PNWIS Board Turnover Meeting held in Tacoma – New Officers Welcomed
April 29-30, 2022 — Tacoma, WA
PNWIS held our 2022 Board Turnover Meeting last week at the Hotel Murano conference center in Tacoma, WA. This meeting has been traditionally held at a destination location to provide a hearty welcome to new officers and to provide support and training to the chapters as we orient into a new year of operations. New and continuing officer bios are available on our Leadership webpage. The PNWIS Board meetings are held quarterly and participants typically include the Board officers, committee chairs, conference planning committee members, and chapter chairs.
Outgoing President Amy Peccia, whose efforts kept PNWIS afloat during the past few turbulent years of the pandemic, welcomed new President Mark Milner of Burnaby, B.C to the helm. Mark is a retired atmospheric scientist and has been an active member of PNWIS for many years. Mark is excited to lead the Section into 2022, hoping to see PNWIS offer a return to in-person technical and networking events. Amy also welcomed incoming Vice-President Beth Hodgson. Beth is the founder and lead engineer of Spring Environmental in Spokane, WA and has been very active in A&WMA and PNWIS chapters for many years, serving as an officer and the annual conference chair on several occasions.
The Board also welcomed new Directors Melody Kieneker and Stephen Coe. Melody is a prior A&WMA national Environmental Challenge champion and active member of PNWIS, whose efforts have helped to expand the EC and student programs. Melody is a Senior Environmental Scientist with ERM in Portland. Stephen has been an active member of A&WMA for many years, serving as an officer in the Idaho Chapter and the Chair of the Montana chapter in the recent past. Stephen is a Senior Engineer at Water & Environmental Technologies in Butte, Montana.
This quarter, the Board focused on a number of developments. The 2022 annual conference final preparations are in the works and the planning committee provided updates to the Board. The PNWIS annual budget was reviewed and approved by a vote of the Board. The Board also reviewed progress on the development and deployment of the new anti-harassment policy and a committee was formed to oversee the update of the Section operations guidebook. Plans were also made to engage with the chapters in an A&WMA membership drive, proposed for later this year. Finally, development of a Young Professionals networking event was discussed and planning is in the works.
The next quarterly PNWIS Board meeting will be held in August, likely at the SeaTac airport business center in Seattle. A&WMA chapter members are always welcome to attend in-person or virtually, upon request. Watch the PNWIS calendar for details and contact information, if you wish to get involved. Or, feel free to reach out to PNWIS officers (contact info. on the Leadership Page).
