July 25, 2019

Tricia Hatley Continues NSPE Leadership as President-Elect

Tricia Hatley, PE, Freese and Nichols Oklahoma Division Manager, continues her leadership on the National Society of Professional Engineers Board of Directors as their new President-Elect.

Tricia was installed on Saturday at the Professional Engineers Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. She previously served as Vice President in 2018-2019 and immediately starts her new position. She’ll serve three more years on the NSPE board: president-elect in 2019-20, then president in 2020-21 and immediate past president in 2021-22. She has also previously served on the board as President of the NSPE Education Foundation and as the Southwestern Region Director.

In her year as Vice President, she:

Represented NSPE at eight state conferences, where she installed officers, addressed either state boards or attendees on Society updates, and gave presentations on ethics or licensure issues.
Served on NSPE’s Strategic Planning Committee, which developed goals, objectives and tactics for their new three-year plan.
Helped develop a pilot Emerging Leaders program and co-facilitated the program at NSPE’s Annual Conference.
Continued work on NSPE’s advocacy and public policy committee leading the updating and development of nearly 20 position statements in the area of professional practice.
Visited Freese and Nichols’ Georgia and North Carolina offices to talk about NSPE, explain how the engineers there could get involved and connect them with state/local leaders in their regions.

As President-Elect, Tricia will oversee the planning of NSPE’s 2020 conference in Philadelphia. Additionally, she’s working to launch the Emerging Leaders Program from a pilot to institutional program. Lastly, she’ll collaborate with current NSPE leadership to implement their new strategic plan. She spearheaded the effort for getting one of the key focus areas “Promoting diversity and tomorrow’s engineers” into the plan and will work with leadership, staff and members to implement it and the other key focus areas’ actions.

Tricia’s roots in the organization started back in eighth grade, when she participated in MATHCOUNTs, a program administered by NSPE. She later received a scholarship for attending Oklahoma State University through the Oklahoma Society of Professional Engineers. Upon starting her 26-year career with Freese and Nichols, she was seated in a cube outside the office of Joe Paul Jones, PE, then president of NSPE.

“I’m excited to take on another this new opportunity to give back to the organization that has been such a strong influence on my career and that is an advocate for all professional engineers,” Tricia said. “Being a volunteer leader is challenging, but Freese and Nichols has equipped me with the skills and experiences I need to be successful in this role.”

Tricia said she hopes to inspire other women to be involved in leadership roles while also balancing work and family.

“Tricia’s leadership in NSPE gives voice to the issues our clients face in discussions at the national level,” said Brian Coltharp, Freese and Nichols President and CEO. “All of our clients, especially those in Oklahoma, have a direct line to those at the forefront of the engineering profession.”

Tricia follows in the footsteps of previous Freese and Nichols employees who served as NSPE presidents: Joe Paul Jones and Bob Nichols.

“It’s part of who we are as Freese and Nichols – helping our professions remain relevant and healthy while also showing FNI as a leader on a national level,” Chief Operating Officer Mike Nichols said. “It also builds relationships with other firms and entities across the United States as we continue our geographic expansion.”

Tricia Hatley Continues NSPE Leadership as President-Elect

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