Railway Track & Structures - September 2007 - (Page 10) AREMA NEWS President’s Column I consider it an honor and privilege to serve as AREMA’s president for the upcoming year. In the tradition of AREMA’s past presidents, I will strive to strengthen AREMA’s role as the preeminent engineering association for North American railways and transit organizations and a resource for the global railway engineering industry. Chris Dodge did a great job leading the association this past year. He will serve AREMA well in his new role of past president. Thanks Chris. Key to success: Participation During the next few months, the Functional Group vice presidents will report in AREMA News highlighting committee activities. The six vice presidents and their groups are Mike Garcia of the Illinois Department of Transportation for the Engineering Services Group, John Unsworth of Canadian Pacific Railway for the Structures Group, Bill Roe of Union Pacific for the Maintenance Group, Dwight Clark of Union Pacific for the Track Group, Mark Walbrun of TranSystems for the Passenger & Transit Group, and Fred Gratke of BNSF for the Communications & Signals Group. One of the life-altering events facing the railway industry in the next several years is the exodus of knowledge and talent from the industry as many so-called baby boomers retire. No doubt that many will begin a second career as consultants and, if so, they will continue as AREMA members and participate on the technical committees. Many will enjoy other activities and still make time for AREMA. But many will drift off into the sunset, never to be seen again – we hope this will not be the case. Regardless, there is the real possibility that AREMA’s membership numbers will be Larry Etherton AREMA® President 2007-2008 adversely affected. Membership numbers are one thing, but in order for our technical committees to function, we not only need members, but we need members who participate. I want to challenge each AREMA member on two issues: 1. Recruiting - Recruit new members. 2. Committee Participation - If you’re not already on a committee, join a committee. Get that new member you recruited to participate in committee activities. Also, reach out to existing members - invite them to a committee meeting, or, if you’re their boss, do as my first chief engineer, Buck Durham, did with me tell he or she that they will join a committee meeting and participate. I’ve been told that coercion is a good tool if properly used. If you are not an AREMA member, please consider joining and participating on a technical committee. Membership and committee information and applications are available at AREMA’s Website, www.arema.org. One last item that I want to briefly discuss is the AREMA Educational Foundation. In 2007, AREMA awarded more than $30,000 in scholarships. This was made possible by the generosity of AREMA members and staff who have donated their resources to such a worthy cause. In 2008, the total dollar amount of scholarships to be rewarded will increase because of the generosity of contributing individual donors, as well as companies such as Norfolk Southern Corporation. I want to challenge you, whether you’re an AREMA member or not, to donate to the Foundation. Consider endowments or annual cash contributions. If possible, get your employer to match your contribution, or, better yet, get your employer to provide an endowed scholarship. Endowments of $50,000 or more have a certain ring to them. Information on the Foundation may be found on AREMA’s Website, www.arema.org. Again, I look forward to leading AREMA in the coming year. –Larry Etherton 10 Railway Track & Structures September 2007 www.rtands.com http://www.arema.org http://www.arema.org http://www.arema.org http://www.rtands.com
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