IUPAC Officers, including Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary General, are elected by the IUPAC Council, which meets every two years at the IUPAC General Assembly. The Council met most recently at the 42nd General Assembly in Ottawa, Canada, 16-17 August 2003. At that time, it elected two new officers in addition to the re-election of Dr. Buxtorf. A native of Basel, Dr. Buxtorf received a degree in chemistry from the Engineering School in Burgdorf, and his doctorate from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He completed his post doctoral fellowship at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, and pursued further education in Finance Management and Corporate Strategy in Europe and at Harvard. Dr. Buxtorf retired in 2000 after 34 years with Novartis Crop Protection (now Syngenta) as head of Manufacturing and Technology. He has held technical and managerial responsibilities in manufacturing and chemical development in both Switzerland and the USA. He was a member of the Executive Committee of Novartis Crop Protection, and was responsible for the worldwide operations in manufacturing and technical development of the Novartis Technology Advisory Board and Safety and Environmental Council. Dr. Buxtorf is a member of the Swiss Chemical Society (SCS) and the Swiss Society of Chemical Industries. He was actively engaged in the SCS division of Industrial Chemistry 12 years. He was chairman of the manufacturing section of the European Crop Protection Association, with extended responsibilities for worldwide industry standards. Christoph Buxtorf has served as Treasurer and as a member of the Executive and Finance Committees of IUPAC since 1999. He was Chair of the ad hoc special working group on national subscriptions and related finance matters, was a member of the Conference Policy Development Committee, and a member of the ad hoc working group on industrial relations. 2004-5 IUPAC Officers President Leiv K. Sydnes (Norway) Vice President Bryan Henry (Canada) Secretary General David StClair Black (Australia) Treasurer Christoph F. Buxtorf (Switzerland) Past President Pieter S. Steyn (South Africa) IUPAC was formed in 1919 by chemists from industry and academia. For over eight decades, the Union has succeeded in fostering worldwide communications in the chemical sciences and in uniting academic, industrial and public sector chemistry in a common language. IUPAC is recognized as the world authority on chemical nomenclature, terminology, standardized methods for measurement, atomic weights and many other critically evaluated data. In more recent years, IUPAC has been pro-active in establishing a wide range of conferences and projects designed to promote and stimulate modern developments in chemistry, and also to assist in aspects of chemical education and the public understanding of chemistry. IUPAC's next Congress and General Assembly will be held in Beijing, China 14-19 August 2005.