Celebrating the Broad Impact of BSA’s Engineers

While we pause to recognize BSA’s engineers during this year’s National Engineers Week, we need to acknowledge more than just their tangible contributions to our work. Because, as integral as they are to ensuring we deliver the solutions our clients need, BSA engineers’ influence extends beyond our clients’ projects or even the communities our clients call home. Some play roles in defining the industry, setting standards, urging innovation, and ensuring that future engineers receive the training needed to maintain the profession.

And, along the way, they’re helping build our business and making sure BSA has a shot at big opportunities.

Whether serving on the board of professional organizations, participating as a member of trade groups, or sitting on credentialing boards, BSA engineers are taking active roles in the industry locally and nationally.

For example, Sam Reed is a member of the Indiana Board of Registration for Professional Engineers, which not only oversees licensing of professional engineers but also forges rules for practice and monitors and communicates important news and information for engineers. In addition, Sam currently serves as Secretary/Treasurer of the Central Zone of the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying, an organization focused on advancing professional licensure for engineers and surveyors and he is currently Past President of the Indiana Society of Professional Engineers.

Other BSA engineers influence the industry through other professional groups. Kevin Token is active with the National Society of Professional Engineers, the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE), the Association of Energy Engineers, and the Mid-States Minority Supplier Development Board. Ted Zemper keeps his finger on the pulse of the industry as a member of the Electrical Board for Missouri and Illinois, the Missouri Society of Healthcare Engineering, and ASHE. In addition, Ted helps organize the three-year Electrical Board of Missouri and Illinois (EBMI) Electrical Expo, which draws together industry professionals from around the Midwest. Adam Posorske is the current president of the Indiana chapter of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, and Sam Jackson is active with the Indiana chapter of the American Council of Engineering Companies. Others across the firm are contributing in other ways.

Why should you care that an engineer is engaged in professional organizations? Because the benefits often come back to you.

Like all professionals, engineers need to keep up with the latest industry standards and innovations, and industry groups often are the best resource for maintaining that awareness. As a result, if they’ve engaged with their professional groups, engineers are more likely to stay on top of industry trends and bring innovative and progressive solutions to your challenges.

At the same time, being involved in professional groups can mean being in on the conversations that shape laws, regulations and policy, which means the involved BSA engineers can work to ensure that the rules put into place deliver what’s best for the industry and its customers.

Industry groups and professional organizations can also be a great place for meeting rising stars and industry top performers who can make the BSA team even stronger and forging relationships that could lead to collaborations and partnerships on projects and industry initiatives. Sometimes they can lead directly to new opportunities; other times, they’ll help plant seeds that can lead to business down the road.

So, as you applaud your engineer colleagues this week, be sure to acknowledge not just what they do to make our solutions stronger but also what they do to make our industry and firm stronger. We all benefit, sometimes in ways, we don’t even realize.