The official nominees for 2021 ASCE president-elect, as selected by the Society’s Board of Direction Nominating Committee, are Maria Lehman, P.E., ENV SP, F.ASCE, and Dennis D. Truax, Ph.D., P.E., DEE, D.WRE, F.NSPE, F.ASCE.
The election winner will go on from president-elect to serve as Society president in 2022.
The Society’s election will be conducted May 1 through June 1 via online balloting.
Maria Lehman
Lehman has 38 years of multidisciplinary experience in transportation and facilities, including her current position as vice president of critical infrastructure for the northeast division at Parsons and six years in high-level leadership roles for the New York State Thruway Authority, chief operations officer and interim executive director among them.
She now serves as the ASCE Board of Direction’s assistant treasurer, marking her third stint on the Board (she was Zone 1 vice president from 2001-03 and District 1 director from 1993-96). She’s also a member of ASCE’s Industry Leaders Council and Committee for America’s Infrastructure. Her many past ASCE commitments include three years on the Environmental and Water Resources Institute Board of Governors, a variety of Society-level committees and five years of officer service to the Buffalo Section.
“Through all the changes I have seen, the constant thread in my life has been my ASCE involvement. From being involved as a student member to my current role as assistant treasurer, I have a passion for this profession and for our ability to change the world,” Lehman said in her candidate’s vision statement.
Dennis Truax
Truax has spent four decades on the civil engineering faculty at Mississippi State University and has been the James T. White Endowed Chair and Department Head since 2006. He has also worked in the private sector as a consulting engineer or managing principal of several firms. Also, he has worked with various governmental agencies as advisor or regulatory consultant.
Over a lengthy ASCE career, Truax was District 14 Director from 2001 to 2004, was appointed to two terms as the Society’s treasurer, and has served on many Society-level committees and working groups. This includes his current role as chair of the Committee on Technical Advancement and member of the Committee on Licensure. At Mississippi State, Truax was ASCE Student Chapter faculty adviser for many years. He has served in multiple roles for the Mississippi Section, including president (1991-92).
“Having been involved in ASCE for over five decades – starting as a student member, then as a faculty advisor to a chapter, and ultimately throughout many committee and leadership roles at the section, region, and national level – I have seen this organization morph to meet the future vision of the profession and the professional. I think that time has come again, and I would like to be part of this process of advancement and redefinition,” Truax said in his candidate’s vision statement.
