ACEC AK is looking for additional members to join our Education Committee. The Education Committee focuses on providing our member firms with quality education opportunities related to the business side of the A/E industry. During our next meeting, we will be focusing on developing the curriculum for 2024.

Next meeting:

Friday, October 6

2:00 PM to 3:00 PM

JL Towers Kaladi Brothers Coffee

Please contact Aaron Christie, Committee Chair, at achristie@dowl.com or 907.227.2184 if you plan to attend or want to learn more. We are looking forward to seeing you there!

In 2021, AEDC secured a grant from the United States Economic Development Administration to develop an economic industry and workforce cluster analysis for the city of Anchorage. This grant enabled AEDC to engage with TIP Strategies, a national economic consulting firm, to lead the analysis and planning effort that was guided by a volunteer 20-member steering committee. After eleven months of interviews and roundtable discussions with economic development stakeholders and comprehensive quantitative analyses, Choose Anchorage: A Framework for Revitalization was created.

The research identified that one of Anchorage’s chief economic concerns was the reduction of our working age adult population, which current estimates show has reduced by 18,600 in the last decade, and that our future success hinged on our ability to make progress in four pillars of economic development, which are:

• BUSINESS VITALITY – Driving new and strengthening existing businesses.
• TALENT – Deepening the pipeline of skilled talent.            
• QUALITY OF PLACE – Enhancing the city’s quality of place.
• INFRASTRUCTURE – Investing in critical infrastructure.

The set of strategies and actions identified within this plan is meant to provide community partners, business leaders, and government officials with a roadmap to collectively strengthen Anchorage’s economic vitality over the next five years and beyond.

AEDC is seeking business community support to help advance this plan forward and reverse our current migration trends so that we can grow a prosperous, diverse and sustainable economy for decades to come. We’re seeking a collective funding commitment from the design, architecture, and engineering industries that would be used to directly fund a program manager dedicated to the advancement of one of these four key pillars.

Please contact AEDC’s Interim President & CEO, Jenna Wright at jwright@aedcweb.com or (907) 258-3700 to discuss this opportunity in greater detail. Also, look for more information and luncheon invites in the near future. 

The ACEC Fall Conference taking place October 15-18 in Austin, Texas is the engineering and design services industry’s leading event focused on the business of engineering. 900+ engineering professionals attend educational sessions, major networking events, forums, roundtables, the exhibit hall with industry partners and presentations, and ACEC/PAC fundraising events.

October 15-18, 2023 

JW Marriott - Austin, TX

The Project Management Institute (PMI) has spent the last several years working with the construction industry to develop curriculum and credentialing for project management in the built environment. This program includes seven courses, three of which include a micro-credential when passing an exam. Students successfully completing all seven courses can take the capstone exam and earn their PMI-CP™ (Construction Professional) certificate.

PMI has recently collaborated with certified trainers to teach these courses for the first time to pilot the instruction-led in-person modality and gain feedback. The seventh and final pilot will be held in Anchorage, Alaska! Jim Bates, with BIG-Business Improvement Group, is one of only two instructors in the world certified to teach this course at this time. PMI, BIG, and the State of Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT) will be hosting this training.

October 3-4, 2023

8:00 AM - 4:30 PM



DOT Annex Building

2200 E 42nd Ave, Anchorage

Seats are limited. To register, please email madeline@go-big.comand to provide the following information for each person wishing to attend:

First and Last Name:

Email Address:

Phone Number:

PMI Membership Number: - OK, if you don’t have one

Qualified PMI credential holders will earn Professional Development Units (PDUs) for attending and will also receive a certificate of completion and gain free access to the relevant e-learning course available online.