It is a great honor and a privilege to begin serving the Institute as your presi- ' dent for 2005.
Over the last year, the board of directors, the operating councils, the staff, and countless volunteer members worked extremely hard to implement the "Essential AIChE." Here is a quick snapshot of some of the progress that has been made:
Finance - The Institute is expecting to finish 2004 with revenues slightly exceeding expenses for the first time in seven years. Also, for the first time in as many years, no withdrawals were required from our permanent fund.
Operations- Our overall budget, and especially our overhead costs, have been dramatically reduced. The sublease of three-quarters of our office space in New York City was accomplished in 2004, saving approximately $1.4 million every year going forward. The remaining space is also on the market, as we pursue lower cost headquarters alternatives.
Outsourcing-In 2004, partnerships were implemented with ASME to provide educational services and with John Wiley & Sons to provide production services for our technical publications. These partnerships are economically advantageous to the Institute and, at the same time, are extending the reach of our professional training courses and publications to a broader audience.
Technical Leadership- In 2004, all three of our new technical communities, the Society for Biological Engineering, the Institute for Sustainability, and the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum, launched successful conferences and symposia in a number of novel formats. Also, both the Ammonia Safety Conference in Denver and the Fall Annual Meeting in Austin were highly successful, drawing near-record numbers of participants.
Communications- In the past year, we have worked harder to share more Institute and professional news with you, in CEP1 as well as through email and newsletters. We have also increased efforts to reach local and national media to promote the chemical engineering profession.
These have been challenging times. The Essential AIChE has focused on the core services and benefits you told us are essential to your career and to your profession. This focus has included accurate technical information, targeted publications, effective meetings, leadership and networking opportunities, and attractive and affordable insurance programs.
Maintaining this focus and a viable Institute has required some radical redesign of our operations and dedicated hard work by both volunteers and the staff. The changes that have been implemented are intended to be both permanent and sustainable.
In the first years of implementing the Essential AIChE, staff support for some very important programs such as career services and government relations was reduced, although I am gratified by the response of so many who have volunteered to step up and assume some of these roles. We welcome such volunteer effort, but we also recognize that to be effective, even volunteers need staff support. The Board is working hard to implement the most efficient balance.
The AIChE Vision is to be the global leader of the chemical engineering profession, the lifetime center for professional and personal growth for chemical engineers, and the foremost catalyst in applying chemical engineering expertise in meeting societal needs.
In the next year, we will continue to explore alliances with other organizations to continue to enhance our global presence, provide additional revenue and add benefits to our members. A programmatic alliance with ACS is underway, and some of our local sections, and sustainability and biotechnology groups are already working together to help us realize our vision.
We will also begin work this year on some much needed improvements and enhancements to the AIChE web site, www.aiche.org. New technologies will allow for better access to data, improved e-commerce, a more powerful and intuitive internal search capability and enhanced systems, so local sections, divisions, and committees can have their Web sites integrated within the AlChE system. The AIChE Foundation has launched a campaign to raise money for this effort.
Finally, in 2005, the Board will be working especially on the issues of membership attraction and retention and local section revitalization. The Board has already established task forces looking specifically at issues important to student members, young professionals, members involved in the emerging areas of chemical engineering, as well as members involved in more traditional areas. They will work with the goal of providing value and achieving the AIChE Vision as evidenced by positive membership growth.
Personally, I am very excited about 2005. I look forward to working with all of you to build AIChE into an even stronger society, essential to all chemical engineers and to the organizations in which they serve.
If you have comments or suggestions related to our new Web site, membership growth, or any other aspect of the Institute, write to me at president@aiche.org.
[Author Affiliation]
AIChE President Jell Siirola is Technology Fellow at Eastman Chemical Co.
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