SAVANNAH POST. Gordon L. Simmons, P.E. Chief, Engineering Division Savannah District APRIL SPEAKER SPOTLIGHT SAVE THE DATE LINKS TO KNOW

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1 SAVANNAH POST In this issue ISSUE 07 April 2012 Letter from Post Secretary March Meeting Highlights Student Chapter Highlights April Sustaining Member Highlight Save the Date SAVE THE DATE June 13 & 14, 2012 The Annual Program Review Golf Tournament Small Business Showcase more details on 5 LINKS TO KNOW APRIL SPEAKER SPOTLIGHT Gordon L. Simmons, P.E. Chief, Engineering Division Savannah District Gordon L. Simmons became the Chief of Engineering Division for the Savannah District in November Mr. Simmons is responsible for planning, directing, coordination, and execution of the design of the District s military, civil, and Hazardous, Toxic and Radioactive Waste program. Prior to assuming his current position, he was the Deputy Chief of Engineering and Chief of the Technical Specialties Branch in the Savannah District. Mr. Simmons served as the Technical Deputy for the construction of the Pit Disassembly and Conversion Facility at the Department of Energy s Savannah River Site. The Division he led was responsible for technical coordination of construction-related activities on a first of a kind, state-of-the-art nuclear processing facility set to disassemble nuclear warhead pits and convert the resulting material to plutonium oxide for further use in power generation. Prior to his work on the PDCF, Mr. Simmons headed an office of 52 design professionals involved in design of military facilities; construction field assistance; quality assurance; and design or support of civil works Operations and Maintenance projects for the District serving Army and Air Force installations in North and South Carolina and Georgia. He also oversaw work performed nationwide and worldwide in support of family housing, company operations facilities, master planning, sustainable design and other products. Mr. Simmons served as Chief of the Technical Coordination Branch in the Israel Program Office. He was one of three initial Corps personnel, and the highest-ranking U.S. Army Corps of Engineers civilian who moved to Israel to create and manage this new office in support of the Foreign Military Sales construction of three new military bases associated with the Wye River Accord. He joined the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1984 as a structural engineer with the Fort Worth District. Mr. Simmons also served in the construction quality assurance branch at Fort Worth as well as in positions in design, construction and program management in Europe, Japan and the Marshall Islands. He created the CADD Training and Resource Center in Europe to train a continually rotating staff on the basics of the European CADD and GIS systems. Mr. Simmons has received numerous awards and recognition including the Achievement Medal for Civilian Service for a specialized flood impact study and assistance to the Government of Tunisia. He was presented the Pacific Ocean Division Hard Hat of the Year award in 1994, the Corps highest award possible that recognizes excellence in construction. He is the recipient of the Connolly Award from the American Society of Military Engineers for notable contributions to engineering. Mr. Simmons was born and raised in Corpus Christi, Texas. He graduated from Texas A&M University in 1983 with a degree in Civil Engineering and is a registered professional engineer in Texas. He graduated from Central Michigan University in 2006 with a Master of Science degree in Administration. He actively participates in various church endeavors.

2 2012 SAME Savannah Post Officers & Committee Chairs 2 Col Jeffrey Hall President Joel Burke 1 st Vice President Gwen Parker 2 nd Vice President Scott Veenstra Secretary Gavin Carey Treasurer Sally Riker Chairman of the Board of Directors and past president Justin Arnsdorff Program Chair Maureen Hoke Leadership & Mentoring Anna Lucas Education & Training Adam Ragsdale Relationships & Recognition Kelly Hayes Emergency Preparedness & Homeland Security Frank Randon Scholarships & Camps Hugh Giggleman Sustaining Members Hollie Dupes New Members Heather Wishart Fellow Emily Andreas Post Web Page Larry Christopher Newsletter LETTER FROM THE POST SECRETARY Greetings to the Savannah Post Membership! I have served as Secretary for the Savannah Post, Society of American Military Engineers since During that time, we ve seen many exciting things happen at the Savannah Post including: huge growth in both sustaining and individual membership, startup of a Student Chapter at Georgia Tech Savannah, record setting attendance at the Annual Program Review, increased monthly luncheon participation, and growth of our volunteer board to 15 members/leaders to better serve our membership. My responsibilities as Post Secretary include: Recording and publishing monthly Board meeting minutes. Acting as backup for our Post Treasurer (as needed). Assisting the Post President to ensure we always have speaker gifts to provide to our luncheon speakers. In addition to my volunteered service, HDR has been good enough to allow Ms. Audri Baker and Ms. Susan Coyne to manage registration for the Annual Program Review for the past 5+ years. Look for their friendly faces again June 13 th and 14 th. See you all April 16 th at our next monthly luncheon. Scott Veenstra, Secretary, SAME Savannah Post New Rule issued January 2012 that is effects Woman-Owned Small Business On January 12, 2012, the SBA issued interim final rules amending the acquisition thresholds under the Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Program to reflect corresponding FAR adjustments. Adjustments include an increase in the maximum contract amount thresholds from $5M (construction) and $3M (all others) to $6.5M and $4M, respectively. (77 Fed. Reg. 1,857, 1/12/2012.) 2012 Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security We need members to notify us if they are planning to take or have competed training in the past 3 years for IS-100.a (ICS), IS-200.a (ICS) and/ or IS-700.a (ICS 700). Please contact Kelly Hayes at or her at KHayes@sepiengineering.com if this applies to you. Assistant Treasurer Needed for Board The SAME Savannah Post Board is looking to fill the assistant treasurer position. This person must be located locally within the Savannah region, and if you are interested, please contact Sally Riker at sally.riker@loweengineers.com or

3 MARCH MEETING HIGHLIGHTS Below, Paul Tucker with Volkert listens to the March presentation Gwen Parker with AECOM runs the March SAME Board Meeting March Speaker James Gatling starts his presentation $5,000 donation to the SAME Education & Mentoring Fund from the Atkins Foundation SAME STUDENT POST MEMBERS Kristen King, one of our Georgia Tech SAME Student Post leaders, attended the SAME post leaders workshop in San Diego, CA. The group visited North Island the Naval Air Base on the north end of the Coronado Peninsula on San Diego Bay. 3

4 SUSTAINING MEMBER BRIEFINGS 2012 For 2012, the Savannah Post SAME is offering Sustaining Member firms the opportunity to submit an article on their company for the monthly newsletter, and to have a two-minute briefing to discuss their firm at the monthly SAME meeting. Each firm will be asked to bring a gift to raffle. A list of all sustaining members is below with each member s assigned month. We ask that all articles be forwarded to Larry Christopher at lchristopher@brasfieldgorrie.com. Please contact Hugh Giggleman at hgiggleman@cemsengineering.com for more information. JANUARY AECOM Alliant Corporation AMEC American Structurepoint Applied Engineering Solutions, Inc. Applied Software ARCADIS Atkins Barge Waggoner Sumner and Cannon Inc. Bechtel-S Corporation Bhate Environmental Assoc. Inc. Brasfield & Gorrie General Contractors Bristol Alliance of Companies FEBRUARY Brown & Caldwell BRPH Companies Inc. Building & Earth Sciences Inc. Burns & McDonnell CAPE Cardno TBE Carolinas Concrete Masonry Association Carothers Construction, Inc. Castle Engineering, LLC CDA Architects CDM Smith CEMS Engineering Inc. CH2MHILL Clark Nexsen MARCH Cogdell & Mendrala Architects, P.C. Collins Engineers Inc. Columbia Engineering & Services, Inc. Cromwell Architects Engineers Crowder Construction Company CTI and Associates, Inc. Davis & Floyd, Inc. Dewberry Dulohery, Weeks & Gagliano Inc. EA Engineering, Science & Technology, Inc. Eaton corporation ECC Edifice APRIL Elkins Constructors, Inc. Engineering Strategies, Inc. Environmental Services, Inc. Florence & Hutcheson, Inc. GEL Geophysics, LLC Golder Associates, Inc. Goodwyn Mills & Cawood, Inc. Government Services Integrated Process Team LLC Greenhorne & O Mara Guidon Design, Inc. Harvard Jolly Architecture Hatch Mott MacDonald HDR MAY JETC Conference JUNE Annual Program Review JULY HNTB Howard W. Pence, Inc. IKHANA, LLC. J2 Engineering, Inc. Jacobs KBE Building Corporation KBR Government & Infrastructure Knight Architects, Inc. LBYD, Inc. Leetex Construction, LLC. Leo A Daly LG2 Environmental Solutions, Inc. AUGUST Lindbergh & Associates, LLC Lowe Engineers LS3P Associates Ltd. Mashburn Construction Company Mason & Hanger McDonough Bolyard Peck, Inc. Merrick & Company Micah Group Environmental Contractors, Inc. Michael Baker Corporation Moffatt & Nichol MRI Architectural Group, Inc. MWH SEPTEMBER North Wind Inc. O Brien & Gere Parsons Parsons Brinckerhoff Persaud Companies Inc. Pinnicle Construction & Development Group, Inc. Pond & Company Port City Design Group, LLC Prime Engineering Inc. Ramey Kemp & Associates R.C. Construction Co., Inc. R2T Reeves Construction Company OCTOBER Reynolds, Smith & Hills, Inc. Rosser International Q Solutions, Inc. S&ME, Inc. Science Applications International Corp. Sherlock, Smith & Adams Siemens Industries Inc Small Business Group, Inc. (DBA SBG-EEG) Southern Energy Management Spatial Engineering Inc. SpecPro Environmental Services LLC Stanley Consultants Inc. Stantec Inc. NOVEMBER STOA Architects Suffolk Construction Company, Inc. Sundt Construction, Inc. Teng & Associates, Inc. TerranearPMC, LLC Tetra Tech, Inc. The Angus Corporation The Louis Berger Group Inc. The Sack Co. & SCM Inc. The Shaw Group Inc. The Whiting Turner Contracting Company Thomas & Hutton Engineering Co. Thompson Engineering Inc. DECEMBER Tidewater Environmental Services, Inc. Toland & Mizell Architects, Inc. Toltest, Inc. Trans Systems TRC United Consulting Group, Ltd. URS Corporation Volkert, Inc. Walbridge Weston Solutions, Inc. W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Company WK Dickson & Co., Inc. Wolverton & Associates, Inc. Woolpert, Inc. 4

5 SAVANNAH POST SUSTAINING MEMBER HIGHLIGHT APRIL 2012 Headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, HDR was founded in 1917 as the Henningson Engineering Company. The employeeowned company pioneered water and sewer systems for new cities and towns throughout the Midwest, helping them emerge from frontier status. Today, HDR is an architecture, engineering and consulting firm with more than 7,800 professionals in 185 locations worldwide. All of them are committed to helping clients manage complex projects and make sound decisions. HDR is consistently ranked among the top architecture and engineering firms by leading industry publications including Engineering News-Record, Modern Healthcare, Environmental Business Journal, Interiors, and Building Design and Construction. For example, Modern Healthcare has ranked HDR in the top four healthcare design firms every year since 1978, and ENR has ranked HDR among the top 50 design firms since HDR has a leading role in landmark projects ranging from the Hoover Dam Bypass to design upgrades for the Pentagon and key projects in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, the world s largest ecosystem restoration effort. Thousands of smaller projects across the nation are not as instantly recognizable, yet they improve the quality of life for residents of the communities where they take place. While HDR s services have evolved to manage increasingly complex projects ranging from nanotechnology to infrastructure security, one thing that hasn t changed is commitment to the values upon which HDR was founded. These values include respect, integrity, empowerment, innovation, teamwork and responsibility. HDR s mission is to be a superior professional firm known for vision, value and service to our clients, our communities and employees. sveenstra@hdrinc.com (704) We want your input If you have an article or announcement you want to include in future issues of the newsletter, please submit them by the end of the previous month to Larry Christopher with Brasfield & Gorrie General Contractors at lchristopher@brasfieldgorrie.com