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AATCC announces 2025–26 Board of Directors

Company News, News | January 27, 2025 | By:

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The American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) announced the individuals elected as 2025–26 president and interest group board of directors representatives. Election results were announced at the AATCC annual meeting Nov. 13, 2024. All officers began their term on Jan. 1, 2025.

President

Christina Rapa, W.L. Gore and Associates, will serve two years as president before continuing to immediate past president for two years.

Rapa has been an advocate for AATCC for over 23 years. Starting as a textile engineering student at both Jefferson University and the University of North Carolina and continuing through the formation of the Northwest chapter in Portland, Ore., and Seattle, Wash., in the early 2000s, she now serves as the chair of the Delaware Valley chapter.

Rapa will be a member of the board for all four years, providing continuity and guidance to the association. When Rapa became president, John Crocker, SDL Atlas, became the immediate past president.

Interest groups

AATCC members participate in one or more interest groups to network, learn and share ideas with like-minded colleagues. Each member may select one “voting” interest group from which they elect representatives to the AATCC Board.

The Chemical Applications Interest Group re-elected Sabyasachi Gaan, as chair. Gaan received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California Davis in 2007. He has worked at Empa in Switzerland since 2007 and is currently head of the additives and chemistry group in the Laboratory of Advanced Fibers.

The Concept 2 Consumer Interest Group elected Chris Hipps as chair. Chris Hipps is the global director of the color management business at Archroma. He has been with Archroma since 2014. Before he was with Datacolor, Oxco and CAE Simuflite in various technical, sales and marketing positions. Hipps has been a member of AATCC since 1992 and was the interim chair for the Concept to Consumer Interest Group.

The Materials Interest Group has elected Apurba Banerjee as chair and Yongxin Wang as vice-chair. Banerjee has served as an at-large member since 2021, and is a textile research scientist at Standard Textiles Corp. Wang is a materials manager at W.L. Gore and Associates and has been an AATCC member since 2021.

In 2023, AATCC established the Rising Professionals Interest Group. The group is focused on supporting individuals as they embark on a career in textiles. Members include recent graduates and professionals transitioning from other industries.

The Rising Professionals Interest Group re-elected Jessica Brooks as chair and Monét Freeman as vice chair. Brooks is a colorist for the vertical business units at W.L. Gore and Associates. She has been an AATCC member since 2013 and currently serves as the vice chair of the AATCC Delaware Valley section and as chair of the RISE Interest Group. Freeman is a physical testing specialist at the Textile Technology Center at Gaston College in Dallas, N.C.

Opportunities

AATCC Board elections occur every two years. To learn more about available opportunities, contact Gregg Woodcock, AATCC executive director at woodcockg@aatcc.org.

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