Program Chair Invites You to the 2019 Spring Meeting & 15th Global Congress on Process Safety

Gina M. Gatto

Director, Membership & Volunteer Services
AIChE

Gina M. Gatto is AIChE’s Director of Membership and Volunteer Services, a role she assumed in July of 2021. In this capacity, she leads the membership team in acquisition and retention for professional and students members, along with directly working with volunteers of AIChE communities to develop, enhance and grow their participation and community presence. Additionally Gina is responsible for the overall health of the membership base to include providing an increased level of benefits and services.

 

Gatto and her team also lead the Student Regional Conferences, as well as the AIChE Annual Student Conference. She works closely with IDEAL Communities at AIChE, including overseeing the launch of the AIChE K-12 Community and the Women in Chemical Engineering Community (WIC).

 

In her previous role in the AIChE Program Development department Gina helped develop technical content, organize, and plan technical conferences for the AIChE Spring Meeting & Global Congress on Process Safety and Southwest Process Technology Conference, among leading other niche conferences like the FDA-AIChE Workshop on Adopting Continuous Manufacturing.

 

She has worked with engineers, academics, and executives in a wide range of industries globally to coordinate volunteer efforts, speaking opportunities, and conference logistics.

 

Gatto was a key facilitator in the Module Manufacturing focus area for roadmapping in the RAPID Manufacturing Institute, as well as project managing the Process Intensification webinar series. She also helped facilitate the launch of the Advanced Manufacturing and Processing Society (AMPs) including leading her team to organize the Industry 4.0 Conferences as part of the society.

 

Gina previously spent 4 years at AdvanSix (formerly Honeywell) as a Process Engineer and then Production Engineer in their Caprolactam and Ammonium Sulfate Plant in Hopewell, VA.

 

Gina has her BS in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) where she was an AIChE member.

 

Walter Postula is the Senior Engineer in the Base Chemicals group within Shell Global Solutions (US) Inc. This year he serves as chair of the 2019 Spring Meeting & 15th Global Congress on Process Safety in New Orleans, LA. We recently spoke to Walter to find out what we can expect during this year's meeting.

What is your role for the 2019 AIChE Spring Meeting & 15th Global Congress on Process Safety?

My involvement is via two avenues, Spring Meeting Program Chair and member of the Ethylene Producers’ Committee. Both roles have primarily involved developing programming and events to help ensure a vibrant meeting that attendees are excited to attend. That said, it is the various programming entities and the awesome, tireless staff at AIChE who do all the heavy lifting.

Can you give us some insight into this year’s Spring Meeting and what events shouldn’t be missed?

I would provide you an impossible schedule if I listed all events that shouldn’t be missed! There are great speakers and topics during each of the luncheons. The AGILE Award celebrates its first woman recipient, Sharon Beshouri, whose keynote highlights the important topic of knowledge transfer. There are new sessions/panels on Leadership Development and Women in Fuels and Petrochemicals; joint welcome session by Fuels & Petrochemicals Division and Big Data, and joint 31st Ethylene Producers’ Conference sessions focused on success stories and future trends; the Kister Distillation Symposium; and many more. Don’t forgot about the networking opportunities either, starting with the opening reception on Sunday night.    

What information are you hoping attendees walk away with?

I hope attendees take away information that is useful to them in developing both technically within their current role and professionally within their career. It is habit for most of us to focus on sessions that offer something of immediate benefit. I encourage attendees to thoughtfully review the program and make time to attend a few presentations that spark their interest but cover topics outside their current role or responsibilities.

Learn more about the 2019 Spring Meeting.

Registration Info.

Join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook | #AIChESpring #GCPS 

Walter Postula

Walter Postula has been a resident of Texas since age ten. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1990 and 1994, respectively.  Read more

Comments

Member for

3 days 7 hours
Member ID
000000064298
First Name
Joseph
Last Name
Powell

Submitted by Joseph Powell on Mon, 04/01/2019 - 06:38

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Thanks Walter for chairing the Spring meeting! Excellent program slate with lots of industry relevance.