JACK GERARD SHAKES UP ACC

Abstract

WHEN JACK N. GERARD took the reins as president and chief executive officer of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) in July 2005, he found that the chemical industry's largest trade association was having a difficult time advancing its agenda on Capitol Hill. A little over a year later, Gerard is being praised by industry leaders and outside observers alike for moving swiftly to coordinate the group's message on natural gas and security issues and for strengthening the organization's role in advocating public policy. He has pledged to make ACC the gold standard of trade associations. For an organization representing a $550 billion industry, we were punching below our weight, says Gerard, who was hired away from the National Mining Association (NMA) to reinvigorate ACC, which had been struggling from internal disputes following the absorption of the American Plastics Council (APC) in 2002. Gerard replaced Thomas E. Reilly Jr., the former chairman of Reilly Industries, who ...