ACS Indiana

In the year following my WCC Chair term, I was elected as the Chair-elect of the ACS Indiana section. The Section has some incredibly strong and influential leaders, and so we had a solid foundation on which to build.

Because of our experience running Regional meetings, as well as with National Committees and Divisions, when we came together for a strategic planning session in my home in the fall of 1999, there were already a lot of good ideas to build Local Section Activities. That said, we also were asking ourselves “Is there something more that the ACS Indiana Section could do to contribute and bring visibility to the Midwest ACS sections?” It was at that moment that the idea for an Indianapolis National ACS Meeting, hosted by the ACS IN section, came to be.

During the next 24 months, in addition to conducting all the great local section business planned, I led the ACS IN team through the process of applying for and winning a bid to host the ACS National Meeting in the fall of 2013.  The most important factor to our success?  The entire city got involved!  Companies (Lilly, DowAgro, Roche), universities (IUPUI, Butler, Indianapolis University), the Indianapolis Convention Center organization, chemists from all over town, and even the Mayor’s office.

Winning the bid was a victory for all. We spent the intervening years (2001-2013) developing the skills the in team that would eventually host the National Meeting. It was a very exciting time to be a member of ACS Indiana!