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following is a summary of previously held meetings in 2001
listed in reverse chronological order. |
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November
27, 2001
Tuesday |
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Topic:
"What Do We Offer Prospective
Clients that is Unique"
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As part
of the marketing effort planned for the Association of
Consulting Chemists & Chemical Engineers, Inc., we need a
new brochure to send to prospective clients and others who want
to know about the services provided by our members. Several
years ago we had a general membership meeting to brainstorm what
the Association offered prospective members. From that session
we developed the current brochure for prospective members. The
session also gave Council a better idea about the members'
thoughts concerning this subject, and generated a lot of
additional good ideas. Many of these were used in developing a
marketing plan to increase our membership.
The November meeting will again demonstrate the use of a
brainstorming session to generate ideas. In this session we will
consider what we offer prospective clients that is unique and
has special value. The suggested ideas will then be consolidated
and prioritized to provide a clear direction for a new brochure
for clients and for developing a market plan to reach potential
users of our talents.
There will also be several "focus group" sessions to
consider additional efforts to make ACC&CE more widely known
to potential users of independent consultants.
These brainstorming and focus sessions can develop information
we need to reach potential clients for our membership. They are
also an opportunity for you to learn several ways to generate
ideas and solve problems in your consulting practice. We want
and need the ideas of all our members in preparing our new
clients' brochure. We hope all of you will take this opportunity
to help make the group stronger and better able to serve our
members.
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October
23, 2001
Tuesday |
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Topic:
"The Year Before and The Year to
Come"
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Speaker: William
E. Swartz, President, ACC&CE
The past
year will be reviewed. Much of our effort has been spent
developing a foundation for future growth and development. These
steps will be discussed and their importance explained as we
plan for the coming year. The Association also has spent a great
deal of time defining who we are, and where we want to go. As
with any such group, we face changes in the market and even
greater changes in the methods now used in the marketplace. When
we came close to a final decision point, additional questions
were raised concerning a potential name change. The current
situation will be explained and a suggestion made to the group
to resolve the impasse. The remaining portion of the president's
annual report will address the coming year. Several projects
will be outlined and explained. We will also discuss ways the
group might be able to improve several aspects of our operations
and services. Many of these have already been discussed in a
general way, but now a time-table and more specific program will
be suggested for the group to consider. After the formal "report",
there will be an opportunity for the entire membership to
participate in a seminar regarding the situation and where we
want to go as a group. We want as many members as possible to
participate in the discussions and decisions. Come and help
determine where we will be directing our efforts in the coming
year.
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September
25, 2001
Tuesday |
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Topic:
"Wine Tasting: Wines of New York
and Virginia"
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Speaker: Nelson
Ayala, Ph.D.
The first
wine growers in country began their vineyards along the banks of
rivers and along the shores of lakes in New York and along the
hills and valleys of Virginia that closely resembled the wine
growing regions of Bordeaux and Burgundy in France. Two hundred
years later a thriving wine and tourism industry is making
quality wine products to service the sophisticated American wine
consumer.
The speaker has been fortunate to have visited many of the
vineyards that dot the eastern part of the United States and is
willing to share his experiences with a audience thirsty for
these stories accompanied by a great adventure in wine tasting.
The presentation is patterned after a talk that has evolved over
the past nine years as a Tour Guide at the Brotherhood winery.
This is meant to be an entertaining presentation with
interesting historical content and useful information for the
audience.
Dr. Ayala is employed as a Senior Product Development Chemist
at CB Fleet, Lynchburg, Virginia. He was previously employed as
a Project Scientist at Carter Wallace and a Senior Chemist at
Westwood Chemical. He received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry
from the University of Virginia and his M.S. from Stony Brook.
Dr. Ayala has been an adjunct professor at Orange County
Community College, Middletown, New York.
His credentials in speaking about this topic include a 9 yr.
career as a Tour Guide at the Brotherhood Winery in
Washingtonville, New York and speaking on this topic to the
retired chemist section of the ACS and the analytical section of
the NY ACS. The speaker has been a member of Toastmasters
International since 1990 and has been a past district governor.
Dr. Ayala will be providing various wines for tasting. Please
join us.
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June
26, 2001
Tuesday |
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Topic:
"Drug Development at Merck &
Co., Inc. from the Perspective of Analytical Chemical Research"
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Speaker: Dr.
Dean K. Ellison
Dr. Ellison
is Senior Director of Analytical Research at Merck and Company.
He has been involved in identifying appropriate regulatory tests
to control the drug substance since he started his career with
Merck 15 years ago. During his tenure, Dr. Ellison has supported
numerous product introductions and consequently, he has
developed a thorough understanding of the drug development
process. His expertise was recently recognized by the National
Performance Review Board, and he was presented with the United
States Vice-Presidential Hammer Award for his joint work with
the FDA during the product launch of Crixivan. Additionally, Dr.
Ellison has Published and lectured widely in the area of
Analytical Drug Development. He received his B.S. degree in
Chemistry from Kansas Wesleyan University and his Ph.D. in
Analytical Chemistry from the University of Kansas.
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May
22, 2001
Tuesday |
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Topic:
"Some Unexpected Surprises When
Starting Your Own Small Chemical Business"
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Speaker: Charles
A. Garber, Ph.D., President, Structure Probe, Inc., West
Chester, PA
Surprises come in all shapes and sizes and
colors.....especially when viewed over the thirty plus years
period since the inception of Structure Probe, Inc., an
independent analytical and testing laboratory specializing in
the use of electron and light microscopy approaches for the
solution of industrial problems. An early experience involving
the bankruptcy of the original venture capital backer,
unexpected competition coming from universities and other
nonprofits, the impact of business pressures on one's personal
life, the joys and disappointments of developing others to take
key management roles in the organization, to the unexpected
impact of societal changes leading to the need for changes in
the marketing approaches for laboratory professional services
would represent just a partial list of the types of "surprises"
to be covered.
Also to be covered will be the "latest surprise",
that is, the unique position those who are technically
up-to-date in chemistry and physics find themselves in terms of
taking advantage of the newest opportunities in the rapidly
emerging field of Information Technology.
The presentation is patterned after a talk that has evolved
over the past five years as a National Tour Speaker for the
American Chemical Society. There will be no slides, no charts,
no speaker's notes. Interruptions from the audience will be
encouraged. This is meant to be an interactive kind of
presentation with content coming as much from the audience as
from the speaker.
Dr. Garber founded and has been president of Structure Probe
for over 30 years. During this period, the company, at times,
operated from facilities in four different states. He was
previously employed as a Research Physicist in the Plastics
Department of DuPont's Experimental Station. This followed
receipt of his Ph.D. in Engineering from Case Western Reserve.
Dr. Garber has also held adjunct professorships teaching courses
in Polymer Chemistry, Polymer Characterization, and Structure
and Properties of Polymers. His credentials also include a 15
yr. career as a National Tour Speaker for the American Chemical
Society and over 25 publications on polymers and applied
materials characterization.
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April
24, 2001
Tuesday |
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Topic:
"Public Archaeology"
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Speaker: Dr.
Alan H. Cooper
Dr. Alan Cooper has taught Latin and History at
Morristown-Beard School for the past 18 years. Educated at
Susquehanna University, SUNY Binghamton, Bryn Mawr, and West
Virginia University, Dr. Cooper has participated in and directed
excavations in Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Connecticut, West Virginia
and New Jersey.
For the past seventeen years, Dr. Cooper has directed the
public archeology program at the Somerset County Park
Commission's Environmental Education Center in Basking Ridge.
The Lord Sterling Manor site produced structural and artifact
material from the manor (c. 1762) and later occupations. Over
80,000 pieces of material were recovered and are being analyzed.
The Lenape Meadow excavation contains a Late Archaic-Early
Woodland Indian village site (c. 6000-2000 years old). Both
excavations have attracted hundreds of school children and
adults who learn the fundamentals of field archeology as well as
the collateral topics of historic preservation and natural
resource depletion. During the summer, Dr. Cooper conducts
programs in archaeology for middle school children in East
Amwell and Readington townships.
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March
27, 2001
Tuesday |
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Topic:
Expanded Council Meeting
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The ACC&CE
Council will hold an extended meeting from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on
Tuesday, March 27th. We hope all members of the Association will
join us. At 6 p.m. we will break for Networking/Cash Bar
followed by dinner. The dinner registration fee has been reduced
to $20 for this special meeting. We will reconvene after dinner
to continue our work. We will not have a regular
dinner/membership meeting in March. We will return to a regular
meeting format in April.
The subject of this extraordinary meeting will be our effort to
reposition the Association and expand our membership and areas
of interest and support. Unless we devote a major Council
meeting to finalizing the changes, we will never be ready to
take a final plan to the membership for approval.
The goal of this meeting will be to develop a final plan to be
considered by the Association as a whole. We would like to have
a final proposal ready for a membership vote in April.
In addition to attending the special Council meeting, we also
invite all members to forward their ideas on how they think the
group should be repositioned to the committee doing the
preliminary work. The following members serve on that committee:
Peter Lantos, Chairman, Dan Kruh, Peter Hay, Ernest Coleman,
David Riley, Joseph Prane, Don Lorenz, Dave Armbruster, Bill
Swartz. Send any ideas or comments to Peter Lantos. You may
reach Peter Lantos by telephone: (215) 233-4083, fax: (215)
836-2518 or by e-mail: peterrl@aol.com. Join us on March 27th
for the extended Council meeting and planning session. We look
forward to seeing you.
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February
28, 2001
Wednesday |
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Topic:
"Biotechnology and the Next
Generation of Therapeutics"
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Speaker: Arthur
M. Felix, Ph.D.
As the
Human Genome Project nears completion, a new generation of
therapeutics based on the underlying causes of diseases is
anticipated. New materials for drug delivery will enable
treatment with novel peptides and proteins based upon DNA
sequence information. This presentation will survey classical,
present and future trends in drug discovery.
Arthur Felix was Distinguished Research Leader and Head of the
Peptide Research Department at Hoffman-La Roche. Following his
retirement in 1995, he has been a consultant to the
Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology industries. He is Assistant
Professor of Chemistry at Ramapo College of New Jersey and
Adjunct Professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of
New Jersey. He serves on the Editorial Boards of several widely
read scientific journals and was the recipient of the 1996
duVigneaud Award for his contributions to peptide science.
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January
23, 2001
Tuesday |
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Topic:
"How To Handle a Difficult
Client"
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Speaker: Peter
Lantos, Ph.D., The Target Group, Erdenheim, PA.
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We have
all encountered clients who posed for us one kind of difficulty
or another. Some of the more obvious situations:
·Prospective client engages in brain picking.·
The client for one reason or another, declines to pay
·The client wants to renegotiate the contract
·The client becomes unavailable and fails to communicate
during the assignment
Peter Lantos, in the course of a consulting career of over 20
years, has encountered these, and many, more complex situations
and will share with you the approach he has used in addressing
them. He will also solicit from the audience some of their more
vexing client-relations problems as well as audience
participation in solving them.
Whether you have a difficult client at this time or whether you
anticipate having one in the future, you will find it worth
while to come to this meeting. You might even help us with some
of the solutions!
Peter Lantos has served the plastics and chemical industries as
consultant for 21 years. Prior to that he held management
positions in industry, including vice president at ARCO Chemical
and Sun Chemical, general manager at Rhodia, and technical
director at Celanese. He holds a Ph. D. in Chemical Engineering
and is a licensed professional engineer. He has a book in
preparation: Consulting for Fun and Profit, which is still in
search of a publisher.
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