July 1, 2007

Dear AFS Member and Supporter,

We would like to thank you for your continued support and membership with our organization for the benefit of our mutual interest in the foundry industry. Your help and support will certainly contribute to the promotion, education, and continue the fraternity we share with our foundry community. We would also like to direct your attention to our newly founded website, www.afssocal.org, in which you will find our chapter announcements and news, chapter meetings, and a list of our advertisers of which you can also be a part of for $400/yr. We can help you with a banner design if you don’t have one already.

By way of introduction, the incoming Chair, Vice-Chair, and Treasurer/Secretary would like to present the following excerpts about ourselves:

Incoming as Chair is Alejandro ("Alex") M. Martinez currently employed part-time as a Materials' Science Instructor at Don Bosco Technical Institute in Rosemead, CA, and also working in the micro lab at STORK Materials' Testing and Inspection in Huntington Beach, CA. Alex was the metallurgist at the brass and bronze ingot manufacturer at California Metal-X having worked with Bud Remington and the late Mike Furrey. Prior to CMX, he had worked at the Cerro Metals plant in Paramount, CA as well as Northrop Aircraft (before the merger) early in his career. Alex studied Industrial Chemistry at Cal Poly, Pomona, and holds an A.S. in Metallurgy from Don Bosco Tech. Alex is a native of Southern California and is a real son of a die-caster, Pedro Martinez, who had worked as a foreman for Lansco Die-Casting for 38 years. It is with great pride and direction that Alex wishes to guide the society this coming year and the following years to come with his continued support.

Incoming Vice-Chair, Mark Coutee’s 1st job in the industry was with Westlectric Castings at the end of 1981 till early 1984 working as Inside Sales and Estimating. He worked briefly in 1984 for Dawson Steel as Sales Coordinator. When Dawson closed late in 1984 Mark worked at Pacific Alloy, title unknown, truck driver ( sometimes ), molding supervisor ( sometimes ) sales ( other times ). Mark returned to Westlectric early 1987 where he worked in Outside Sales. Late in 1994 Mark moved the family north to the Bay Area where he worked at Pacific Steel in Sales until early 1997. He then moved the kids and himself back to Southern California where he worked at Alcast till early 1998. In 1998 he returned to the Bay Area to work for Porter Warner in Sales. From 1999 to 2001 Mark was Publicity Chairman in the Northern California Chapter of the AFS. Early in 2002, Porter Warner allowed him to return to Southern California. In 2004 Mark joined the Southern California chapters Board and is also an active member of NADCA Chapter 30.

Incoming as this year’s Secretary/Treasurer is Sandra Johnson-Baros. Sandra is an alumnus of Cal Poly Pomona and holds a BS in Animal Science/Veterinary Medicine. She worked for 2 years as a Veterinary Nurse and decided to change careers due to extenuating circumstances which led her to work in the filter service industry as a Filter Service Manager for Waco in Cerritos, CA. After her department was outsourced, she became a short-time consultant of WACO but later accepted a position at Star Pipe Products, a company that specializes in the manufacturing of ductile and cast iron pipe fittings and located in Riverside, CA . Later, Sandra accepted a position closer to home with EMSCO as an Inside Sales Coordinator and was promoted in a year as Account Manger- a position she currently holds. Sandra has served on the board as a board member for the past two years coordinating our Family & Ladies Night Events.

We look forward to serving you in however we can to make this a successful year. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Alex Martinez,
AFS So Cal Chair 2006-2007