Northern Member Chapter
Joint Dinner Meeting with AIST Cokemaking Technology Committee
Tuesday, 30 September 2025 • Holiday Inn Burlington Conference Centre • Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Holiday Inn Burlington-Hotel & Conference Centre
3063 S Service Rd.
Burlington, ON L7N 3E9 Canada
Keynote Presentation
"True Industrial Stories - 30 years Plus of Listening to Others"
Buddy Lee, Business Development Specialist, Mesa Associates, Inc
Buddy was hired as a General Engineer at the Department of Energy in Oak Ridge, TN in 1987. In January of 1989, he joined CSI as an Applications Engineer. Buddy formed MAARS, Inc. in 1996, where he developed online, permanently mounted vibration and process monitoring systems. Buddy is a co-holder on US Patent # 6,276,213, awarded in 2001, for an Analog Devices 5B module redesigned to add vibration capability on an Opto-22 backplane. Mr. Lee performed consulting work at customer sites from 2013 to 2017 while completing an MBA at the University of Tennessee. In early 2018, Buddy joined Emerson as an Instructor, and in 2021 he completed a Master of Science degree in Reliability Engineering (with a minor in Statistics). From 2016 to 2023, Buddy attended LMU and completed the coursework for the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA). In October 2022, Buddy joined Mesa Associates, Inc. as an Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Subject Matter Expert. Buddy is a Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional (CMRP, 2007), a Certified Reliability Leader (CRL, 2014), and has a Category 3 Vibration Certificate (2018). In 2024, Buddy was named an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Tennessee, where he teaches RME 484, a cross-discipline engineering course in reliability and maintenance.
Schedule of Events
5:30 p.m. Networking Reception
6:30 p.m. Dinner and Keynote Presentation
Pricing
Member: US$85
Non-Member: US$95
Table of 8: US$680 mem/US$760 non
Students attend for free!
Register via AIST Steel to Students.
Please register by 15 September 2025.
Questions
Contact: AISTNorthernChapter@gmail.com
Bring Your Own Young Professional (BYOYP) Program
AIST recently launched the Bring Your Own Young Professional (BYOYP) program to encourage our members to help boost the next generation’s involvement in AIST and the steel industry. If you are an AIST member and are bringing a Young Professional (age 30 and under) to the conference, you can receive a free gift. All you have to do is enter their contact information on the registration form when you sign up for the conference. Find out more information about the program here.