PAST CHAIRMEN

1989-90    Darryl Gunderson (Founder)	1998-99    Doug McCormick
1990-91    Darryl Gunderson	1999-00    Mike Polyniak
1991-92    Bill Roddy	2000-01    Kathy Parker
1992-93    Bill Roddy	2001-02    Kevin Madry
1993-94    Charlie Brown	2002-03    Suzanne Noble
1994-95    Sue Luft	2003-04    Roger Funston
1995-96    Richard Casagrande	2004-05    Ron Hunter
1996-97    John Haley	2005-06    Megan Metcalf
1997-98    Michael Sansing	2006-07    Tim Reed

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The early history of our Chapter was interesting and exciting.  During the 1980’s A&WMA was represented in California only by the two Sections, Golden West and West Coast.  In 1987 the Coastal Chapter of the West Coast Section was formed with Darryl Gunderson (then with Shell Oil) elected as a Director on its first Board.  Chapter members were drawn from Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Kern counties.  Darryl regularly traveled to Coastal Chapter and Board meetings on the coast as did 2-3 other SJV members, but by late 1988 he had decided to try and form a Chapter in Bakersfield.  The Coastal Chapter supported that idea and loaned him $500 as seed monies with Jan Bush the ex Ventura APCO and Coastal Chapter Board member volunteering to help Darryl prepare the new Chapter By-laws, Charter and all paperwork to submit to A&WMA headquarters (through the Section).  Darryl contacted some local environmental professional friends who were also national A&WMA members to see if they wanted to participate as an ad hoc group with him and Jan Bush to create the new Chapter.  The group, consisting of Darryl, Bill Roddy (APCO of the Kern County APCD), Charlie Brown (Oxy), Cathy Reheis (Texaco), Sue Luft (Luft Consultants), Jack Caufield and Jan Bush met over pizza after work for a number of months settling everything up.

The first Chapter meeting was held at Maitia’s Basque Restaurant and was very well attended by prospective Chapter members.  The first order of business was to have a vote to form the Chapter, which passed unanimously.  The second agenda item was to vote on the founding Board as presented by the ad hoc committee with Darryl Gunderson as the first Chapter Chair and Bill Roddy as Vice-Chair.  The Chapter agreed to meet once per month with topical speakers and to have an annual Technical Conference.  Draft Chapter By-Laws were passed out, Chapter names were solicited and a discussion was held on which Section the new Chapter should partner with.  These three items were to be voted on at the next Chapter meeting.  There was much discussion and campaigning for Section preference.  Jan Bush and the Coastal Chapter felt the new Chapter should be under the West Coast Section as we were closer to L.A. and the Coastal Chapter had sponsored us.  The new Chapter Board and many prospective Chapter members appreciated the Coastal Chapter’s help, but felt that the new Chapter should associate with the Golden West Section since the new Chapter’s area stretched all the way to Stockton with our air quality tied to the Bay Area and Sacramento.  Also since many of our members, whether industry, APCD or consultants, had permitting activities with oversight by CARB (Sacramento) and the EPA (San Francisco), it seemed becoming a Chapter under the Golden West Section would be more advantageous to our members for the open flow of technical discussion and ideas at common A&WMA events.

The second Chapter meeting saw an overwhelming vote to become a Chapter of the Golden West Section, approved the By-Laws and selected the “Golden Empire” as the official Chapter name.  The Golden West Section welcomed us as their first Chapter, paid off our $500 loan to the Coastal Chapter and gave us another $2,000 from their Treasury to help us out for our first year Technical Conference.  Darryl Gunderson and Bill Roddy were both elected chairmen for two-year terms to assure the Chapter would have a smooth and successful start.  The Chapter rapidly became self sufficient with our first Technical Conference co-chaired by Sue Luft and Cathy Reheis.  Those early Technical Conferences were very successful with attendance consistently over 200 for a full two-day Conference in Bakersfield.

Since then the Chapter has continued to provide a steady stream of interesting speakers and topics at lunch and dinner meetings.  Monies raised from Technical Conferences has been awarded to numerous students with grants to various educational programs as well.  For the past several years, the Chapter has donated nearly $10,000 each year towards these scholarships, awards and grants.  The newest development within the Chapter is our new Internet site (www.awma-goldenempire.org).  Our website enables the Chapter to provide an abundance of information and details to our membership and to maintain direct contact with every member.  (Thanks to Darryl Gunderson and Doug McCormick for helping prepare this history and confirming the dates!)

Starting in 2008, the Chapter will work on a Calendar Year-basis with all officers serving for the 12-month calendar period.  The 2006-07 term was extended to 18 months by order of the Board and the Chapter's By-Laws were amended to reflect the change.
 

The Air & Waste Management Association is the educational and technical organization for professionals concerned with the issues of air pollution control and waste management. The Association began in 1907 and is now an organization of 13,000 members who are engineers, scientists, government officials, industrial personnel, control equipment and instrument manufacturers, and academicians. It is through this variety of disciplines in the membership that the technical proficiency and forum capability of the Association are maintained, thereby making the Association a prime resource in the field of air pollution control and waste management. To promote the exchange of technical information, an annual meeting and exposition are held as well as numerous technical conferences, workshops, and educational courses. The international headquarters of the Association are in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

A&WMA's Board of Directors has long recognized the value of grass roots regional Sections within the Association to carry out the objectives of the Association at the local level. One or more "chapters" are sometimes established with Sections to better serve the membership at the local level. Customarily, each Section has a governing Board consisting of a Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, and Executive Board. All members of the Board are elected by the membership.

At this time, the A&WMA has 25 sections and 59 chapters covering all of North America and many areas in Latin America, Asia, and Europe.

The Golden West Section (to which the Golden Empire Chapter belongs) was formed in June 1984. The Section serves northern California from Bakersfield north. Its purpose is to promote better understanding of the problems of air pollution and waste management within the geographic area of the Section and to provide a means of exchanging information directed towards solving those problems. To accomplish these goals, the Section and Chapters present a series of dinner meetings, workshops, and technical conferences. Additionally, the Section's and Chapter's scholarship programs provide financial assistance to graduate or undergraduate students in the environmental field.

In 1998, the Golden West Section and the Hong Kong Section formed a "Sister Section" relationship. This provides our members with an opportunity for international technical and resource exchanges.