Looking ahead to the future
September 17, 2015




The Promotion of Engineering and Scientific
Knowledge Relating to Plastics
Educate the Membership
Promote Relationships with other Plastics
Professionals
Have fun.

The Origins
- Newark – New Jersey Section chartered February 20, 1944
- Palisades Section chartered January 27, 1964


The Merger: 2008 – 2009
Stabilization, Operating Guidelines written
- 2009-2010


Program Revitalization : 2010-2012
Building and Securing the Future: 2012 -


>300 members
Rich Experience and Tradition







Crosses multiple polymer and process types
>15 Elected Officers and Directors
11 Active Program Committees
Winner of Gold Pinnacle Award
Successful golf outing
Financially Secure
One of the top Sections in the SPE



Talks
Newsletter
Triennial Conferences


We will host Vinyltec in 2016
Tutorials & Courses offered in conjunction with
conferences




Sponsoring of Student Chapters
Recruiting student SPE members
Scholarships
Tutorials and courses offered in conjunction
with conferences


Communications Excellence Award
September issue
Advertisements from 16 sponsors
 Golf Outing photos
 Profile and Interview with Peggy Schipper (new
BOD member)
 Announcement of talk (Richard Chadwick)
=> The Spec Sheet is a self-supporting, award-winning
publication that covers all aspects of Section activities
and uses links!





Many companies have left the area
Support of technical activity in industry has
diminished
The pool of plastics professionals is reduced
Our membership (SPE data for August)



2013
539
2014
448
2015
393
But – 2015 includes 52 Students and 5 Young
Professionals – Hope for the future.

Succession planning through involvement of
students


Subsidize meeting attendance by students


They’re the ones looking for relationships
Joint meetings with other sections


Transportation may be the hard part
Interaction with junior faculty


Two Directors have come from the Rutgers student
chapter, one of whom became an officer
Lehigh? Philadelphia?
More involvement with local industry


Tours
Marketing Presentations




Pinnacle Gold Award
Review and potentially revise Endowment
Fund for support of junior faculty
Joint meeting(s) with Lehigh and/or
Philadelphia Chapter(s)
Tours and/or marketing presentations with
local industry



Successful organizations need to change and
adapt. The most successful organizations reinvent
themselves periodically.
The Palisades – New Jersey Section is no exception.
We are undergoing changes in order to grow,
prosper, and effectively serve the membership.
We need to be cognizant of succession planning to
ensure continued future operations.