Members of ASSE International came together at Bally’s Las Vegas Nov. 8-11 for the sanitary engineering society’s 110th Annual Meeting. Organizers said about 130 individuals attended the meeting — an improvement over some previous years — owing to the venue, content, and additional meetings.

Highlights of the meeting included the presentation of scholarships, individual and chapter awards, and the election and posting of new officers, including new president Dana Colombo from the Louisiana chapter, who will replace outgoing president Douglas Marian. Other officers include: John Parizek, vice president; Doug Marian, international past president; and, John Flader, who was reelected to the treasurer’s post.

The new regional directors are: Region 1, Jaime Valdiva; Region 2, none; Region 3, Debbie Vukovitch; Region 4, Paul Baker; Region 5, Joseph Kajak; Region 6, Jason Shank; Region 7, none; and Region 8, Larry Coleman. The manufacturer’s representative is John Higdon.

On the award front, first up was the Henry B. Davis Award, named for the former ASSE president. The 2016 recipient was Raymond Ehrlich. The recipient of the Salvatore J. Farruggia President’s Award, chosen by the outgoing President Douglas Marian, was Don Summers Jr., and the ASSE staff.

The Patrick J. Higgens award went to Paul Bladdick for his knowledge and support of “voluntary, consensus standards” and their adoption into code. The Rand Ackroyd Award for knowledge and dedication to the backflow program went to Stu Asay, Ph.D. The group appointed a quartet of new Fellows in the persons of Vince England, John Khym, Doug Marian, and Jason Shank.

While a spokesman said all the group’s chapters have posted increased membership over the year, the award for Most New Members for a Chapter was a tie between the New York and Illinois chapters. Other chapter awards included Best Newsletter (Northern Ohio Chapter) and Best Website (New York Chapter).

In addition to elections and awards, the group passed out $13,500 in scholarships to six students. The group has doled out nearly $300,000 to 130 students since its inception, and InSinkErator is one of the scholarship program’s major sponsors.

Scholarship winners were: Kaitlin Crawford, Perdue; Kristopher Coleman from Southern Illinois University; Kaitlin Kirkpatrick from Ball State; Jefferey Himmelblau from the Rose Coleman Institute of Technology; Sean Kilpatrick from Iowa State; and Kevin Bee from the University of South Carolina.

The Next ASSE Annual Meeting is set for Nov. 7-10, 2017, at the Hilton Palacio Del Rio in San Antonio. Watch www.asse-plumbing.org for more information on the meeting and other association developments.

Incoming ASSE International President Dana Colombo, pictured, speaks to attendees of the organization’s Annual Meeting. Colombo, a member of the Louisiana chapter, replaces outgoing president Douglas Marian.

This article was originally titled “ASSE Intl. holds meeting” in the January 2017 print edition of Plumbing & Mechanical.