Voting is now Closed for 2010

[ View Election Results ]

2010-2011 SAWE International Elections are now open. Voting ends April 15, 2010. Clikc the link below to vote online.

If you are asked for a Token Number, enter your SAWE Member Number. Your SAWE Member Number is located just above your name on the mailing labels of recent Weight Engineering Journals and on the Conference registration and voter information packet mailed to all members. For more information on where to find your SAWE Member Number, click here.

[ 2010-2011 Online Voting Form ]

[ Read On for Voting Guide ]

2010-2011 Candidates for International Offices

President

Patrick M. Brown

As Tom Schultz so eloquently put it, “The SAWE is unique among most technical organizations; a virtually all- volunteer organization with a tradition almost three-quarters of a century old.” It is with great honour that I accepted this nomination and it is with even greater respect that I solicit your support.

I spent the last year serving as the Senior Vice President. During that time, our Society has made great strides, but even more are needed. I propose the following:

• Implement the Corporate Sponsor Program.
• Investigate and report with the Vice President - Training on the business case for making our training classes ‘profitable.’
• Create new Chapters in India and Japan.
• Expand our reach into academia through the Academic Committee.
• Continue to work with the Vice President Technical Director to convince our members to create the technical papers which are at the core of our Society.
• Investigate and report the business case for making the SAWE a certified International Standards Organization (ISO).

Pat lives in Augusta, Kansas, and is employed by Cessna Aircraft Company as a Mass Properties Engineering Specialist. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1999 with a BS in Aerospace Engineering. He promptly accepted a position in the Weight Control Group at Cessna. At Cessna, he has contributed significantly to the development and implementation of new weighing systems and processes for Cessna’s business jet product lines. Pat obtained his MS in Engineering Management from the University of Kansas in 2007. Pat is also a certified Six Sigma Black Belt.

Pat is a ten-year member of the SAWE. He has presented and written papers at six Regional and five International Conferences. He has served as the Wichita Chapter Director, International Membership Chairman, and is currently the International Senior Vice President.

Pat is also a member of the Wichita Council of Engineering Societies (WCES). He has served on the Board of Directors, as Vice President, and is currently the President. WCES hosts an annual banquet promoting Engineering as a Career during the National Engineer’s Week.

Patrick M. Mitchell

The Society needs a strong President who is passionate about Weight Engineering. I have been involved at many levels in SAWE during my twenty years as a weight engineer. I want to be your president for next year to carry on this passion for our unique field of engineering.

The Society will face some unique challenges next year. Companies are hesitant to spend money for travel, and membership may decline as a result. This question is being asked: What benefit does my company get from participating and supporting SAWE? I am keen on answering that question to the advantage of the Society. Now more than ever we need to be strong promoters of SAWE, whenever and wherever we can. Your vote for me will express your confidence in my desire to do just that.

After obtaining a BS in Aerospace Engineering in 1989 from the University of Texas at Arlington, I spent my first year as a SAWE member at Bell Helicopter in Ft. Worth, working in Weights on the V-22 tilt rotor. In 1990 I moved to Seattle, Washington, to work at The Boeing Company.

At present, I am the lead mass properties engineer for the 787 Dreamliner airplane. Before working on the 787, I worked on the Sonic Cruiser project. At the turn of the century, I worked on the 747X and the 767-400 airplanes. Prior to both of these programs, I worked on the 747 Airborne Laser and the 767 AWACS airplane for Japan. In the mid ‘90s, I contributed to the design studies of the High Speed Civil Transport. I also participated in the related NASA High Speed Research program. I started my career at Boeing working in preliminary design on both double- decker airplane concepts and the small airplane family, which later became the 737 Next Generation series.

I have held every officer position in the local chapter of SAWE, many of which I held more than once. I have been a session chairman for Computer Applications and Preliminary Design tracks at several conferences. I was the conference co-chairman of the 2008 SAWE International Conference in Seattle. I served as SAWE Deputy VP - Technical Director for 2008-2009. You elected me as your Executive Vice President for 2009-2010. I have written four SAWE technical papers.

Gerry Tschabold

As President, I would bring a unique perspective to the position, having worked in both the aviation and the marine sectors, as well as participating in the land sector assisting in the design of a hybrid tracked vehicle. My career has spanned over 40 years. I am active in the field of mass properties so I know many of the needs and expectations of our members and the companies who support us. I view our Society as on the verge of great achievements, while recognizing and respecting all of the accomplishments and seemingly insurmountable challenges posed to the SAWE over the past 70 years. I am confident we can overcome the challenges of today through innovation, sound strategic planning, and concentration on the individuals who are SAWE members and potential members. With your help, this is the way I propose to implement these policies:

1. Identify the individuals with skills, knowledge, and abilities to carry out tasks that improve quality of service to members and companies that depend on the SAWE for maintaining respect for the field of mass properties in all sectors we serve.
2. Foster innovation in all aspects of our services concentrating on marketing the SAWE and its products, conducting high quality international and regional conferences, increasing revenue, controlling costs, and contacting every member, lapsed member, and potential member to let them know the SAWE needs them and they need the SAWE.
3. Inspire individuals to seize challenges, overcome obstacles, make sacrifices, and put the effort in preparing and delivering technical papers and presentations, contributing to the content of technical standards, such as Recommended and Functional Practices, textbooks, and training curricula, and carrying out with integrity the responsibilities of elected and appointed positions at the international and chapter levels.

Gerry Tschabold lives in Southern Maryland with his wife of 34 years, Claudia, and a small menagerie of two cats, three dogs, and two parakeets. He is an Aerospace Engineer with the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River, Maryland, specializing in mass properties engineering for the MV-22B Osprey, the FA-18 Superhornet, and two aircraft carrier programs, EMALS and AAG. Over the course of 40 years in engineering, he has been Lead Mass Properties Engineer for the Aegis Cruiser CG-47 and San Antonio LPD-17 Programs and has lead mass properties engineering projects on the Gerald R. Ford CVN-78, Iwo Jima LPH-2 Class, and Newport LST-1179 Class ships. He is a graduate of the Ohio State University College of Engineering (1969), the US Navy War College (1983), and has extensive post-graduate education and training in Business Administration, Engineering Management, and Mass Properties.

Gerry has held the international position of Vice President Vendor Relations and Director (Hampton Roads Chapter) and chapter positions of President, Vice President, and Newsletter Editor (Capitol Region Chapter). He has attended eleven international conferences, four regional conferences, and three Worldwide Weight and Balance Conferences. He has authored or coauthored three technical papers, numerous technical presentations, and two Journal articles. He was elected a SAWE Fellow in 2006.

Executive Vice President

Jeffrey A. Cerro

Members of the SAWE, I am seeking the office of Executive Vice President in this year’s election and am asking for your vote. I have a good amount of experience with tasks which are required in this position; and I have the desire to keep the society moving forward in its role as the de-facto international professional society which managers and engineers of all transportation products turn to for mass properties engineering expertise. I have led Government/Industry activities for four years as SAWE G/I chairman. I am also familiar with general membership and membership committee issues, having been President and Treasurer of the Hampton Roads Chapter. Personally, I have worked on both the industry side and government side of aerospace and mass properties engineering. In all, I have 31 years of experience, I have a P.E. and am particularly proud to have been honored by being elected a SAWE Fellow. I especially enjoy my associating with our SAWE membership body; and I have had the opportunity to participate in numerous regional and international conferences. I feel I have the experience and judgement to be a productive and dependable SAWE Executive VP. In terms of a platform, I have formulated two main topics which I think I can be successful in implementing during my potential tenure. First is to assist the incoming G/I chairman and implement SAWE’s vision of being the only professional organization necessary for generation and maintenance of standards in mass properties engineering. This is a broad goal which is made up of initiatives to improve the recognition of our standards development process and to improve the SAWE’s distribution of technical products to the engineering world at large. Second is to show chapters, members, and potential members the benefits of SAWE membership. I would coordinate SAWE goals with member opportunity and thereby increase the stature of both the society and the individuals upon which the society is built. I have an MSME from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and currently am a member of NASA Langley Research Center’s Vehicle Analysis Branch with an expertise in structures and mass properties as applied to vehicle systems analysis. Thanks for your vote, Jeff.

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT

Clint Bower

Friends and Fellow Colleagues of the SAWE, I am seeking your vote to allow me to fill the position of Senior Vice President in this year’s election. This society needs the young and dynamic members to step up and gain the experience necessary to allow the SAWE to continue to transform itself into a truly International Professional Society capable of surviving the ups and downs of the economy whilst adapting itself to meet new and innovative ideas to maintain its position at the top of mass properties engineering.

Since I have been a member of the Society (mid 90’s), I cannot remember if we ever had a “European” as an International Officer. It is my intention to correct this short fall to allow our society to be properly represented at all levels – after all, thanks to the Central European Chapter, we are expecting our second International Conference to be held this side of the millennium.

Over the past few years, I have been a very active member of both the UK Chapter, of which I currently have the honour of being the Director, and at the International Society level, I am the co-chair of the System Verification Track. I am in the lucky position that I work for an international company based in Minneapolis that will allow me to support my role, if successful as the Senior Vice President candidate.

If elected, my goal will be to assist the co-ordinating of the International Conferences from both sides of the Atlantic and continuing to promote the SAWE throughout the communities and continents within which I work. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all members and future members, and remind you that this society is for you, and without your continued support we would all cease to exist. I thank you for support and encourage you to vote for me.

Clint

Victor Graham

Victor has first-hand knowledge of conference planning.

• Facilities chair for the 1998 SAWE International Conference
• Chairman of three regional conferences in Wichita
• SAWE 2009 International Conference co-chair

Victor has been active in SAWE at the international and local level since 1996.

• Chapter president and vice president multiple times
• Chapter director for one term
• Attended five international conferences
• Presented SAWE Paper 2392, A Weight and Balance Aid to Marketing, at the 1997 SAWE International Conference
• Presentations at four regional conferences
• 2003 Ed Payne Award winner

Since graduating from Wichita State University with a BS in Aeronautical Engineering in 1991, Victor’s experience is exclusively in business aviation.

• Mass properties engineer and a sales engineer at Bombardier Learjet for seven years
• Employed at Cessna Aircraft since March 2000
• Currently supervisor of the wide-body Citation and Cessna India mass properties groups
• Certified Six Sigma Black Belt
• Primarily responsible for improving Cessna mass properties internal processes through relational databases and internally-developed software

Victor believes the primary goal of the International Conference planning committee is to provide a first-rate experience to attendees through excellent facilities, innovative papers and presentations, valuable classes, good food, and memorable social activities.