SWANA Board Sets Direction For WASTECON

The International Board of Directors of the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) established the future direction for WASTECON, the association's Annual Conference and Exhibition, at its mid-year meeting in Boulder, Colorado on June 11, 2005. By unanimous vote the SWANA Board passed the following motion:

SWANA will continue to work to make WASTECON the premier event for our exhibitors, attendees and members. SWANA will explore joint conference and trade show partnerships with other associations and the Executive Committee will establish a 5-person committee to carry this out. SWANA will defer consideration of consolidation of WASTECON with Waste Expo.

"The Board's action reaffirms SWANA's long term commitment to WASTECON and opens the door to involvement of other associations that have similar goals and objectives", stated John H. Skinner, Ph.D. Executive Director and CEO. "The Board felt it was not appropriate to consider consolidation with Waste Expo at this time given the uncertainty about Waste Expo's future ownership", Skinner added.

The Executive Committee established a Conference and Exhibition Partnership Committee to implement this motion, comprised of the following members:

• Rick Mauck, SWANA President and Director of Streets and Automotive Services, City of Santa Clara,
• Andrew H. Quigley, SWANA Vice President and Executive Director, Solid Waste Agency of Lake County,
• Ray Nardelli, SWANA Regional Council Director, Region III,
• Toby Harris, WASTECON Equipment Show Floor Manager and Marketing Manager, Heil Environmental Services, and
• Sara Bixby, Chapter Director for Iowa Society of Solid Waste Services and Manager, South Central Iowa Solid Waste Agency.

The first task of the Committee will be to establish a plan for outreach to other associations to explore their interest in partnerships with SWANA regarding WASTECON and other SWANA conferences.

"As this committee begins its work, SWANA staff will be keeping its focus and emphasis on this-year's WASTECON in Austin, TX on September 27-29", stated Skinner. "Our education sessions and training will uphold their reputation as the best in the field, and we are excited about the recent spurt in exhibit sales", Skinner added.

The SWANA International Board of Directors is the 60-person governing body of the association and is comprised of the Officers, a Director for each Chapter, Corporate Directors, a Canadian Representative, a Technical Division Director, the WASTECON Committee and the Executive Director/CEO.