The Founders Club held its Annual Dinner and Reunion on March 22, 2025, in at the Hilton Palacio del Rio in San Antonio, TX to tend to annual business and recognize this year’s Petrochemical Heritage Award nominee, Lori J. Ryerkerk, Retired Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President of Celanese Corporation.  The 2025 Annual Dinner set a record for the most members and guests registered at 124, which is almost a 15% over last year’s record attendance.

                The evening started with a cocktail reception sponsored by AFPM.

                Events Committee Co-Chair, Robert Sawchuk, called the meeting to order.  Sawchuk welcomed guests, the award nominee and past award winner, Gary Adams.  A short video was presented highlighting last year’s events, including the annual dinner, cocktail reception, and golf tournament.

                After dinner, Sawchuk thanked the Platinum Sponsors AFPM (cocktail reception sponsor) and Enterprise Products (dinner sponsor), as well as Gold Sponsors (OPIS a Dow Jones Company, NextWave Energy Partners, S&P Global, TPC Group and Westlake), Silver Sponsors (AmSty, Arcanum Infrastructure, Perin Resources and Trecora), and Bronze Sponsors (245Recycle and Petral Consulting). 

                Sherman Glass, President of The Founders Club addressed the members and guests and recognized the Petrochemical Heritage Award committee members from AFPM and the Science History Institute in attendance.  Glass welcomed the new members in attendance and recognized all 36 new members – a record for new members.  He spoke of the election results, with returning board members Kevin Fallon (Mitsubishi Corporation) returning for a one-year term and William (Bill) Wiesemann (retired, INEOS Oligomers) returning for a three-year term; and new members Julie Antley (ChevronPhillips Chemical) and Stephanie Bryars (Arcanum Infrastructure) joining the board.

                Glass took a moment to recognize Dr. Ted Pettijohn (Arcanum Infrastructure), who will step down after a decade of service, for his contributions to the Board of Governors and role as Dinner Committee Co-Chair.  After presenting Pettijohn with a plaque honoring his service, Glass announced the new Board of Governors, including Theresa Houston (Enterprise Products) who will become the new President of The Founders Club.

                Glass recognized Kevin Fallon, who will be stepping down next year, for his decade long service on the Board of Governors and 7-years at Treasurer of The Founders Club.  Fallon was presented a plaque for his service. 

                In a surprise twist, Houston interrupted Glass to present him with a plaque honoring his service to The Founders Club, including his role as President which he held from 2021 though 2025.

                Before introducing this year’s Petrochemical Heritage Award nominee, Glass wrapped up his remarks by announcing the upcoming events, including Cocktails and Conversations (early September date with location to be announced) and the Annual Golf Tournament (October 22 at the Gleanloch Pines Golf Club in Spring, TX). 

                Ryerkerk began her remarks commenting on the people who dreamed and the believers who thought we could make the world a better place.  She said that she was a bored student until discovering math.  She thanked her 7^th grade teacher for being an inspiration, which led her to start taking calculus in the 10^th grade.  Ryerkerk spoke about leaving high school for community college, then on to Exxon where she called the refineries, “… a toy box for a new chemical engineer.”  She spoke of the challenges being a young woman in a male driven industry and the support she had throughout her career.  “We need someone in our corner,” she said when discussing her confidence to move to Celanese.  Ryerkerk concluded by encouraging the audience to support those early in their careers, just as she had throughout her career. 

                Houston, newly appointed President of The Founders Club, made a few brief comments and adjourned the 2025 Annual Dinner and Reception.