University of Akron President, Council Executive Committee Member Moderates Panel at Strategic Materials Conference In Cleveland

CLEVELAND—The Defense Metals Technology Center (DMTC) of North Canton held a conference Monday April 6 and Tuesday April 7 focused on the importance of maintaining domestic sources of specialty metals and materials that impact national security.

Invited to the inaugural Strategic Materials Conference at the Intercontinental Hotel at the Cleveland Clinic is a cross-section of government, business and academic leaders, as well as elected federal officials.

“The conference is designed to create a comprehensive initiative to address America’s supply-chain vulnerability and ensure the long-term availability of strategic materials for national defense,” says Charles D. Clark, executive director of the DMTC.

Among the scheduled events is a panel on “Danger in the Supply Chain: A Case Study on Chinese Manipulation of the High Performance Magnet Market,” which will be moderated by Dr. Luis M. Proenza (pictured), president of the University of Akron and a member of the Council on Competitiveness Executive Committee.

In 2007, Congress funded the creation of the DMTC as a Center of Excellence to coordinate academic, government and industrial entities involved with highly specialized strategic materials.

Two related Centers of Excellence—the National Center for Defense, Machining, and Manufacturing (NCDMM) of Latrobe, Penn., and DSN Innovations of Pittsburgh—are co-sponsoring the Cleveland Conference.

Through the efforts of then-Congressman Ralph Regula of Navarre, the DMTC was located at Stark State College in Stark County, which is in the middle of what the DMTC calls America’s Metals Heartland.

“We are the broker between the military’s specific specialty-metals needs and academia and industry in the Metals Heartland,” says Clark, who was director of government relations for the University of Akron before his appointment as the first head of the DMTC.

Clark points out that economic globalization has led to a significant increase in the defense supplier base, particularly from abroad. Accordingly, there is a growing concern in government and industry that certain specialty metals used in military applications—such as titanium—come too frequently from countries that compete with the United States, mainly Russia and China.

“The Conference is NOT designed to promote a ‘Buy American’ policy,” insists Clark. “Rather it will focus on the implications of a growing gap in the military’s use of domestic strategic materials and how that also impacts American industry.

“The forum will thus address how to make America’s specialty metals industry more competitive with foreign suppliers,” says Clark. “At the same time, it will ascertain how American companies can be more competitive abroad.”

Featured speakers include:

• U.S. Rep. John A. Boccieri, Alliance, Ohio, 16th District. Boccieri also is a major in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. As an aircraft commander aboard the C-130 Hercules, Boccieri deployed in four rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Barbara Snyder, president of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, who will deliver the welcoming address.
• Cornell Holder, administrator, Defense National Stockpile Center, Washington.
• John Neumann, assistant director, acquisition and sourcing management, U.S. Government Accountability Office, Washington.
• Peter C. Dent, vice president of business development, Electron Energy Corporation, Landisville, Penn.
• Ed Richardson, sales and marketing manager, Thomas & Skinner, Inc., Indianapolis, Ind.
• John Ashburn, vice president & general counsel, Molycorp Minerals, LLC, Greenwood Village, Colo.

Closing remarks will be delivered by Colonel Peter Mansoor, Ph.D., U.S. Army (retired), the Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair in Military History at The Ohio State University. Previous to joining Ohio State, Mansoor was the executive officer to General David Petraeus, the commanding general of Multi-National Force-Iraq.

Clark says that suppliers of materials needed by the military are encouraged to attend. “This Conference also is intended to call attention to the opportunities for the metals’ manufacturing base of Ohio and nearby states,” he says

After the Conference, Clark notes, the DMTC will work closely with companies that produce specialty metals and materials. “We also will continue to serve as a credible source of information nationally on the issue,” he adds.

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