Join me in welcoming our newest AOCS 2020 members!

Did you know that AOCS has a goal of adding 425 new Active members for 2020? Each month, I will keep you posted on the status of reaching this goal, and I hope that you will encourage colleagues and other people that you know would benefit from AOCS membership to our Society.

In a few weeks, we will announce some exciting changes to our member-refer-a-friend program. Keep encouraging new members to join because you will be rewarded for your efforts! Thank you to all for your commitment to AOCS. 

The 2020 membership year began September 1, 2019. Between September 1 and December 31, 2019, 95 individuals, students and companies joined for the 2020, which means they received free membership until the end of 2019. Here are some highlights of this group:

• 15% were students 
• 85% joined as Actives (professionals)
• Top job functions: chemists, scientists, technical service specialists, business directors, QA/QC managers, commercial managers, processors, regulatory managers, lipidologists
• Twenty countries and 68 different institutions were represented
• 75% of the Actives are from industry; 15% from university and government
• We added two new Bronze Corporate Members: Henkel and Dicalite Management Group

Why did they join?  Yves Revi, Product & Process Development Assistant, Bunge Loders Croklaan, The Netherlands, had this to say:  

“I hope that keeping up-to-date via AOCS publications and meetings will broaden my knowledge in processing and nutritional aspects of lipids.”

How about others? While I do not have specific responses from all the new members, the interest areas that stand out include: analytical, specialty oils, edible applications, industrial oils and health and nutrition.     

In a few months, our online searchable membership directory will become available, making it easier to connect with members of the AOCS community. AOCS members can download and read the listing of our newest AOCS members from the AOCS Premium Content Library. Say “Hi!” on inform|connect or plan to meet your fellow AOCS members at one of the networking events at the AOCS 2020 Annual Meeting.