ILMA Compoundings June 2019 - 3

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President
Barbara Kudis
Allegheny Petroleum
Products Co.
Vice President
Chuck Decker
American Oil &
Supply International, LLC
Treasurer
Scott A. Schwindaman
Lubrication Engineers, Inc.
Secretary
Michael Damiani
Radco Industries, Inc.
Immediate Past President
Dave Croghan
Maxum Petroleum

Ann Ball
CIMCOOL Industrial
Products LLC

Lon Fanning
DuBois Chemicals
Jarrett Flegel
Boss Lubricants
Catharine T. Golden
Etna Products, Inc.
Frank H. Hamilton III
South Atlantic Services, Inc.
Beth Ann Jones
Hangsterfer's Laboratories, Inc.
Greg Julian
Advanced Lubrication
Specialties
Kent Morris
Pinnacle Oil, Inc.
David Richards
RichardsApex, Inc.

STAFF
Chief Executive Officer
Holly Alfano
Associate Director
Martha F. Jolkovski
Director of
Communications
Brenda Gillinson, CAE
Member Services/
Marketing Manager
Tim Mack

Communications
Manager
Amber Lopez
Membership Manager
Meg Thaxton
Accounting Manager
Margaret Smith
General Counsel
Jeffrey L. Leiter
Associate Counsel
Matthew Levetown

EDITORIAL, DESIGN
Contributing Editor
Brenda Gillinson, CAE

Designer
Mark St. Amand

THE YGS GROUP
Senior Editor
Drew Bankert

Copy Editor
Amanda Holahan

Managing Editor
Sam Hoffmeister

Account Manager
Charity Fox

MEDIA SALES
Executive Vice President
Jack Davidson

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

Barbara A. Bellanti
Battenfeld Grease &
Oil Corporation of N.Y.

Advertising Account
Executive
Tima Good
tima.good@theygsgroup.com

INDEPENDENT LUBRICANT
MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION
675 North Washington Street, Suite 275, Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone: 703-684-5574 * Fax: 703-836-8503 * www.ilma.org
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Compoundings (USPS 003-447) is published monthly by the
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ISSN 1042-508X
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© 2019 Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association.
All Rights Reserved.

Teaming Up Globally

s ILMA president, I have been honored to represent our members
at two international meetings this year: the Union of the European
Lubricants Industry (UEIL) and Asian Lubricant Manufacturers
Union (ALMU). My goal at these meetings was to find ways to help members connect and build business opportunities.
I believe we need to continuously invest in relationships and in learning,
so I was pleased to use these meetings as a way to build trust and form
connections with our international counterparts. This is essential as our
industry is more global now than it has ever been.
We talked a lot about regulatory issues. Many international regulations
eventually come to the U.S., so it's useful for us to stay current on what is
happening abroad. These meetings can help us gain background information that could provide much-needed context. We also discussed logistics
and supply. U.S. similarities exist in some areas, but in other areas, there
are vast differences.
Perhaps even more important is hearing about the society and culture of
particular regions. Understanding cultural sensitivities, values and passions
can help us with marketing, sales, labor and management. The UEIL and
ALMU conferences can be excellent opportunities for this type of learning.
While all these discussions were beneficial, I left the UEIL meeting with
some lingering questions:
* What more can ILMA leadership get out of these meetings that will
add value to member companies, and how can we help to facilitate
information and business opportunities to members?
* Beyond sharing information from the sessions or ideas for programs,
where else should we focus our energies?
* What can the ILMA Board and committees do to really connect member companies and add value to the membership?
* Are there more creative ways to bridge gaps and help our member
companies succeed internationally?
To initiate this conversation, prior to the ALMU/F&L Asia meetings,
I posed some of these questions to attending members. Specifically, I asked
attendees to provide feedback on the value to members that our involvement and presence at these meetings provide. Additionally, I asked how
ILMA involvement benefits their companies. How is it tying to ILMA's
strategic plan and the Global Affairs and Trade Committee charter?
Continued page11

Barbara Kudis
President

ILMA is pleased to present a variety of viewpoints in Compoundings magazine. Readers should keep in mind that bylined articles
represent the views of the named author or authors and not
necessarily the opinions, viewpoints or positions of ILMA.

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ILMA Compoundings June 2019

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