We’ve reached the final month of 2025—and what a wild ride this year has taken us on! Geopolitical changes, global economic impacts, and shifts in labor markets have contributed to feelings of anxiety for some, with potential impacts on personal financial stability for others. Uncertainty has been a common word tossed around the water cooler this year.
Advancements in technology and AI have reshaped various aspects of life, from transportation and business to how we grow food and approach medicine. Life is significantly different than it was just 25 years ago, a change that is exciting for some, and intimidating for others.
Was 2025 a unique year? A one-off? You might be interested to know that the year 2025 is a perfect square year (452 = 2025), a rare mathematical occurrence that some people view as having special significance or “cosmic” energy. Maybe that explains some of the changes we’ve had to adapt to—or the many improbable situations that have presented themselves (and then unexpectedly resolved themselves). Given all that as a backdrop, I’m extremely proud to share that within the context of your ITE membership, there wasn’t a significant amount of change or uncertainty—we had another amazing year!
Our Districts and Sections continued to deliver incredible events, meetings, luncheons, and content. Our councils and committees once again delivered webinars, technical documents, and informative conference sessions. And our Student Chapters continued to grow in number as well as in engagement, further setting the stage for a bright future within our profession. ITE’s membership numbers continue to be strong (18,000+), and our collective focus on solving today’s transportation problems while looking ahead to tomorrow’s advancements remains solid. ITE’s Safety Roadmap And Action Plan was debuted in January, and by June we had a dozen new initiatives in motion.
Our professional development courses continue to sell out, and we continue to develop new and exciting offerings to provide you—the members—with additional opportunities. And our Annual Meeting in Orlando featured some of the most incredible content and networking opportunities. Attendees are still coming up to me and saying how much they enjoyed the experience.
As we come to the end of this amazing year in ITE, I’d like to publicly thank Karen Aspelin, P.E., PTOE (F), who served as our ITE International President. Karen visited every single District during her presidency, and even hit a few Student Leadership Summits in between. I enjoyed collaborating with and learning from Karen, who is an extremely wise, humble, and practical individual who has inspired a huge following of ITE members throughout her journey. We need more Karen Aspelins in this world!
I would also like to thank the staff at ITE headquarters. These two dozen individuals are some of the hardest working and terrific people I’ve had the pleasure of working with. I count my blessings every day and look forward to continuing for years to come.
It has been an amazing year for ITE, and I trust that each and every member can point to at least one thing they also found valuable (the more, the merrier!). Thank you for your membership in ITE and thank you in advance for what you’ll continue to do in 2026 to help grow our community of transportation professionals!