American Chemical Society announces 2009 officers

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2009 — The American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society, has announced its officers for 2009.

Chair, ACS Board of Directors
Judith L. Benham, Ph.D., a former business director at 3M Co., St. Paul, Minn., and now retired, has been re-elected to a one-year term (2009) as chair of the board of directors. She also is serving her second three-year term as director from ACS’s District V. That term runs through 2009.

ACS President
Thomas H. Lane, Ph.D., a chemist and director of global science and technology outreach, Dow Corning Corp., Midland, Mich., is 2009 president and will serve on the board of directors through 2010.

ACS President-Elect
Joseph S. Francisco, Ph.D., William E. Moore Distinguished Professor at Purdue University, will serve as president-elect until becoming ACS president on Jan. 1, 2010.

Immediate Past President
Bruce E. Bursten, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and distinguished professor of chemistry, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, served as 2008 president and remains an ex officio member of the board of directors through 2009.

Directors
Eric C. Bigham, Ph.D., retired, a chemist and former manager for discovery research and development at GlaxoSmithKline, Chapel Hill, N.C.

Pat N. Confalone, Ph.D., vice president, Global Research & Development, Crop Protection, Agriculture and Nutrition Platform, with DuPont in Wilmington, Del.

William F. Carroll, Jr., Ph.D., vice president at Occidental Chemical Corp. in Dallas, Texas

Dennis Chamot, Ph.D., an associate executive director of the National Research Council’s Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences, Washington, D.C.

Bonnie A. Charpentier, Ph.D., vice president, regulatory affairs, Metabolex, Inc., Hayward, Calif

Janan M. Hayes, Ph.D., retired chemist faculty member and administrator at Merced College, Merced, Calif., and former chemical educator and administrator at Cosumnes River College and American River College in Sacramento.

Valerie J. Kuck, a chemist and former staff member at Lucent Technologies – AT&T Bell Labs.

Anne T. O’Brien, Ph.D., a Tarrytown, N.Y., chemist and former manager at Wyeth-Ayerst Research.

Diane Grob Schmidt, Ph.D., a chemist and section head at Procter & Gamble Co., Cincinnati, Ohio.

Kent. J. Voorhees, Ph.D., a professor of chemistry at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden.

Marinda Li Wu, Ph.D., a chemist and founder and president of the Science is Fun! Company in Orinda, Calif.

Other top officers include:

Executive Director
Madeleine Jacobs, of Gaithersburg, Md., is the ACS executive director and CEO and an ex officio member of the Board of Directors.  She is the former editor-in-chief of the Society’s weekly newsmagazine, Chemical & Engineering News.

Secretary
Flint Lewis, of Centreville, Va., is the secretary of the Society, its Board of Directors and Council and serves as the Society’s General Counsel.

Treasurer
Brian A. Bernstein, of Alexandria, Va., is the treasurer and chief financial officer of the American Chemical Society.

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