April Highlights & New Convention Speakers

To the ACEC Community,

Less than two weeks remain until our Annual Convention and Legislative Summit; we recently added two senior Members of Congress to our speaker roster. On Monday, May 19, we’ll be joined by House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), followed by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) on Tuesday, May 20. As lawmakers focus their attention on important issues like infrastructure funding and tax reform, Rep. Emmer and Chairman Graves will offer important perspective on where those debates are headed. That insider insight will serve our citizen lobbyists well during Hill visits at the end of the Convention. If you haven’t registered for the event yet, it’s not too late.

With House Republicans looking to pass a tax bill by Independence Day, tax reform will be high on the agenda during our Hill visits. Our members will head to the halls of Congress armed with data from our comprehensive study on the impact of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which was released last week by the ACEC Research Institute. The authors first confirm and quantify what we know – namely that TCJA was a powerful catalyst for job creation and economic growth – then drill down into potential scenarios if the act’s provisions aren’t extended. The data show that eliminating TCJA would deal a serious blow to our industry and our nation’s economy. You can read the full report here. 

Hot off the heels of a successful event at the Minnesota Zoo’s Treetop trail, our Engineering and Public Works Roadshow heads to San Jacinto College in Pasadena, Texas tomorrow to spotlight the Anderson Ball Classroom, the nation’s largest mass timber instructional building. This will be the nineteenth Roadshow stop since November 2022. Be sure to tune in tomorrow at 10AM CDT. You can watch the livestream here. 

Here are some of April’s highlights:

Advocacy

• Engineering Workforce Consortium met in April to set priorities and welcome new member, ASHRAE.

• Supported new EV user fees for the Highway Trust Fund in legislation approved by the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee.

• Submitted priorities for surface transportation reauthorization to the congressional committees of jurisdiction, including maintaining funding levels, promoting lump sum contracting, protecting QBS, and facilitating efficient project delivery.

• Hosted an online program on President Trump’s first 100 days, and provided advocacy updates to ACEC-SC, ACEC-NC, ACEC-VA, ACEC-MD and ACEC-MW.

• Submitted comments on ACEC’s 2025 tax priorities to a joint House-Senate Small Business Committee hearing.

• ACEC wrote to Secretary Rubio to express our strong support for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which provides critical funding for global infrastructure projects and does so largely using American engineering firms and other assets.

• Met with the Chief of Staff of the White House Council on Environmental Quality to discuss the administration’s plans to streamline environmental permitting.

• Energy Committee members held a meeting with Stephen Winberg, Undersecretary for Infrastructure at the U.S. Department of Energy, to engage in a discussion regarding the Department’s strategic initiative to establish data centers on federally owned properties.

• ACEC joined with stakeholders on a coalition letter to House and Senate appropriators in support of full funding for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Funds in the FY2026 appropriations bill; also met with House T&I Committee staff to discuss reauthorization of the SRF program and the need to protect QBS.

• ACEC cosponsored the annual Water Week “National Water Policy Fly-In” and attended events featuring officials from the EPA, USDA, and U.S. Congress.

• ACEC participated on a panel at the 2025 Southeast Region Federal Construction, Infrastructure and Environmental Summit hosted by the NC Military Business Center in Wilmington, NC.

• Engineering Influence recorded a podcast with ACEC Arizona to discuss its award-winning STEM Gameday event bringing together 1,800 middle schoolers for interactive STEM activities at Arizona State University, University of Arizona, and Northern Arizona University football stadiums (recording forthcoming).

• Raised $151,176.79 in contributions, $4,250 in-kind contributions, $13,850 via ACEC Direct for a total of $169,276.79 in the month of April.

• From January 1, 2025, through April 30, 2025, a total of $511,303.39 was raised for the PAC for a total of $529,403.39 on the year.

• Five states achieved their PAC goal in April:  Alaska, Hawaii, Metro Washington, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. Nine states have achieved goal for 2025.

• The following MOs hosted congressional Receptions at the ACEC Residence in April: Florida, Nebraska, Virginia, Metro Washington and Ohio. Forty Members of Congress attended those events.

• The Leadership Circle Program hosted a fundraising dinner for Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) and raised $32,500.

Communications & Marketing

• In preparation for the Spring Convention, the communications and marketing department was busy preparing scripting for general session content, producing show graphics and supporting the meetings team with production planning.

• The department was also assisting the awards team preparing for the EEA awards with scripting, video production and other communications support.

• The release of the Institute’s tax study was supported with media outreach to national outlets, as well as website design and congressional outreach to the major tax writing committees in Congress.

• The tax study was also the focus of message development to build the industry’s case for the extension of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

• ACEC produced six podcasts in April, covering topics ranging from spotlighting the award winning Three Sisters Bridges in Pittsburgh, to workforce development and the economy.  Watch our interviews (and like and subscribe) on our YouTube Channel.

Meetings, Exhibits, & Awards

New Speakers Announced for 2025 Annual Convention & Legislative Summit

• ACEC is pleased to announce two new speakers who will address our General Session audiences.

• Monday, May 19, 11:45 am – 2 pm:  House Majority Whip Tom Emmer serves in the third-highest ranking position in House leadership, where he plays a critical role in advancing key legislative priorities including tax reform and infrastructure – two issues of particular importance to our ACEC Members.

• Tuesday, May 20, 8 am – 10 am: Missouri Congressman and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves will share his thoughts on the transformational infrastructure bill he is working to pass.

Check out All Annual Convention Speakers on the Convention Speaker Page

• The Convention website now features a complete listing of all speakers scheduled to present at the upcoming event. Speaker info includes their session, topic, and speaker details.

It’s Not too Late to Register

• Join 900+ of your peers at this year’s Annual Convention & Legislative Summit, May 18 – 21 at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, DC. Education rooms are nearly full! Register Now to nab the last seats in the session rooms.

Celebrate the Industry’s Greatest Achievements

• Join us for night of celebration of the engineering industry’s greatest achievements at the Engineering Excellence Awards Gala. The Annual Convention culminates with a night of accolades and revelry at this black-tie event. Tickets and tables are available.

Membership, MO Services and BRE

• On April 10, the Market Intelligence Committee hosted ACEC Research Institute Senior Research Consultant Joe Bates and Senior Director of Economics and Market Intelligence Thomas Grogan for a live market briefing on the latest industry sentiment and market expectations. Sign up for the recording

• Recorded a podcast discussing economic turbulence with Sarah Wolfe, Senior Economist and Strategist at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. Visit the Last Word blog for the latest on tariffs and supply chain pressures, immigration policy and recession risks, deregulation and tax reform.

• Coalitions hosted a number of education sessions in April, including sessions on the ASHRAE/ICC Standard 240P and an infrastructure update hosted by Autodesk. In addition, the Managing Small Projects course kicked off with a sold-out class.

• The Coalition of American Mechanical and Electrical Engineers (CAMEE) transitioned to the Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) Coalition.

Research Institute

ACEC Research Institute Leadership TransitionThe Institute’s Board of Directors held its Spring meeting last week with new leadership. Mike Carragher, Chair & CEO of VHB, has completed his term as chair and now serves as past chair. Succeeding him as new board chair is Steve Lefton, Executive Chairman of Kimley-Horn. Greg Kelly, CEO of STV, has joined the board as vice chair and Javier A. Baldor, CEO of BST Global, has been elected treasurer. Additionally, the board welcomed three new members: Lisa Robert, COO of RS&H, Marcus Quigley, Partner at EFCG, and Adam Jones, President of ACEC-SC.

FIDIC Global Leadership Forum - Firm of the Future WorkshopACEC Research Institute’s leadership led a session at the FIDIC Global Leadership Forum in April. The invitation-only forum was attended by nearly 100 firm leaders from around the world. During the workshop, Mike Carragher and Steve Lefton provided attendees with an overview and update on the Institute’s Firm of the Future initiative. Participants worked in small groups discussing key initiatives for future research topics. The outcomes of that session were shared with the Institute’s Board for future consideration.

Industry PresentationsThe research team presented current research, economic updates, and overviews of the Firm of the Future initiatives to several different industry organizations and firm leaderships and boards.

Linda Bauer Darr

President & CEO

American Council of Engineering Companies | ACEC

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