Dorothy J. Phillips elected 2024 American Chemical Society president-elect

Dorothy J. Phillips, retired from the role of director of strategic marketing at Waters, has been elected the American Chemical Society 2024 president-elect by members of ACS. Phillips will serve as society president in 2025 and immediate past president in 2026. The appointment also includes serving on the board of directors from 2024 through 2026.

A total of 11,428 votes were cast for president-elect. Voter participation was 12% of all eligible voters.

With 6,653 votes, Phillips won the president-elect race against Florian J. Schattenmann, chief technology officer and vice president of research and development and innovation at Cargill, who received 4,775 votes. ACS, which publishes C&EN, also elected four other people into ACS positions and voted on a petition that was up for approval in the fall 2023 election cycle.

“Excited, blessed, happy, thankful. This is really a blessing for me to achieve this milestone,” Phillips says. “The things that I have done in ACS and otherwise, they were leadership roles and they put me out in front of people—I hope I am inspiring the next generation . . . especially people of color and women.”

Phillips has served more than 25 years in ACS offices, including 9 years on its board. “I’ve watched and worked with ACS presidents, and I’m always amazed at how much they can achieve and how well everybody works together. Nobody’s standing alone,” Phillips says.

During her presidential year, Phillips hopes to have the most impact on building chemistry careers—for both students, through science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, and those already working in the chemistry enterprise. She hopes to ensure that ACS remains well positioned to help those interested in pursuing STEM professions, including industrial chemistry careers. She cites Project SEED, which gives high school students an opportunity to explore what they can do in STEM, as an example of ACS’s ability to help. She believes ACS has a unique ability to train and encourage everyone with an interest in the field to have not just a place but a budding career.

Other areas of focus from Phillips’s candidate statement include “retaining and growing an inclusive ACS membership worldwide,” “expanding the reach of ACS’s investments in chemistry education,” and “embracing diversity, equity, inclusion, and respect.”

“This is a really great time to be in leadership in ACS because we are partnering with important organizations to help us achieve the mission and vision of the society,” Phillips says. “There are some key challenges that touch the field of chemistry and chemical engineering, and I think it’s just a great time to be in leadership at ACS—and I’m ready.”

In other election news, Bonnie (Helen A.) Lawlor, retired from the role of executive director of the National Federation of Advanced Information Services, was elected District III director for 2024–26, defeating Diane Krone, retired chemistry teacher at Northern Highlands Regional High School.

Jeanette M. Van Emon, retired from the role of research chemist at the US Environmental Protection Agency, was elected District VI director for 2024–26, defeating Richard V. Williams, professor of chemistry at the University of Idaho.

Two candidates were reelected director-at-large and will continue to serve on the board for the 2024–26 term: Wayne E. Jones Jr., provost and vice president of academic affairs at the University of New Hampshire, and Carolyn Ribes, a business analytical leader at Dow. They defeated Daniel Rabinovich, associate dean and professor of nanoscience at the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, and Joseph P. Stoner, retired from Shimadzu Scientific Instruments.

In addition, ACS members ratified a petition to add international representation to the ACS Board of Directors: 9,244 members voted in favor, meeting the requirement of a two-thirds majority. This petition was previously approved by the ACS Council and ACS Board at ACS Fall 2023. The board will add a new international district director as a voting member while eliminating one director-at-large position.

The first international district director, who will serve on the board for the 2025–27 term, will be selected in the ACS election that opens in September 2024. ACS members can nominate a candidate by submitting a form at nominations.acs.org/form/entry.asp.