STLE appoints 2021-2022 President

The Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE) named Ken Hope as new Principal Executive Officer of the society and Chairman of its board of directors, and 2021-2022 President for a one-year term.

Hope served on the STLE Board of Directors from 2006 to 2017 and in 2018 became a member of STLE’s Executive Committee, serving one-year terms as treasurer, secretary and vice-president.

“Ken is perfectly poised to lead the charge for our technical society,” said Edward P. Salek, CAE, STLE Executive Director. “His extensive field experience, deep industry knowledge and long-time contributions to STLE will provide members with the insights and information they need to stay ahead of trends and persevere during these unprecedented times.”

Hope is past chair of the STLE Houston section and participated as a lubrication school instructor for the STLE Houston, Chicago and Oklahoma sections. For over 15 years, he instructed the synthetics module of the Basic Lubrication course at STLE’s annual meeting. He holds STLE’s Certified Lubrication Specialist designation.

“While the COVID-19 pandemic has buffeted many industries this past year, this disruption has also spurred tribological advancements in many key areas, including manufacturing, metalworking, transportation and power generation,” said Hope. “As STLE president, my focus will be on keeping our members at the forefront of this transformation through unique and timely programming, education courses, events and publications.”

A former chair of STLE’s Editorial & Publications Committee, Hope has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Lubrication Science and as a TLT technical editor. He has served as a member of the API Base Oil Interchange/Viscosity Grade Read Across Task Force and ASTM and SAE. He has presented over 70 technical papers at STLE, NLGI, UNITI, ELGI, ACS, AICHE and SAE meetings, and holds 21 U.S. patents.