The President's Message

Dear Fellow Members,

If you are reading this, I first want to thank you for sticking with us during the past couple years as we navigated the COVID rollercoaster of challenges that impacted our professional and personal lives.  I am looking forward to getting back to the new normal.  Many organizations, including the Engineers’ Club and Engineering Center struggled through the process, trying to stay relevant and engaged in order to provide continued value to their members.  So, again, we thank you for hanging with us through it all and a special thanks to Past-President Killips for guiding us through last year.

With time brings change and our organization is experiencing change in 2022.  Our longtime Club manager, Gina Falvey departed to pursue an exciting career opportunity and we can’t thank her enough for all she did for our organization.  We brought on Q&A Business Solutions to manage the organization with a focus on membership and core events for the Club and Center.  Jim Andrews and Beth Quick-Andrews own this local business and have been serving organizations like ours for over 32 years.  If you see them or their team around the Club, please give them a warm welcome as they learn how we operate and execute on our mission.

More change.  As you have probably heard by now, the Engineers Club building is on the market and currently under contract.  The building sale has been a regular topic of discussion and I will continue to provide an update at monthly Fellowship nights on progress.  John Killips organized a strategic planning group last year to evaluate where we want to be in the future – physically, financially and strategically. We need a plan where we are able to continue our mission for another 150 years and this group is working hard to develop a framework for that plan.

And again, more change.  The last few years have kept most of us fairly isolated, but we’re back.  We are hosting in person Fellowship nights and attendance is building.  Jake Jare was a sellout.  The 2022 E-Week luncheon was hosted in person and had nearly 250 attendees.  Several local engineering leaders volunteered their time to be speakers at the event, which allowed us to shift speaker budget into an additional scholarship for 2022 and further support the mission of the Center.  I’m asking you all to join us at events this year and bring a friend or colleague.  We have something special here in St. Louis and the organization can be whatever you make of it – networking, friendships, mentorship, professional development or simply a break from the daily grind.

Finally, I want to thank you all for supporting the Club and Center.  We cannot sustain without your support, whether that’s volunteering your time, attending events, donations, membership – it all makes a difference and helps to support our mission.  I look forward to seeing you this year at Club and Center events.  Please reach out anytime if you have questions about the organization or if you have any feedback on how we could implement change to provide greater benefits to members and support our mission!

Sincerely,

Melissa Carver