Dates – June 17 & 18, 2026
Location – Yours Truly Hotel, 1143 New Hampshire Ave. NW, Washington DC
“The United States will not be able to respond to climate change, drive better economic outcomes, or deliver broader measures of social equality if the physical world remains underdeveloped…. American governance is stronger if it can demonstrate that it has a political system capable of delivering essential services to its people, including safe public streets, functioning mass transit, and plentiful housing. For various American ideals to be fully realized, the country will need to recover its ethos of building…” Dan Wang, Breakneck
In his recent book, Breakneck, author Dan Wang highlights the differences between China, which he characterizes as an engineering state, and the United States, which he characterizes as a lawyerly society. As the quote above illustrates, the United States cannot address the engineering challenges of the 21st century unless we can shift away from our recent history as a lawyerly society to one that is able to build the infrastructure that society requires.
ECL’s next summit, Transforming the Regulatory System, will focus on one important aspect of the shift from a lawyerly society to more of an engineering society, the regulatory system, policy and processes of the U.S. At the summit, we will take a deep dive exploring the wicked problem of transformative regulatory reform and the role the engineering community can play leading these efforts. The summit will examine changes that are needed to:
- Inject “wisdom” back into regulations and the regulatory process and re-energize America’s “producer culture” (Klein).
- Foster innovation as well as build and deploy capacities needed to address critical societal and engineering grand challenges.
- Rebalance “safety and risk” within engineering practice and technological innovation. (From precautionary/hyper-cautious thinking to proactionary/smart choices balancing uncertainty and risk with opportunity and benefits.)
The summit experience will be designed around ECL’s unique approach to learning and change leadership, combining presentations by “evocateurs” (thought leaders) with exercises and conversations that draw out and capitalize on the diverse perspectives and “group genius” of the participants.
This summit is a call to action, an opportunity for the engineering community to think big about the possibilities of transforming our regulatory system rather than continuing to play victim to this system. Join us as we define a new trajectory and renew our commitment to serve society with stewardship, vision and purpose.
“When public works arrive seriously over budget, when the state is barely able to maintain existing infrastructure, when timelines for a new train or a new station can be more than a decade away, we have to question whether the present approach is fit for purpose.” Dan Wang, Breakneck
Hotel reservations for the Yours Truly Hotel are available at a reduced group rate at this link. The reduced rate will be available until May 19, 2026. The room rate listed includes a destination fee which will not be billed to our attendees.
Agenda & Reading List
Transforming the Regulatory System Summit Agenda
Evocateurs
Kevin Frazier. Kevin is Senior Fellow at the Abundance Institute, Director AI Innovation and Law at the University of Texas School of Law and co-host of the podcast Scaling Laws. He will explore the intersection of AI and regulatory policy making, highlighting driving forces reshaping the regulatory system around AI and technology.
Paul Heberling. Paul is Senior Policy Advisor, Permitting and Project Approvals with The Nature Conservancy. Paul will outline needed innovations in regulatory processes from the perspective of an organization focused on environmental stewardship.
Lisa Kammer. Lisa is Vice President/Technical Director at Weston Solutions, Inc. and an expert with respect to site investigation and remediation of deep fractured bedrock PFAS. She will offer her thoughts on needed innovations in regulatory processes from the context of the PFAS challenge.
Rachel Levine. Rachel is the Senior Transmission Policy Analyst for the Niskanen Center’s Climate and Energy Team. She leads transmission-centric research focused on interregional planning, marketplace governance, high-voltage direct current technology, and permitting reform. She will contribute her knowledge and experience related to innovations in energy regulatory processes as well as strategies for engaging with policy makers in new ways.
Guru Madhavan. Guru is the Norman R. Augustine Senior Scholar and Senior Director of Programs at the National Academy of Engineering. Guru is a biomedical systems engineers. His books include “Applied Minds: How Engineers Think” and “Wicked Problems: How to Engineer a Better World.” Guru will offer his system engineering approach to transformation of our regulatory system.
David Sloan Wilson. David is an evolutionary biologist, author, and President of Prosocial World, a nonprofit dedicated to enabling individual and collective action for positive change. He will kick off the summit by helping participants to move beyond minor tweaks to regulations toward an evolutionary view of the regulatory system and its potential transformation — from a static system of constraints into an adaptive, performance-oriented structure.
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