Dear Members,

It is the 30th anniversary of the Northridge earthquake and 2025 will bring the 100 year anniversary of the Santa Barbara earthquake. These anniversaries give us unique opportunities to promote structural engineering in our communities.

Our safer cities initiatives are up and running. This year we will continue the work of advocating for sensible legislation with our policy-making partners. We expect to partner with two or three more cities this year that will be enacting retrofit ordinances.

We also look to bolster our relationships with our partners in academia, both faculty and students, as we in Southern California drive research that has local, state, national, and global impacts.

We have a full calendar of events through the rest of the year, and you can mark your calendars now for the 2nd Wednesday of each month to attend a SEAOSC event.

Our regular slate of events over the course of the year includes the Golf Tournament, the SEAOC convention in Portland, our Committee Showcase, Gingerbread Challenge, Trivia Night, Emerging Engineers Night, SEE Awards, and June Technical Summit.

The upcoming year also brings back the in-person Career Fair, the Leadership Symposium, in-person dinners and a winter technical day.   In addition, Structured Connections events throughout the year are being reimagined as partnership events with industry partners like AIA and ICC as we continue to strengthen those relationships.

I am grateful for your involvement in the Association, in your committee work, in attending and planning events, in being mentors and advocates for our emerging professionals, and in promoting and elevating the profile of our distinguished profession. You are truly inspiring, and I look forward to serving you as your President.

Garrett W. Mills, S.E.
SEAOSC President 2024-25