George R. Pilcher, of Akzo Nobel, to deliver 2004 Mattiello Memorial Lecture in Chicago.

The Federation of Societies for Coatings Technology is pleased to announce the selection of George R. Pilcher, Akzo Nobel Coatings Inc., to deliver the Joseph J. Mattiello Memorial Lecture during its 82nd Annual Meeting, November 27-29, 2004, at McCormick Place North, Chicago, IL. The Annual Meeting will be held in conjunction with the International Coatings Exposition and the International Coatings Technology Conference.

The invited lecture commemorates the contributions of Dr. Mattiello, former President of the FSCT (1943-44), who was instrumental in expanding the application of the sciences in the decorative and protective coatings fields. He was vice president and technical director of Hilo Varnish Corporation, Brooklyn, NY, when he died in 1948.

The lecturer, chosen from among selected individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the science and/or technology of coatings, is invited to deliver a paper on a phase of chemistry or other physical science, engineering, human relationships or other sciences fundamental to paint and coatings, varnish, lacquer, or otherwise related to protective or decorative coatings.

Educational and Professional Background

Following graduation from the College of Wooster in 1970 with a B.A. in Chemistry, Mr. Pilcher began an 11-year period with The Sherwin-Williams Company, in the Coil Coatings Laboratory of its Canal Road R & D Center, in Cleveland, OH, where he worked with such coil coatings pioneers as W. Roy Mallarnee, Douglas A. Scherrer, John D. Baldwin, Donald K. Lutes, Jerry D. Pontius, and Dr. John L. Gardon.

In 1975, Mr. Pilcher accepted the position of leader of a special task group formed to study the degradation mechanisms of polyester and plastisol coatings exposed in a variety of exterior and accelerated environments, and in 1977 he became manager of the industrial coatings and stores group, which took him temporarily away from coil coatings, but provided valuable experience in the area of spray coatings.

In 1980, Mr. Pilcher was named senior group manager of plastisol coatings, a position which he held until moving to Hanna Chemical Coatings Corporation, as its corporate technical director, in 1981. Commensurate with a series of acquisitions by Reliance Universal in 1985, and Akzo Coatings Inc. in 1989--and subsequent mergers with Nobel in 1994 and Courtaulds in 1998--Mr. Pilcher's responsibilities have expanded over the years. He is currently the technical director for coil and extrusion coatings in the Americas and The Peoples' Republic of China. In this capacity, he is in charge of both research and technology development for new coatings in these geographical areas, as well as for technology sharing throughout Akzo Nobel's global coil and extrusion laboratories.

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Career Highlights

Mr. Pilcher's expertise in the science and technology of chemical coatings has led to the publication of over 20 invited papers, which have appeared in publications such as Farbe & Lacke, European Coatings Journal, JOURNAL OF COATINGS TECHNOLOGY, Trends in Polymer Science, Advances in Polymer Technology, Modern Paint and Coatings, Standardization News, Coil World, Appliance Manufacturer, Metal Architecture, et al., and several book chapters, including "Saturated Polyester Coatings," in Organic Coatings: Their Origin and Development, edited by Herman F. Mark and Raymond B. Seymour (Elsevier).

Mr. Pilcher is in wide demand as a lecturer on coatings technology and as an industry spokesman, and has delivered several dozen papers over the length of his career, to a global audience. As part of the Year 2000 celebrations, he delivered the Keynote Address at the Fall Meeting of the National Coil Coating Association (NCCA) in Chicago, which he repeated later in the year at the European Coil Coatings Association (ECCA), in Brussels. More recently, Mr. Pilcher delivered keynote addresses at the first Pan American Coatings Conference in Buenos Aires in 2001, and at FATIPEC in 2002 in Dresden, followed later that year by an address to the biennial meeting of InterZAC, an international organization dedicated to issues surrounding the manufacture and use of zinc-aluminum coated coiled metal, in Seoul, Korea.

Mr. Pilcher's contributions to the advancement of science and technology within the global coatings industry have been recognized by his election to the chairmanship of the Gordon Research Conference on the Chemistry and Physics of Coatings and Films, in 1991; to the chairmanship of the Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering Division (PMSE) of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in 1993, which went on to elect him a Fellow in 2001; and his appointment to the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Athens Conference in 1998.

In 1995 he became the first American to be elected Honorary "Corresponding Member" of the Paint and Pigment Division of the Gesellschalft Deutscher Chemiker and, in 1996, Mr. Pilcher was presented with the FSCT George Baugh Heckel Award, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the coatings industry.

Industry Contributions

In his capacity as Chair of the Professional Development Committee of the FSCT (1987-89), Mr. Pilcher contributed significantly to the training and education of individuals within the coatings industry, and--as president of the Coatings Industry Education Foundation (CIEF) from 1989-1995--he headed-up major initiatives to assist colleges and universities with coatings programs designed to graduate students who could "hit the ground running," as productive coatings industry employees.

During the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, Mr. Pilcher also participated as an instructor in a variety of short courses dealing with pigments and pigment dispersion at Kent State University. He acted in an advisory capacity during the planning stages which led to the establishment of the National Science Foundation Coatings Center on the campus of Eastern Michigan University, and served on the Board of Advisors of the Center from 1993-1996.

Mr. Pilcher's work on the Coil Coating Subcommittee (D01.53) of ASTM has resulted in several new Standards and Practices which are in routine use in the industry, and his work with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency helped shape rule-making with respect to the use of lead and heavy metals in paints and coatings.

Mr. Pilcher is a member of the CDIC Society for Coatings Technology, and currently serves on the Editorial Review Board of JCT RESEARCH, the global coatings industry's premier refereed scientific journal, as well as the Advisory Board for JCT COATINGSTECH.