2014 Service to the Profession Winner

The ACEC-SC 2014 recipient is Mr. M. Stevenson Smith, PE. He is currently Executive Vice President of Global Transportation for CDM Smith. Prior to the merger of Wilbur Smith Associates and CDM, Mr. Smith was Chief Executive Officer of Wilbur Smith Associates which was an independent, 100% employee-owned corporation.

Wilbur Smith Associates was founded in 1952. At the time of the merger, Wilbur Smith Associates had over 75 offices located in 15 time zones and 18 countries. The firm had completed more than 25,000 projects including work in all 50 United States and over 117 countries and on six continents.

As Wilbur Smith Associates CEO, Mr. Smith’s primary responsibilities were to plan, develop and establish policies and objectives of the business in accordance with the Board of Directors directives. He was responsible for setting strategy and vision, providing oversight of operations, building and nurturing the company’s culture and providing capital allocation direction.

His 37 years’ experience with the company also included serving as Senior Vice President of the firm’s Special Transportation Services Group, director of the Company’s Southern Region domestic Highway and Bridge Design, Program Management, Traffic Engineering and Aviation projects.

Smith served on the ACEC-SC (know at the time as Consulting Engineers of South Carolina) Board of Directors, including the officer positions and was the CESC President in 1997-1998.

One of ACEC-SC’s most significant programs began while Mr. Smith was at the helm. The CESC-SCDOT (now ACEC-SC/SCDOT) Partnering Committee was formed in 1997. This program continues to be the strongest and longest partnership ACEC-SC has to date. Serving on the Partnering Committee is competitive among transportation firms. For its 18 years, the partnership’s Annual Meeting in the fall is well attended by ACEC-SC members and by SCDOT engineers and leaders.

Mr. Smith continued to serve ACEC-SC as one of its representatives on the South Carolina Council of Engineering and Surveying Societies until recently. For those of you who may not know, the Council of Engineering and Surveying Societies is charged with making recommendations to the Governor for appointments to the South Carolina State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors.

Prior to and following Mr. Smith’s service on the Board, Wilbur Smith Associates has been a huge supporter and sponsor of the engineering community supplying numerous volunteers, board members and officers not only to ACEC but other engineering organizations. His firm’s leadership over the many years has strengthened engineering in South Carolina and the country.