Anchorage, Alaska to attend the ACEC Life Health Trust meeting, and then back for a couple of days, and then off to DPC and then planning cabinet. Then I’m taking a break.

Host:

That is, that is a schedule. So never, never wonder out there, if you’re listening, what does the ACEC board chair do? Here’s a good example of it. They go everywhere and they talk to everyone in the end, they learn firsthand, you know, what our member firms were experiencing the troubles that were or opportunities that they see ahead of them. And then working with the staff here to, to make sure they’re addressed. I mean, this is, this is the, the, the, this is what you need the boots on the ground kind of conversations to really keep the Federation connected.

Greenleaf :

It’s, it’s really interesting. And one of the things I learned in North Carolina, which is different than my experience in my home state of Massachusetts, is that when the PPP loan program got put into place when they, when treasury made it tax deductible on the federal side, there’s still a lot of states that didn’t do similar legislation to make it tax deductible on the state side, Massachusetts, it was done here very quickly and that’s great, but in North Carolina, that piece of legislation is stalled. So yeah, it’s just great to be able to hear what the issues are. And yeah, I have a lot of empathy for, for the different experiences I’m hearing about,

Host:

You know, given what you’ve seen so far, what you’ve experienced, you know, when you were chair-elect during the height of the pandemic, really and you know, where we sit right now, you know, what’s your overall feeling about where things are going and where’s ACEC is going you know, what’s your, what’s your gut take confidence level of, of you know, right track, you know, what do you think?

Greenleaf :

I think ACEC is very much on the right track. I think that I’m hearing by and large, most firms are busy and have, have reasonable backlog. And their expectation is that 2021 is going to be a good year. I think there’s still a lot of hesitancy on the return to work issue that I’ve already mentioned. I think that the resurgence of COVID pretty much across the country is giving people pause. And yet I’m hearing a lot of confidence that you know, if you’ve been vaccinated that you can still go travel, go visit people and, you know, continue to hold in-person meetings with, with some degree of caution. And so, yeah, and I’ll put in a plug for our October meeting. I am not hearing, you know, I think, I think that you know, one thing that I saw recently is the DPC meeting is coming up and it will be an in-person meeting. I think that, that there is some caution that, you know, it’s probably better to be vaccinated, to go attend in person, to keep everybody as healthy as possible. And, you know, and so when we do something like that for the October conference, I don’t know, I think that’s a pretty preliminary conversation, but probably worth. We’re thinking about, so, and I’m not hearing any, any hesitance about not holding the conference

Host:

And we’ve been very – Mike and his team, the meetings team has been very clear with the hotel, the host hotel, the Marriott, to make sure that, you know, their health and safety standards are top-notch that, you know, the safety and the health of our guests and our attendees at the event is top of mind for us. And that’s why we have it. We have a post of what Marriott’s doing up on the fall conference page. It’s something that we’re continually monitoring. So, but I think you’re absolutely right. You know, the numbers that we’ve seen when we’ve done some surveys, that the desire is there to come back and meet in person. And, you know, we’re, we’re working to put together a program that’s going to make it worth your time. And I think that it’s going to be great to get everyone together again, for all the great stuff that happens in fall. And, and to really, I think we learned a lot during the virtual events, that’s actually gonna benefit going back in person and hosting the event in person. It’s kind of a strange thing where having to move everything to a virtual environment kind of made us rethink some things. And, and, and, and I think it’s going to translate back in person to, to an, even better to an even better event. So registration’s open, I’ll make a plug registration is open – acec.org.

Greenleaf :

You know, when you go to a conference and the two that have already been to the thing that is so different about in-person is, you know, I might hear somebody say something and I’m able to go walk up to them afterwards and say, hey, you mentioned this you know, about what you’re doing with your office in your return to work strategy. And this is what I’m thinking about. And then you end up having a drink at the bar, just continue the conversation. You can’t do that in a zoom setting. And those are the invaluable conversations.

Host:

Yeah, absolutely. Now, without question. So we’re, we’re hoping that everyone takes advantage of that both, you know, attendees, exhibitors alike. And and again, you know, registration is open up on acec.org. We invite you to go up and take a look and we’re adding stuff to the schedule every week. And and we hope to see you there October. What else is going on? What do I guess, you know, I want to be respectful of your time. What other things would you like to make sure our audience knows, you know about what you’re working on and what you’re seeing ahead of us.

Greenleaf :

So I think one of the things that I’m becoming very aware of is there’s been a lot of discussion about our research Institute. And when I was at the the deep south conference in their executive committee meeting, Daphne Bryant was there with us. She made a great presentation about the Institute and, and it’s something that even, I didn’t have a full enough appreciation for just what it brings to us as an organization. And one of the things that that came up was that through the Institute, we have the ability to really stay out in front of the organization with issues that they may not be on our radar screen yet, or they may just beginning to be. And so we’ve got a group of people that can go and find the experts to conduct really forward-thinking research for us. And what it does for us as an association is just adds this extra bandwidth to what we do. And I think that, that I, that’s the way I think of the Institute at that at this point, it’s not even frosting on the cake. It’s just having this ability to look ahead. And, and then what we do is use that research to help prepare our members for what may be coming that we haven’t really thought through yet.

Host:

No, absolutely. I think the the research they did initially on the economic modeling, the profiling and the contribution report has been extremely helpful. We were able to take that and apply that to the infrastructure bill. So as you notice, everything that we put out, even on social media, and we encourage everyone who is meeting with Members of Congress to do the same is to talk about that economic benefit, because now we have the numbers to prove it. We can say that the bipartisan bill would add 82,000 new jobs in our sector of the economy. However, thanks to the work of the ACEC Research Institute, we know that for every new engineering job created, two more are added in roles that support or benefit from engineering.  That means a total of 246,000 new jobs will be added to the economy over six years. Now we can talk about GDP contribution. We can talk about the addition of $62 billion in A/E industry wages, actual numbers that can serve as the foundation for any argument we make on the benefits of investing in engineering. And then of course the research that they have upcoming that they’re going to be there, there, there are a number of pieces of research that are in development right now, which we, we do feel that are going to be very beneficial to our members from the Institute.

Greenleaf :

It’s all great stuff.

Host:

And yeah, so there was a lot happening. This is an exciting time to be chair, I hope. And, and you’re making the most out of it. So that’s, that’s the important thing and, and, you know safe travels on your, on your trips ahead. It’s going to be a busy time. You’re going to pretty much crisscross the lower 48, and then you’re going to head over to Alaska for the life health trust meetings. So that’s, that’s something that’s something in itself. But we do appreciate you taking the time today, Robin, thank you very much for joining us.

Greenleaf :

I’m happy to be here, Jeff, thank you for the opportunity.

Host:

Anytime. And again, this has been another episode of Engineering Influence podcast from the American Council of Engineering Companies. We’ll see you next time.