Candidates’ election statements and backgrounds

Three candidates will vie for the office of president-elect of the American Chemical Society for 2025 in this fall’s election. They are: Mukund S. Chorghade, chief scientific officer at Thinq Pharma; Rigoberto Hernandez, professor of chemistry and biomolecular engineering at Johns Hopkins University; and Laura Sremaniak, teaching professor and associate department head in the Department of Chemistry at North Carolina State University. The successful candidate will serve as ACS president in 2026 and as a member of the ACS Board of Directors from 2025–27.

District I, District V and the International District will hold elections for director. Successful candidates will serve on the ACS Board of Directors from 2025–27.

Candidates for District I director are Matthew Grandbois, vice president of business development at AirJoule, and Katherine L. Lee, executive director and head of scientific planning and operations in the Inflammation and Immunology Research Unit at Pfizer.

District I consists of members assigned to or residing in local sections having their headquarters in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania (except the Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Southeastern Pennsylvania sections), and Vermont; as well as members with addresses in the states of New York and Pennsylvania and in the provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec, who are not assigned to local sections.

Due to a tie during the primaries, there are three candidates for District V director. They are Lisa M. Balbes, independent consultant at Balbes Consultants; Mark C. Cesa, retired from Ineos Nitriles; and Silvia S. Jurisson, professor of chemistry and radiology and director of the Radiopharmaceutical Sciences Institute at the University of Missouri.

District V consists of members assigned to or residing in local sections having their headquarters in Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan (except the Detroit, Huron Valley, Michigan State University, Midland and Western Michigan sections), Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico (except the Rio Grande Valley Section), North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas (except the Brazosport, Central Texas, Dallas-Fort Worth, East Texas, Greater Houston, Heart O’ Texas, Sabine-Neches, San Antonio, South Texas and Texas A&M sections), Utah, and Wisconsin; as well as members with addresses in Illinois (except the counties of Clark, Crawford, Edgar, and Lawrence), Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, certain counties in Texas, Wisconsin, Michigan (except Dickinson County), and the province of Manitoba, who are not assigned to local sections.

Candidates for International District director are Hooi-Ling Lee, associate professor at the School of Chemical Sciences at Universiti Sains Malaysia, and David Wu, director and research fellow at the Institute of Chemistry at Academia Sinica.

Candidates for the single director-at-large position are Natalie A. LaFranzo, vice president of strategy at the Linus Group; and Sergio Nanita, a senior principal investigator at Incyte. While there were originally four candidates, two candidates opted to withdraw prior to the election. The candidate receiving the highest number of votes will serve a 3-year term from 2025–27.

Balloting will be conducted online, with the option to receive a paper ballot upon request. Ballots will be distributed starting Sept. 23 at 12 a.m. (CT), with a voting deadline of Oct. 18 at noon (CT).

All eligible voting ACS members—members as of Aug. 15—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 District I, District V, and the International District 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. 17, and on the ACS Guidelines on Campaigning and Communications website. Candidates’ views have also been posted online at www.acs.org/elections.