Overview: The 250th National Meeting of the ACS was held in Boston, MA, from August 16 – 20, 2015. The theme of this meeting was “Innovation from Discovery to Application” The Chicago section was represented by Charles Cannon (Local Section Activities), Dave Crumrine (Constitution and Bylaws), Ken Fivizzani (Community Activities), Russ Johnson (Chemistry and Public Affairs) Fran Kraviz (Local Section Activities), Margaret Levenberg, Milt Levenberg (Public Relations and Communication), Inessa Miller, Barbara Moriarty (Science) and Susan Shih (Education). The national activities of each are given, as I know them.
Finances: The Society’s 2014 year-end financial projections were reviewed. The Society is expected to end 2014 with a Net Contribution from operations of $17.9 million on revenues of $499.0 million and $481.1 million in expenses. This is $4.2 million favorable to the 2014 Approved Budget. The Society met four of the five Board-established Financial Guidelines, but did not meet the reserve adequacy guideline again in 2014.
The Society’s 2015 probable year-end financial projections indicate a net contribution from operations of $15.5 million or $2.1 million higher than the Approved Budget. In addition, the Society’s 2015 probable year-end financial projections indicate total expenses of $496.6 million and $512.1 million in total revenues. Both are slightly favorable to the Approved budget; the variance is due to lower than budgeted expenses across all major expense categories.
The Board of Directors voted on the recommendation of the Society Committee on Budget and Finance, to approve an advance member registration fee of $415 for national meetings held in 2015.
Governance: Charles Cannon and Dave Crumrine were recognized for their 15 years of service to Council. Barbara Moriarty was recognized for her 20 years of service to Council.
The Council elected councilors to serve on the Committee on Committees, the Council Policy Committee and the Committee on Nominations. Fran Kravitz was nominated for service on the Committee on Committees. For the Committee on Committees – Christopher Bannochie, Michelle Buchannon, Alan Cooper, Donna Friedman and Carolyn Ribes were elected for full three year terms, while Jetty Duffy-Matzner was elected for a two-year term. For the Council Policy Committee – Frank Blum, Marry Carroll, Lisa Houston and Lee Latimer were elected to full terms. For the Committee on Nominations and Elections – Mary (Moore) Engelman, Roland Hirsch, C. Marvin Lang, Les McQuire and Donivan Porterfield were elected to full terms.
The candidates for the fall 2014 ACS national election for President-Elect 2015 are G. Bryan Balazs and Allison A. Campbell. This year, members of District V are electing a Director. The candidates are our own Ken Fivizzani and John E. Adams. Candidates for Directors-at-Large, who are elected by Council, are Lee Latimer, Willem Leenstra, Ingrid Montes, Mary Jo Ondrechen and Thomas W. Smith.
Meetings and Expositions: The attendance at the Boston meeting was reported to be 13,888 with 9,271 papers. The Exposition had 475 booths with 325 exhibiting companies. There were 5,500 downloads of the Mobile App for the meeting; this is the last meeting that paper copies of the program book will be available for free in order to make the meeting “greener”.
Committee on Economic and Professional Affairs (CEPA): The Committee on Economic and Professional Affairs (CEPA) reported that the unemployment rate for member chemists was 3.1% up from 2.9% in 2014; this compares to the 5.5% total unemployment rate. The on-site career fair at the meeting had 846 job seekers and 58 employers with 229 jobs. The virtual career fair, scheduled for mid-September had additional job seekers and employers.
Local Sections: The theme for National Chemistry Week, to be held October 18-24, is “Chemistry Colors Our World.”
If you have any questions and/or comments about the above actions, please contact me or one of your other representatives. You may contact me by email ([email protected]).
- BARBARA MORIARTY
