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January Message
The New Year is here! It's now time to reflect
upon our accomplishments of the past year as we prepare for
the many challenges that still lie ahead. Under the very capable
leadership of Randy McCourt, we were able to develop a strategic
plan for the District, and held an outstanding annual meeting
in Sacramento with a record number of students in attendance.
To top it all off, our excellent newsletter, WesternITE,
won the award for best newsletter from ITE International.
This year we will finalize our strategic plan and the District
6 endowment fund will be established. Meetings and technical
sessions will be held for members to develop professional
relationships by networking with other professionals and at
the same time keeping up with the latest trends and developments
in all the many diverse disciplines of transportation.
We are indeed fortunate to have such a large
number of volunteers in our District that make the all the
valuable activities of the Sections and Chapters possible.
Our volunteers are what enable us to stay at the cutting edge
of our profession by newsletters and organizing all the training
sessions and meetings. I want to personally thank all the
District 6 Section and Chapter leaders for all the hard work
they do that makes ITE the success that it is. At the District
level we are fortunate to have the WesternITE technical
editor position filled by Nate Larson. Nate has also volunteered
to be the LAC chair for the 2009 annual meeting in Denver.
Long-term member and ITE volunteer and past president of District
6, Tom Clausen has agreed to serve on the District 6 Advisory
Committee.
It is always a pleasure for me to visit the
different sections to honor a local section member who has
contributed unselfishly to ITE. Recently I visited the California
Border Section to honor Marty Bouman with Section President
Zoubir Ouadah. Marty has been active in ITE for more than
50 years. He has served as editor of WesternITE and
established the “fur-lined pot” traveling trophy in 1958.
The trophy was created to encourage Sections to submit their
local Section Activity Reports to WesternITE for
publication.
Central Coast president Farhad Miran, International
Director Rock Miller and I had the pleasure of recognizing
Nazir Lalani for his many contributions to Central Coast Section
and ITE. Besides being the most prolific member ever, he has
been on every ITE council that exists, as well as having served
as District 6 President, International Director and International
President.
Together we are the best
Zaki Mustafa
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