This
is my first “President’s Message” as your new president. Although I’ve
said this several times already, most recently at the banquet on January
30, I feel it is important for me to start out in my first message with
thanks to members for voting for me for the Board, and to the outgoing
Board for installing me as President. The job will be easy because of the
excellent people on the Board with me. See who they are elsewhere in The
Goddess. I much appreciate and depend on Marty Watkins’ help with
the transition – he is always willing to give advice, answer a question,
and pick up the pieces that I drop in my faltering first attempts at
executing the position.
Lorraine and I attended our banquet on
January 30at Normandy Farm Hotel and Conference Center in Blue Bell. The
VFR is successful because there are so many willing to help out with Club
activities, and we took a few minutes at the banquet to thank several of
you for your tireless efforts. We had a wonderful time at the banquet, and
I feel it is right in this case to single out one of you who worked so
hard to make it so – ANDREA JACOBY.
Marty Watkins handed me the gavel last evening, but I actually started
learning the ropes about a month ago. This gave all of us a chance to
witness dynamo Andrea’s hard work and attention to detail that virtually
guaranteed the evening would be a success – and it was! Thank you,
Andrea!
At the banquet, we discussed the difficult times
the US auto industry is having. We are all aware of this, and are grateful
that our marque has survived – so far. But, who knows what the future will
bring? It seems so hard to find any good news – so I’d like to offer
something that I think is good news.
One of my professional duties is hiring engineers
at all levels. I am impressed with the high caliber of graduating
engineers, particularly from the fine engineering schools just in the
Philadelphia metropolitan area. They are bright, eager, and motivated, and
quickly move into positions of responsibility. They are facile with all
the latest computer analytical tools, and that multiplies their
productivity several fold compared to the slide rule-toting engineer of my
day.
Excellent, innovative engineering has been the
cornerstone of success for GM, and Cadillac. Although not in the
automotive industry, I’m encouraged about the high quality of young
engineering talent available to us, and can only hope that GM is mining it
for all it’s worth. That will keep us in the game, and the US automobile
industry, including Cadillac, will have a future. Who knows, it may even
be so good that we’ll see a LaSalle again?
But we need more American engineers. In that
regard, Engineers Week is February 14-20. Do your part – encourage a young
person you know with an aptitude for math and science to consider a career
in engineering. There’s plenty of information on the Web – see, for
example,
www.eweek.org
Who is frequently said to be the first US
engineer? Send your answer to the Editor – correct answer next month!
Finally,
please join us at our
monthly meeting at Otto’s Brauhaus in Horsham, PA. We need your
input. The meetings are great fun, and don’t worry, they almost never come
to blows. Dinner starts at 6:00 to 6:30 pm, meeting starts at 7:30
pm, with all good intents to finish by 9:00 pm. A draft Agenda can
by found elsewhere in this issue of the Goddess [and,
here, on our website - Webmaster].
Vice President Andy Jacoby will be in
charge of the meeting, as I will be away.
Regards,
Cliff