Passing The Torch...

My three-year term as your Midwestern District Director on the ITE International Board of Direction is in its waning hours. What an experience it has been! I have enjoyed working with you and for you as District Director.

I look forward to the great leadership that my successor, Bob Seyfried, will provide. Please welcome him in this position as you have welcomed me. He will do an admirable job in serving our district at the international level!

Thanks again for your support. I look forward to serving the district, the North Central Section, and ITE as a whole in many other ways in the future!

Good luck, and Happy New Year!

ITE News Items...

As I close out the books as your District Director, there are two breaking items of importance to our membership as we enter 2010...

First, the Institute has identified the following members to run for election to serve starting in 2011. Please note the addition of Ray Davis as a third candidate for International Vice President. Your 2011 ITE International Elected Leadership Ballot will appear as follows:

International President

• Robert C. Wunderlich, P.E., FITE

International Vice President

• Troy A. Peoples, P.E., FITE
• Rock E. Miller, P.E., PTOE, FITE
• Raymond E. Davis, III, P.E., PTOE, FITE

Be sure to follow their campaigns in the coming year.

Second, ITE President-Elect Paul Eng-Wong announced last week that ITE has just signed a lease for new space for its Headquarters Office. He stated, "It seems like only a few years ago that the Institute celebrated its move to the current office location…but that was in November 2000. As our lease expires on August 31, 2010, ITE Executive Director Thomas W. Brahms and Deputy Executive Director Peter W. Frentz have been hard at work for more than a year to find the right location to house the ITE Headquarters Office going forward. These efforts included seeking to extend the lease at our current location, and there were several considerations that helped to temper the selection: accessibility, being in the vicinity of the current office space, affordability, and being for as long a term as practical. Their efforts have produced an ideal location: 1627 I (Eye) Street, NW, Washington, DC, USA, in the Army and Navy Club Building, only four blocks from our current location. The new office location is just two blocks from the White House and within a block of both the Farragut North and Farragut West Metro Stations (on the Red, Orange and Blue Lines). We have negotiated a lease that has a base period of 15 years and 8 months and two 5-year lease extension options."

Paul added, "The leadership of the Institute asks that you to help us to recognize the 80^th anniversary of the Institute and its move to a new office by contributing to the 80^thAnniversary Headquarters Office Fund. We are seeking your contributions toward the reception area, conference room and seminar and briefing broadcast room to make this space most functional—a space that reflects favorably on the Institute and its past, present and future. We are seeking to raise $200,000. The Executive Committee of the Institute has begun this effort by contributing more than $10,000. Contributions will be recognized and opportunities for specific sponsorship are available. I look forward to you joining with Tom and me to help us to reach this goal."

Paul closed by saying, "Additional information concerning specific opportunities to endow conference room furnishings, reception area furnishings and the seminar and briefing broadcast room will be available on the ITE Web site. Contributions can be made by checks payable to the Institute of Transportation Engineers. ITE is a recognized nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. As such, contributions to ITE, including the 80^th Anniversary Headquarters Office Fund, are generally deductible for U.S. income tax purposes. Thank you for your generosity and support of ITE."

Please contribute generously to this great cause!