2nd Annual Fall Classic Charity Cornhole Tournament

CREW Jacksonville Gives Awards

At the CREW Jacksonville luncheon on October 11, 2011, three dynamic women received awards to celebrate their hard work and devotion to CREW.  These women were nominated by CREW Jacksonville members. 

In the category of Most Connections, Heather LePetrie won the award for the CREW Jacksonville member who made the most business, professional or personal connections among members of the Chapter in 2011.

In the category of Most Active New Member (less than two years), Jody Brooks won the award for the individual who had attended the most CREW events, had the most committee participation or had otherwise taken the fullest advantage of CREW benefits in 2011.

In the category of Wonder Woman, Maryanne Hewitt won the award for the CREW Jacksonville member who has gone above and beyond in their support of CREW and involvement in 2011, positively impacting CREW Jacksonville and its members with their energy and focus.

Congratulations ladies, and thank you for your dedication to our chapter!

Delegates Wrap Up Successful Year for the Network

Addressing the 2011 Council of Delegates at the recent Fall Leadership Summit & Council Meeting in Washington, D.C., CREW Network President Collete English Dixon recognized delegates for their role in leading a successful year for the organization, “Your leadership, participation and forward-thinking are the reason we lead the Network that works.” Among its exhaustive list of accomplishments include the development of gold standards for chapters, the launch of CREW Network’s executive level mentoring program, the development of two Playbooks; Gold Standard Chapter and Programs, and the development of CREW Network’s fifth white paper. 

CREW Jacksonville Visits Saft

CREW Jacksonville held a tour of the new 235,000 square foot Lithium Battery plant “SAFT” at Cecil Commerce Center on Tuesday, September 20, 2011.  The program began at 11:00 at the Commerce Center’s Conference Center.  Dixie Contract Carpet, Inc. was the sponsor of the event.  Catering was by Sonny’s Bar BQ.

The event commenced with CREW Jacksonville Laura Gonzales’ opening remarks and recognition of CREW’s sponsors.  Suzanne Cortina from King Engineering gave the Invocation and Pledge.  Maryanne Hewitt from Dixie Contract Carpet gave a short presentation on the sponsoring company including that they were the flooring contractor on the SAFT building project.  She also showed a video of a custom logo installation at FSCJ Deerwood campus.

Peter Denoncourt joined other SAFT colleagues to welcome the group.  He gave a brief history of SAFT and an explanation of the power capabilities of their battery technologies as well as their new building including a video of all sectors of the company.

There was a question and answer session with Peter wherein he talked about the 279 new jobs SAFT is bringing to the Jacksonville area and how most of those which have been filled were filled with local individuals.  He also talked about the one-mega-watt of power that is produced by their solar panel installation on their roof.  This installation is the largest solar panel installation in the Southeastern United States.

The tours ensued in groups to the factory.  Most of the manufacturing of the batteries is performed in an encapsulated space with tight environmental controls.  Relative humidity is kept at nearly 1%.  Employees who work in this environment must do so in short increments as their skin can start drying out (chapped lips, itchy noses).  The groups were taken through the entire battery manufacturing process from copper and aluminum sheets thinner than a piece of hair, to coating, coiling, capping and containing, helium testing and transport by robotic vehicle to storage racks.  Most of the battery making is performed by robots.  Human interaction is contained to the first few stages of production.

SAFT has international presence in the market.  They have even supplied the longest running lithium battery that is in some satellites in space!  The event was exciting and informative!