Dear PSCT Members,

I wish to thank Nicki Vo, Vice President of R&D at WPC Technologies for her informative and entertaining presentation on corrosion inhibitor performance in coating systems at our October meeting. Her wide product knowledge provided insight on formulating different levels of corrosion protection.

Dwain Givens, Director of Technical Services-Americas at Kronos will present “Titanium Dioxide Pigment Particle Functionality” at our November 9^th meeting at The Cornerstone Restaurant in Aspinwall, PA. You can make your reservation at www.paintsociety.org.

Check out our December event, “A Christmas Music Spectacular “hosted by KDKA’s Larry Richert at the Oaks Theater in Oakmont, PA on December 17^th. See the November newsletter for details.

I would like to wish all our members a Happy Thanksgiving shared with family and friends.

Deb Longhini

PSCT President 2026-27

Tepache – A Taste of Mexico in Fox Chapel

1374 Freeport Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15238

Dear PSCT Members,
As the PSCT President for 2026-27, I am grateful for your support and look
forward to continuing the society’s goals of promoting education, the
exchange of new ideas and technologies as well as networking within the
coatings industry. I have been active in the PSCT for over 30 years and
welcome our upcoming 100 th year anniversary in 2027 to continue our
objectives.
I am excited to work with the 2026 2027 PSCT board members: Don Hart,
Vice President; Barb Anderson, Secretary; Bhrat Mankani, Treasurer; Matt
Lamanti, Director at Large; Kim Wilson, Past President and Jeff Scherm,
Representative to ACA Society Liaison Committee. Thank you for your time
and effort to keep the PSCT viable and growing.
The annual golf outing at Birdsfoot Golf Course on September 9 th was a
great success. It was a beautiful day with 50 golfers supporting our
scholarship fund. Our sponsors, Arxada, Azelis Americas, Barentz, BYK
America, CAP, Champion Container, Dar Tech, Lanxess, PPG, Palmer
Holland, Peninsula Polymers and Wolf Container and Chemicals are also
thanked for their support. A special thanks goes to John D’Amico, our
Events Chair, who did a wonderful job coordinating this important PSCT
event. I hope to see everyone again next year.
Our October meeting is scheduled for Monday the 12 th at Cornerstone
Restaurant in Aspinwall, PA. Our speaker is Nicki Vo from WPC
Technologies. You can make your reservation at www.paintsociety.org.
And finally, it’s time to renew your membership the 2026-2027 annual year.
Go to www.paintsociety.org to join or renew.

Deb Longhini
PSCT President 2026-2027

Dear PSCT Members,
I would like to thank Dr. Crystal G. Morrison of ChemQuest for her insightful presentation on the Global Coatings Industry Outlook and Trends at our April 13 meeting.
During that meeting, we also held elections for the 2026–2027 season. Congratulations to our incoming leadership team:
• Deb Longhini, President
• Don Hart, Vice President
• Bharat Mankani, Treasurer
• Barb Anderson, Secretary
• Matt Lamanti, Director at Large
We also enjoyed a great evening on May 13 with dinner at Pub 333 followed by Trivia Night at the Oakes Theater. Congratulations to Lauren Jablonski, recipient of the Hiram C. Ball Memorial Scholarship.
Please mark your calendars for the upcoming golf outing on September 9 at Birdsfoot Golf Course. Proceeds from this event support the scholarship fund.
Wishing everyone a safe and enjoyable summer.
Kim Wilson
PSCT President, 2025–2026

Cornerstone Restaurant
301 Freeport Rd
Pittsburgh, PA 15215

President’s Message – March 2026

Dear PSCT Members,

I want to thank Smriti Arora, BYK’s Technical Service Manager, for her interesting presentation on adhesion promoters in paint and coatings.  I also want to thank the past presidents that attended our February meeting.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are cancelling our March meeting.   For this reason, scholarship sponsoring members need to have attended three meetings or events to meet the Scholarship requirements.

Our April meeting will be held at Cornerstone Restaurant in Aspinwall on April 13, 2026, at 6:00PM.   With this new venue, we need to give the restaurant a headcount on Friday, April 10^th.    Please be sure to sign up for dinner on our website in advance! 

During this meeting, we will welcome Dr. Crystal G. Morrison of ChemQuest a global consulting firm specializing in specialty chemicals and materials. As Vice President, she supports clients worldwide in mergers, acquisitions, business strategy, and technology development.  Dr. Morrison will be discussing Global Coatings Industry Outlook and Trends.

During the April meeting we will have our elections so if anyone is interested in open positions, please reach out to Greg Stewart at gstewart@shorecorporation.com.

As a reminder, if you know of anyone eligible for the PSCT scholarship please remind them to check our website and newsletter for information.    The deadline for applications is March 15^th. 

We are also in the process of finalizing our May social event where we will present the scholarship awards.  This is always a fun time, so please plan on attending!

I hope to see you at the meeting!

Kim Wilson

President PSCT 2025-2026

Dear PSCT Members,

I want to thank Mihael Dvorchak, technical director of Dvorchak Enterprises, LLC, for a very informative presentation on the history of Shark Skin coatings and it’s use in Aerospace coatings and the potential use in Autonomous vehicles.    I personally found it fascinating to learn how the shark skin riblet’s impact drag and antimicrobial properties.

Our February meeting will be held at Cornerstone Restaurant in Aspinwall on February 9th, 2026, at 6:00PM.   With this new venue, we need to give the restaurant a headcount on Friday, February 6^th.    Please be sure to sign up for dinner on our website by Friday! 

During this meeting, we will welcome Smriti Arora, BYK’s Technical Service Manager, focusing on General Industrial (GI) coatings.  Smriti will be discussing the role of Adhesion Promoters in Paints & Coatings.

February is also PSCT Past President month, so we would love to see our past presents in attendance!

As a reminder, if you know if anyone eligible for the PSCT scholarship please remind them to check our website for information.

I hope to see you at the meeting!

Kim Wilson

President PSCT 2025-2026

Dear PSCT Members,

Happy New Year!   I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday season.

I want to thank our November speaker, Jana Shafer from Vibrantz Technologies.  She gave a very interesting presentation on how coatings evolved and Vibrantz’s innovative colorant systems.

Twelve PSCT members, family, and friends shared a fun filled evening at the Bocce House in RIDC – O’Hara in December.  They enjoyed 90 minutes of Bocce while snacking on a nice variety of food and drinks.

Our January meeting will be held at Roland’s in the Strip on January 12, 2026, at 6:00PM.   Mike Dvorchak from Dvorchak Enterprises, LLC will speak on UV Cure ’Shark Skin bio-mimicking’ Antimicrobial surfaces for Autonomous Vehicles.  These surfaces are naturally antimicrobial without the use of added toxic substance. Future ride-hailing AVs are expected to have rapid ‘turn around’ after every use that should result in a microbial-free ‘touch surface’. AVs are expected to grow dramatically in the next 5 years as ride-hailing options replace traditional taxi and Uber style of conveyance. In addition, the presentation will discuss how coatings with anti-biofouling properties find use in hospitals and medical implants.

As a reminder, if you know if anyone eligible for the PSCT scholarship please remind them to check our website for information.

I hope to see you at the meeting.

Kim Wilson

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