After 42 years of continued leadership and direction, Laurie and Werner Huget have retired from CSA. For decades, the Hugets have overseen CSA’s day-to-day operations, organized conferences and workshops attended by professionals from around the world and facilitated countless short courses for the cryogenics community.

When the future of CSA was uncertain and all but the Midwestern chapter (yes, there once were chapters of CSA!) had shuttered, the Hugets stepped up from their officer roles and publishing duties to become the Society’s stewards. Thus began a decades-long career focused on the growth and promotion of cryogenics around the world, professional networking, student development and the dissemination of knowledge for all.

A message from Marcel ter Brake, CSE chairman, ICEC chairman and Andrea Raccanelli, CSE secretary, captures the legacy the Hugets leave behind that will undoubtedly benefit cryogenics researchers, users and professionals for decades to come.

Message from Marcel ter Brake and Andrea Raccanelli
On January 19th, we received a message of Werner and Laurie Huget announcing their retirement as managers of the Cryogenic Society of America after 42 years (!) of service to that Society. That is a loss! Not only has their work been of extreme value to the cryogenics community in the USA, but also to all working in cryogenics, wherever in the world. They were always trying to connect to societies, associations or institutes that were active in cryogenics. Their dedication to the promotion of cryogenics has been inspirational for us as well.

After the foundation of the Cryogenics Society of Europe on April 22 in 2015, we received a message, only four days later, from Laurie congratulating us and at the same time offering us the possibility to publish our efforts in Cold Facts and suggesting cooperation between the two societies. It shows the active and efficient way Laurie worked: immediate action and open for cooperation and initiatives. Since then, indeed many events organized by the CSE were promoted in Cold Facts.

We know Laurie and Werner from the many International Cryocooler Conferences and the Cryogenic Engineering Conferences, both linked to CSA. At each of these occasions, we greatly enjoyed their company.

We are sure that it is on behalf of all members of the Cryogenics Society of Europe and of the International Cryogenic Engineering Committee that we thank Laurie and Werner for their decades of work for the cryogenics community. We wish both many more pleasant and healthy years to come, in which they can enjoy their well-deserved retirement.
− Marcel ter Brake, Chairman, CSE and ICEC
− Andrea Raccanelli, Secretary CSE

Member Salutes
“Thanks, Laurie and Werner, for your selfless dedication to the field and your extraordinary team building skills. You will be missed, and I wish you the best!” – Susan Butler, associate director for public affairs, Texas Center for Superconductivity

“Best wishes for Laurie and Werner. Thank you for your 42 years of support to our industry and community. Since my first CEC conference, they both have treated me like a part of the family. Enjoy a much-deserved retirement! The attached picture is from our “Cryo Mafia” party at the CEC in Tucson, Arizona.”–Austin Capers, sales director, Scientific Instruments

“Congratulations on your retirement. You deserve it after so many years of serving the cryogenic community. Thanks for all of your time and efforts on our behalf. I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the board working with both of you. I also especially valued our conversations at so many cryogenics and superconductivity conferences around the world.” −John Urbin, cryogenics engineer and business leader (retired)

“Congratulations on a job well done! Ability Engineering Technology has been a beneficiary of your great work for many years, and we wish you all the best in retirement.” – Eugene Botsoe, president, Ability Engineering Technology

“A note to welcome you both to the great world of retirement—I highly recommend it to all my relatives and friends. You both have been my friends of over 40 years and I look forward to your friendship in the years to come. I started in CSA in about 1963 as a Charter Member in the San Francisco Chapter. I had and have a very close relationship to all the founders of the Society and as my last active part in the Society had the honor to be elected to the position of Chairman of the Board. The Society will always be close to me as I read the advances in cryogenics as I spent my entire professional career in those activities.

The Cryogenic Society would never have reached the level of prominence it did without the active participation of Laurie and Werner. Without them I doubt that it would have been a leading international society as it is today. Werner mentioned that he worked on freezer manuals for Liquid Carbonic. I was one of the principals at Liquid Carbonic who worked with Werner. It was a great partnership that resulted in a superior product. I will always carry those memories with me.

Congratulations to you both. Wish you many years of total enjoyment in retirement.” − Walt Broderdorf, Praxair engineering manager (retired)

“I (we!) will miss you. Thanks for all you have done.” –Professor John Brisson, director of MIT/SUTD Collaboration office

Laurie’s Comments
“We have had a wonderful career guiding CSA for more than 42 years! It has been a privilege to work with so many brilliant leaders in cryogenics and superconductivity. We are proud of what we have built over the years, with the aid of generations of staff, board members, columnists, content contributors, chairs of the many Space Cryogenics Workshops, our esteemed and generous short course teachers and the many strong leaders who have worked with us to grow CSA and make Cold Facts an internationally acclaimed publication. CSA has already experienced the professionalism, high touch service and true caring that CM Services delivers to its client partners. We are confident we are leaving CSA in good hands and in a position to grow and succeed into the future.

When asked about their departure and the memories they will continue to cherish, the Hugets shared some parting words.”

Werner’s Observations
“My introduction to cryogenics was in the US Air Force in the 1960s as a technician working with liquid oxygen for crew breathing and with liquid nitrogen used for fuel cell inerting. In the early 1970s, I had the opportunity to write the world’s first cryogenic food freezer manuals while working with our Huget Advertising client, Liquid Carbonic. Through our involvement with CSA, we have witnessed cryogenics grow exponentially in the number of critical applications it serves. I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many smart and talented people working on technologies that will impact humanity well into the future. I feel very fortunate to have played a role in the continuing evolution and growth of cryogenic technology and applications.”

On February 1, 2021, CM Services, Inc., The Association Partnership Company, began providing full-service association management services to assist the society in continuing to identify and achieve its mission. Longtime CM Services employee partner Megan Galeher now serves as CSA’s Executive Director.

CM Services is a 43-year-old, second-generation association management company headquartered in Glen Ellyn IL, a Chicago suburb. They pride themselves in creating lifelong business relationships with the associations they manage.

On behalf of all of us at CSA, we thank the Hugets for their years of dedicated service and continued support. Without them, the society would not have reached its present position as the place for cryogenics: an international network compromised of the major influential and emerging forces in the industry. While they will be sorely missed, we as a Society look forward to the continued impact and legacy we will build together. CSA is most certainly losing their most dedicated and devoted leaders, but the spirit of the Hugets will be carried on long into the future of cryogenics.

We invite you to continue to send in memories, photos and well-wishes to Laurie and Werner! Please send your notes and photos to editor@cryogenicsociety.org. We will continue to share them with the Hugets.

Thank you, Laurie and Werner! We will miss you! ■