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MTI ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR PRADIP KHALADKAR RETIRES

By MTI Admin posted 12-20-2021 11:04 AM

  
MTI has celebrated many Associate Directors (AD) throughout its rich history and, after five years of service, Pradip Khaladkar is joining that list. Khaladkar assumed the role of Associate Director in 2017 after retiring from DuPont, but his history with MTI spans nearly 40 years.

A few highlights include, initiating and leading the Polymers RAG (Resource Advisory Group, now Project Development Committee – PDC) in 1982; helping start the AsiaTAC group; and being part of several groundbreaking projects, such as FRP Global standards, Permeation of Fluoropolymers, and FRP Training Programs, among many others. He also served as the staff leader for many MTI projects. Ferrite Content in Duplex Stainless Steels; MIC of Super, Hyper Duplex Stainless Steels; and e-Learning Module for FRP Training are three he lists as among the most memorable.

“Although I was involved in the E-Learning project as a member and an instructor, working on it as an AD was still a challenge,” Khaladakar explains. “It involved constant nudging of the contractor, their constant changes in personnel and our own internal problems. Ferrite Content of Duplex Stainless Steels, on the other hand, was by far the most satisfying. I inherited this from Jesse Chen, who was the AD at the time, and this was completed rapidly under the able leadership of Jim Fritz. It was very well received in the industry. The MIC of duplex stainless steels has been the biggest challenge and will continue to be for the next AD. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

Khaladkar also served as a supporting Associate Director for the AsiaTAC region. He was involved in helping to plan meeting locations, identifying and recruiting potential members and developing the programs and training to occur at each event. Recruitment continues to pose various problems, among them the cost of dues. He has proposed ideas to the BOD in the past to help mitigate this particular challenge and would encourage the BOD to take another look.

“AsiaTAC is very important since it validates MTI’s claim to be a truly global organization,” he cautions. “Although it is not clearly expressed [by the companies], the dues are intimidating for most candidates. I had suggested that we needed to go ‘local,’ meaning forming MTI chapters in Europe and Asia with their own dues structure. I understand the legal and logistical challenges. However, to be truly global and to bring in new ideas and abilities this needs to be pursued.”

Although Khaladkar feels there is much to be done. He has made the decision to leave it in the capable hands of those currently leading the organization and those to follow.
“Deciding to retire from MTI was not easy. However, I also became involved with a Lifelong Learning Institute in Delaware concurrently with MTI,” Khaladkar remarks. “Learning history, political science, economics, and languages has opened a whole new world for me. This is taking a lot of time – learning and now teaching and joining the Executive Council. Continuing both was untenable so I made a difficult choice of retiring from MTI.”

But, this is not “good-bye.” Khaladkar received the prestigious MTI Fellow designation in 2014, which allows him lifetime access to MTI so we might be hearing from him on the TAC Forum. He is also actively involved in the MTI Fellows forum, led by Emory Ford (MTI Fellow 2015), and participating in future meetings is not out of the question either, he notes.

Thank you, Pradip, for your dedication, collaboration and continued support of the organization. We wish you the best in retirement!

This article was published in MTI CONNECT 2021, Issue 3.
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