Abstract
In my last couple of messages to the Society, I cited Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel, who, in his 1998 book, Only the Paranoid Survive, advanced the concept of the “strategic inflection point” (see figure), and then discussed its implications for our Society, both from the standpoint of influence and relevance. I think that the Society is making good progress in that regard.
 Our Society has an important role to play as the go-to organization for learning how to effectively implement system safety engineering and management, regardless of the application. This is part of our “export” strategy, whereby we help other sectors to adopt the system safety approach. In mid-December 2016, I represented the Society as an invited speaker at a conference on NORM (naturally-occurring radioactive material) in Abu Dhabi, which focused on the upstream oil and gas industry. It is significant that many of our members are active outside of the traditional defense/aerospace sector, and they are doing great work to expand our influence in business, industry and academia.
 In memoriam: Erskine Harton
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