This message was sent to ##Email## December 16, 2020 Vol. 50 No. 18          Home  |   About Us  |   Membership  |   Resources  |   Events  |   Contact Us Subscribe  |   Archive    GBA NEWS Happy Holidays! As the holiday season is upon us and this memorable year comes to a close, we are filled with gratitude for the support we receive from our members and business partners and for the opportunity to serve the geoprofessional community. While none of us will forget the unprecedented challenges of 2020, we are confident we will also remember our response to those challenges and the ways we came together to support each other. On behalf of the Staff of GBA we wish you a safe and healthy holiday season and we look forward to seeing our friends again in 2021. Register Now: 2021 Winter Leadership Summit GBA’s Winter Leadership Summit is an annual event where committee members and GBA’s Board of Directors convene, usually in person, for strategic planning and working sessions. GBA will hold this event virtually on Thursday and Friday, January 28 & 29, 2021. It is a valuable opportunity for our volunteers to complete assignments together for the current fiscal year ending April 30, 2021 and to identify and prioritize actions to focus on for the 2021-2022 fiscal year. All committee members are invited to participate in this virtual event. There is no fee to attend the 2020 Winter Leadership Summit. All registrants will receive a gift from GBA to show our gratitude for your attendance and your committee participation. Read More: HERE Call for Abstracts: GBA 2021 Spring Conference Are you looking for a way to give back to your profession? We are looking for engaging speakers with valuable information to share with industry leaders. GBA invites you to submit an abstract for GBA’s 2021 Spring Conference. Our members convene at GBA conferences to network, share best practices, learn how to improve their business performance and elevate their profession. Conference Theme: Successfully Navigating Emerging Risks Emerging risks result from events occurring suddenly and are often characterized by uncertainty in terms of probability, expected loss, and potential impact. Over time, these risks develop and evolve requiring review and proactive actions to be taken in order to manage and mitigate the impact to the business.  READ MORE IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Our most popular article from our last issue of GBA NEWSlog. Planning a Virtual Holiday Office Party That Doesn’t Suck  EVENTS Future GBA Events: Mark Your Calendars Now Winter Leadership Summit, A Virtual Event, January 28-29, 2021 Spring Conference 2021: April 22-25, 2021 at the Marriott Marquis, San Diego, CA Fall Conference 2021: October 21-23, 2021 at the Westin Lake Las Vegas Resort & Spa For more information: GBA EVENTS CALENDAR  MEMBER NEWS WSP Purchases Golder WSP Global WSP Global says it has agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Enterra Holdings Ltd, the holding company of Golder Associates, as part of a $1.14 billion cash deal. Alexandre L’Heureux, President and Chief Executive Officer of WSP, said the deal would create the leading global environmental consulting firm with approximately 14,000 of its 54,000 professionals dedicated to accelerating the world’s “green transition”.  READ MORE Atlas Completes Acquisition of WesTest Atlas Technical Consultants Atlas Technical Consultants, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATCX) (“Atlas” or the “Company”), a leading provider of professional testing, inspection, environmental, engineering, program management and consulting services, announced today that it closed on its previously announced acquisition of WesTest LLC (“WesTest”), a key provider of transportation-related testing and inspection services. Headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado, WesTest provides a wide range of materials testing, specification development, forensic engineering, geotechnical engineering and construction support services in Colorado. A Holiday Greeting to My GBA Friends and Colleagues FRAESE AND ASSOCIATES BUMBLES BOUNCE (and other practical business lessons from holiday season shows) Geoprofessional Business Association (GBA) members, like myself, routinely find business knowledge and inspiration in the materials and conferences provided by the association. I was reminded this week of a much less obvious source for business guidance and motivation; the shows of the holiday season. The best of these productions include lessons that are useful in life, including our work. As a holiday greeting to my many friends and colleagues in the GBA community, I offer this reflection on some of the lessons from holiday season shows that are applicable to our success as geoprofessionals.  READ MORE Harry Soose Receives CFO Career Achievement Award CEC Inc. On Thursday, November 19, our Chief Financial Officer Harry Soose, Jr., received the Pittsburgh Business Times 2020 CFO of the Year Career Achievement Award. The virtual awards event was the culmination of a week’s worth of highlights by the Business Times, including a feature photo on the cover of the paper and the CFO of the Year awards section in the print and online editions, as well as articles in their e-newsletters and posts on their social media channels. It was wonderful to see Harry all over Pittsburgh!  READ MORE Alpha Announces Promotions Alpha Testing Alpha Testing could not consistently live out our mission of embracing and solving client challenges without the emerging leadership of key individuals. To recognize performance and leadership to date, and to encourage continued growth in both, the Alpha Board of Directors created our new Associate position. Please join us in extending congratulations on their promotions!  READ MORE  INDUSTRY NEWS The Gift of Time SHRM Here are five ways in which employers are approaching the 2020 holiday season to ensure that employees stay healthy and happy in the new year.  READ MORE "Happy...? Merry...? Careful! Wealth Management Give more thought to your holiday messaging to clients this year.  READ MORE Ho Ho Humbug — Can Employers Restrict Personal Travel? Shawe Rosenthal It’s the holiday season, can employers restrict personal travel due to the pandemic?  READ MORE It Takes and Engineer to Wrap a Gift Interesting Engineering Give the gift of geometry this Christmas with these amazing present wrapping techniques.  READ MORE Old Faithful, The Sequel? The Weather Network A portion of the Aleutian Islands could be part of a previously undiscovered “super” volcano, like the Yellowstone Caldera.  READ MORE Lifespan of Power PHYS.ORG Shuttering fossil fuel power plants may cost less than expected.  READ MORE Cyber Hallucinations? Get Some Rest Scientific American Lack of sleep may be a problem for AIs.  READ MORE Diminishing Returns Huffington Post When should you replace your cloth face mask?  READ MORE No More "Old Boys Club" NY Times Nasdaq pushes for diversity in the boardroom.  READ MORE Resilience, The Holy Grail Josh Bershin After asking more than 1,400 companies to describe their level of adoption of 53 different practices, these results were correlated against business outcomes and various talent outcomes in each company. And here is what was found:  READ MORE What is Measured, Gets Engaged Rhythm Systems Employee engagement is hard to measure, or is it? There are KPI’s for this.  READ MORE Words of Wisdom "Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can't see.” -The Conductor on the Polar Express  BOARD OF DIRECTORS President: Kenneth R. "Ken" Johnston, (GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. / Norwood, MA), 781/278-3700 President-Elect: Thomas W. "Tom" Blackburn, P.E., G.E., F.ASCE (Blackburn Consulting / Auburn, CA), 530/887-1494 Secretary/Treasurer: Leo J. Titus, Jr. P.E., (ECS, Ltd. / Chantilly, VA), 703/471-8400 Directors: Chuck A. Gregory, P.E. (Terracon / San Antonio, TX), 210/641-2112 Martin LaRoche, P. Eng, M.Sc. (Kiewit / Montreal, Canada) Guy Marcozzi, P.E., LEED AP BD+C, F. ASCE (Duffield Associates, Inc. / Wilmington, DE) 302/ 239-6634 Christopher Matthew "Matt" Moler, P.E. (S&ME, Inc. / Greensboro, NC), 336/553-1245 Matthew "Matt" R. Poirier, P.E. (Sanborn Head & Associates, Inc. / Concord, NH) 603/ 229-1900 Steve Wendland, P.G. Steve Wendland, P.E., R.G., D.GE (Kleinfelder, Inc. / Prairie Village, KS ) 913/475-5851 NEWSlog Connect with GBA Recent Issues | Subscribe | Unsubscribe | Web Version   GBA Staff: Joel G. Carson, Executive Director, 301-565-2733 (office) | 402-517-1819 (cell) Sara Menase, Program Manager, 301-565-2733  Phillip D. Pettway, Controller, 301-565-2733  Barb Nappy, Program Director, 301-565-2733 (office) | 727-457-2272 (cell) Geoprofessional Business Association 15800 Crabbs Branch Way, Suite 300  | Rockville, MD 20855 | 301-565-2733 | Contact Us  About GBA The Geoprofessional Business Association (GBA) helps its members and their clients confront risk and optimize business performance by delivering unique professional resources, programs, and services that make them stronger, smarter and more successful. Learn how to add us to your safe-sender list so our e-mails get to your inbox. 7701 Las Colinas Ridge, Ste. 800, Irving, TX 75063