I went to Washington, DC this week to meet with SOCMA and the ACS. I work for UBM, just in case you would like to know another acronym. Little bit of background –

 

SOCMA: Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates. SOCMA founded Informex over 25 years ago and made it the single most successful US trade show for fine & specialty chemical manufacturers. UBM purchased Informex from SOCMA in 2005, and I had the fortune to join the UBM Informex team shortly thereafter.

 

ACS: American Chemical Society. The ACS is the world largest scientific association and publisher of Chemical & Engineering News, C&EN. C&EN have been our partners in producing the Informex Show Daily for many years, and they have a fantastic group of editors we have come to depend on as we launch new conferences.

 

UBM: United Business Media. Big media company – 5000 employees, 50 countries, lots and lots of trade shows, conferences, publications, PR Newswire, and online products.

 

I took the train to DC, which I love, except this time I got kicked out of the quiet car for taking a conference call. The train was really crowded, what was I supposed to do? Other than that minor incident and the people on the other line thinking I had fallen off the train as I walked from one car to another, it was a very pleasant trip.

 

I met Larry Sloan, the new President & CEO of SOCMA, for lunch as Smith & Wollensky. We had great big lunches and for a while it was  nice to fantasize about being part of the political scene that hangs out in DC steakhouses. We talked about the upcoming Informex Specialty Conference in Houston, TX, which Larry is going to chair (check out his interview with Informex about Houston here), and the SOCMA Golf outing this fall. He is a pleasure to work with because he is so open to new ideas, new opportunities, and tackling new challenges. Larry arrived at SOCMA with a clear strategic vision and the energy to implement it. He respects the traditions that have made SOCMA a strong association with an eye towards creating new programs and services to strengthen the membership value proposition.

 

After lunch, pleasantly stuffed, I walked over to the ACS office. I had the address, but I wasn’t exactly sure where I was headed. When I got to where I thought the building should be I started looking around trying to gauge if I was in the correct place. When I looked up I saw in huge letters on the building, “American Chemical Society.” Right spot!

 

I knew the ACS was the largest scientific organization in the world (160k+ members), but I didn’t realize the magnitude of what that would mean for the daily operations. The ACS has two buildings in DC and about 2,000 staffers split between Columbus, Ohio and DC! Rudy Baum, the editor in chief of C&EN, came to escort me up to his office, and I was feeling pretty impressed by my surroundings.

 

I met with Rudy Baum, Ken Carroll (vice president of advertising sales), and Denise Creech (director of the ACS division of Membership & Scientific Advancement). Although Informex and the ACS have been working together for many years, there are so many opportunities for more collaboration moving forward. As the Informex brand develops and expands into new areas such as conferences, online and new geographies we need strong partners to guide us on what the chemical industry needs. What better way than working with two premier associations with an understanding of constantly shifting chemical environment?

 

Rudy was particularly excited about a recent interview with Paul Anastas, see the article in the April 26 issue of C&EN. Paul is one of the founders of the green chemistry movement, and was recently appointed as the new assistant administrator in charge of the EPA’s office of Research & Development. With his appointment comes a fundamental shift of not just understanding the problems and challenges in environmental health, but teaching people and companies how to address them. Very exciting times for sustainability policy.

 

The only sore spot of the whole meeting was that unfortunately, Rudy and Denise are Duke fans, and as a Carolina alumna that’s just not something I can get behind.

 

So be on the look out for new Informex/ACS/SOCMA partnerships!

 

Oh and Go Heels!

 

JJ