For District I director: D. Richard Cobb

Rochester Section. Eastman Kodak Company, retired, Rochester, New York.

Honors: ACS Volunteer Service Award, 2017; ACS Fellow, 2017; Northeast Region, ACS Volunteer Award, 2006; ACS Division of Chemical Technicians, Special Recognition Award, 2005 and 2002; ACS Rochester Section Award, 2005 and 2001; ACS Rochester Section, Salutes to Excellence Award, 2004.

Professional positions (for the past 10 years): Eastman Kodak Company, senior research associate, retired, 1969–2011, Division Health, Safety and Environment, director, 2000–11.

Service in ACS national offices: Committee on Committees, 2017–22; Committee on Nominations and Elections, 2011–16, chair, 2015–16; Council Policy Committee (nonvoting), 2014–16, 2008–10; Committee on Membership Affairs, 2008–11, chair, 2008–10, committee associate, 2007; Board of Trustees, Group Insurance Plans, 2008–10, ex officio, 2008–09; Committee on Admissions, 2002–07, consultant, 2008, chair, 2003–05, committee associate, 2000–01; Committee on Technician Affairs, 1998–03, chair, 2000–02, committee associate, 1997; ACS Governance Review Taskforce, 2005; Board Oversight Group on Leadership Development, 2005.

Service in ACS offices: Rochester Section: councilor, 2008–22, 1999–2003; chair, 2007; chair-elect, 2006; secretary, 2005; alternate councilor, 2004, 1998–99; treasurer, 1995–97. Business Development and Management Division: immediate past chair, 2016; chair, 2015; chair-elect 2014. Chemical Technicians Division: councilor, 2007–09; chair, 1997; chair-elect, 1996; Membership Committee, chair, 1998. Northeast Regional Board of Directors: chair, 2013–16; vice chair, 2007–12. Northeast Regional Meeting: on-site coordinator, 2018–22, Organizing Committee 2012; general chair, 2004.

Member: Member of ACS since 1994. ACS Division: Business Development and Management.

Related activities: ACS Leadership Development, facilitator: “Coaching and Feedback,” “Collaborating Across Boundaries,” and “Engaging Colleagues in Dialogue.”

Cobb’s statement

Cobb—A vision for change, with a focus on members

As a candidate for District I director, I want to present what I think is the most important issue facing the ACS at this time. There are many pressing issues that ACS faces today, including the COVID-19 pandemic and how it impacts the society and our members. However, I have also observed that another major issue is the disconnection between grassroots membership and society governance.

Our Board of Directors is doing a fine job in the business aspect of the society, but we are a membership society, and that connection between governance and grassroots members is where I feel the society is weak.

I have seen this disconnect in a variety of forms:

Many decisions are made for ACS members by small groups within the society’s governance, without asking members what their needs are and what is important to them.

Areas of the society that should be available to aid members—such as their local sections and their efforts to organize and run regional meetings—are often not sufficient to meet the needs of members and even with guidance offered, seem to be a one-size-fits-all response.

Problems and concerns brought forth are often caught up in a maze of ACS bureaucracy.

District directors are the governance closest to ACS members within their respective districts and could be better cultivated. In my opinion, it is not enough to go on as we have and assume that appearing at a regional meeting and holding a councilor caucus at a national meeting is an effective use of district directors. To this point, here is what I pledge to do to help in this area:

I will schedule and virtually participate in a minimum of one local section meeting for each section within District I per year. I will do this to keep members informed on what governance is doing, but more importantly, to keep my ear to the rail on what our local sections are doing and where they need help. I would look to have each local section within the district as part of an advisory council to work with me in making sure the ACS Board of Directors knows what our members need and want.

I will use the position as District I director to help strengthen the support our local members receive from the Committee on Local Section Activities as well as the Committee on Meetings and Expositions, where ample support and guidance is needed for the organizing and running of regional meetings.

I will work with the board to acknowledge what the society needs to do in order to meet the needs of local sections impacted by the pandemic. I have put forth to the Board of Directors the suggestion for a COVID relief fund that would be used to refund local regional meeting organizing committees any penalties they incurred by postponing or canceling a meeting.

ACS was built on a great 145-year-old foundation but has since been added onto, making membership in the ACS more complicated than it has to be. It is time for a simplification planning retreat by ACS governance.

I am not running for a seat on the Board—that seat is not mine alone. That seat belongs to each member within District I.

I am running for District I director to offer new ideas, simplify society ­governance, and to bridge the gap between governance and membership. My pledges and promises are backed by a record of fighting for what I think is right, coming through with my pledges, and matching my deeds to my words—all built on a solid foundation of good two-way communication. I have always felt that while success gives one confidence, having to fight for success gives one courage.

I am running to stand up for the needs and ideas of the members.

For more information on my ideas, positions, and proposals as a member of the board, please visit my website at www.cobbfordistrict1director.com

We are living in a changing world like most of us have not witnessed. I hope you will join me by voting to make 2022 a time when we finally focus on doing things that make sense . . . and stop trying to make sense of the things we are doing.