CIDX(TM) Chairman Announces New Board Members;Reflects on Organization's Successes, Opportunities

29-Jan-2002

Alexandria, VA, January 28, 2002 - CIDX Board Chair, Brian Harmon, today welcomed nine elected directors to the organization's 13-member board following an annual review of its goals and objectives for 2002. The new directors, chosen from the existing CIDX member companies, represent some of the leading visionaries in the chemical industry eBusiness space. The nine new board members are: Ronny Aerts, eBusiness Program Manager, The Dow Chemical Company John Beasley, Chairman & Founder, ChemConnect, Inc. Gary Brown, Director NAFTA eCommerce, BASF Corporation Russell Bockstedt, CIO, Ticona LLC The Engineering polymers Business of Celanese AG Dennis Campbell, COO Americas, Elemica, Inc. Polly Fairchild, CIO Safety Resources, Bio-based Materials & Growth Initiatives DuPont Thomas Fannon, Director of eCommerce, Ashland Distribution Robert Reimath, VP Information Systems, Vopak USA Brigitte Roeser-Herlin, Director of eBusiness, Rhodia They join the continuing board members: Brian Harmon, Supervisor of eCommerce Applications, Eastman Chemical Company Jeffery Sweigart, eBusiness IT Project Lead, Air Products and chemicals, Inc. Kathi Neal, eBusiness Leader, Rohm & Haas Company Patricia Simmons, eBusiness Director, The Dow Chemical Company 2001 Review "2001 was an extremely productive year for CIDX on several fronts because of our dedicated members and their relentless focus on objectives," Chairman Harmon said. "The achievements include an industry consensus regarding the need and value of standards, a solid body of technical standards available with Chem eStandards, significant traction among early adopters and growing momentum within the industry as demonstrated by the membership growth of the organization." Harmon also reflected on the importance of strategic relationships established in 2001. In addition to identifying and working with key trading industries (i.e, petroleum, agricultural chemicals, etc.), CIDX also successfully initiated outreach activities with European and Japanese constituents, a critical step in assuring the global relevance of the organization's work. Harmon stressed that while the accomplishments of 2001 were significant, the year represented a foundation. Looking ahead to 2002, he predicted new opportunities as CIDX focuses on making implementations easier. Joining Harmon to outline the plans for 2002, CIDX Executive Director Pat Simmons agreed that 2001 was an extremely successful year and declared the next 18 -24 months a critical window of opportunity for the organization. "We must sustain our unyielding focus on improving value, extending our global reach and significantly reducing the cost of establishing XML-based electronic business transactions," Simmons added. 2002 Goals The Board of Directors concurring with Simmons and Harmon concluded that CIDX's 2002 efforts would focus on three objectives driven by industry needs. They are: 1.Enhancing effective standards to further reduce barriers and increase the value of electronic business transactions, 2.Broadening implementation within the global chemical industry, and 3.Improving effective connectivity with key trading industries/partners Key strategies designed to support these objectives were outlined for the Board Members. One important proposal is the plan to create and formalize a certification program that enables adoption and use of the Chem eStandards. Certification, according to Harmon, would benefit companies, service providers, software firms as well as the market places, exchanges and hubs by allowing chemical companies to better assess the readiness of potential trading partners and speeding implementations. In addition to proposed certification, 19 other strategies were reviewed including the importance of ensuring backwards compatibility of future releases and sub-releases when possible, establishing standard methods of connecting with trading partners in other industries, the need to act as the "voice of the chemical industry," and the rationale for establishing a global Center of Excellence for ongoing e-business technologies within the chemical industry. Concluding its annual Board meeting, CIDX Chairman Harmon welcomed the new members by challenging them to use their collective experiences to identify new opportunities for the organization. "As we move forward building upon CIDX's past successes, we must each use this unique opportunity to shape the future of eBusiness in the chemical industry and beyond." About CIDX The Chemical Industry Data Exchange, CIDX?, founded in 1985, is a non-profit trade association and standards body whose mission is to improve the ease, speed and cost of conducting business electronically between chemical companies and their trading partners. CIDX? manages the development and maintenance of electronic standards for the chemical industry and uses the trademarks CIDX? and Chem eStandards?. The membership, including chemical producers, software providers, and market places or chemical industry service providers, is dedicated to: Ensuring Chem eStandards are the standards for XML trading in the global chemical industry Leading convergence of XML standards for chemical transactions with key trading industries Serving as the 'voice of the chemical industry' in development of cross-industry standards Providing a Center of Excellence for continued development and support to meet evolving e-business needs of chemical industry More information about CIDXTM, including membership and upcoming events, is available on-line at http://www.cidx.org or via e-mail from hq@cidx.org. A current version of Chem eStandardsTM is available at this site.

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