

Committee Mission
The SAME Membership Committee develops and communicates to all Posts the strategies, best practices, and tools that are most effective for them to grow their membership, to foster greater member engagement and leadership, and to enhance their members’ experience with SAME, further enabling each Post to support the current Strategic Plan of the Society.
Join the SAME Engage Membership NetworkOverview
As one of the “operational” Communities of Interest (vs. “technical” COIs), the Membership Committee serves as an extension of the national office staff to assist all Post leaders, especially Posts’ Membership Chairs/POCs, with the tools, resources and connections necessary to help enhance their members’ society experience through their locally relevant Posts. Between our COI members and the post membership chairs/POCs, invited to our calls and sponsored webinars, we are over 140 people strong across SAME.
SAME’s Membership Committee is open to any SAME member to participate. Unlike many of our other COIs that focus in on special professional and technical interest areas important to SAME members, the Membership COI provides participants with a broad-ranging opportunity to become involved at the national level. Our forum has the potential to positively impact the experience of every current and future member of the society as it pursues its strategic goals.
COI Objectives
- Provide opportunities to foster connections with other Post leaders across all sizes and post geographies
- Engage with best practices employed at other Posts by their leaders and members
- Share creative tools and resources aimed at improving post level retention and recruitment successes

Committee Chair
Bobbi Jo Lang, Olsson
Organization Structure
Vice Chair, Tools & Resources: Dick Kochanek
Chair-Elect, Strategic Direction: Vacant
Vice Chair, Military & Government Engagement: Lee Ann Zelesnikar
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion:
- Shante Fields – Mead &Hunt
- Lalitha Benjaram – Mead & Hunt
Immediate Past Chair: Debra Crafter
Staff Liaison: Jill Murphy
Webinar: Understanding the New Membership Structure
Military Membership – What’s in it for You?
SAME National Webinars
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- Walnut Creek, California
Technology and the Future of Work: Viewpoints at the Intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Construction
This social networking event has been tailored as the intersection between Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Construction and will include a short panel discussion with speakers on venture capital funding and active AI integrated for construction. All proceeds from this event will benefit our new endowment for the Oakland Military Institue & Porterville Military Academy (OMI/PMA). […] -
- Webinar
Derivation of PFAS RSLs and Toxicity Values
As the regulatory environment surrounding PFAS continues to evolve, understanding the toxicological basis for regulatory values used in human health risk assessment becomes increasingly important. This webinar will provide a general overview of toxicity values, including cancer slope factors, reference doses, and reference concentrations, and their derivation from various data sources. -
- Webinar
Simulated Storm: A Live OT Cybersecurity Table-Top Exercise (TTX)
This webinar presents, “Simulated Storm: A Live OT Cybersecurity Table-Top Exercise (TTX),” an immersive virtual session that places participants inside a nation-state attack scenario targeting NAVFAC Pacific power, water, and fuel infrastructure. -
- Webinar
Controlled Hydraulic Fracturing for Delivery of mZVI in Low Permeability Settings
Zero-valent iron (ZVI) is a proven amendment for in-situ chemical reduction of chlorinated solvents, and hydraulic fracturing is particularly well-suited for delivering high mass loadings of microscale ZVI (mZVI) into low-permeability and heterogeneous formations.