Posted on July 24, 2023
By Judith Powers
At the Western Dredging Association (WEDA) business meeting on Thursday, July 20, President Matt Binsfeld announced that the Board of Directors had developed a four-pillar strategic plan for the organization, founded on membersip, publications, education and governance.
“For the first time in our organization’s history, we created statements for our organization’s mission and vision,” Binsfeld told the members. A tri-annual turnover of Board of Directors members had presented an opportunity for our board to revisit our strategic plan, which was last updated in 2017, he said.
‘We believe this updated plan will continue supporting the growth of our organization, just as the 2017 version accomplished,” he said.
“The Western Dredging Association promotes safe, sustainable dredging practices that support economic development and environmental stewardship by advancing and engineering and facilitating communication between industry, government, consulting professionals and stakeholders in the dredging community, providing networking and educational opportunities,” he said.
“WEDA’s vision is also to advance science and engineering to solve the industry’s in-water construction challenges through the sharing of knowledge to inspire efficient, innovative, and sustainable dredging practices,” he continued.
“If there is one point to take away from this report, it’s that our strategic plan is focused on supporting industry in facing down the challenges ahead. We want WEDA to continue as the “hub of knowledge,” a forum for collaboration and a gateway that engages and attracts young talent to our industry,” he said.
Other parts of the plan include increasing the organization’s professional staff, and re-launching a Website/Social Media commission and Membership Sponsor Commission, and creating a new
sponsor and Vendor Commission.
The Board will describe the full plan during a webinar in August, and it will be available on the WEDA website www.westerndredging.org after the webinar.
