Following the road map
David K. Sheetz | TLT President's Report June 2009
With our new Constitution & Bylaws in place, STLE is in an even better position to serve our members.
I would like to begin my term as your president by thanking my employer, ExxonMobil Corp., for supporting my journey through STLE’s executive chairs. I am the seventh STLE president from one of a handful of companies that would eventually become ExxonMobil, following Mike Gurgo (Humble Oil, 1967-68), Jim Dickey (1981-82, Exxon), Carlton Rowe (1985-86, Mobil), Mariam Juves (1991-92, Exxon), Andy Jackson (1995-96, Mobil) and John Hermann (1996-97, Mobil/Texaco).
STLE celebrates its 65th birthday in 2009, and our objective this year is to continue the work generated by the Membership Needs Study conducted under President Bob Baker in 2005 and continued under Presidents Bill Wambach, Dan McCoy, Ed Becker and Immediate Past President Bob Bruce. This study was the impetus for a massive rewriting of STLE’s Constitution and Bylaws, which were created in 1944.
I thank every one of you who voted in favor of the new Constitution and Bylaws. Our society poured more than 3,000 volunteer hours into the project and sought the expertise of attorneys and consultants who specialize in this area. Our road map is now written. With the 65-year-old gavel Bob Bruce has passed to me, I welcome the opportunity to launch our new Constitution and Bylaws.
Our new Constitution and Bylaws is streamlined to allow the society to function more easily under today’s modern law. We have recast the Board of Directors structure into three categories: Section Affairs, chaired by STLE’s vice president; Finance Committee, chaired by the treasurer; and Governance Committee, chaired by the secretary.
This new structure allows our international headquarters in Park Ridge, Ill., to operate under a new Policy and Procedures Manual. We also are retaining our oversight groups:
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The Audit Committee, which offers financial guidance.
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The Technology Committee, which oversees STLE’s Annual Meeting & Exhibition, the International Joint Tribology Conference and emerging technologies.
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The E-Communications Committee, which includes the Editorial & Publications Committee, the Education Committee and also emerging technologies in tribology.
We also are jumpstarting our four certification programs (CLS, OMA I & II and CMFS) by moving them under the auspices of the newly created Certification Committee, chaired by Dr. Fredrick J. Passman. The function of these teams is to ensure that the products and services STLE offers is what you, the member, wants.
I’ve asked STLE-members Ken Pelczarski of Pelichem Associates and Paul Hartsuch, Supresta/ICI, to co-chair our Membership Committee. These two have the daunting task of growing our membership in these challenging economic times.
Dr. Ashlie Martini, Purdue University, is chairing the Young Tribologist Committee and continues to introduce the world of STLE to undergraduate and doctoral students. Finally, William Herguth of Herguth Labs is chairing our Corporate Member Committee so that the involvement of this key membership group remains relevant and exciting.
I would like to invite every one of you to step up and help our professional technical society in any way you feel comfortable. Write or present a paper, volunteer for a committee assignment, talk at a local section meeting, judge a science fair or take one of our new online education courses.
Thank you for the honor of electing me as your president. I look forward to serving you.
Dave Scheetz, CLS, is an equipment builder engineer for ExxonMobil Lubricants & Specialties. You can reach him at david.k.scheetz@exxonmobil.com.