ver 50 PSMA members and guests attended the PSMA Annual Meeting, held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Long Beach, CA during APEC 2013.

A buffet breakfast was served at 7:30 a.m. and provided an opportunity for networking and meeting colleagues. Chairman Carl Blake opened the meeting by welcoming all the attendees and asked each to briefly introduce themselves. Among those present were many of the 30 student recipients of the APEC Attendance Awards. These awards are provided jointly by IAS, PELS and PSMA and attracted 115 applicants from 56 different schools in 13 countries.

The first item on the agenda was the election of four people to the Board of Directors. The following candidates were elected to the Board of Directors for the three-year term (2013-2016):

Carl Blake recognized the contributions of Jim Marinos who is leaving the Board as Director and expressed the appreciation of PSMA for his service and continued contributions to the Association. Jim will continue to serve as PSMA President until his term expires at APEC 2014.

Carl discussed his vision for the coming year which is to continue to expand the participation of member companies as a means to increase the value of their membership. He encouraged every company representative to promote the activities of PSMA to others in their company and inform them of the opportunities provided by the PSMA Technical Committees.

Carl also reviewed the membership statistics for the past year and noted that the Association added 16 new member companies, but lost 12 for a net gain of 4 new member companies. He emphasized that the Board is working hard to expand and to increase the value of membership in the Association.

Following his report Carl presented plaques to the following members who have made significant contributions to the Association in the past years who were recognized for their outstanding achievements:

Following the Chairman's Report was a financial Report sent in by Michel Grenon. There were also individual reports from the PSMA Committees and reports on the two recent PSMA Workshops.

Siamak Abedinpour, General Chair for APEC 2013, provided an update on the progress of APEC 2013. The conference has been setting new records in number of paper submissions, number of paper acceptances, registrations and attendees and exhibit booths. The conference appears to be headed to become both a technical and financial success. APEC 2014 will be held in Fort Worth TX March 16 - 20 2014.

The minutes from the PSMA Annual Meeting will be posted in the Members Only area of the PSMA web site together with the charts from all of the presentations.

The Annual Meeting, PSMA Committee meetings, as well as the technical sessions, seminars, Industry Presentations, exhibits and other events kept PSMA members busy all the week. The APEC banquet, held at the Aquarium of the Pacific, gave everyone a chance to relax and enjoy themselves.

There were a record number of exhibitors at APEC 2013. PSMA member companies who exhibited at APEC 2013 participated in a "Passport" game in which attendees visited their booths and had their passport booklets stamped. Attendees turned in their completed passports for a chance to win an iPad. Traffic to members' booths was brisk and the lucky winner was very happy with his prize.

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