At the recent 100th meeting of American Chemists,  A Mr Rodney Hammond took over as President of the Association.  Mr Hammond is a graduate of Leathersellers (now part of the  British School of Leather Technology) and worked with William Walkers in the UK and Granite State in the US.  He has been with Seton Leather for eight years where he is now Vice President of Operations.  He takes over the presidency from the retiring president Dean Didato of Buckman Chemicals.

Mr Hammond said that he was keen to ensure that the Association could maintain the momentum for growth that had been seen in 2003. The Centenary Convention returned to St Louis where it had first been held in 1904.  The attendance in 2004 was the highest for many years as was recruitment over the last twelve months.   The conference had a record number of papers and a number of themes including upgrading both hides and leather, research into collagen with reference to both the tanning and the effluent implications, and advanced processing methods particularly related to automotive upholstery. 

(A full report on the meeting will be carried in the August/September edition of World Leather magazine).

Share this story: