Joe Seiwert, Advanced Environmental Systems Huntington Beach, CA

• Regenerative thermal oxidation and staged combustion technologies for control of pharmaceutical process emissions

• Selective catalytic reduction systems for control of NOx emissions from industrial boilers, and dioxin control from hazardous waste incinerators 

• Staged catalytic oxidation/reduction system for emissions control from vitrification process for nuclear wastes disposal

Lee Hecht Harrison is a career transition firm with 150 office worldwide working with individuals at all levels of organizations. Elle Oliver is the Vice President and Senior Consultant at Lee Hecht Harrison's Los Angeles office.

Our agenda was to discuss workplace changes, career strategies and taking action toward your career goals. "Do you realize that most people spend more time planning a vacation than planning their careers?"

The workplace is changing - nothing is more constant in the world of work than change. There are global changes and organizational changes which effect our individual career changes. Today's leaders must have skills such as systems thinking, teamwork, productivity, information management, toleration of ambiguity and change management. You will need to understand your own values, skills, interests and talents, focus on what your profession, Industry and organization will need in the future, set clear career goals, always know what your next step will be, get the learning experiences you need, and ESTABLISH A DIVERSE NETWORK!

What you do best + What you like to do + Your Priorities = Work Satisfaction. Identify your values, skills, interests and talents and write a SOAR (Situation, Obstacle you overcame and the Action and Result)statement. You want to focus on the industry, profession and organization of choice, set clear career goals and write a SMART (Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time-Based) 3 - 5 year goal and what action you will take within the next week to accomplish that goal. Promotion is not the only way to career success - consider enrichment, exploration, realignment or relocation as well.

And remember....Action is the vital ingredient to success!

March 27 Mtg. - Petroleum Club, Long Beach CA

The Challenges of Running Your Own Business

Miles Martin

Miles Martin will speak about his work experiences, since graduating from Cal Poly Pomona, and the events that precipitated the formation of his own business. Miles Martin studied classical history at USC before deciding that Chemical Engineering was a more interesting day-to-day pursuit. Miles graduated from Cal Poly Pomona in 2000. He financed his education by earning a scholarship from Saddleback community college’s chemistry department and by working for Simulation Sciences, Inc., Intel Corp. and Creative Performance Chemicals. He is now President of Water Management Services.

February 26 Mtg. - Wyndham Garden Hotel, Costa Mesa CA

So You Want To Be A Consultant? (Or Maybe Just Thinking about It)

Dominic Meo, III..Meo & Associates
Huntington Beach, CA

Are you tired of being re-engineered, merged, re-allocated, downsized, upsized or just plain laid-off? Is becoming a consultant looking like the way to go? If so, come to the February meeting. Our speaker will be Dominic Meo III, who is a Principal Associate at Meo & Associates in Huntington Beach. With wit and humor, he will walk you through the pros and cons of the life of a consultant. He will be discussing the following topics:
* Deciding if consulting would be a good career choice for you
* Steps to take before you go off on your own
* Your employer may be your first client
* Bundling your services with others
* Supplementing your consulting income
* The art of networking to find clients
* Building long-term relationships
* Mistakes to avoid and keeping your sense of humor
Dominic worked for a number of well-known consulting firms before setting up Meo & Associates in April of 1999. He has a bachelors and masters degree in chemical engineering and is a professional engineer. Along the way, he picked up two U.S. patents and is a Diplomate of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers.

Click here for a copy of the speaker's notes. PDF format.

January 22 Mtg. - Wyndham Garden Hotel, Costa Mesa CA

So you would like to start your own engineering company?

Dr. Dennis England..England-GeoSystem
Irvine, California

Dennis England will provide some insights into the problems and rewards of starting and running your own business. Dennis is president of the privately held environmental engineering corporation, England Geosystem, Inc. In 1989 Dennis and his lawyer-wife, Linda, and two others started the business under the name England Shahin & Associates and later changed to England & Associates. In 2000 the company merged with Geosystem Consultants, Inc. and changed the name to England Geosystem, Inc. The company has 50 employees and it clients include many Fortune 500 companies in oil, chemicals, and manufacturing industries.

Dennis will discuss such topics as:
· why he started the business and what problems had to be overcome to get it going and keep it going,
· marketing issues, how clients and market sectors were identified and why clients have remained loyal,
· employees, finding and keeping exceptional employees, motivation and personnel problems,
· keeping the employees and the company up to date, and
· is it worth all that one has to put into it, and would he do it again?

Dennis has a Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington. Before becoming a consultant, he worked in process design and evaluation for 9 years for Shell Development Company and Shell Oil Company, followed by 6 years as Manager of Process Engineering at Occidental Research Corporation. After a couple of years as an independent consultant, a new environmental consulting company offered him a few percent ownership to join them as a project manager and, later, Director of Process Engineering. After 4 years with that company, he left to start his own company.
 

Click here for a copy of the speaker's notes. PowerPoint format.

Copyright © 2002 American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Last modified: 05/31/06