October Letter from the President

The past few months have been trying for our organization. The building discussion has dominated many meetings for most of my time as president. At the Board of Directors meeting on October 18, the Board voted to move forward with a building sale. This decision was a difficult one for many of the Board members and was not taken lightly. I would like to thank all Board member from this year and last, and additionally the few guest speakers that attended our meeting in Lansing to share their thoughts on the building. This decision was enshrouded with emotion and strong opinions, but I was reminded by Past President, Don Heck, before the our board meeting, that “the people of our organization are what make it great, not the building.” As we move forward with the building sale, our organization must refocus its energy on achieving our vision. “To proMote licenSure within the Profession of Engineering and elevate the awareness of the continued service by licensed professionals in the public sphere.” We need to remind our existing members that this vision still requires work. We also need to take this message to non-members and encourage them to get involved with MSPE. We need to focus on gaining new members that will help to achieve our vision and continue to grow our organization. MSPE has been around for over 70 years, and I would like to see it around for another 70. The best way to do that is to focus on what is important to Professional Engineers and to continue to get our message out to the public and our legislators. I would like to challenge all members to promote MSPE and our vision by encouraging other Professional Engineers to get involved and be a part of this great organization! Sincerely, Robert T. Wheeler, PE President