During the Spring Governance Meetings in March, the ABET Board of Delegates, which is comprised of representatives from each of ABET’s 34 member societies, elected three officers and an At-Large Director to the Board of Directors.
Donna Reese, Ph.D., was named the 2026-2027 ABET President-Elect. Robert E. Schmidt, M.S., was re-elected as the board of directors secretary, Larraine Kapka, M.S., P.E., as the treasurer and Jeffrey R. Keaton, Ph.D., P.E., as the at-large director.
The officers will be inaugurated during the Fall Governance Meetings later this year on November 7.
Dr. Donna Reese, President-Elect
Reese is a professor emerita of Computer Science at Mississippi State University where she retired as head of computer science and engineering in 2017. She is a former president of CSAB, the professional society for all computing accreditations.
In addition to her service on ABET’s Computing Area Delegation, Reese also serves as a lead facilitator for ABET’s Program Evaluator Training. She began her ABET service in 2005 as a program evaluator and was elected to the Computing Accreditation Commission in 2009.
After serving on the ExCom of Computing Accreditation Commission (CAC) from 2014-2017, she served as the chair of the Computing Accreditation Commission in 2017-2018. Reese was named an ABET Fellow in 2020 and a CSAB Fellow in 2023.
Robert (Bob) E. Schmidt, Board of Directors Secretary
Schmidt, a committed volunteer with ABET since 1978, has held several leadership roles with the organization. These roles include chair of the Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission (ETAC), member of the ABET Board of Delegates and member of the Governance, Audit, Finance and Nominating Committees.
Outside of ABET, Schmidt is actively involved in the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES), contributing to exam development and program criteria revisions and the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS).
Larraine Kapka, Treasurer
Kapka is a professor emeritus at Sinclair College in Dayton, Ohio, USA. A licensed professional engineer in the State of Ohio, her disciplinary specialty is heating, ventilating and air conditioning.
She served in the Air Force and spent 20 years in industry before moving to academia full-time. She led several ABET-accredited programs at Sinclair College and is currently in her seventh year on the ABET Board of Directors. She also helps design and deliver ABET Program Evaluator Training. As a practicing engineer, she was named “Energy Manager of the Year” by the Department of Energy and received a national Federal Energy Efficiency award.
As an academic, she received the Rousche Excellence in Teaching award from the League for Innovation. Besides her work in ABET, she remains active in both The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
Dr. Jeffrey Keaton, At-Large Director
Keaton became an ABET program evaluator about 30 years ago for quality assurance of geological engineering programs. Keaton has served on ABET’s Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) as a member of its Executive Committee and served as the Chair of EAC’s Criteria Committee. He was also a member of the AC from 2017-2020.
While serving as Chair of the EAC Criteria Committee, Keaton had the distinction of making the motion on the floor of the EAC annual meeting to approve major changes to Criterion 3, Student Outcomes, and Criterion 5, Curriculum, in the EAC Criteria for Accrediting Engineering Programs.
Keaton was honored with the 2021 Ivan B. Rahn Education Award from the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME-AIME) and ABET fellow status in 2019. Watch Keaton’s 2019 ABET Fellow Award video to learn more about his career and impact.
ABET is proud to welcome the three officers and At-Large Director to the Board of Directors.