The CFSEI Nominating Committee announced last month the candidates for the 2010 – 2011 national officer elections.  Once elected, the candidates will be sworn in at the CFSEI Annual meeting, in a ceremony at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center, Atlanta Georgia, on Thursday, May 27. 

The elections are to fill the seats being vacated with the expiring terms of board members Rick Haws of NuconSteel, Sutton Stephens of Kansas State University, and retiring CFSEI president John Matsen of Matsen Ford Design.  Matsen will stay on with the board for another year in the advisory non-voting position of Immediate Past President.  The current Immediate Past President, Jeff Klaiman, will participate in his final board meeting on May 27.

Nominating Committee chairman Rob Madsen, in discussions with CFSEI staff, stated that he was looking for a broad geographical representation of the CFSEI membership, while considering those who had been engaged in the CFS framing community.  There are four candidates for the three available positions – a brief summary of the experience of each candidate is listed below.  CFSEI is encouraging members to vote electronically at www.cfsei.org.  To be counted, ballots must be received in the CFSEI headquarters office by 5:00 PM Eastern, on Monday, May 17.

Candidates Information:

Howard Lau, P.E., S.E.
Howard Lau has been a practicing structural engineer for 36 years and currently serves as President of Shigemura, Lau, Sakanashi, Higuchi and Associates, Inc., a consulting structural engineering firm located in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Howard is a founding member and past president of the CFSEI Hawaii chapter, has served as a past president of the Structural Engineers Association of Hawaii and has previously served on the LGSEA Board of Directors.  He received his Bachelors and Masters degrees from University of Hawaii at Manoa. He is also currently licensed in the States of Hawaii and California and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas.

John Lyons, P.E.
John Lyons has 16 years of engineering experience, including 3 years working exclusively in Cold-formed Steel Design. John earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees in engineering from Virginia Tech. Currently he a structural engineering project manager specializing in convention centers, building renovations and expansions. He also serves as Walter P. Moore’s company expert on cold-formed steel framing design.  John has been active in LGSEA and CFSEI leadership and committees for many years.  He is a founding member and past president of the CFSEI Atlanta/Southeast chapter, and has previously served on the LGSEA Board of Directors.

Sutton Stephens, Ph.D., P.E., S.E.
Dr. Stephens attended Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, graduating in 1974 with a B.S. in Civil Engineering.  He subsequently worked as a structural engineer for consulting engineering firms in Colorado, Washington and Montana. His most recent consulting position was as Chief Structural Engineer for Gordon-Prill-Drapes, Inc. a multi-disciplined consulting engineering firm in Missoula, Montana where he managed projects throughout the Northwest and California. He has been registered as a civil engineer since 1979 and as a structural engineer since 1981 in Washington State. Dr. Stephens is also currently licensed in California, Kansas and Montana. In 1998 Dr. Stephens began graduate school at the University of Missouri - Rolla. He earned an M.S. Degree in Civil Engineering in 1999 and a Ph.D. in 2002. He joined Kansas State University as an Assistant Professor in the fall of 2001, teaching undergraduate and graduate structural engineering courses in the Department of Architectural Engineering and Construction Science, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2006. His area of research is in cold-formed steel and he is a member of the American Iron and Steel Institute Committee on Framing Standards.

Steve Tipping, S.E.
After graduating from Clemson University, Steve began his engineering career as first lieutenant with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and completed a tour of duty in Vietnam. Prior to founding Tipping Mar, he worked for several other San Francisco Bay Area engineering companies including Peter Culley & Associates, where he was a vice president. He has been president of Tipping Mar since its inception in 1983 as Steven Tipping + associates. Steve received the Engineering News Record Award of Excellence as one of the Top 25 Newsmakers in 2006 for devising and developing a corrugated-cold-formed steel shear wall assembly.  Steve is past president and fellow of the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California.