SPE Injection Molding Division
June 18th, 2026 – In-person/Virtual
Meeting minutes are taken and submitted by Richard Voyles (2025-2026 SPE IMD Secretary).Meeting Agenda
2025-2026 Officers
Chair: Tom Giovannetti
Chair-Elect: Davide Masato
Tech Director: Chad Ulven
TPC: Saeed Farahani
Treasurer: Ray McKee
Secretary: Richard Voyles
Past Chair: David Kusuma
Meeting Agenda
Meeting opening and welcome remarks
Roll Call
Approval of past minutes
Committee and Officer Reports
• Financials
• Membership
• Communications
• Councilor Report
• Technical Director’s Report
• BOD Elections
• MSM & Fellows
Injection Molding Innovation Summit Update
New Business
Adjournment
Meeting Welcome
Tom Giovanetti opened the meeting and welcomed all.
Roll Call
Members present: Angela Cengarle, Tom Giovannetti, David Kusuma, Davide Masato, Ray McKee, Susan Montgomery, Srikanth Pilla, Edwin Tam, Chad Ulven, Richard Voyles, Chirag Thummar, Eric Anderson
Guests present: Julie Stenger, Jono Newlin, Deven McCarty
12 Members present of 23 active members, so quorum reached. 3 guests in attendance.
Approval of Prior Minutes
Minutes are momentarily unavailable, so approval of minutes will be by email.
Committee and Officer Reports
Financials – Ray
Balance of $46,306, staying flat (More data in the slides)
ANTEC reception actually earned us a little bit of money – about $1400. First time is some time!
Q&A:
David Kusuma commented we needed a dedicated discussion with national office on Division membership. Declining since they no longer made selecting a division a requirement.
Davide suggested we should discuss this as a bigger topic.
Ray pointed out a banking problem. Chase Bank needs a Secretary to address minor changes. Edwin Tam moved that “The Board allows the Treasurer to act as the Secretary while interacting with Chase Bank or any other banking entity.” Tom Giovannetti seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Ray stated he is stepping down as Treasurer, after many years of service, and will be leaving the board.
Davide thanked Ray’s many years of service.
Membership – Chirag
Chirag introduced himself to the board, since this is his first report.
Chirag noted that membership continues to decline across the board. Details are in the slides from the meeting.
Chirag gave some details on a Student Research Fellowship that he is considering.
Edwin noted there is some redundancy with the existing scholarship program that we already support to the level of 1-3 students per year. Others suggested this could be a good addition to the existing program.
Councilor – Edwin
Provided an update on the merger between Plastics Association and SPE. (see slides for more detail)
On track to finalize in 2026.
The combined ANTEC/NPE 2027 conference will have 8 tracks, 5 technical and 3 non-technical, providing only 110 slots for technical talks.
Richard Voyles asked
Tom Giovannetti asked
Edwin will be stepping off the board at the end of his term as Councilor.
Injection Molding Innovation Summit Update – Susan, Davide
Susan started by discussing the origins of the summit with the Cleveland section.
Davide noted preparations are moving ahead, but we need to make a go/no-go decision by the end of July. $11K short, so they need more sponsors and more help from the IMD Board in suggesting sponsors. Aiming for more Premiere Sponsors.
Angela Cengarle noted the presented budget didn’t include any registration costs. Davide said he wants to make the budget neutral without registration revenue, so revenue becomes profit.
Edwin asked if there are other value options for sponsors. Davide suggested there are several levels.
New Business
Davide presented his vision for next year. Board members focused on the networking value of the IMD Board in his survey. He wants to make it one of the best networking opportunities in injection molding. But, he wants to re-structure to be more effective. Example: the newsletter. We produce a newsletter that data shows nobody reads. We need to do something different.
Richard asked what the metrics would be for the “best networking opportunity in injection molding”?
Davide thinks it will evolve over time, but needs to benefit the members of the Board. (See slides for details.)
Edwin agreed with the value of the Board in networking. The social value of the meeting at Tupperware was of particular note.
Next Board Meeting
In September
Adjournment
Edwin moved, Joe seconded, passed
