Leadership Education Committee (LEC)

The ACEC/MA Leadership Education Committee (aka LEC, formerly the Emerging Leaders Program Committee) develops, plans, and executes programs that focus on leadership development.  Currently, there are three programs sponsored by the LEC.

The Emerging Leaders Program, created in 2000, offers six sessions on topics of significant value to engineers on a leadership track.  Topics include: People Management, Strategic Planning, Government Affairs, Risk Management, Marketing and Finances.  The intent of each session is to expose the ‘tip of the iceberg’ on these topics as a means to raise individual awareness while providing an introductory level of instruction. Each year participants and instructors provide valuable input on the course, helping ACEC/MA's Leadership Education Committee to make adjustments in program content to meet the needs of future emerging leaders classes.

The Leadership Education Committee launched its second leadership program, Everest, in the fall of 2008.  This program was the vision of several senior ACEC/MA directors who sought a forum that allowed leaders to discuss issues facing our Massachusetts engineering companies. Everest Senior Leadership Roundtable Dinners are usually held twice a year in the Boston area.

In 2009, the Committee launched the Odyssey Leadership program.  This program is designed to fill the gap between the Emerging Leaders Program and the ACEC National Senior Executive Institute (SEI) Program.  Odyssey consists of a comprehensive nine session program designed to change the way managers motivate, inspire, lead and grow their staff.  The skills participants learn can be readily applied to their employees to inspire more motivated, productive and loyal professionals.  When the practices learned are applied externally to clients these skills can build trust and confidence while creating a competitive edge in the market.  

The Leadership Education Committee is led by a Chair and Vice-Chair, who are responsible for organizing the committee’s activities.  Activities include developing programs, assisting in program marketing, ensuring the programs are executed and reviewing survey results of programs and making program changes to provide continuous improvement.  Committee members are volunteers from ACEC/MA member firms.  A representative from The Engineering Center Education Trust staff is also a committee member.  Additional participants from members firms are welcome.

The committee meets usually the fourth Tuesday of the month in the morning.  Check the calendar at www.acecma.org for the next LEC meeting.