CHEMICAL CONSULTANTS NETWORK ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1999
The Chemical Consultants Network (CCN) is a topical group of the Philadelphia Section of the ACS that has also been recognized and supported by the National AIChE. It was organized in December, 1994, and has held monthly meetings since February, 1995. It is run by a Steering Committee consisting of its elected officers, committee chairmen, and two members at large. We believe that CCN is the first and only organization for consultants within the American Chemical Society. The name “Chemical Consultants Network” was adopted to reflect the purpose of the group which is to enhance members’ opportunities to use their professional expertise as consultants.
MISSION: To form a volunteer organization to support members in expanding the meaningful use of their expertise, by:
1999 SUMMARY:
CCN held ten monthly meetings with an average attendance of 40+. During the year, membership grew from 275 to an estimated 320 at year end. We continue to attract new members at our monthly meetings as well as directly through our website. (In the five years of its existence, CCN has grown from an initial membership of 24 to this total!!!)
The membership is about 60% chemists and 40% chemical engineers. Most of them reside in an area from Wilmington, DE to Princeton, NJ, although there a few members from as far as Florida, Oklahoma and the West Coast. In addition, we now have international members residing in Canada, UK, Australia
and Japan. Meeting notices are published in the publications of the Philadelphia, Delaware, Princeton and Trenton ACS Sections, and the Philadelphia Section of AIChE monthly newsletter.
CCN's growing influence in ACS and AIChE has resulted in expanded insurance coverage options available to
members. In September 1999, the ACS announced the program offering members long term disability and liability insurance
programs.
This year CCN got involved with community affairs for 1999 was another outstanding year in which CCN's website has
undergone major improvements and is considered the main focus and route for providing member data for all interested in
CCN member skills. The site provides meeting notices and other information about CCN in an attractive,
user-friendly format. An additional purpose of the site is to function as a self-service consultant resource for potential clients.
Visits to the site have risen to an average of 750 visits per month, with a peak in excess of 900 visits.
Based on informal surveys, it appears that not only have many of the listed members obtained consulting leads via the
CCN web site, but that the incidence of actual business that comes to members via the website contacts seems to be growing.
In addition to the website, a paper directory that includes key words about each member's specialties, is distributed to all members and
currently contains information on over 300 chemists and/or chemical engineers. Our members will be further served in with the offering of an electronic version (disk) of the directory for a nominal fee of $4.00.
MEETINGS:
Ten meetings were held in the evening, usually the second Wednesday evening of the month, at the Cynwyd Club in Bala Cynwyd, PA or at the University of Sciences in Philadelphia (formerly the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science). They consisted of a social hour, a dinner, a business meeting, and a talk. Five Steering Committee Meetings were held to plan for future meetings and ways to improve the CCN Two of the regular meetings were held
jointly with the Philadelphia ACS and one with the Association of Consulting Chemists and Chemical Engineers (meeting held in Princeton, NJ) and one with the IEEE.
Date Topic & Speaker:
OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES:
Henry F. Clancy succeeded David H. Vahsing to serve a 2-year term as Chair, beginning January 1, 1999. Treasurer and Secretary were William Retallick and Wolf Karo, respectively,, serving the second of a two-year term for each office. Also, effective
January 1, 1999, Michael Bigwood began serving a 2-year term as Vice Chair (Chair-Elect,
succeeding to Chair in 20001). Robert Haluska began serving the first year of a 2-year term as member-at-Large of the Steering Committee.
Committee chairs elected for the year were:
A number of organizational changes ere made necessary during the year due to outside pressures and expanded work activities. tom Happ resigned mid year as Chair, Meeting
Arrangements and Dave Vahlsing has stepped into the breach. Mike Bigwood handed over Publicity to Bill Reuter in the 4th. quarter (Bill now serves on the Steering Committee) and Henry Clancy submitted his resignation as Chair, CCN effective January 1, 2000. Mike Bigwood, the Chair-Elect, will assume the responsibilities of the Chair on January 1, 2000, on year earlier than originally planned. Elections were held in the 4th. quarter for Secretary, Treasurer and one member-at-Large, each to serve a 2-year term. Wolf Karo, Bill Retallick and Ed Brame were the respective winners.
FINANCES:
In 1999, CCN continued its policy of charging dues to members who want to have their own webpage on the CCN site - $25 for ACS and/or AIChE members. $35 for non-members. The dues are used to pay for the website and publicity, and to complement the annual ACS, grant that supports program and mailing expenses. All members are listed on the website, but only paid members have their own page linked to our site. There are approximately 180 dues paying members in the CCN. In addition to
the support from the Philadelphia ACS, the National office of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers also provided funding in 1999 to help with program, publicity, web site expenses, mailing expenses, guest speaker dinners and supplies and equipment. In 1999, the CCN purchased an overhead projector for use at its meetings.
PLANS FOR 2000:
Ten monthly meetings will again be scheduled. Some meetings will be directed towards enhancing technical knowledge and skills, with the first such meeting, a vendor night, planned for March where the presenters will be ChemDraw and Simulation Sciences. We will continue to consider means of improving the CCN and it's services. The website will be updated regularly and publicized more effectively. Dues will be collected form CCN members to support website activities and member web pages and we will again apply to the Philadelphia Section of the ACS and the National AIChE for financial support. We will continue to work with ACS and AIChE officials at the local and the National level to improve services for and recognition of consultants
Respectively Submitted
Henry F. Clancy, Chair
Jan 13: "Workshop: Writing a Winning Resume" ; Dr. William Golton
Feb 18: "On-line Databases and the Internet"; Edlyn Simmons, Mike Bigwood, Norman Santora
Mar 10: "Consulting from the Customer Perspective" ; Percy Leaper
Apr 21: "How to be an Expert Witness"; Dr. R. Saferstein (Joint with ACC&CE)
May 12: "Doing Business on the Internets"; Monica Mitchell
June 13: Annual Picnic - at the Cynwyd Club
SUMMER BREAK
Sep 8: "Y2K - Will it create a problem for my business?"; Ronald Stoloff
Oct 13: "Project Finance and Financial Engineering"; Peter Joyce
Nov 10: "Affordable Insurance for Consultants"; Ena Castro
Dec 8: "Consulting on Consulting - An open forum"; Dr. William Golton
Tom Happ (Meeting Arrangements)
Michael Bigwood (Publicity)
Mark DeLuca (Webmaster)
Bill Golton (Website)
David Vahlsing (Membership Committee)
The Steering Committee also serves as the Nominating and Program Committee. All committee chairs serve on the Steering Committee.