Wow, the holidays are here and just getting this message out. FES-CFL has already done a lot of incredible things this year, and I am grateful to serve as this year’s FES-CFL president! I currently lead the transportation group at AVCON Inc. and feel blessed to have a great team supporting me! My interests outside of engineering include spending time with my wife and two girls, 9 & 11. I also participate in triathlons and am recently completed the Ironman Florida event.

My main message as your president this year is to encourage all FES-CFL members to get involved. Whether it be at our upcoming golf fundraiser, monthly luncheons, teach-ins at local elementary schools, or FES-CFL social events, get out there and make the most of your membership!

Our K-12^th committee continues to engage with our local elementary school children and future engineers. They provide presentations to these children to show them what we do as engineers which motivates the new generation of engineers. This committee needs your help, contact [email protected] if you are interested in participating, see our advertisement email to join this committee and join future events.

Clint Pletzer, P.E.

2022-2023 FES-CFL President

Alfredo Rodriguez, Vice President

Alredo was born and raised in Puerto Rico and graduated from the University of Puerto Rico. He has over 20 years of experience in Highway design and currently works with Atkins Global as GC servicing Florida’s Turnpike. He enjoys spending time with his wife and four children and loves fishing and volunteer work for people in need around the Winter Garden Area.

Chris Frank, Treasurer

Chris graduated from UCF and works for Volkert. He has over 20 years of experience in the design and construction of minor to major roadway projects. He resides in City of Winter Park with his son and girlfriend. He enjoys travel, ride motorcycles, local breweries and wine tasting events and recently visited Bali, Indonesia to do some incredible scuba diving.

Nate Wilbur, Secretary

Nate has 17 years of Industry Experience and is a graduate of UF. He works for Michael Baker International as a Senior Roadway Engineer in their Orlando office. He has two young children, and enjoys exercising, golf, and fishing in his spare time. 

Eric McAra, Past President

Another UCF grad, Eric works for KSM Engineering and Testing and has 18 years of experience in the Geotechnical field. In his personal time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and three children. His interests include cooking, hiking, camping, being a home handyman, and attending his kids’ activities.

Ryan Blaida, State Director

Ryan is a graduate of UCF with over two decades of experience in Central Florida Land Development. He is active in the Florida Engineering Society (FES), having served on the local board, serving on State Committees, and being a graduate of FELI. He was born and raised in Florida and has lived in Orlando since 1995. Ryan enjoys spending time with his kids, coaching his son in youth sports and attending UCF sporting events with friends and family/

Mandee Brandt, Region 3 Vice President

As the Region 3 VP, Mandee is responsible for coordinating between the Central Florida, Daytona, and Indian River Chapters’ State Directors and the State Board. She is a former President (2010-2011) of the Central Florida Chapter and has been involved with FES for 21 years starting as a student member. She has participated on numerous com- mittees, but her favorite is the Scholarship Committee. She was named FES Young Engineer of the Year in 2009.

Mandee works for HNTB has worked in the Transportation Design industry as both a road- way and drainage engineer for over 20 years. She graduated from UCF. She has two young children and in her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, being outdoors, and attending UCF Football games.

Last July we had a great officer installation at the Twisted Handle! Thanks to those who came out!

FES/ACEC also put on another incredible summer conference, this year in Orlando at the Waldorf Astoria. Members of the FES-CFL board was joined by state FES leaders from our local chapter Ryan Blaida and Mandee Brandt.

We were also proud to celebrate past FES-CFL President, and current FES state board member Charles Davis winning Engineering Faculty Member of the Year Award. Congratulations Charles!

Meet the 2021-2022 Scholarship Recipients: Through your support we were able to provide 5 scholarships to deserving students this past year. Please see below for more information about these up-and-coming engineers.

Evan Andrews has been awarded the C.W. Sheffield Memorial Scholarship for $1,250. He attended Seminole High School in the international baccalaureate program. While at Seminole High School, Evan participated in Science Olympiad, was a Mu Alpha Theta member, and was part of a local rowing club. Evan is currently attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he would like to study Biomedical Engineering. He enjoys taking STEM classes and in 10^th grade through his Physics class was first introduced to engineering.  His dream career would be to help design a chip that could be installed in a human brain to help the loss of hearing or sight.

Christian Cardona was awarded one of the Central Florida FES Scholarships for $1,000. He attended NeoCity Academy in Osceola County. While at NeoCity, Christian founded the Science Club where students are able to get further enrichment in physics including practical experiments. He served as a student ambassador and interned with Skywater Technologies where he used CADD to layout a new storage room. He is currently attending the Georgia Institute of Technology where he would like to study either Electrical or Mechanical Engineering. While Christian lived in Puerto Rico, his family would brainstorm solutions to problems at the family home and he admired this family's ingenuity that was simple. 

Ms. Lydia Chau was awarded one of the Central Florida FES Scholarships for $1,000. She attended Timber Creek Highschool. While at Timber Creek High School, Lydia participated on the Robotic Team, Debate Team, and was on the AAU Highschool Fencing Team. Lydia is currently attending University of Notre Dame where she is planning on majoring in Mechanical Engineering. Both of her parents are engineers. Participating on the robotics team had a major influence for why she would like to pursue engineering. She enjoyed the research side of the Team as well as building/designing the robots. 

Robert Schneeberger was awarded one of the Central Florida FES Scholarships for $1,000. He attended William R. Boone High School. While at Boone High, Robert participated in Mu Alpha Theta, served as captain on the Cross-Country team, and earned his Eagle Scout. His Eagle Scout project consisted of building gardening stalls for compost and fertilizer for a community garden at a Methodist Church. Robert is currently attending the University of Florida where he is majoring in Computer Engineering. In third grade he did a career project about engineering and learned it fit his personality because of puzzles and problem solving.  Robert hopes he can work in artificial intelligence where he can use it to help make everything things better.  

Ms. Lillian Sullivan was awarded one of the Central Florida FES Scholarships for $1,000. She attended Hagerty High School. While at Hagerty, Lillian participated in the Computer and Robotics clubs, served as Captain of the high school Golf Team, and was Secretary General of Hagerty’s Model UN. She also plays piano.   Lillian is currently attending the University of Florida where she is majoring in Electrical Engineering. Working with the robotics club introduced her to engineering. Lillian would like to apply the world of electrical engineering to neurology and she wouldn’t mind getting dual degrees, electrical engineering and medicine so she can bring outside the box thinking to the medical field.

Our past president Eric McAra led the way in organizing our FES-CFL Fall Bowling fundraiser event. This year’s event was another huge success that raised over $2,000 for local charities, engineering scholarships, and Mathcounts. We also collected a substantial amount of food donations for Mathew’s Hope, a local food pantry that focuses on serving the homeless. We would also like to thank ASHE-CFL for co-sponsoring the event! Congrats to the winning Teams with AVCON taking 2^nd and the big winner was Kimley Horn, pictured here.

Fall Bowling Tournament Winning Team.

Congrats Kimley Horn

Food Donation Unloading

Donation handoff to the Matthews Hope local food pantry

We also had an incredible luncheon presentation from Forest Lake Academy’s robotics Team. These incredible kids brought their inventions to life, right in front of our eyes. Some of the kids have already created their own companies and have designed apparatus that assist medical professionals with training for open heart surgery utilizing 3D printing. A big thanks to Professor Robert Henley and his robotics team for coming out and showing FES-CFL what they do.

This past week our board members also attended the ASHE Holiday Gala which was a great event. Always proud to sponsor our local associations events as we partner together for our local community. Our members supported their toy donation effort to support the local non-for-profit organization Gifting a Smile. Thanks to those members that attended the event.

Thanks to all that have made it a great year for FES-CFL so far! If you haven’t had a chance to join us at an event, please consider doing so. 

In 2023, FES-CFL will host a New Year's Social event in January, a Brightline Luncheon and a community service event at Give Kids the World in February, and of course our annual Golf Tournament in April. 

We will also support additional Teach-Ins at local elementary schools and could use volunteers and sponsors to support the Mathcounts competition. Please keep your eyes open for additional information and thanks for your support!

Clint Pletzer

2022-2023 FES-CFL President