It has been a great privilege to chair the ESA again. This being my second, albeit shorter term, I have still enjoyed the interaction and the fact we are making a positive impact.
As I mentioned at the AGM, the ESA is on a journey. It’s been on a journey since I started participating in the organisation, and it seems now that we are again picking up speed. Legislation is probably having the largest impact on our divisions, and the overarching impact here is PFAS, but there is plenty more legislation lurking in the wings, ready to add further to our workload–be that around drinking water, new energy technologies or simply environmental concerns. All this will become important and will require attention from the ESA. We have a strong team with Mark, Ralf and Sandy looking out for this, but it will take the efforts of all of us to be successful, and that, like with PFAS, we become seen as subject matter experts in our industry.
There is change within the industry, but also within the ESA: over the last six or seven years we have made great progress. For anyone that came to the AGM ten or even five years ago, they are now shaped very differently, hopefully more engaging, and with the output from the Blue Sky Workshops that evolution will continue, but regardless, new worlds, new industries and processes, new people – we need to make our presence known and be recognised for the immense knowledge and experience this association can bring to our industries and our customers.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the rest of the Excom for their work and commitment over the last year. I leave you in very capable hands as Ozan takes over the reins.
Sincerely,
John Morton