History

Founding

The Chesapeake Section was chartered in April 1988 with 123 Charter Members, a record number for any ASHE section chartered at the time. Maryland represented the fifth state in which an ASHE Section was created.

Mr. Paul McConnell of the Delaware Valley Section made first contact with a transplanted ASHE member, Dave Greenwood, to suggest a new section be organized in Maryland. Paul came to the Aberdeen Sheraton Inn to make a formal introduction and presentation about ASHE and was instrumental in generating interest to form the new section. A diverse group of individuals representing the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA), Baltimore County Department of Public Works (DPW), Interstate Division for Baltimore City (IDBC), various consultants/A/E firms, and other highway industry personnel were assembled to serve in the capacity of officers or board members for the Section.

An inaugural meeting was developed for the spring of 1988 in advance of “Charter Night.” It was held at the Engineers Club’s Garrett Jacobs Mansion, a facility converted from two, large historic brownstone buildings, located in the Mount Vernon section of Baltimore City near Baltimore’s Washington Monument. The first seminar-style program was presented by SHA’s Ed Stein on Stormwater Management and Sediment & Erosion Control and was an opportunity for SHA to provide “on-the-spot” training for all attendees.

Charter Night was held on April 21, 1988. Charter Number 24 was signed by the then-National President, Ron Springman, and National Secretary, Terence Connor.  Harry McCullough, then Chief, Interstate Division for Baltimore City, was Master of Ceremonies, and a multi-media program presentation on the Fort McHenry Tunnel project was presented by Ken Merrill. A record number of Charter Members attended, a record maintained until the Carolina Triangle Section was chartered in January 1992.

David Greenwood served as the Section’s Charter President and later served as a National Board Director and National President in 1996/1997.

Activities & Involvement

Soon after the chartering of the Chesapeake Section, approval to host the 1993 Annual Conference was requested and received. The conference was held at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor with a program emphasis on highway impacts to the environment and the associated mitigation design. Activities included a tour of the Engineers Club (Icebreaker), a project tour of the new Maryland Route 100, and a special Saturday Session on TravTech vehicles, the first generation of cars to include a navigation system; a TravTech vehicle was brought on site for navigation system capability viewing. Other activities included a Baltimore Orioles baseball game and a tour of Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Proceeds from the Conference were used to initiate a scholarship program by the Chesapeake Section for local college engineering students. The program was named for John Bruck, an SHA employee, who labored tirelessly during the Conference to ensure all activity-related transportation needs were met. John was a man of vision and held the highway industry dear to his heart. The scholarship is currently awarded to one individual selected from each of the local engineering schools – Johns Hopkins University, Morgan State University, and the University of Maryland. Funding for the scholarship program also is supported by an annual golf outing that Chesapeake organizes in the spring each year.

The Chesapeake Section co-sponsored the 2006 National Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia; the conference emphasized the past, present and future of the highway industry and included activities such as a visit to historic Jamestown and guided tours of historic Williamsburg.

Members of the Chesapeake Section have been involved with the national New Sections Committee in the past, helping to form new sections in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, New Jersey and North Dakota. This effort was instrumental in expanding ASHE’s national exposure. Our members continue to participate in committees and leadership positions at both the Mid-Atlantic Region and National level to this day. Chesapeake is also a regular participant in the successful Mid-Atlantic Region Technical Conference, which is held each spring. This one-day forum provides seven (7) PDHs to attendees and is a key mechanism in Chesapeake’s efforts to strengthen its relationships and fellowship with the eight (8) Sections in the Mid-Atlantic Region.

In 2014-2015, ASHE Chesapeake established student chapters at Morgan State University and the University of Maryland. Students from these universities have been scholarship recipients since the John Bruck scholarship program was established. They continue to provide activities for their members and they attend the Chesapeake Section’s meetings and events each year. ASHE Chesapeake has a University Outreach Committee. It is involved in coordination of student chapter activities with section activities as well as providing support to the student chapters to ensure their continued success. The student chapters are very dynamic and ASHE Chesapeake understands the importance of mentoring their efforts and fostering the next generation of ASHE stakeholders. Chesapeake will continue to work with the National Student Chapter committee in order to support the long-term health and growth of our student chapters.

The Chesapeake Section hosted the 2015 National ASHE Conference in Baltimore, MD. The event was a success and provided everyone a good experience and opportunity to visit and vacation in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

ASHE Chesapeake attends the annual Maryland Quality Initiative Conference (MdQI) in Baltimore each year. It is a very popular and well attended conference for the various stakeholders in the highway/transportation industry for the Mid-Atlantic Region. Chesapeake has a booth and distributes member applications at this forum to increase local awareness of ASHE’s mission and grow our membership. We have benefited from ASHE National’s exposure grant program in the funding of this effort and recognize this is a key forum for us to be present to support ASHE and our local success.

The Chesapeake Section continues to hold section meetings at the Engineers Club. The standard meeting format is somewhat unique to ASHE and includes multiple technical sessions in the afternoon followed by a social hour, dinner, and a dinner speaker. This format provides for professional development hour (PDH) opportunities (typically three (3) are issued), while, at the same time, promoting the attendance of younger members. Each meeting’s technical program places an emphasis on a specific discipline, whether it is planning, traffic, hydrology/hydraulics, water resources, or highway construction. Chesapeake documents their technical sessions and submits annual summaries of the PDH’s issued for the calendar year to National through the Professional Development committee and monitors any changes to the Professional Development Certification Program guidelines (originally issued in September 2016) now that ASHE is self-accredited.

In the 2016-2017 season, ASHE Chesapeake formed a Younger Members Committee. Several events targeted at young professionals have been scheduled and attendance has been good. One of the goals of this committee is to foster a forum and opportunities for younger professionals that may be just out of college to come out and have some fun and get to know members of the Chesapeake Section. New Section memberships have resulted. We are very excited about this group and its continued involvement with the Chesapeake Section’s growth.

In the 2017-2018 season, the Chesapeake Section celebrated its 30th anniversary at our annual Member Appreciation Award Dinner at the Garrett Jacobs Mansion and past presidents were honored. The Chesapeake Section continues its membership growth and at the 2018 ASHE National Conference in Cleveland, Ohio the Section received the Gene Smith Award for being the Section with the largest membership growth.

Past Presidents

1988-1989 David Greenwood 2007-2008 Tony Frascarella
1989-1990 Jacqueline Schrenker-Case 2008-2009 Todd Lang
1990-1991 Vince Pielli 2009-2010 Rob Hudson
1991-1992 Jerry Edwards 2010-2011 Roger Carriker
1992-1993 Dick Trainor 2011-2012 Marco Avila
1993-1995 Vince Pielli 2012-2013 Nimish Desai
1995-1996 Paula Smith 2013-2014 Matt Waters
1996-1999 Dick Evans 2014-2015 Kristin Fusco Rowe
1999-2000 Tony Mawry 2015-2016 Brian Post
2000-2001 Peter Kleskovic 2016-2017 Heather Henck
2001-2002 Bo Ward 2017-2018 Dion Ho
2002-2003 Leon Kriebel 2018-2019 Reid Perry
2003-2004 Chris Brooks 2019-2020 Gregg Iskra
2004-2005 Rick Kiegel 2020-2021 Andy Lynch
2005-2006 Jerry Dougherty 2021-2022 Carrie Nicholson
2006-2007 Chris McGuire 2022-2023 Deni Deliallisi