On January 9, President Trump nominated Maj. Gen. Scott A. Spellmon to be the 55th Army Chief of Engineers and Commanding General of the Corps of Engineers, one of the federal government's most important infrastructure-related positions.
General Spellmon currently serves as the Corps of Engineers deputy commanding general for civil and emergency operations.
Engineering News Record has more on the nomination including comments from our colleague Bob Flowers, who joined us in 2013 after serving as 50th Army Chief of Engineers and Commanding General at the Corps of Engineers. Excerpt:
"Flowers, now a senior adviser with water-resources consulting firm Dawson & Associates, says another challenge for the next chief will be assessing the 'pendulum' that swings from a strict environmental emphasis for the Corps to one that encourages development and another pendulum that swings from a slower contracting process to expedited approvals. Those two trends 'swing in tandem,' Flowers says. He notes that the emphasis now favors development and speedier contract approval. Flowers adds, 'The challenge for the new chief is going to be balancing and figuring out where the pendulum is at and leading the organization in a way that will assure success...in fulfilling its missions, no matter where the pendulum is.'" To read the full ENR article and more of Bob's comments, click here
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Dawson & Associates.