In the next few weeks, all mem­bers of the North Amer­i­can Catal­y­sis Soci­ety (NACS) will receive a bal­lot via elec­tron­ic means. This bal­lot will request your vote for six of the eleven can­di­dates for the posi­tion of Direc­tor-at-Large and also your vote regard­ing mod­i­fi­ca­tions of the by-laws of the Soci­ety. I encour­age you to exer­cise your vot­ing rights with­in the spec­i­fied vot­ing period. 

Direc­tors-at-large (DAL) serve four-year terms and are elect­ed by the entire mem­ber­ship. Their new term will start dur­ing the NAM23 in Louisville. Elect­ed DAL rep­re­sent the entire mem­ber­ship by attend­ing annu­al NACS Board meet­ings. The Board con­sists of the NACS offi­cers, one rep­re­sen­ta­tive from each local or affil­i­at­ed soci­ety, and the DAL. The bal­lot will con­cur­rent­ly ask for your approval of mod­i­fi­ca­tions of the by-laws, includ­ing one to increase the num­ber of DAL from four to six; if the mod­i­fied by-laws are not approved, the four DAL can­di­dates with the largest vote count will serve.

The mod­i­fi­ca­tions of the by-laws that are sub­mit­ted for your approval con­sist of a series of motions already approved by the Board in the inter­ven­ing years since the 2003 ver­sion. The elec­tron­ic bal­lot will include a detailed descrip­tion of such changes as well as a ratio­nale for each one of them. These mate­ri­als were post­ed into a sin­gle doc­u­ment that shows an overview of the pro­posed changes fol­lowed by the full text of the by-laws at Pro­posed By-laws — Feb­ru­ary 2013.

NACS con­sists of 14 affil­i­ate local clubs and soci­eties in Cana­da, Mex­i­co, and the Unit­ed States and well over 1,500 mem­bers. It was found­ed in 1956 and its mis­sion includes the stew­ard­ship and sup­port of NAM and logis­ti­cal sup­port and seed finan­cial fund­ing to the local orga­niz­ing com­mit­tees. NACS also pro­vides joint fund­ing for Kokes awards, pre­sent­ed to stu­dents to attend NAM, and finan­cial sup­port for stu­dents to attend the reg­u­lar meet­ings of the local clubs and societies.

On behalf of the NACS lead­er­ship and its gov­ern­ing board, I encour­age you to vote and I look for­ward to see­ing you at NAM23 in Louisville (June 2–7, 2013; www.nam23.org/).
 
With regards,
 
Enrique Igle­sia
Pres­i­dent, North Amer­i­can Catal­y­sis Society
 
 
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