Welcome back to Fall. It’s September, and most ASPE Chapters are off summer break and have started holding monthly meetings. At the Society level, the Board of Directors and Staff had no break. We have stayed on task, particularly since this is a Convention year. The Board conducted our September call last week and got a rundown of all-things-Convention from Director of Meetings, Cliff Reis. The good news is that the pieces are all falling in place for the 2024 Convention & Expo in Columbus, Ohio. We’ll get to some pertinent information about the Convention & Expo shortly. However, the city of Columbus does trigger a few memories that I’d like to share first.
It All Comes Back to Columbus
Rewind the clock a bit (okay, rewind the clock a lot) back to August 1979. I had been kicking around in the College of Engineering at THE Ohio State University for a while. There were stretches of taking classes when I was able to make tuition and stretches when I could not. By then, a couple of life events were in the mix. That one perfect person had entered my life, and Terry and I were now married. We welcomed our first daughter, Katy, in May of 1979. It’s life events like those that help us understand when it’s time to step up to the plate.
I can’t take full credit for that realization. Terry did come up with the idea to canvas the local engineering community to see who might be hiring. I mustered up all of my confidence and walked into the office of Van Straten Engineering. It was a small MEP group. The owner, Gerrit Van Straten, listened graciously and patiently to me as I proclaimed that my experience in engineering school might qualify me as a draftsperson. To shorten the story, I’ll skip the details of my drafting demo. Let’s just say that Van Straten Engineering must have been desperate for drafting help. Something made Gerrit Van Straten decide to take a chance on me. Here’s the best part: I was going to get to do something I loved doing and get paid to do it. I was ecstatic when I heard that I’d be doing that for $3/hour. My engineering career was off and soaring.
I spent the first several months of my career drafting in all three disciplines: HVAC, electrical, and plumbing. For our younger members, drafting in 1979 was drafting by hand—ink or lead pencil on vellum or on mylar, pinbars, electric erasers, triangles, overlays, on drafting boards. AYPs, appreciate what you have today. There was no Revit, no AutoCAD, no internet, actually no computers even. In November of that year, my career took an unexpected turn.
Our plumbing designer had taken another job and was leaving. Given that he was the only plumbing designer, that left a hole in our MEP service offerings. Gerrit Van Straten was a cool-headed commander. The word “panic” did not exist in his lexicon. He approached me and asked if I thought I could handle things as the new plumbing designer. The word “panic” did exist, however, in my lexicon. Without too much thought, I blurted out, “Sure, I can handle it.”
In retrospect, that was probably a bold move for a young, eager-to-impress, fledgling draftsperson. The only justification I can offer could be that I was thinking that age-old engineering myth: “Plumbing design? Anyone can do that. How hard can it be?”
That was something I would find out in a hurry. It was a trial by fire over the next three years. I immersed myself in any and all literature I could find. I became a student of the codes. Gerrit was a patient mentor. As typically happens, when a larger company needs experienced staff, they can wave money at their targeted prospect. The offer was of such magnitude that I could not turn it down. It was difficult for me to work up the nerve to have that talk with Gerrit. Much to his credit, he made it easy for me. He said he expected that it would happen, thanked me for my work, and wished me well with the new position.
That job was a shorter career stop for me. As mechanical designers, we were tasked with both HVAC design and plumbing design. Having been accustomed to being the plumbing and fire protection guy for three years, I felt there was less potential for me in such a large MEP group. Two years in, another firm reached out to me. That call came from a fast-rising architectural/engineering company in Albany, New York. Moving from Ohio to New York was a major consideration. Second daughter Ann and newborn daughter Denise made us a family of five. The A/E company played hardball to help convince us. Their offer was double my current salary, and they would include all moving expenses. So, as the Philip Roth title states, it was Goodbye, Columbus.
We packed up, bid fond farewells to our Columbus friends, and headed east. The move turned out to be another milestone in my career. My position was assistant to the plumbing director, with four other plumbing designers. As luck would have it, about six months after starting, our plumbing director left the company. I was now elevated to plumbing director. It was time to step up my game again. By then, we were in the computer age, and AutoCAD was the weapon of choice. I still wanted to learn more. I realized that education was key. At the time, there was no local ASPE Chapter in the area. A coworker and I would drive to the Central New York Chapter meetings. This seemed to be what I was missing. After making the two-hour-plus drive enough times, we thought it might be a good idea to start a satellite chapter in the Capital Region. Eventually, that is what happened, and I am proud to say that my signature is on the Capital Region’s charter.
My involvement with ASPE proved to be a further career catalyst. That’s in terms of education, certainly, but beyond that, it instilled confidence and leadership qualities too. I served on the Board with the Capital Region Chapter for four terms. In the middle of my term as President, another opportunity came my way. This offer was more than employment as a plumbing designer. It was to join the company with the potential to become a partner. It was in Atlanta, so it was time for another decision. We were now a family of six with daughter Maggie. One of the deciding factors was that Atlanta had an established ASPE Chapter and they wanted some help with their Board. After weighing the pros and cons, we decided to go ahead and become southerners.
The carpetbaggers settled in. The job move was a good career move. I did become a partner in the company. My first tour of duty with the Atlanta Chapter Board was as VP Tech. Ultimately, I served on the Board for 15 years, including two terms as President. The confidence and desire to serve I found with ASPE then led to running for Region 3 Director on the Society Board of Directors. That has turned into 14 years of service on the Board, which will finally culminate at the Convention Business Meeting this October—fittingly, right where my engineering career started, in Columbus.
I’m not sure that the above strikes a chord with anyone reading this. It’s just a recap of how my career and my involvement with ASPE have intersected. I apologize for the length of this epic tale, and I thank you for indulging me with my memories of Columbus.
2024 ASPE Convention & Expo
That brings us full circle back to the 2024 ASPE Convention & Expo. It all kicks off on Friday, October 18, and concludes on Wednesday, October 23. Registration opens Friday and a WOA leadership forum runs all day. On Saturday morning, ASPE’s committees will conduct meetings. That afternoon, our Business Meeting opens, followed by a Joint Region Meeting. The Business Meeting, including Bylaws proposal voting and election of the 2024–2026 Board of Directors will occur on Sunday. Again, I’d like to remind you that if you are a Delegate to the Convention, be sure to review the Bylaws proposals and read the candidate information so you can vote judiciously. You can find the links on the Members-Only webpage.
If you’re not a Delegate, there is something for all attendees. Sunday night’s party is sponsored by NIBCO and will be held at the Center of Science and Industry (COSI), not too far from the Convention Center. Monday morning starts with ASPE’s Awards Breakfast. The Expo floor will open on Monday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There are close to 640 booth spaces covering more than 62,000 square feet of space on the Convention Center floor, so put on your walking shoes and see the products and talk with the exhibitors. It’ll be tough to do it all on Monday, so the Expo floor will be open again on Tuesday. Monday evening will be busy, with a First-Time Attendee Reception, followed by exhibitor parties. Those are by invitation, so check your email for times and locales.
Tuesday begins with an ASPE Member Loyalty Breakfast, and then ASPE’s Chapter car races will be held. Technical sessions will be held in the morning and afternoon, with day two of the Expo sandwiched between. If you’re an AYP, there is a networking event on Tuesday night. The final day on Wednesday starts with a Certification Appreciation Breakfast, followed by three technical sessions.
If you have not registered, there is still time. Visit the Convention & Expo website and register right now.
I have gone way over my allotted time with this article, so I will mercifully bring it to a close. I will be back in October for one last time. Until then, thank you for staying with me and reading this entry.
