President takes office!

Steven W. Pflantz, PE, is the 2017 President of the International Society of Automation (ISA).

Steve Pflantz

“I’m honored to have the opportunity to serve as ISA President for 2017. ISA is an organisation with a long and distinguished history of providing value to automation professionals and to the automation community at large,” he declared. “My overriding goal is to build upon ISA’s financial and operational success. One way I believe we can do this is by better leveraging our core strengths and capabilities in new ways and to take advantage of new business opportunities. We have so much technical expertise, knowledge, and content we can bring to bear to solve problems across a diverse range of industries beyond the processing and manufacturing sector.”

In this position, Pflantz will work with Society leaders and staff to increase awareness of the value and relevance of the ISA brand and build on ISA’s proven range of capabilities and resources for automation professionals, which includes standards development, education, training, certification, certificate programs, publications, and technical symposia and conferences.

Pflantz is an Associate in the St. Louis, Missouri office of CRB Consulting Engineers, Inc., a global consulting, design and construction services firm. He serves as a technical leader on many of CRB’s electrical and automation design projects, applying his extensive electrical engineering experience—particularly in the areas of instrumentation and controls.

A long-time ISA member and leader, Pflantz brings to his role as Society President a deep understanding of the automation profession, the needs and expectations of ISA members, and the value and significance of automation careers.

In 2012 and 2013, he served as Vice President of ISA’s Professional Development Department, encouraging members to take better advantage of the Society’s leadership training and development opportunities. He’s also served on ISA’s Executive Board (2008 and 2012) and as an ISA district vice president (2007 and 2008).

Pflantz has played a key role within the Automation Federation—ISA’s umbrella organization—on significant workforce development initiatives, including the formation of the Automation Competency Model and improving STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education in secondary schools.

He is ardent supporter of FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a not-for-profit public charity designed to inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology, and to motivate students to pursue education and career opportunities in STEM fields. Each year, Pflantz represents ISA and the Automation Federation at the FIRST Championship, an international STEM celebration for K-12 students held in St. Louis and highlighted by the FIRST® Robotics Competition.

Pflantz has been at CRB Consulting Engineers since 2001. Before that, he held positions as: Senior E&I Engineer at Emerson Process and Air Products; Project Engineer at Celotex Corporation and TEC Systems, Inc.; and COOP Engineer at TAMKO.

In 2012, Pflantz was inducted into the Academy of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He’s also a member of the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE).

Pflantz received a bachelor’s of science degree in electrical engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

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