David Diehl has been elected president-elect of RadTech International North America.

BETHESDA, MD — David Diehl, PPG Industries Inc., has been elected president-elect of RadTech International North America, the trade association that works to promote the technical, educational and market advancement of ultraviolet (UV) and electron-beam (EB) curing processes.

Diehl is manager of Corporate Technology Initiatives at PPG. He will become RadTech president on Jan. 1, 2003, succeeding James Reese of DSM Desotech Inc.

Reese credited Diehl with making an “important contribution to the advancement of RadTech and UV/EB technology” as a member of the organization’s board and as editor of RadTech Report, the group’s magazine. Other officers elected at RadTech’s winter meetings in Orlando, FL, were Immediate Past President Paul Elias and Treasurer Michael Rose, both of Sartomer Co., and Secretary Leigh Quinn Jr., QureTech.

RadTech also announced the launch of a “Plastics Focus Group” designed to develop industry programs related to the technical and market promotion of radiation curing of plastic products and coatings for plastics. The move is the result of rapid growth in the use of UV and EB curing in plastics markets in recent years, with applications in the automotive, sporting-goods, electronics and other industries, the organization said.

The first meeting of the focus group is planned during RadTech’s spring meetings, scheduled for May 1-2 in Indianapolis. RadTech members and prospective members are invited to attend the meetings, the organization said. For more information, contact RadTech at 301/664.8408, or visit www.radtech.org.