

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: Lee Ann Zelesnikar
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion:
- Shante Fields – Mead &Hunt
- Lalitha Benjaram – Mead & Hunt
Staff Liaison: Jill Murphy
Webinar: Understanding the New Membership Structure
Military Membership – What’s in it for You?
Upcoming National Webinars
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- Webinar
Construction COI: Accelerating Innovation: The NIH Modular Laboratory Journey
This webinar takes an inside look at how modular construction enabled the delivery of a $34M NIH research laboratory 18 months ahead of schedule without compromising quality or performance. This session will highlight how a fully modular, design-build approach accelerated speed-to-market, maintained stringent aesthetic and functional requirements, and relied on rapid design decisions, rigorous spec reviews, and the right project team. -
- Webinar
SAME Energy Security Webinar: Exploring the Challenges at Mountain Home AFB’s New Water Treatment Plant
Mountain Home AFB in Idaho currently uses groundwater to meet the base’s water needs. The aquifer that supplies the groundwater is rapidly depleting and is expected to run out of water in 30 years. This webinar provides an overview of the 15+ year effort to identify new water supplies and how the base chose to get water from the C.J. Strike Reservoir along the Snake River, 14 miles away.
Related TME Articles – Membership
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Transforming Energy Security at Camp Pendleton
A utility energy services contract completed in 2021 at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton included transformer retrofits as an integral energy conservation measures to improve reliability and reduce energy consumption. -
Collaborating with Alaskan Tribes on Cleaning Up Formerly Used Defense Sites
A collaborative program with Alaskan Native communities being led by a research team from the University of Nevada, Reno, is tracking and mitigating impacts from exposure to Formerly Used Defense Sites. -
Conducting Thermal Remediation Under Active Railroad Tracks
As part of the cleanup at a Superfund site that was previously used as waste storage by the Department of Defense, a carefully orchestrated thermal remediation project was conducted that targeted the groundwater plume located underneath a pair of active railroad tracks. -
Extracting and Purifying Rare Earth Elements from Waste
A project underway to develop proteins capable of extracting rare earth elements used in critical defense systems from manufacturing and post-consumer waste aims to secure this vulnerable supply chain and increase national resilience.