Dear CMAA Southern California Chapter Esteemed Colleagues,

It is an incredible honor to serve as this year’s President of the CMAA Southern California Chapter. As an active board member since 2011, I remain deeply committed to advancing our Chapter’s mission and vision. Leading an organization that fosters connection, collaboration, and professional growth is a privilege, and I am proud of the contributions we make to both our communities and our profession.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Farzad Tasbihgoo for his exemplary leadership as last year’s Chapter President. I also want to thank our Chapter Board and Foundation for their dedication and hard work, which have been instrumental in achieving remarkable milestones. Your efforts have played a vital role in supporting our scholarship and internship programs and driving the success of our Chapter’s mission.

Aligned with CMAA’s National Vision and Mission, our Chapter proudly serves as a leading voice for construction management professionals. Through our focus on education, mentorship, and professional development, we ensure that our industry remains agile, innovative, and prepared for future challenges. Highlights of our initiatives include contributions to the success of the 2028 Summer Olympics and the adoption of advancements like artificial intelligence—both of which underscore our commitment to progress and efficiency across the industry.

As President, I am dedicated to furthering these efforts through collaboration, advocacy, and resource sharing. By expanding our membership, creating value, and supporting the next generation of leaders, I am confident we will continue to elevate our Chapter and the PMCM profession as a whole.

I am proud of all that we have accomplished together and excited to build on this momentum in the year ahead. Thank you for your unwavering support and commitment. Please don’t hesitate to share any ideas on how CMAA can better support you or your organization.

With gratitude and enthusiasm,

 

Jinous Samii-Saremi
CMAA Southern California Chapter President 2024-2025

 

Dear CMAA Southern California Chapter Members,

As I step into the role of Chapter President, I'm filled with a sense of gratitude and optimism. This is a time for us to reflect, celebrate our achievements, and look ahead to future opportunities.

We've reached significant milestones together, including a major revenue achievement. This success is a testament to the hard work and dedication of every member. I am thankful for your contributions, which have been crucial in our Chapter's growth.

Our Chapter stands strong today, thanks to the vision and dedication of our past leaders. Their hard work has set a high bar that we aim to maintain and build upon.

In line with CMAA’s National Vision and Mission, our Chapter focuses on being a key voice for construction management professionals. A major part of our ongoing effort is integrating program and construction management more deeply into the industry's future.

Looking forward, we have set our sights on "Workforce Development". This goal is ambitious and requires collaboration from all members, including Owners and PMCM professionals. The effort we put in now will shape our industry in the years to come.

Many of you are already contributing by mentoring and supporting the next generation. I encourage everyone to get involved in this important work. Together, we can prepare a new generation of professionals to meet the industry's challenges.

In conclusion, our Chapter is poised for an exciting future. Through our joint efforts, we can shape the future of construction management in Southern California. I invite all members to be a part of this journey, helping to build a skilled and strong workforce.

Thank you for your support and commitment to our Chapter. Together, we will continue to achieve great things.

Sincerely,

Farzad Tasbihgoo
CMAA Southern California Chapter President 2023-24

Dear Southern California CMAA Esteemed Colleagues,

It is truly an honor and a privilege to serve as this year’s President for CMAA Southern California, such an important professional association that has accomplished so much. I would like to thank Garrett Terlaak for his leadership as the Chapter President this past year, and Brandon Dekker and Darrin Lambrigger for their time and service on the CMAA and Foundation Board. Lastly, I would like to give a special thank you to Lisa Sachs, CMAA’s President in 2010-11, for getting me involved in this important association.

As a CMAA Board Member since 2010, I’m thoroughly dedicated to the mission and vision of this dynamic Chapter and exceptionally proud to lead on an organization that provides a strong platform for its members to advocate, brainstorm, network, and give back to our communities.

The changes around us require that we help our clients navigate through new and increasingly complex project delivery. Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure to speak with many CMAA members, partners, and stakeholders. These conversations have continued to increase my enthusiasm for the construction management profession, and I recognize the great value our engagement brings to our local organizations in Southern California.

A couple of our major goals for the chapter this year are to align the chapter more closely with the national organization by being the voice of the PMCM industry and serving as the premier resource for industry professionals, and to promote, support, educate, and develop professionals who lead the delivery of programs and projects.

Our thoughts and sympathies go out to all those impacted by Hurricane Ian in Southwestern Florida and the entire Southeastern US. This and other recent events highlight the importance of the construction industry, as the construction industry will be instrumental in rebuilding these areas which have been devastated by this storm.

I'm proud of our Chapter's successes over the last many years and look forward to further collaboration efforts that leverages new opportunities with increasing membership, value, and growth. As we elevate ourselves and continue to learn, we will elevate our chapter.

Please always feel free to reach out with how CMAA can help you or your organization!

Yashar Hooshvar, PE, CCM
CMAA Southern California Chapter President 2022-23

Dear Southern California CMAA Esteemed Colleagues,

In this first quarter of 2022, optimism is overtaking uncertainty in the construction industry, presenting a different set of challenges than those we faced in 2020 and 2021. On behalf of the CMAA Southern California Chapter Board of Directors, we are grateful to play a part in your continued success.

During our Strategic Planning gathering at the end of 2021, we were reminded that our mission is to further the profession of construction management by adding value to our members. At each Board meeting, when we review the status and accomplishments of each Committee, I am proud to say that your Directors are focused on accomplishing this mission. They devote many hours and take tremendous responsibility in the volunteer positions they hold at CMAA. Our goal is to feature topics that are timely and valuable to you and your employer.

As many of you would know, the Southern California Chapter works together with the CMAA Southern California Foundation to raise money for scholarships and internships. Companies are aggressively hiring right now, and we are seeing a shortage of qualified new people in our profession. Supporting the next generation of CM practitioners is critical to our success as an industry.

Every time you attend or sponsor a CMAA Chapter event, money goes to these programs. So far this year, we have held 10 virtual events, with more than 1,000 attendees and 50 sponsors, raising nearly $60,000 for CM students to further their education. We received more than 80 scholarship applications, and plan to award more money than ever.

Many have asked when the Chapter will be back to in-person events. We will decide this on a case-by-case basis. Some will remain virtual for the sake of convenience, travel, and increasing costs at our venues. But we recognize the importance of reconnecting, too. In the next few months, look forward to attending:

• Owners’ Night on 3/21 at The Grand in Long Beach
• 29th Annual Gala on 6/30 at the Hyatt Regency in Long Beach
• Golf Tournament on 9/12 at Old Ranch Country Club in Seal Beach

As we, your Board of Directors, endeavor to support you, we want to thank you for supporting us, too. I encourage you to get involved in the Chapter, and please reach out if you’d like to participate more.

Respectfully,
Garrett Terlaak
CMAA Southern California Chapter President

Dear Southern California CMAA Esteemed Colleagues,

I hope this message finds each of you well.  It is hard to believe that summer is already upon us.  The first half of the year has developed at a blistering pace and based on the economic indicators; it is going to continue like this in the field of design and construction for the foreseeable future, which is great news for all of us. 

This year the Southern California Chapter Board has aggressively embarked on the execution of our strategic plan that was developed towards the end of last year.  Through the first half of the year, we have accomplished some exciting things together including delivering events with record breaking attendance.  Working in stride with our Southern California Foundation Board, we have already made some tremendous progress toward making 2021 a very special year.  Many of you by now have seen our Save the Date for our upcoming CMAA California Hybrid Rising CM Event this coming November 5th.  This is an exciting event because not only is it in partnership with our Northern California and San Diego Chapter colleagues, but this will be the first time we have ever had an event of this magnitude that helps support our Chapter’s mission by focusing on industry advocacy and the development and growth of young professionals coming into the professional construction management field.  The event will host a student competition along with several education seminars to help advance students and young professionals as they begin their careers.  It is going to be a fantastic event!  Additionally, we have implemented strategic initiatives and partnerships with industry organizations that we feel allow us to provide greater value to our members, owners, and students.  One of these initiatives that we challenged ourselves with this year was to increase our owner and student participation by providing them with easier access to many of our educational programs.  To accomplish this, we will continue to make our education events available on-line as well as free of charge for owners and students who wish to attend in order for our Chapter to gain a broader reach as an industry leader and resource.  The content of these events has been rich and already we are seeing significant spikes in owner and student participation which is exciting.  As CDC and governmental guidelines continue to soften it is our intent to resume in- person programs this summer where appropriate as we know how vital networking with colleagues is for all of us.  Our committees have made extraordinary progress this first half of the year delivering nearly forty events in total, and we continue to see attendance soar. Our events calendar continues to fill up with tremendous programs with rich relevant content which we think you will find value in attending.  We have also implemented our electronic survey tool which allows our members to give valuable event input as well as provides a vehicle for our members to provide suggestions on future content.  Your input continues to help guide these programs. Lastly, do not forget about our Annual Golf Tournament and Gala coming later this year in September and October.  These two flagship events will be our best ever! 

As we continue to chart our course together this year, let us continue to persevere, as greatness is never behind us yet always ahead of us. It is an honor to serve as your Southern California Chapter President this year and I hope to get the opportunity to see every one of you soon.  I want to thank our Board of Directors, Foundation Board and Committee Members for their tireless dedication and leadership, and want to wish all of you, our valued members and colleagues, a very healthy and prosperous second half of the year.  The best is yet to come!

 

Respectfully,

Brandon Dekker, M.S., DBIA

CMAA Southern California Chapter President

Dear Southern California CMAA Esteemed Colleagues,

The new year is already off to a blistering pace and I hope that you and your families are healthy and safe.  This year the Southern California Chapter Board has feverishly embarked on the execution of our strategic plan that was developed towards the end of last year.  Working in stride with our Southern California Foundation Board we have already made some tremendous progress toward making 2021 a very special year.  Many of you by now have seen our Save the Date for our upcoming CMAA California Virtual Rising CM Event this coming March 6th.  This is an exciting event because not only is it in joint partnership with our Northern California and San Diego Chapter colleagues, but this will be the first time we have ever had an event of this magnitude that helps support our Chapter’s mission by focusing on industry advocacy and the development and growth of young professionals coming into the professional construction management field.  The event will host a student competition along with several education seminars to help advance students and young professionals as they begin their careers.  It is going to be a fantastic event!  Additionally, we have our upcoming Owner’s Night Event coming up on February 11th which will prove to be another great evening full of education and networking using our new REMO software platform allowing attendees to get the full experience as if you were there in person.  Our Committee Chairs have made extraordinary progress in a very short amount of time and already we are seeing our calendar filling up with some tremendous programs with rich content which we think you will find value in attending.  Just this past week we had record attendance at one of our breakfast events which as awesome to see.  Lastly, do not forget about our Annual Golf Tournament and Gala coming later this year in September and October.  These two flagship events will be our best ever! 

As we set out on our course together this year, remember that greatness is never behind us yet always ahead of us.  It is an honor to serve as your Southern California Chapter President this year and I hope to get the opportunity to meet each and every one of you soon.  I want to thank our Board of Directors and Committee Members for their tireless dedication and leadership, and want to wish all of you, our valued members, and colleagues, a very healthy and prosperous 2021.  The best is yet to come!

 

Respectfully,

Brandon Dekker, M.S., DBIA

CMAA Southern California Chapter President