ver 60 PSMA members and guests attended the PSMA Annual Meeting, held at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, NC during APEC 2015.

The buffet breakfast before the meeting start provided attendees an opportunity for networking and meeting colleagues. Chairman Ernie Parker officially opened the meeting by welcoming all the attendees and asked each to briefly introduce themselves. Among those present were many of the 43 recipients of the APEC Student Travel Support. This support is provided jointly by IAS, PELS and PSMA and attracted 108 applicants from over 60 different schools in 21 countries.

The first item on the agenda was the election of four people to the Board of Directors. The following candidates were elected to the Board of Directors for the three-year term (2015-2018):

Chairman Ernie Parker identified some members who have made significant and outstanding contributions to the Association this past year. The following individuals were specifically recognized and were presented with an award:

• Brian Narveson – for his leadership and contributions for the 3D Power Packaging Special Project
  
• Arnold Alderman – for his leadership and contributions to organization of the 2014 PwrSoC Workshop
  
• Matt Wilkowski – for his technical contributions and organization of the technical program of the 2014 PwrSoC Workshop
  
• Eric Persson – for his leadership of the 2015 PSMA Power Technology Roadmap
  
• Aung Thet Tu – for his leadership of the 2015 PSMA Power Technology Roadmap
  

Ernie Parker presenting award to Brian Narveson

Arnold Alderman receives award from Ernie Parker

Ernie discussed his vision for the Association going forward and encouraged all members to join one or two of the active Technical Committees and participate in their activities as the best way to increase the benefits of membership.

Alireza Khaligh and Aung Tu

The past year has been a very active year for the Association with the completion and publication of two major reports - The 2015 Power Technology Roadmap and Phase 2 of the packaging technology report - Current Developments in 3D Packaging with Focus on Embedded Substrate Technologies. In addition the Technical Committees have organized seven Industry Sssions during APEC 2015 and sponsored Workshops on PwrSoC and on Energy Efficient Buildings. Finally, PSMA is also actively working with other industry organizations including iNEMI and CPSS.

Following the Chairman’s Report was a financial Report presented by Michel Grenon, Secretary/ Treasurer who reviewed the current financial status of the Association and presented a six quarter forecast. The financial status and outlook for the Association continues to be good with sufficient funds to support a number of Special Projects that can be of benefit of the membership

Aung Thet Tu, General Chair for APEC 2015, provided an update on the overall conference and identified a number of new features and events added. APEC2015 will approach the record levels set at APEC 2013 in the number of paper submissions, number of paper acceptances, registrations and attendees and will set a new record for exhibit booths. All indications are that APEC2015 is headed to be both a technical and financial success.

Alireza Khaligh, Program Chair for APEC 2015 and General Chair for APEC 2016, reported that planning for APEC 2016 was well underway. The conference will be held at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, CA from March 20 through March 24, 2015. The Call for Papers and more information will be available in coming weeks.

Alpha J. Zhang

The invited speaker at this year’s Annual Meeting was Alpha J. Zhang from the China Power Supply Society (CPSS) who is with the Delta Shanghai Design Center. He presented a brief introduction on the Delta Group. He reviewed their global operations, business categories and the business challenges facing power supply manufacturers in meeting the market needs in several application product areas.

The minutes from the PSMA Annual Meeting have been posted in the Members Only area of the PSMA web site together with the charts from the presentations.

The Annual Meeting, PSMA Committee meetings, as well as the technical sessions, seminars, Industry Presentations, exhibits and other events kept PSMA members busy all the week. The APEC social event, held at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, gave everyone a chance to relax and enjoy themselves.

Dottie and Carl Blake

Joe Horzepa

There was a full exhibit hall at APEC 2015. Many of the PSMA member companies exhibiting participated in a “Passport” game in which attendees who visited their booths had their passport booklets stamped. Attendees turned in their completed passports for a chance to win an iPod mini. Traffic to members’ booths was brisk and the lucky winner was very happy with his prize.

The lucky winner of an iPad mini claims his prize

PSMA Members’ exhibits at APEC2015:

If you or anyone in your company is interested in getting on the distribution list for future issues of PSMA UPDATE, please send e-mail to: power@psma.com. Be sure to include your name and the name of your company.