Lawrence resident Matt Henderson has joined Prosoco as sales manager for the company’s north-central sales territory.

Henderson is a 1998 graduate of Kansas University, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in English and philosophy. His construction industry experience includes three years remodeling homes and hotels throughout the U.S., and two years in construction materials sales.

As sales manager, Henderson will support Prosoco’s independent distributors in selling the company’s products. He also will work with the company’s manufacturer’s representatives.

Prosoco, based in Lawrence, is a national manufacturer of products for cleaning, protecting and maintaining concrete, brick and stone.

¢ John and Linda Surritte, Lawrence, were featured in the September issue of Retirement Life, a national magazine that is published by the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Assn.

John Surritte is the organization’s newsletter editor for Lawrence Chapter 378 and is first vice president and national legislative chairman for the Kansas Federation. Linda Surritte is first vice president of the Lawrence Chapter and the Alzheimer’s chairwoman for the Kansas Federation.

¢ The Topeka Chapter of the Kansas Society of Professional Engineers announce the following 2005-06 officers: Stacey Lamer, president, Bartlett & West Engineers; Ed Sexe, vice president, Cretex Midwest; Scott Uhl, treasurer, Bartlett & West Engineers; Mike Morrissey, secretary, Poe & Associates; Amy Martens, state director, BlueCross & Blue Shield of Kansas; Brian Armstrong, chapter director, Bartlett & West Engineers.

The Topeka Chapter’s regional boundaries include the cities of Emporia, Lawrence and Topeka.

¢ Wolf Creek Generating Station marked its 20th anniversary of being in commercial operation. The 1,200-megawatt nuclear power plan began producing electricity Sept. 3, 1985. The plant generated more than 10 million megawatt-hours of electricity in 2004, which is about 19 percent of Kansas’ electricity needs. Wolf Creek is owned by Westar Energy, Kansas City Power & Light Co. and Kansas Electric Power Cooperative Inc.

¢ Joseph Fix has joined CritiTech’s board of directors. Fix has an extensive drug delivery and pharmaceutical industry background in addition to his experience in working in the micro- and nanoparticle pharmaceutical arena. He has more than 25 years of experience in drug delivery, product development, operations, business development, contract negotiations, and regulatory and quality systems.

Fix most recently was president and chief operating officer of Cydex Inc. He also has served as chief operating officer of NanoSystems Inc., a unit of Elan Corp.; president of Yamanouchi Pharma Technologies; associate director of biological sciences for ALZA Corp.; and associate director of biopharmaceutics for the INTERx research division.

Fix received a Ph.D. in neurophysiology from Kansas University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Pepperdine University. He has held adjunct faculty positions at the University of Southern California, Purdue University and KU. He has 17 patents in the drug delivery area.

CritiTech provides critical drug delivery and development technology for the pharmaceutical industry. CritiTech produces fine-particle pharmaceuticals, including nanoparticle pharmaceuticals using patented technologies developed at KU.

¢ Lawrence Veterinary Hospital celebrated two employee anniversaries this month. Jeryl Crane, receptionist, has been with the hospital for 15 years. Rachel Wright, registered veterinarian technician, has been with the hospital for five years.

Staff members recently attended the Central Veterinary States Conference on Aug. 27-30 in Kansas City for continuing education credits. Those who attended were Sarah Geisler, registered veterinarian technician; Rebecca Moore, nurse technician; Wright; Crane; Christine Mercer Kraft, practice manager; and Dr. James Kraft, owner of the hospital.

Coming events

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Technology Transfer Society are will host the conference “Advancing Innovation and Entrepreneurship” on Sept. 28-30 at Kauffman Foundation’s headquarters, 4801 Rockhill Road in Kansas City, Mo.

The conference will feature leading authorities who have pioneered major breakthroughs in commercializing university-based innovations. Topics will include entrepreneurial universities, entrepreneurship and innovation policy, the role of universities in national innovation systems, technology transfer and regional economic growth, women in science and women entrepreneurs.

For more information, visit www.t2society.org or web.kauffman.org/Entrepreneurship.cfm?topic=Innovation, or contact Tom Phillips by calling (212) 935-4655 or e-mailing comptwp@aol.com.

¢ Settling and selling the family estate can be a difficult and emotional undertaking. But a program offered by the National Auctioneers Assn. teaches auctioneers how to manage the task.

The association will have its Certified Estate Specialist program Nov. 13-15 at the NAA headquarters, 8880 Ballentine in Overland Park. The program focuses on all aspects of selling family estates and estate property through auction.

The classes are open to auctioneers who want to position their firm to develop and market their services to the financial community by developing alliances with estate planning professionals. Participants must pass a comprehensive exam to complete the CES designation. Auctioneers who already have taken the two-day Estate Specialist session can sign up to complete the third day of class and take the exam. The program offers 21 hours of continuing education credit.

Besides classes, participants will have the opportunity to participate in tours of the Country Club Plaza, NAA headquarters and the NAA museum. There also will be a barbecue dinner.

A $50 savings in tuition is being offered for participants who register for the course work by Oct. 28. Early registration is $495 for NAA members and $545 for nonmembers. Cost for third-day registrants is $165 if registration is received by Oct. 28, and $180 for later registration.

To register, go to the NAA Web site, www.auctioneers.org and click on Education Institute.

For more information, contact Robert Shively at (888) 541-8084, ext. 11 or by e-mail to bob@auctioneers.org.