From the President of INCE-USA

INCE-USA enjoyed another banner year in 2018. Membership remains stable at about 1,000 members, albeit with some effort spent collecting late dues. Our financial position continues to be strong. The noise control engineering courses (path to board certification) have garnered more interest than anyone expected, which speaks well for our future. Also during 2018, INCE-USA hosted the International Conference in Noise Control Engineering (INTER-NOISE 2018) in Chicago.

The conference was held in August at the Marriott in Chicago, Illinois. More than 950 attendees preregistered. As part of the technical program, 700 presentations were delivered. Over 80 companies participated in the conference exhibition. The conference banquet was held at the Museum of Science and Industry, and technical tours were conducted of Riverbank Laboratories and Columbia College.

Early in 2018, the INCE-USA business office (Drohan Management Group, DMG) underwent a structural change. On January 25, Virtual, Inc. announced that it had joined forces with Drohan Management Group and Professional Credential Services to form a newly combined firm providing professional services to technology, business, and scientific associations and societies and thereby forming one of the largest association management firms in the United States. “We believe the merger will benefit our clients with a greater depth of services,” said DMG’s Bill Drohan. The change in the name of the management company from Drohan Management Group to Virtual, Inc. is now in place with all signage and emails.

Other noteworthy and recent news items include the following:

• Due to the unexpected popularity of the noise control courses leading to board certification, a pause has been imposed for signing up for new courses until July 2019.
• The first draft of the INCE-USA Policies, Procedures, and Information document (PPI) was completed during the year. The draft is currently under review in anticipation of board approval at the winter board of directors’ meeting.
• As part of restructuring the business office, Virtual, Inc. has been assigned management responsibility for future conference exhibitions. Accordingly, on behalf of INCE-USA, I extend sincere appreciation to Rich Peppin for his many years of ensuring successful conferences while serving as the exhibition manager.

Finally, the success achieved this year for INCE-USA was due to thousands of voluntary hours from its dedicated officers and directors, the maturing of the INCE-USA/IBO relationship, and the enthusiasm of its membership in general. The names for all the contributors is too numerous to list here. Rather, I just ask that we do it all over again in 2019, and I look forward to welcoming you to NOISE-CON 2019 in San Diego.

Steve Marshall
President, INCE-USA