Thank You for a Successful Year!

This morning I passed the gavel and ended my time as Chairman of the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) Board of Directors. ISPE is a GREAT professional society that represents 18,500+ Members around the world in 65+ countries, helping its Members and our industry as the leading authority in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry to help bring medicines to patients. 
 
I had the pleasure of visiting new chapters and affiliates over the year such as the Rocky Mountain Product Show, the Japan Annual Meeting, and the Boston Product Show—and I am a JETS fan who went to Gillette Stadium and enjoyed myself. I have made many new friends over the year which I enjoyed greatly and whom I will continue to keep in touch with. 

The 2019 ISPE Europe Annual Conference in Dublin this year set new records in terms of attendance for an ISPE European event and right now I am at the 2019 ISPE Annual Meeting & Expo in Las Vegas which has turned out to be our largest meeting ever in the 25+ year history in the industry. Our Annual Meeting started Sunday, and we have heard moving keynote speeches from William Anderson, Pierre-Alain Ruffieux, Lou Kennedy, Amy Abernethy, MD, PhD, and Alberto Santagostino on the status of our industry. These were rounded out by inspirational keynote presentations by John Crowley who talked about his daughter's journey with her disease and Jessica H., a patient with MS that is living with her disease due to medicines produced in our industry. They reminded all of us why we are involved in this industry.
 
I would like to thank the entire ISPE Staff under the leadership of our CEO and President, John Bournas. The team has executed conferences, training, and vendor shows globally in Asia Pacific, European, and North America. The staff has a “can do” attitude and I appreciate all their support in making ISPE the best professional society.
 
Over the year I have heard from our Members, vendors, owners, and service providers on the issues the industry is facing and how ISPE can respond. As John Bournas announced on Sunday, our 2020–2022 Strategic Plan will guide us over the next few years to continue to bring innovative products and services to our Membership globally and will allow us to keep up with the evolving and increasing pace of technology change within our industry. 

I would like to wish Frances Zipp, our incoming Chairperson of the ISPE Board of Directors, all the best in her term as I know she will do an excellent job leading the ISPE Organization over the next year.

Finally, it has been an honor to lead ISPE over the past year and I encourage everyone to get involved in ISPE to help us deliver ever more impactful activities. Your involvement will help us progress the pace of change in the industry and allow us to help our organizations bring medicines to patients globally around the world. 

Thank you and have a safe day!