REGION - USA
ALCA - Annual Convention - June 19-22 2003:

A most successful annual convention of the Association was held in the beautiful Grandover Resort in Greensboro, North Carolina. In attendance were 122 people from the US leather industry and visitors from around the world.
Awards & Recognitions:
¨ The John Arthur William lecture on the "Presevation of Hides and Skins" presented by Dr David Bailey was well received.
¨ 19 technical papers of very high standard were presented and will be published in JALCA.
¨ The O'Flaherty Service Award was presented to John Moynihan in recognition of his contributions over many years as editor of Shoe Trades Publishing and organizer of the "ALCA Fun Run" event.
¨ Outgoing President Dr Jerome Levy was recognized for his contributions to the association during his successful tenure in the ALCA executive. Incoming President is Mr. Dean Didato.
Meetings of Committees:
¨ Meetings of all the technical and education committees took place during convention, and progress reports were submitted during the annual meeting.
¨ The important Rawstock Committee, that seeks to upgrade the value of raw material, has been revitalized under new leadership.

ALCA - 100 Years:
The 100th Anniversary of the ALCA Convention will take place in St Louis on June 16-20th of 2004. A committee is in place and preparations are well underway for this "Big Bash". Special features of this Convention include:
¨ Reversion to a 4 day format to accommodate all the activities planned.
¨ A strong technical program is being planned with approximately 27 papers to be presented. Abstracts may be submitted to Mr Rodney Hammond.at: rodney@setonco.com.
¨ The prestigious John Arthur Wilson lecture will be given by the current President of the IULTCS - Prof. Jaume Cot.
¨ An invitation will be sent out to all technical and trade associations worldwide to invite them to attend and send participants.
¨ Further details including registration forms will be available on the ALCA website: www.leatherchemists.org