July-August 2002

NowSHOWing                                                 comings and goings

AEC Talks About Many Issues 
at Annual Meeting in Naples

Nearly 300 people attended the AEC’s annual meeting.

The 53rd annual Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) meeting was held March 14-16, 2002, at the Registry Resort in Naples, Fla.

There were 289 registrants at this year’s event, according to Martin Bidwell, 2002 AEC chairperson.
Attendees had a chance to mingle at the welcome reception on Thursday night, during which Howard Solot received the distinguished service award for his many contributions to the council. The annual meeting officially began on Friday with the chairperson’s welcome presented by Bidwell; an AEC update presented by Rand Baldwin, AEC president; and the announcement of the board election results (see related article, "Ones to Watch")

The general session on Friday morning included AEC committee reports from Charles F. Carver III, president of Thermalex Inc. and chairperson of the AEC technical services committee, and from Lew Rink, president of SAPA Anodizing Inc. and AEC director who is heading up the “Keep Aluminum Windows” campaign.

The AEC meeting included many professional speakers both on Friday and Saturday morning. All of the speakers were fantastic, but there was one at this year’s meeting that should receive an individual acknowledgement—Lt. Col. (Ret.) Oliver North who served on Ronald Reagan’s National Security Council from 1981-1986. Of course, much of North’s speech was about the September 11 events and the war in Afghanistan. 

“No one could have predicted the devastating attack on September 11. It’s important to look at how we’ve dealt with it since,” said North.

North, who has a TV show on the Fox News network—“War Stories with Oliver North” —also picked fun at the media. He said that if you believed the press about the war in Afghanistan, it would have been mission impossible. To that, North said, “God bless the media for being wrong so often.”
While the AEC annual meeting had great fellowship and great speakers, its location was also a hit. While attendees weren’t busy with AEC business, they could either play golf or tennis. At the chairperson’s ball on Saturday night, the volunteer of the year award was presented to David E. Maxwell, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Brazeway Inc. in Adrian, Mich. He received the award for his many contributions to the business information committee and for his development of the Process Benchmarking Program unveiled recently by the council.

If you missed this year’s AEC annual meeting, don’t miss the 54th annual meeting, March 13-15, 2003, at the Hyatt Regency in Henderson, Nev. 

DWM
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