Welcome to 2021!

This year is turning out to be the most challenging year for most of us in over a decade! Our personal and business lives have never had such disrupted forces in play, but despite all the noise around us, I can assure you that the Canadian Association for Surface Finishing Board of Directors has been working diligently on your behalf, albeit virtually. I can also confirm that we held our first Board meeting & AGM for 2021 at the end of January.

We have had some significant changes within the Board, as well as with our general membership. Bob Smith, our valiant President for over two years, has now passed the reins to me, a positon made so much easier with the support of the entire Executive team and our Board members who have made the transition effortless.

We have great committee chairpersons in place for almost all the roles within our Board and we are presently looking to fill one more position so if you’ve been thinking of joining us here at CASF, now is the perfect time!

Mike Kuntz, Chair of the Communication & Technology Committee, is taking care of one of our largest projects, which is the redesign of both our Logo and our website. This is long overdue; however, we have found a trusted partner with the necessary expertise to assist Mike and his committee. Things are moving quickly!

Paola Battiston’s Education Committee is in the planning stages for multiple events this year. Our outreach to Colleges and Universities continues under her guidance. As well, Paola and Danielle Miousse are working on an online “Introduction to Electroplating Course”, hoping to be ready for the fall of 2021. The benefits of having an online program for our member companies’ employees are numerous.

Debbie Drak, our Treasurer, continues to provide us with accurate financial data and so much more and we are in a strong fiscal position as we enter the New Year. The organisation is up to date with all governmental bodies.

Stephanie McCallum continues to support us in the role of Government Liaison, a most difficult task with the numerous regulatory challenges we face as applicators and suppliers to the Surface Finishing Industry.

Richard Thibodeau, our executive committee member-at-large, is providing both guidance and valuable insight to the executive as we push forward with our approved agenda in 2021!

The Board has moved and agreed to bring in a third party who will manage a number of administrative duties on behalf of the organisation going forward in place of the Secretary role. This was discussed at length within our Board over the past 18 months. The Board then voted to approve the finances needed to support this endeavour and chose Responsible Distribution Canada (RDC) as the Administrative vendor to support us going forward. A huge thank you needs to go to our former Membership Committee Chair, Jonathan Holland, who was instrumental in this transition. Jonathan has since retired to pursue opportunities south of the border. We wish him all the best and are grateful for his valued contribution to the Board.

Our Past President, Bob Smith, has temporarily taken over the Membership Committee Chair position until we find a new person to fill the role. He, Francois Routhier and I are currently active seeking new members for the Association and as I said earlier, there’s not a better time than now to join us at CASF as we emerge from this pandemic.

The Executive Committee believes we are well positioned for sustainability in our organisation as we transition through these difficult times. With the strong membership we are fortunate to have, and with your participation at all levels as Applicators, Suppliers, Educators and Professional Service Providers, we see a bright future for CASF. We thank all 64 members for your continuing support! All of our member’s voices need to be heard and we welcome any feedback you might have.

Be well and be safe,

Graham Douglas, President
The Canadian Association for Surface Finishing
c: (416) 435-8992

We have two new Board members who have accepted the role of Directors and are participating on committees.
Francois Routhier, President of CrD Placage in Drummondville and Srdjan Knezevic, Senior Process Engineer at Kuntz Electroplating Inc.