AMERICAN WELDING SOCIETY, INC., AND AWS FOUNDATION FINANCIAL REPORT Fiscal 2015 year in review — Gesana Villegas, Chief Financial Officer Fiscal Year 2015 was an extraordinary year for the Society. Not only were we able to achieve remarkable financial results, but we were also able to move the needle forward by accomplishing many goals in our global strategy plan. Our focal point has always been to distinguish ourselves as the world leader in welding knowledge while, of course, remaining true to our mission. We proudly offer ongoing support to our charity arm, the AWS Foundation, whose mission is to fund programs that ensure the growth and development of the welding industry through research and educational opportunities. Over the past five years, we have transferred more than $30 million to support its undertakings. We are visionaries — innovation and continuous improvement is the engine that currently drives us. We see a market of untapped opportunities, but we are cognizant of the challenges. We are in a great position: Coming from financial strength gives us the ability to invest in initiatives to propel growth and make an impact in the industry. We operate on the philosophy of being fiscally responsible — that is, for every dollar we spend, we make sure there is value. Our Reserves, which are 100% invested in the marketplace in fixed income and equity funds, totaled $29 million at December 31, 2015, and are equivalent to one year of operating expenses. All excess cash from our operations are transferred into our Reserves. Although Reserves can be viewed as our “rainy day” pot, we have also used our Reserves over the years to invest back. We purchased our headquarters facility, and we funded our Foundation to make it “self-supporting,” a combined impact of $38.1 million over the last 6 years. Year after year, we have been able to report outstanding results. It goes without saying that it takes great efforts to achieve such results. The bar does get set higher every year as our Treasurer mentioned in his editorial on page 6. When the calendar year flips, we all take a deep breath and we tell ourselves it is time to do it again, and the pursuit begins. Our success each year is made possible only because of our dedicated staff and thousands of volunteers, whom we are very grateful to for their time and passion. All of our business units exhibited an increase in revenues in 2015. Our operating revenues reached a record high of $40.7 million, growing by 12.9% over 2014 results. The acquisition of our order fulfillment partner, World Engineering Exchange or “WEX,” allowed us to enjoy additional royalties from book sales, which added to our revenues and surplus. Since the Foundation is now “self-supporting,” when comparing our operating surplus to the prior year, it should be noted that our surplus excludes approximately $1.27 million in Foundation expenses now paid for by the Foundation, itself. 36 WELDING JOURNAL / JUNE 2016 OFFICERS President David L. McQuaid D. L. McQuaid and Associates, Inc. Vice President John R. Bray Affiliated Machinery, Inc. Vice President Dale Flood Tri Tool, Inc. Vice President Thomas J. Lienert Los Alamos National Laboratory Treasurer Carey Chen Cincinnati, Inc. Executive Director Ray W. Shook American Welding Society DIRECTORS T. Anderson (At Large), ITW Welding North America U. Aschemeier (Dist. 7), Subsea Global Solutions D. J. Burgess (Dist. 8), Alstom Power D. A. Desrochers (Dist. 1), Old Colony RVTHS D. L. Doench (At Large), Hobart Bros. Co. D. K. Eck (At Large), Praxair Distribution, Inc. K. Fogleman (Dist. 16), Consultant P. H. Gorman (Dist. 20), Sandia National Laboratories S. A. Harris (Dist. 4), Altec Industries J. Knapp (Dist. 17), Consultant M. Krupnicki (Dist. 6), Mahany Welding Supply D. J. Landon (Past President), Vermeer Mfg. Co. S. Lindsey (Dist. 21), City of San Diego D. E. Lynnes (Dist. 15), Lynnes Welding Training C. Matricardi (Dist. 5), Welding Solutions, Inc. S. M. McDaniel (Dist. 19), Big Bend Community College W. R. Polanin (At Large), Illinois Central College R. L. Richwine (Dist. 14), Ivy Tech State College D. J. Roland (Dist. 12), Airgas USA, LLC, NorthCentral Region R. W. Roth (At Large), RoMan Manufacturing M. Sebergandio (Dist. 3), CNH America K. E. Shatell (Dist. 22), Pacific Gas & Electric Co. M. Sherman (Dist. 10), SW&E, LLC M. Skiles (Dist. 9), Consultant W. J. Sperko (At Large), Sperko Engineering Services J. Stoll (Dist. 18), The Bohler Welding Group U.S. H. W. Thompson (Dist. 2), UL, Inc. R. P. Wilcox (Dist. 11), Consultant J. A. Willard (Dist. 13), Kankakee Community College D. R. Wilson (Past President), Welldean Enterprises
Welding Journal | June 2016
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