Industry Leaders Council

More about the Industry Leaders Council (ILC)

Still have questions? Please email [email protected]

• What is the ILC's mission & purpose?

  • ILC members identify emerging industry challenges and trends impacting civil engineering and innovative approaches and solutions to industry challenges. They partner with ASCE to drive change in the industry and the profession and provide strategic advice to the ASCE Board of Direction and the ASCE Executive Director.  
  • Through collaboration and networking, the ILC looks for opportunities to extend ASCE’s influence across national and/or global civil engineering.
  • ILC members help facilitate effective knowledge-sharing with related organizations. 

  How will the ILC execute its mission? 

  • Continue to be more than a think tank 
  • Support the ASCE BOD and the ASCE Executive Director with strategic advice and thought leadership
  • Assist in transitioning ideas, innovative approaches/methods, and solutions into action to enhance the Industry and the profession
  • Share ownership of selected initiatives by putting ILC skin in the game through member participation

• Membership criteria & commitment

  Criteria

  All ILC members must have an active role in the civil engineering industry or profession or a supporting industry or profession which is impacted by the work of the civil engineer. 

  • ILC members serve at the senior executive/C-Suite level; for example, CEO or a person reporting directly to the CEO, such as Chief Engineer and Chief Operating Officer. 
  • Members offer strategic value from experience earned in one or more of the following: academia, government, private industry, or a non-governmental organization. 
  • ILC members serve as members, and as a representative voice of their company or organization and the industry and customers they serve. 
  • Membership is limited to one representative per company at a time. 
  • Membership in the ILC is by invitation only. Potential new members are nominated by their peers and reviewed regularly.
  • An open call for membership occurs every two years. For election to ILC membership, a candidate needs to meet and agree to the above criteria and show that they have:
    
    • Demonstrated a commitment and dedication to the civil engineering profession.
    • Served as an active leader and major contributor to the profession through ASCE participation or another organization, including for example service as chair of a committee, or participating in a major project.
    • Eminence in the profession, including for example Distinguished Membership in ASCE or another association.

  Member commitment

  The ILC is committed to maintaining a roster of 30 dedicated, active, and dynamic leaders. The term of service is two years and commences in September. 

  • Alumni members of the ILC may recommit for one or more additional two-year terms, provided the member maintains the criteria for membership and has served the ILC per the expectations and guidelines in the ILC Membership Memorandum of Understanding.
  • In consultation with the ASCE Executive Director, the ILC Chair retains the authority to review and evaluate the participation and commitment demonstrated by every ILC member. 
    
    • The ILC Chair will contact any member not meeting the expectations as stated in the Guidelines and Expectations document. 
    • Membership retention is at the discretion of the ILC Chair and his/her advisors and will be reviewed annually
    • In consultation with the ASCE Executive Director and the ILC Chair may designate a replacement member to fill the vacancy by a current member who resigns or retires from their senior leadership position.

• ILC leadership & members

  ILC leadership

  • Mark Pestrella, P.E., M.ASCE
    Director, Los Angeles County Public Works, ILC Chair
  • Sofia Berger, A.M.ASCE
    Senior Vice President and National Business Line Leader for Transportation, WSP, ILC Vice Chair
  • Thomas W. Smith III, CAE, ENV SP, F.ASCE
    Executive Director, ASCE, Senior Staff Advisor for ILC  
  • Edward Stafford, P.E., PTOE, F.ASCE
    Chief Operating Officer, ASCE, Staff Advisor for ILC

  ILC Members-at-Large

  • Rizwan Baig, P.E.
    Chief Engineer, Port Authority of New York, and New Jersey
  • Wayne Balta,
    Vice President Corporate Environmental Affairs & Product Safety & Chief Sustainability Officer, IBM Corporation
  • Ana P. Barros, Ph.D., P.E., BC.WRE, NAE, F.ASCE
    Donald Biggar Willet Chair of Engineering and Department Head of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
  • Denise M. Berger, FAIA, FRICS
    Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer, AECOM
  • Nathen Beil,P.E., BC.WRE, M.ASCE
    Chairman/CEO, KCI Technologies
  • Scott Blair, Editor-in-Chief
    Engineering News Record
  • David Boone, P.E.
    President and CEO/DoD Liaison, San Diego Military Advisory/Scripps Institute of Oceanography, Rear Admiral, Civil Engineer Corps, USN (retired)
  • Timothy Byers
    Senior Vice President and General Manager, Jacobs
  • Peggy Van Eepoel,
    Managing Principal, Thornton Tomasetti
  • Anne M. Ellis, P.E., Hon.M.ACI, NAC, F.ASCE
    CEO, Ellis Global
  • Dan Mircea Frangopol, ScD, P.E., F.EMI, F.SEI, Dist.M.ASCE
    Professor of Civil Engineering, The Fazlur R. Khan Endowed Chair, Lehigh University
  • Scott Heefner, P.E., M.ASCE
    President, Allegheny Science & Technology
  • Kendall Kilpatrick, P.E.
    Executive Vice President, Thompson Engineering
  • Ronald Klemencic, P.E., S.E., NAC, NAE, F.SEI, Dist.M.ASCE
    Chairman and CEO, Magnusson Klemencic Associates
  • Manish D. Kothari
    President & CEO, Sheladia Associates, Inc.
  • John W. Kovacs, P.E., PMP, ENV SP, BC.GE, F.ASCE
    Executive Vice President, Gannet Fleming, Inc.
  • Maria Cecelia Lehman, P.E., ENV SP, F.ASCE, ASCE President 2023
    Director US Infrastructure, GHD
  • Eva Lerner-Lam, M.NAE, F.ITE, M.SAE, M.ASCE
    President, Palisades Consulting
  • Otto J. Lynch, P.E., F.SEI, F.ASCE
    Vice President, Head of Power Line Systems, Bentley Systems
  • Roger Martin Millar, Jr., P.E., F.AICP, F.ASCE
    Secretary of Transportation, Washington State Department of Transportation
  • David Odeh, P.E., S.E., F.SEI, F.ASCE
    Principal, Odeh Engineers, Inc.
  • Sergio Antonio Pecori, P.E., F.ASCE
    Chairman & CEO, Hanson Professional Services, Inc.
  • Feniosky Peña-Mora, ScD, P.E., CCM, FCIOB, NAC, F. ASCE
    Edwin Howard Armstrong Professor of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, Columbia University
  • Stacie M. Sire, A.M.ASCE
    Engineering Director, Boeing Company
  • Lucio Soibelman, Ph.D., P.Eng., NAC, Dist.M.ASCE
    Fred Champion Estate Chair in Engineering Professor, University of Southern California
  • Yvette Stevens, P.E., PMP
    Vice President, Economic Inclusion, Gilbane Building Company
  • Christopher M. Stone, P.E., F.NSPE, LEED AP BD C, F.ASCE
    Senior Principal, Clark Nexsen
  • Hala Titus, P.E., BCEE
    North American Unit President, CDM Smith
  • Jennifer Todd, M.L.S.
    President, LMS General Contractors, Inc.
  • Kevin Ward
    General Manager, Trinity River Authority of Texas
  • Markus Weidner, EIT, A.M.ASCE
    Chief Innovation Officer, Pennoni

  ILC Emeritus members

  • Eugene A. Lupia, P.E., F.ASCE 
  • Steven D. Murphy, A.M.ASCE

  ILC membership as of December 3, 2024

  ILC Chairs

  (with their title at the time they were chair)

  • 2022 – 2024: Janice (Jan) L. Tuchman, Editor-in-Chief, Engineering News Record (ENR), BNP Media, Inc.
  • 2020 – 2022: Feniosky Peña-Mora, ScD, P.E., NAC, F. ASCE, Edwin Howard Armstrong Professor of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, Columbia University
  • 2018 – 2020: Nicholas (Nick) M. DeNichilo, P.E., Hon.D.WRE, F.ASCE, President and CEO, Mott MacDonald North America
  • 2016 – 2018: Terry Neimeyer, P.E., ENV SP, BCEE, F.ASCE, CEO and Chairman of the Board, KCI 
  • 2014 – 2016: Michael (Mike) Loose, P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, Senior Vice President, Parsons Corporation
  • 2012 – 2014: Anthony (Tony) S. Bartolomeo, P.E., ENV SP, Dist.M.ASCE, President and CEO, Pennoni Associates, Inc.
  • 2009 – 2012: James A. Rispoli, P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, President and CEO, Project Time & Cost, Inc.

• Activities

  The key responsibilities of the ILC include identifying the current and emerging civil engineering challenges and issues. Through working groups, surveys and face-to-face discussions, the ILC members identify:

  • emerging industry trends impacting the civil engineering profession
  • innovative approaches and solutions to industry challenges
  • opportunities to partner with ASCE to drive change in the industry and the profession

  The ILC holds two meetings per year (spring and fall) and conducts conference calls on an as-needed basis. Topics may change to meet a current need or opportunity for influence. Meeting agendas are developed through member collaboration and contain defined goals and desired outcomes.

  A few accomplishments of ILC members and their working groups include: 

  • Launching the ASCE Innovation Contest and continued development of the program
  • ASCE Future World Vision program
  • ASCE Grand Challenge campaign
  • Industry Leaders Forum event held yearly at the ASCE Annual Convention
  • Development and leading innovation focus and sessions at the ASCE Annual Convention
  • White papers, industry roundtables, and news articles on life cycle analysis, performance-based standards, safety, and cyber security 
    Life-Cycle Cost Analysis: Shifting The Engineering Calculus – February 2018 issue of Civil Engineering

• How to nominate

  If you would like to nominate a candidate or would like to be considered as a future member of the ILC yourself, please submit the items below to [email protected].

  Please be sure to first review the ILC membership criteria and commitment section above. 

  1. Name and contact information for the candidate
  2. Your name and contact information (if different)
  3. Candidate's CV
  4. Summary stating why they would make a good candidate for membership in the ILC
  5. Any supporting letter(s) of recommendation from current or past ILC leadership or members

  If you have questions, please contact us.