Interview With AATCC Executive Vice President Brian François
TWSpecial Report
Earlier this year, the Board of Directors of the Research Triangle Park, N.C.-based American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) approved the hiring of Brian C. François as the new AATCC executive vice president. François succeeded long-time leader Jack Daniels upon his retirement in March 2018.
弗朗索瓦（François）在纺织品方面具有广泛的背景。他于1992年加入Pulcra Chemicals Group（以前是Cognis Corp.和Henkel Textile Technology），并于1992年担任高级销售代表，并在该公司担任各种国家和国际职位，最近是首席执行官。
该组织在宣布弗朗索瓦（François）任命时说：“他对消费服装最终用途市场，全球纺织行业的了解以及将企业扩展到新地理区域的经验将对AATCC有很大的好处。”“弗朗索瓦（François）一直是AATCC的活跃成员已有25年以上，并担任会议委员会主席多年，并担任奥尔尼奖委员会主席。他是湿加工机械委员会的投票成员，目前是准备测试方法委员会的无投票成员。他还曾在奖项监督委员会任职。”
Recently,188BET金博宝下载had the opportunity to catch up with François and hear his views on his new position, the opportunities and challenges facing the AATCC as well as the textile industry at large.
188BET金博宝下载：祝贺您与AATCC的新机会。您对新角色的最初印象是什么？
François：向AATCC的过渡进展顺利。AATCC拥有经验丰富的员工和充满活力和敬业的志愿者基础。在过渡期间，他们都欢迎和鼓励。杰克·丹尼尔斯（Jack Daniels）和董事会在指导AATCC并使协会处于强大的财务状况方面做得很好。这使我有时间和自由，花时间更多地了解AATCC在我们行业中的作用。
TW：AATCC在纺织行业拥有丰富的历史。AATCC未来的出色机会是什么？
François: I believe that AATCC is a unique association in an industry with many different associations. The membership of AATCC is very broad and includes students, researchers, product and fabric designers, colorists, dye and chemicals suppliers, manufacturers, quality control as well as merchandisers and retailers. One of our biggest opportunities is educating the textile supply chain about all that AATCC has to offer its members.
TW: Many in the industry equate the image of the AATCC with quality and quality control, is that an accurate perception?
François：毫无疑问，AATCC在质量控制方面具有力量。我们的测试方法在世界各地都用于帮助该行业在标准方面讲一种通用语言。AATCC的测试方法的独特之处在于，我们所有的成员都有机会参与开发和完善当前和未来测试方法的过程。就在最近，我完全了解了这是多么独特。我们的成员充满热情，致力于发展我们的方法。我希望看到更多的行业参与了这一过程。我们从行业各个部分获得的参与越多，我们的测试方法就越强大。
TW: AATCC test methods and standards are important on a global scale. What is on the horizon in this area that will impact the industry?
François: With the ever-changing political climate we face today, it is hard to say what will be the next “big” area. The two areas where the most activity is happening for new test methods are in microplastic shedding detection and electronically-integrated textiles — sometimes known as wearables. With all that is happening in these two areas and the speed of change in these areas, it will be critical to develop standard test methods to set baselines and allow for comparisons as new technologies come along.
TW：许多AATCC成员被介绍给协会，而各种纺织学校的学生。学生章节的当前状态是什么？
François: One of the areas of strength for AATCC is the work our team is doing with students. We currently have more than 25 active student chapters. This represents more than 400 students, with more universities expressing interest. AATCC conducts several student competitions — including two design competitions, a merchandising competition, and a student paper and presentation competition — and with the AATCC Foundation having just awarded more than 15 scholarships and graduate fellowships, we want to continue to engage more and more students.
TW: What are the benefits of individual and corporate membership?
François：作为AATCC的个人成员，您有权参加所有AATCC活动。成员可以参加各个委员会，可以成为最多三个测试方法委员会的投票成员，但可以参加他们想要的尽可能多的成员。随着年度会员资格，订阅了屡获殊荣的AATCC杂志，在线同行评审期刊，双月电子新闻，访问EBSCO纺织品完整数据库和AATCC文章档案以及其他出版物的折扣费用以及折扣会议和其他教育计划。此外，他们可以访问AATCC作为免费下载的一些书籍和专着。会员还可以安排使用AATCC实验室的时间，我们在我们的技术中心设有会议室和会员办公室，如果他们需要的话，可以使用会员。
One of the newest benefits to members is access to more than 100 years of American Dyestuff Reporter. It is amazing the amount of information available in those issues. Those are the tangible benefits. The most valuable benefit is the access to such a large and knowledgeable cross section of experienced industry professionals when we gather for committee meetings or our annual technical conference.
The benefits of a corporate membership depend on the level of membership. Each corporate membership comes with the right of a company to name individual members — from 2 to 10. The corporation controls these memberships and unlike an individual membership they can be transferred in case there is a role change within a company. Each corporate member also receives a copy of the AATCC Technical Manual. Corporate members are also able to send any member of their company to AATCC conferences and educational programs at member rates. Corporate members get unlimited listings at AATCC’s Textile Jobsite, and the opportunity to have AATCC host a white paper that the company would like to share with others in the industry.
And of course, we welcome corporate members — and all members — to write articles for our e-newsletter and posts in the AATCC Blog! In addition, corporate members receive discounted advertising rates for the AATCC website and magazine. The AATCC Foundation also has a specific scholarship for the children of corporate member employees — this isn’t limited to the designated individual members; it is available to children of any employee of a corporate member.
作为前任高管成员公司,有一个re two benefits that I believe a corporation receives that are not listed in our benefits. The first is that employees of a company feel empowered to participate and benefit from all that AATCC has to offer when they perceive that they are being supported by the management of a company. I believe that corporate membership is a sign to them that they are being supported. It was one of the reasons I supported our membership in AATCC as well as other industry associations. The second benefit is that participation in industry association improves the ability of employees to solve problems. The connections they make across the industry gives them relationships with contacts they may not have known and allows then to ask more questions and learn from experts to whom they are exposed through the activities of the association. As a company executive those two benefits are difficult to measure, but are invaluable to a company.
TW：未来AATCC面临的最大挑战是什么？协会将如何回应？
François:就像许多协会和公司,我相信the biggest challenge facing AATCC is engaging the next generation of leaders and helping to pass along the knowledge from the senior members of our association. At AATCC, our staff and members have been actively working to engage the next generation of our industry and we will continue to try to find new ways of making this happen.
TW: What emphasis do you maintain on the AATCC scholarships and endowment?
François：我们的领导层努力建立我们20多年前的慈善基金会。这是在某些方面以低调成长的方式完成的。凭借我们过去的一些总统和官员的慷慨本质以及其他一些慈善基金会，我们现在拥有一个很好的基础来增进我们的奖学金。我们有几项完全赋予的奖学金，目前我们正在开展一项运动，以增加捐赠奖学金的数量。我们刚刚完成了2018-19学年的奖学金和奖学金。这是我们授予的最大奖学金。
I believe the number is 15 or 16 with a total value of more than $75,000.
随着我们协会快要临近100周年（2021），我们希望看到年度奖学金增长到每年超过100,000美元。这将要求我们在未来三年内额外筹集500,000美元。在未来几个月中，我们将向我们的会员推广这一机会。
TW: Going forward, what is your vision for the AATCC and how will that impact individual and corporate members?
François: As I mentioned, I believe that AATCC is in a unique place in the industry. We are able to connect almost the entire supply chain. I would like to increase our exposure to the executives in our industry, so they can better understand what AATCC can do to help their individual organizations. Our test methods are the core of what we do as an association and those test methods allow us the opportunity to be a connecting point for our industry. We need to continue to use our unique position to offer more educational and networking opportunities for our members.
TW: Do you have any closing thoughts to share with readers?
François: Being new to this role, I am doing all that I can to observe and learn. I welcome any questions and feedback from our members and anyone else in our industry. If there are ideas that anyone has as to how AATCC can better serve the textile industry, I would love to hear from them.
September/October 2018
