ASME President, 1970-1971

Allen F. Rhodes, vice-president, research and engineering, Rockwell Manufacturing Co., Pittsburgh, PA., has been active in ASME since his Student Member days at Villanova University.  He has served the Society in 27 capacities since 1947, at national, regional, and sectional levels.

Mr. Rhodes is a transplanted Texan, having lived in Houston until 1964.  He began his business career in 1947, at Hughes Tool Co., where he was an assistant to the director of engineering administration.  He later joined McEvoy Company in 1952, where he served as director of engineering, vice-president of engineering, and was president at the time of McEvoy’s merger with Rockwell in 1963.

Joining Rockwell Manufacturing Co. as general manager of the Houston plant (after the merger with McEvoy), Mr. Rhodes organized the company’s first central valve research laboratory, reorganized product control and engineering procedures, and established new product development programs.  He assumed his present position as vice-president, research and engineering, in 1966.

Allen Rhodes is the author of numerous technical publications, has been invited to speak before several professional organizations, and holds 17 patents.  He is perhaps, best know national for his service to the ASME Petroleum Division, and as Vice-President Policy Board, Industry Department.  He is ASME Chairman of the Standing Committee on Transportation, and an appointed public member of the Department of Transportation Gas Pipeline Safety Standards Committee.

From 1943 to 1946, Allen Rhodes was a naval pilot, and served as lieutenant aboard an aircraft carrier in the North Pacific.  He is an avid sailor, having participated for many years in the Southern Ocean Racing Circuit, and won his first medal in competition at age nine.  His intense interest in sailing can be attested to by his 300-book collection on the subject.

Mr. Rhodes lives with his wife Carol, and son Stephen, six in the Fox Chapel suburb of Pittsburgh.  He enjoys fishing, an occasional game of golf, and spends weekends at “Windy Hill Farm,” a 100-acre tract just north of Pittsburgh.  He is currently a member of the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, Chamber of Commerce, and Tau Beta Pi National Engineering Honor Society.

Active in seven professional societies, Allen Rhodes is a Fellow in The Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Great Britain.  He is also a member of the American National Standards Institute, American Petroleum Institute, American Management Association, NSPE and PSPE; and has served as director and president of the Engineer’s Council of Houston, and the Houston Engineering and Scientific Society, and in 1961, Mr. Rhodes was named “Boss of the Year” by the Houston chapter of the National Secretaries Association.