Hello Chicago Rubber Group and Happy 2012! 

We have a fresh new year to look forward to, and I am going to be looking toward many of you for assistance and suggestions for programs, speakers and any other innovative ideas you may have to make all of our Chicago Rubber Group experience the most fulfilling it can be.  I want to know what you all are looking to learn, and who we want to meet, who we want to learn from.

Please make a note that our board meeting is JANUARY 25^th, 2012, and we are meeting at Bob Chinn's Crab House, Wheeling, IL, for a luncheon and having our meeting immediately following, so bring your ideas for this year.

I would like to take this opportunity also to say thank you to our outgoing President, Rich Alt for his hard work and a job well done last year. 

Our 2011 golf outings came together with the hard work of Mike Szymborski and Tim Day.  We had a great time, and some of us even played some pretty good golf!   We are all looking forward to our 2012 outings, so, please be sure to bring forward any thoughts or ideas for improving this year’s golf outings!  Let’s be creative!  If you have an off the wall idea, bring it, and let see if we can make it work. 

Regarding Golf Outings, Mike Collins from Barton Solvents will be taking over for Tim Day as CRG Wisconsin Golf Outing Chair beginning in 2012.  I’d like to thank Tim for his efforts in the past, and Mike for volunteering in his place going forward.

Our scholarship program however is the most important component of our group.  This year I would like to keep it our primary focus, and again, this is an area where any innovative ideas and thoughts would be welcomed.   We need to remind our friends and colleges of the importance of this program and the opportunities that the scholarship program offers to our area youth.

Our Basics of Rubber Technology course will be offered this year!  It will be held at SKF Sealing Solutions in Elgin and will start on March 21, 2012 and run through March 23, 2012.  I would like to Thank Ron Coia and his team for their work on this program.  If you know of anyone who may benefit from this course, they should by all means take it.  The course has received great feedback in the past, and this year’s course looks to be another good one.  The deadline for course sign-up is February 17th, so sign up today to avoid the waiting list!

As I look out across the snow-free landscape – I am keeping my fingers crossed that the snow keeps falling at its present rate!

Mike Amis

President, The Chicago Rubber Group, Inc.