Dear PSCT Members,

Our annual golf event on September 11th at Birdsfoot in Freeport, PA  was a great success! My thanks to all the golfers and generous sponsors who participated in this fundraising event. Your continued support allows us to award scholarships again this year. A special thank you to John D’Amico and his crew for organizing this great event.

Our October meeting will be held at Roland’s in the Strip on October 13^th at 6:00PM. Gary Orosz from PPG will speak on “The Anatomy of Electrocoat”. For over 60 years, electrocoat has been coating everything from cars and trucks to a variety of other industrial products.  This presentation will discuss how its application process works and is built to produce a high performing paint finish.

I hope to see you at the meeting.

Kim Wilson

President

PSCT 2025-2026

Dear PSCT Members,

We welcomed Bharat Mankani, PAT Group Leader – PPG Process Analytical Technology.  Bharat has spent his last 15 years dedicated to Optical Spectroscopy.  He spoke on enhancing product quality in manufacturing.  The work that Bharat oversees through analytics is meant to help production be more efficient and improve quality of manufacturing.  It was a very educational and enjoyable talk.

The April meeting will be held at PPG Place Downtown and will be on RQ Resins: Alkyd Technologies. We will also be holding election of 2025-26 PSCT Officers and Board of Directors, please plan on attending.

May’s event has finally come together and will entail another visit to Liberty Magic.  We will be seeing the magic of Joshua Jay.  This is a very nice venue and I really enjoyed our last visit there two years ago.  There is a link in the Newsletter to sign up.  I look forward to seeing everyone there.

Keep an eye on the newsletter for upcoming meetings and events and a reminder that the Coating Tech Conference will be in Pittsburgh between April 28 and 30.  We have also put out a save the date reminder for the golf outing, which will be held on September 11, 2025 at Birdsfoot.

I understand that we got a few applications for our annual scholarship and the winners will be announced in May.

Gregory Stewart, PSCT President 2024 – 2025

Dear PSCT Members,

February meeting was Past President’s Day, and I would like to thank not only all past presidents, but especially those in attendance; Jim Wasik, Mark DePasquale and Chris Chaousy.

We welcomed Ron Romer from BYK, Ron has over 40 years of technical experience in the coatings industry. Ron spoke on emerging additives technology for a greener future. He talked about the evolution of coatings going from synthetic, to the use of PFAS, on to more bio-based materials. It was a very educational and enjoyable talk.

The March meeting speaker will be Bharat Mankani as PPG Process Analytical Technology Group Leader. Speaking on PPG Process Analytical Technology: Enhancing Product Quality in Manufacturing.

April will be offsite at PPG and will be election of officers for PCST. Please plan on attending. May’s event has finally come together and will entail another visit to Liberty Magic. There will be a link in the Newsletter to sign up. I look forward to seeing everyone there.

Keep an eye on the newsletter for upcoming meetings and events and a reminder that the Coating Tech Conference will be in Pittsburgh between April 28 and 30. As a reminder, if you know if anyone eligible for the PSCT scholarship please remind them to check our website for information.

Gregory Stewart

PSC T President 2024 – 2025

Dear PSCT Members,
Thanks to Kellie Wareham from Sherwin-Williams for joining us at Roalnd’s and educating us
on the ways that Sherwin-Williams is moving forward to sustainability, including their successes
and challenges in doing so.
Membership is open and you can sign up by visiting our website www.paintsociety.org
Our next meeting will be at MATERGENICS, 100 Business Center Dr, Pittsburgh PA 15205 on
November 11th and will include a tour of the facility. Please plan on attending.
There are some exciting things in the works for this year, including our winter fun event. Keep
an eye on the newsletter or other communication for details.
I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, which is right around the corner.

Gregory Stewart, PSCT President 2024-2025

Wow, it seems like this season has flown by! On April 8th, we had our last regular monthly meeting for the 2023-2024 season at Covestro, LLC. During this meeting, the PSCT membership present elected the new Officers and Board of Directors for 2024-2025. After a presentation about Covestro, the membership toured the Covestro facility and laboratories. On May 10th, PSCT had its annual Spring social event. This
year it was held at The Roberto Clement Museum. It was a wonderful tour with a lot of information about Roberto and his life. During the event, Scholarships were presented to this year’s recipients.

I would like to thank this year’s Board and Committee members for making this year a success for all the hard work. I would also like to welcome all the new Board member’s coming onboard for the 2024-2025 year. I look forward to seeing everyone next year!

Melissa Swogger, PSCT President 2023-2024

Dear PSCT Members,

Happy Spring! I hope everyone has been enjoying the warmer weather as of late. Thank you to everyone that attended our March meeting we had an interesting talk featuring Nanotube technology. Our April meeting will be held at Covestro, LLC and will feature both a presentation and a tour of the laboratories. I would like to thank Clive Bosnyak for his March presentation. As I mentioned, the upcoming April meeting will be held at Covestro, LLC and will feature a presentation on “Looking Beyond Performance Specifications to Capitalize on New Opportunities,” by Mike Jeffries. Mike is the Business Development Manager for Industrial Coatings. Following the presentation there will be lab tours. I hope you all can join us. We will need to have RSVPs for this meeting to provide to the desk security for entrance. Please make sure to register early. We are in the process of planning the May social more information will follow once the details have been finalized.

Melissa Swogger, PSCT President 2023 – 2024

MARK HARLEY

1936-2023

At the February meeting, a moment of silence was held in honor of Mark Harley, former President (1994). Mark remained active in the PSCT as Educational Chair for many years and was influential in maintaining the PSCT Scholarship Program. His service was greatly appreciated.

Mark Anthony Harley Jr., 87, of Oakmont, passed away on December 28, 2023, at Canterbury Place, in Pittsburgh. He was born Monday, Nov. 23, 1936, in North Apollo. He was a Navy Veteran. Before his retirement, he was a Chemist for PPG Industries, Allison Park. He attended Oakmont United Methodist Church and was an adult leader for the Boy Scouts and achieved the honor of the Order of the Arrow. He
enjoyed working on cars, restoring homes, and was a jack of all trades capable of doing electrical, plumbing and plastering work. Mark also enjoyed camping and spending time at his cottage in Crawford County.

Dear PSCT Members,

I hope everyone has been enjoying the warmer weather, what a nice surprise! Thank you to everyone that attended our January meeting. We were able to visit the PPG Customer and Employee Experience Center, on the 40th Floor PPG Place. A special thank you to Andy Meshanko for coordinating the meeting. It was a fun evening. I would also like to thank Jim Wasik for stepping in with short notice and giving a very interesting and informative presentation on the History and Current Purpose for our PSCT chapter. The upcoming February meeting will feature Thomas Kinlin. Thomas is with Shamrock Technologies and will be speaking on “Formula Optimization Utilizing Performance Wax Additives.” I am sure it will be very interesting. I would also like to remind you that we will be back at Roland’s seafood Grille for this month’s meeting. And as a reminder if you know if anyone eligible for the PSCT scholarship please remind them to check our website for information. The due date for scholarship applications is March 15th.

Melissa Swogger, PSCT President 2023 – 2024

Dear PSCT Members,

Happy Holidays! I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season. Thank you to everyone that
attended our December social event which was “The Ultimate Acrisure Stadium Tour.” Twenty-five
members and guests received a behind the scenes tour of the stadium and got to see in the locker
rooms and learn about both Steeler and Pitt traditions. It was a really fun experience!
I would also like to thank Jeff Scherm for his October presentation. The upcoming January meeting will
feature John Whalen. John is the Executive Director at the Master Painters Institute (MPI). I am sure it
will be a very informative and interesting talk. I hope you all can join us.
And as a reminder if you know if anyone eligible for the PSCT scholarship please remind them to check
our website for information.
Melissa Swogger, PSCT President 2023 – 2024

Dear PSCT Members,

Wow holiday season is just the round the corner! So come out and join us Monday, November 13^th, at Roland’s to unwind before the hectic season approaches. Jeff Scherm will be speaking to us.

Thank you to all who attended our October Meeting. And a special thank you goes out to Mark McMillen from PPG Industries, for his discussion on “Pretreatment – The Most Important Layer.”

I would like to remind everyone that membership is open, and you can join directly from our website, paintsociety.org. While you are there we would also like to invite anyone interested in advertising in our monthly newsletter.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 13^th at Roland’s Seafood and Grill, featuring a talk by Jeff Scherm from Lanxess. The talk will be titled The desire for Higher Functionality, meeting coatings trends with Bayferrox pigments.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the November meeting!

Sincerely,

Melissa Swogger, PSCT President 2023-2024