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

Dear PSCT Members,

Thank you to all who attended our Scholarship golf event on Thursday, September 7. We hope to see you all next year on September 12th at Birdsfoot for our next golf outing!

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 October 9th at Roland’s Seafood and Grill, featuring a talk by Mark McMillen from PPG. The talk will be on “Pretreatment – The Most Important Layer.” The presentation will be offered both virtually and in-person with dinner being served shortly before the presentation begins.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the October meeting!

Sincerely,

Melissa Swogger, PSCT President 2023-2024

Dear PSCT Members,

On Monday, April 10th we attended our monthly meeting at KTA-Tator. We had our board meeting, voted on new officers for 2023-2024 and had a wonderful tour. Thank you to KTA-Tator for a great event and for
being a gracious host. For more information on their company please visit https://kta.com.

We had two qualified students who applied and were accepted to receive the 2022-2023 Hiram P. Ball
Scholarship. The scholarship awards this year go to Aiden Rizzotti (Student Member) and Josh
Rechenberg. Each student will receive $1500.00. Josh also received the PSCT STEM Grant of $500.
Congratulations to both students on a job well done and thank you to Valerie Sherbondy and the
Scholarship Committee for taking the time to review the applications.

At the April meeting we elected the 2023-2024 PSCT Officers and Board of Directors.
PPG is our first corporate sponsor, so if you work for PPG and want to join the PSCT for 2023-2024 please
register using the PSCT Application (see form on Page 10). Over the next months, we will be sending
brochures out to employees at PPG who may have an interest in our organization.
I would like to remind everyone that membership is open for next year, renew on-line at
www.paintsocity.org.

I encourage anyone who is interested in advertising in the PSCT Newsletter to contact the Treasurer
(treasurer@paintsocity.org). These advertisements help support the PSCT. Any membership or
advertisement purchased after April 1st is good through the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

I would like to take a moment to thank this year’s board and committee chairs for their efforts and helping to bring back in-person meetings. It has been a great year of talks and we look forward to everything that PSCT is going to do in 2023-2024.

Best regards, Art Kasson: PSCT President 2022-23

Dear PSCT Members,

On Monday, March 13^th we hosted Scott Van Remortel, Applications & Technology Manager at Covia in Independence, Ohio.  Scott’s talk was titled Advanced Filler Technology and Applications Update from Covia for Increased Physical Performance in Waterborne Industrial and Solar Reflectivity in Cool Coatings. We’d like to thank Covia for supporting the PSCT as they had several people join us in-person at Rolands.  If you’d like a copy of Scott’s talk, please reach out to me and we can get you a copy.

On Monday, April 10^th we will be moving to an off-site location for our monthly meeting.  This month we will be meeting at KTA-Tator 145 Enterprise Dr, Pittsburgh, PA 15275, which is located near the airport.  If you are interested in joining, we will be starting at 5:30PM.  Food, drinks and a tour of the new building will be included.  We ask that you RSVP at events@paintsociety.org  or pay on-line at www.PaintSociety.org if you are joining us in-person.  This is an in-person event so there will be no way to connect virtually as we’ve done with our speaker series.  We like to extend thanks to KTA-Tator for hosting us.  For more information on their company please visit https://kta.com.

The application deadline for the Hiram P. Ball Memorial Scholarship was Wednesday, March 15^th, 2023.  We’d like to thank each of the applicants and will be announcing the winners of the scholarship after our April board meeting.  As a reminder for next year, applicants must be children of active members who meet eligibility requirements. The sponsoring member must have attended 4 PSCT events in 2023-2024. Student members must meet eligibility requirements. 

At our April meeting we will be voting on our next slate of officers.  If you have an interest in helping to serve the local coatings community then this is a great chance to do so.  Let any current officer or board member know immediately of your intent.  We will be electing Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Director-at-Large and ACA Society Liaison Representative (a 2 year term).

PPG is our first corporate sponsor, so if you work for PPG and want to join the PSCT for 2023-2024 then please let us know.  Over the next months, we will be sending brochures out to employees at PPG who may have an interest in our organization.

I would like to remind everyone that membership is still open and encourage anyone who is interested in advertising their company or sales/business development team to contact us (psct1927@paintsociety.org) and let us know you would like to post your business cards or a ¼, ½ or full-page advertisements in our monthly newsletter.  These advertisements help support the PSCT.  Any NEW membership or advertisement purchased after April 1^st will be good through the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

We saved the best for last.  Details for our Spring social event which will take place on Wednesday May 10^th at Liberty Magic. UP-CLOSE Magic in an intimate venue. We sent a communication on this event earlier this week.  Knowing if you are interested is important for our final headcount which is due April 4th.  Please RSVP at events@paintsociety.org.  Payment is due by April 15^th and can be paid through the website.

We look forward to seeing you all at KTA-Tator on April 10th!

Best regards, Art Kasson, PSCT President 2022-2023

Dear PSCT Members,

Spring is on the horizon but with recent warmer weather my condolences go out to anyone who enjoys the winter sports!  I still think we’re in for a couple of arctic blasts before real Spring shows up!  Keep those skis, skates and toboggans at the ready.

Come out to Rolands in March for our next scheduled speaker series dinner!  On Monday March 13^th we will host Scott Van Remortel, Applications & Technology Manager at Covia in Independence, Ohio.  Scott’s talk is titled Advanced Filler Technology and Applications Update from Covia for Increased Physical Performance in Waterborne Industrial and Solar Reflectivity in Cool Coatings. The talk will begin promptly at 6:00PM.  Join us at 5:30 to put in your food order and relax for a happy 30.  RSVP if you are attending in-person. Thanks go out to Jerry Powers from Vibrantz who presented at our February meeting.  Jerry spoke about VOC global regulations and gave a very informative and interesting presentation. If you’d like a copy of his presentation then you can let me know. A warm thanks also goes out to the several past presidents who showed up in force for this past month’s meeting.  We thank you for your continued support of the PSCT.

Final Reminder – The application deadline for the Hiram P. Ball Memorial Scholarship is Wednesday, March 15^th, 2023.  A template scholarship form will be available at the end of this newsletter or you can access online at https://paintsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/PSCT-scholarship-form-2023.pdf. Applicants must be children of active members who meet eligibility requirements and have attended 4 PSCT events in 2022-2023 or student members who meet eligibility requirements. 

At our February meeting we voted on and now have an addition to our by-laws which allow for memberships through a corporate sponsor. PPG is our first corporate sponsor, so if you work for PPG and want to join the PSCT for 2023-2024 then please let us know.  Over the next months, we will be sending brochures out to employees at PPG who may have an interest in our organization.

I would like to remind everyone that membership is still open and encourage anyone who is interested in advertising their company or sales/business development team to contact us and let us know you would like to post your cards or advertisement in ¼, ½ or full-page advertisements in our monthly newsletter.  These advertisements help support the operational fund for PSCT. 

Details for our Spring social event which will take place on May 10^th or 11^th (TBD) will be found below.  This year we are hoping to switch things up a bit and offer a show at Liberty Magic.  Knowing if you are interested will be important for our final headcount which will be due at some point in April.  Reach out to any board or committee member on the PSCT. 

Over the next month, we will start thinking about elections for next years board and committee members.  If you have any interest in helping out a great organization we have a few positions which are open for 2023-2024.  Our volunteers are what keeps this organization growing and thriving.  Please reach out to me at art.kasson@gmail.com if you have an interest in helping out.

We look forward to seeing you all at Rolands on March 13th!

Best regards, Art Kasson, PSCT President 2022-2023