Congratulations, Ed!
Jerry P. Byers | TLT President's Report August 2012
Our headquarters staff CEO has been recognized for his outstanding accomplishments in association management.
STLE Executive Director Ed Salek recently received the Samuel B Shapiro Award for excellence in association management. Celebrating with Ed at the awards ceremony (from left): son Tom, wife Cathy, Ed, son Ted, STLE President Jerry Byers and his wife Barbara Byers.
ONE OF MY PERKS AS STLE PRESIDENT is working with a great group of members on the board and Executive Committee and also with STLE Executive Director Ed Salek, who oversees staff and operations at our Chicago headquarters office. Presidents serve for only one year, but we are very fortunate to have Ed as the face of continuity in our headquarters since he was hired by STLE in September 1996. As much as we appreciate Ed, I just learned that he is also widely recognized outside of STLE for his accomplishments in association management.
Ed is a Certified Association Executive, a designation very similar to our CLS that is offered through the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), an organization comprised of association management professionals. Ed also was the 2009-2010 board chairman of the Association Forum of Chicagoland, a regional society of association professionals. This alone designates Ed as among the best of his peers.
Ed’s most recent honor occurred in June when he was given the Samuel B. Shapiro Award for chief staff executive achievement, the highest honor the Association Forum bestows. This award recognizes an exceptional association/non-profit professional who has “advanced his employer’s mission, who demonstrates the ability and willingness to serve as a mentor and whose contributions significantly impact the association profession through service to both the Association Forum and ASAE.”
Ed actually was presented the award twice. Once was at the Association Forum’s Annual Meeting on June 19, and the second time occurred at an Honors Gala June 21 at Chicago’s Navy Pier—an event I was glad to attend! (The Oscars are only presented once. The really prestigious awards can be presented twice!)
Christie Tarantino, president and CEO of the Association Forum of Chicagoland, had this to say about Ed:
“I first met Ed more than six years ago when he and I served on a panel together, speaking to young professionals about our careers in association management. What I learned in that first encounter with Ed is that he is very dedicated to the field of association management and also to helping others who follow in his footsteps as members of this profession we both care so much about. Ed has remained steadfast in his dedication to the profession and has been a wonderful role model to so many of us in the Chicago community. I’m delighted that he has been honored for his leadership and dedication as our 2012 Samuel B. Shapiro Award winner for chief staff executive achievement. Ed is a great leader who is respected by all in the association-management industry who know him and have had the opportunity to work with him. Association Forum is better for his leadership.”
STLE is also better for Ed’s leadership. Examples are too numerous to list here, but there is one area I particularly want to highlight. Under his guidance, STLE has moved from print to digital media. While we still offer print versions of TLT and
Tribology Transactions, these publications also are widely distributed in digital format and translated into more than 35 languages. Our education program has been expanded by still more digital offerings, including STLE University with its online certificate courses, online short courses, Webinars and podcasts. These new additions are part of the reason why STLE is considered the foremost provider of non-commercial technical education to the lubricants industry.
Please join me in congratulating Ed Salek on this tremendous and well-deserved achievement and for his dedicated service to STLE.
P.S. I must add that Ed is an extremely humble sort who tends to shed the limelight. He’ll find out about this article the same time you do.
Jerry Byers is manager of research and development for Cimcool Fluid Technology in Cincinnati. You can reach him at jerry_p_byers@cimcool.com.