At its meeting this week in Seattle, the ASCE Board of Direction received an update on the search for its next executive director and appointed an interim leadership team.
Effective Oct. 9, Maria Lehman, P.E., ENV-SP, Pres.23.ASCE, will serve as interim executive director. In this capacity, she will work closely with executive director Tom Smith to ensure an effective transition, and she will assume many of the public-facing duties of the executive director upon Smith’s retirement as ASCE executive director, effective Dec. 31, 2025.
ASCE Chief Operating Officer Edward Stafford, P.E., PTOE, F.ASCE, will also assume additional executive functions as part of the interim leadership team, with responsibility for managing headquarters staffing and operations.
Lehman is retiring in November as GHD’s U.S. Infrastructure Market Director. A noted infrastructure leader and advocate, Lehman served as vice chair of the presidentially appointed National Infrastructure Advisory Council, and she served as ASCE president in 2023.
Before joining ASCE as COO in 2024, Stafford was senior manager of engineering for the City of Boulder (Colorado) Planning and Development Services Department. He served as a director on ASCE’s board from 2019-2022 and as assistant treasurer from 2022-2024.
A comprehensive search for ASCE’s next executive director is underway and is anticipated to be completed in the first quarter of 2026. Applications for the position will be accepted later this month at www.asce.org.
