President Update

May 2023 | Jeff Blue, P.E.

Well, we made it through the 2020 detoured NACE Conference that was a huge success in 2023. What a great conference and the weather cooperated as well. The Alabama folks deserve a huge round of applause for all their efforts to make NACE 2023 a memorable event. 

The technical programs were very informative, the vendor show was a rousing success and the evening tailgate proved to be the perfect ending to a tremendously successful day. There was singing and dancing to the tunes cranked out by the band. The food was hot, and the beverages were cold. Although somehow, they didn’t get my alma mater fight song in the light show. Go ILLINI!                                                               

At the banquet on Wednesday, all the new officers were sworn in by Duane Blanck, 1998 NACE President, after he delighted the crowd with some good humor. Mr. Champion was officially inducted into the NFL as the Commissioner of Champions Crusaders. The Engineers of the Year, Project Manager of the Year and The Dave P. Brand Safety Award were awarded.

You can find all the new officers and Board of Directors listed on the NACE website. We are also trying to get all past NACE award winners posted on our website as well. The website is still a work in process, but with the help of new additions to NACE Staff Jen Voshell, we are getting into the 23rd century and hope to provide a more interactive website experience for our members. If anyone is still interested in joining a committee, there will soon be a more robust committee section to the website, including the contact information for our committee chairs, who you can contact to get on their committee roster. In the meantime, you can always contact me at jblue@co.champaign.il.us and I will forward your request to the committee chair.

Remember to get it into your budgets and put it on your calendar to attend NACE 2024 in Palm Spring, CA on April 15-18, 2024. The conference will be Monday through Thursday instead of our traditional Sunday through Wednesday format in 2024 since they are holding the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on the weekend before and the weekend after our conference in Palm Springs.

I look forward to this year as your president and hope to see many of you in my travels as we advocate for a stronger “Team NACE” in 2023.