Candidates’ election statements and backgrounds

Two candidates will vie for the office of president-elect of the American Chemical Society for 2023 in this fall’s election. They are Mary K. Carroll, Dwane W. Crichton Professor of Chemistry at Union College, and Rigoberto Hernandez, Gompf Family Professor at Johns Hopkins University. The successful candidate will serve as ACS president in 2024 and as a member of the ACS Board of Directors from 2023 to 2025.

District II and District IV will hold elections for director. Successful candidates will serve on the ACS Board of Directors beginning in 2023 and through 2025.

Candidates for director of District II are Kimberly Agnew-Heard, director of regulatory affairs at Altria Client Services, and Marcy Towns, Bodner-Honig Professor of Chemistry at Purdue University.

District II consists of members assigned to or residing in local sections with headquarters in Indiana (except the St. Joseph Valley and Wabash Valley Sections), Kentucky, Michigan (except the Kalamazoo and Upper Peninsula Sections), North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee (except the Memphis Section), Pennsylvania (except the Central Pennsylvania, Erie, Lehigh Valley, Penn-York, Pittsburgh, and Susquehanna Valley Sections), Virginia, West Virginia; and those members with addresses in the states of Indiana (except the counties of Lake and Porter), Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan (except Dickinson County), Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia who are not assigned to local sections.

Candidates for director of District IV are Christopher J. Bannochie, a research and development manager at Savannah River National Laboratory, and Lisa Houston, vice president of process analytics at Petroleum Analyzer Company.

District IV consists of members assigned to or residing in local sections with headquarters in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee (except the East Tennessee, Nashville and Northeast Tennessee Sections), Texas, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; and those members with addresses in Arkansas (except the counties of Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Columbia, Drew, Hempstead, Lafayette, Miller, Ouachita, and Union), Georgia (except the counties of Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Walker, and Whitfield), Louisiana and certain counties in Texas who are not assigned to local sections.

Four candidates are running for two director-​at-large positions. They are Milagros (Milly) Delgado, an undergraduate program director at Florida International University; Malika Jeffries-EL, associate dean for the graduate school in arts and sciences at Boston University; Will E. Lynch, Chemistry Department chair and professor at Georgia Southern University; and Ellene Tratras Contis, a distinguished professor at Eastern Michigan University. The two candidates receiving the highest number of votes will serve a 3-year term from 2023 to 2025.

Balloting will be conducted online, with the option to receive a paper ballot upon request. Ballots will be distributed starting Sept. 26, 12:00 a.m. (CT), with a voting deadline of Oct. 21, 12:00 p.m. (CT). All eligible voting ACS members (members as of August 12) received information at the end of August on how to request a paper ballot.

All voting members of ACS may receive ballots enabling them to vote for president-​elect. Only members with mailing addresses in Districts II and IV may receive ballots to vote for director from those districts. Only voting councilors may receive ballots for the director-​at-large elections.

The ACS Committee on Nominations and Elections did not provide candidates with specific questions to frame their statements. Information about ACS policies for elections and campaigning can be found in the ACS Governing Documents, Standing Rule IV, Sec. 18, and in the ACS Guidelines on Campaigning and Communication document. Candidates’ views have also been posted online at www.acs.org/elections.