SEAOSC honors Jeff Ellis with Engineer of the Year award

Pleasanton, Calif. — Jeff Ellis, director of Codes & Standards for Simpson Strong-Tie, was named Engineer of the Year for his outstanding contributions to the Structural Engineers Association of Southern California (SEAOSC), the engineering profession and the community.

Ellis works closely with SEAOSC on the annual Buildings At Risk Summit. He helped develop the initial idea and then served as chairman successfully planning and implementing the event in 2011 and 2012, and on the executive committee in 2013 and 2014. The purpose of the summit is to reach out to community members (architects, building officials, policy makers, engineers, insurance companies, building owners, etc.) to inform them of seismic risk and how to mitigate it.

The summit offers information on identifying and strengthening “buildings at risk,” which include light-frame weak-story buildings, older residential buildings, non-ductile concrete buildings and unreinforced masonry buildings (URM), as well as discussions on how to best move forward with consideration of past measures, such as education, policies and incentives to motivate action.

“It’s a great privilege and honor to receive this award from such an esteemed organization with a history dating back to 1929 and comprised of very talented and passionate engineers who are true leaders in our industry,” Ellis said. “Additionally, I’m thankful for being part of the great team at Simpson Strong-Tie where we focus on finding the best solutions and serving our customers and the industry in many ways.”