ASME President, 2003-2004

Reginald I. Vachon is the 122nd president of ASME International serving the 2003-2004 term.  An ASME Fellow, Vachon has served the Society on numerous committees and in many regional and national offices.  His affiliation with ASME spans 44 years.

Vachon is a registered professional engineer in six states and also a licensed attorney who helped ASME navigate the legal issues attending the Hydrolevel case.  He has more than 40 years of experience in industry, education, and the government sector.  His experience is broad, encompassing design engineering, research, software development, management of domestic and international projects, teaching and instruction, and corporate leadership.  Vachon has served as a consultant in energy and management planning to several governments, including Egypt and Mexico.

As a researcher in academia, Vachon explored fundamental problems in heat transfer, biomedical technology, and fluid mechanics, among other engineering disciplines, and his work is compiled in more than 100 technical papers published worldwide.  Several of these papers have appeared in the Journal of Heat Transfer.

Reginald Vachon received his training and education at the U.S. Naval Academy, Auburn University and Oklahoma State University.  He earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Oklahoma State in 1963, after which Vachon returned to Auburn for a professorship.   During 14 years at Auburn, Vachon published extensively and also consulted on several prominent design projects for the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency and NASA, where he worked on the early precursor to the solid rocket motors used on today’s space shuttle.

He served on many academic committees at Auburn, including the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee, Environmental Awareness Committee and Patent Committee.  Vachon was recognized as an outstanding educator by academic peers, and attained the esteemed position of Alumni Professor.

While at Auburn, Vachon founded Optimal Systems, Inc., Atlanta, Ga., a consultancy providing design and manufacturing services to multinational companies, including the Fortune 500.  From 1977 to 1984, Vachon served as the president of Vachon, Nix & Associates, an Atlanta-based engineering firm that included among its major clients Ampex Corporation, Exxon, and various agencies of the United States government.

Vachon was president of Thacker Engineering and chief operating officer of its holding company, The Thacker Organization, from 1981 to 1990.  Thacker Engineering handled design and construction projects generating millions of dollars in corporate revenues.  Among these projects was a 22-story, 475,000 square-foot office building for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; an 800,000 gph oil metering system for the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve; air cargo facility for American Airlines (at O’Hare Airport, Chicago), and a bus maintenance facility for Dade County, Florida.  Thacker Engineering was the resident engineer and constructor for the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve during the 1980s.

Vachon founded VNA Systems, Inc., in 1984 and currently serves as president of the firm based in Atlanta.  VNA develops artificial intelligence and machine-vision systems for medical diagnostics.  In addition, Vachon recently co-founded Direct Measurements, Inc., developer of a gage that determines the level of fatigue and wear in components prior to crack initiation.  Vachon serves as chairman and CEO of the company.

Service in ASME includes membership on the Council and Executive Committee of Council from 1978 to 1980 and Board of Governors from 1981 to 1983.  He served as chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs (1988-1999) and vice president of the Society’s Region XI (1978-1980).  Vachon was active as an advisor to the ASME student section at Auburn.  Other affiliations include the National Society of Professional Engineers, American Society for Engineering Education, and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. 

Honors and awards at ASME include Honorary Membership and Dedicated Service Award, bestowed in 1995.  Other awards include the G. Edwin Burks Award from the American Society for Engineering Education, recognizing outstanding contributions in engineering education, and Western Electric Fund Award for Excellence in Teaching.  Vachon is listed in Who’s Who in American Education, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, and the 1969 and 1972 editions of The Two Thousand Men of Achievement.