I strongly believe that organizations benefit from change of leadership; new blood can inject new ideas and vitality into an organization; I think now is a good time for me to step aside. At the San Francisco Board meeting, I made it clear to the Board that I did not wish to continue for another four years as an officer. I have served as your President for 8 years and as Treasurer for 7 years; two very demanding, volunteer roles. During this 15 year period, I have enjoyed representing and leading the Society, and I thank you all for that privilege.
I have tried to ensure that another strong suite of officers replaces those who also chose to step aside at the recent round of elections. At the same time I wish to thank those officers who worked tirelessly with me over these many years to improve our organization. The North American Catalysis Society is a strong and sound professional society that has worked hard to enhance the educational activities which it seeks to provide the members.
I also wish to thank not only the officers, but the many club representatives who worked with me and the Board to institute many positive changes to our Society. We are much stronger as a professional organization and financially very sound; we have a popular website which has generated over 150,000 hits over the past 8 years. In this time, we’ve grown the number of participating clubs, up-dated the Bylaws, enhanced our national awards, strengthened a large trust to pursue the educational needs of the membership (Keith Hall Educational Fund), substantially increased the dollar value and number of student awards, generated a lot of documentation on the history and importance of catalysis (posted on our website), and initiated many other positive steps in growing our Society.
I take great pride and thank you for the honor in serving as your past President, and I look forward to undertaking new tasks to advance catalytic science in North American and globally.
John Armor
June 30, 2009