ver 50 PSMA members and guests attended the PSMA Annual Meeting, held at the Henry B Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, TX.

(Photo: Courtesy of City of San Antonio, Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center)

The buffet breakfast before the meeting start provided attendees an opportunity for networking and meeting colleagues. The outgoing Chairman Eric Persson officially opened the meeting by welcoming all the attendees and asked each to briefly introduce themselves. Among those present were many of the 60 recipients of the APEC Student Travel Support. This support is provided jointly by IAS, PELS and PSMA and attracted 104 applicants from 54 different schools in 16 countries.

Eric then introduced the newly elected Executive Committee for the term 2018-2020:

Stephen Oliver, Incoming Chair, thanked Eric Persson and acknowledged the leadership he has provided over the past two years as well as his contributions to APEC as the General Chair for APEC 2018 and support of the PSMA Power Technology Roadmap and Semiconductor Committees.

Stephen Oliver and Eric Persson

Next on the agenda was the election of five people to the Board of Directors. The following candidates were elected to the Board of Directors for the three-year term (2018-2021):

Stephen Oliver of Navitas Semiconductor (Associate Member) was elected to fill the unexpired term (2018-2019) vacated by Dustin Becker.

Stephen Oliver and the attendees congratulated and welcomed Alexander Gerfer and Tim McDonald as new directors and Michael Hayes and Kevin Parmenter who were elected for their second terms. He also acknowledged George Slama, Würth Elektronik, who was not elected and thanked him for his continued support of PSMA.

The Chair recognized the contributions of Ed Herbert and Don Woodard whose terms as Directors expired at the meeting and presented each with a plaque to express the appreciation of PSMA for their service and continued contributions to the Association. The Chair also presented an award to Fred Weber in recognition of his outstanding contributions over the past two years to the Capacitor and the Transportation Power Electronics Technical Committees.

Stephen Oliver briefly reviewed some of the major accomplishments of the association for the past year including:

• Organizing 9 Industry Sessions for APEC2018
• Organizing the Second Magnetics Workshop the day prior to APEC2017
• Planning Capacitor, Magnetics, EnerHarv, PwrSoC and 3D-PEIM workshops for 2018
• Joint workshop with CPSS in China
• Continuous updating of the Energy Efficiency and Safety and Compliance Data Bases
• Planning for 2019 Power Technology Roadmap
• Joint sponsorship of APEC Student Travel Awards

Stephen Oliver

Stephen Oliver presenting award to Ed Herbert

Stephen Oliver presenting award to Don Woodard

Stephen Oliver presenting award to Fred Weber

Stephen also reviewed the Membership Statistics since APEC 2017 which currently shows a total of 192 Members.

The new Chairman then discussed his vision for the organization which were to continue the amazing growth of the activities of the Technical Committees to make PSMA the relevant source for technology and market trends, to increase collaborations with selected partners, to have an increased presence on social media, and to increase the Regular Membership by focusing on emerging markets. Stephen also encouraged all the membership to pick one or two of the Technical Committees of personal interest and to actively participate in their activities as being the best way for people to increase the benefits of membership.

Following the Chairman's Report was a financial Report. Michel Grenon, Secretary/ Treasurer, was unable to attend the meeting, but provided a report on the current financial status of the Association and a six-quarter financial forecast. Joe Horzepa reviewed the report which supported that the financial status and outlook for the Association is good.  The surpluses from APEC conference together with the PSMA sponsored and co-sponsored workshops and events should generate sufficient funds to support a number of Special Projects that can be of benefit for the membership and the power sources industry.

Each of the PSMA Committees presented their report for the past year and future plans. You can read more about these on page 3 of this issue.

Ernie Parker will be the General Chair for APEC 2019 which will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim California March 17 – 21, 2019.

The invited speaker at this year's Annual Meeting was Chris Whaling from Synthesis Partners LLC of Reston, VA. The title of his presentation was: Electric and Autonomous Vehicles: A Technology Base Being Discovered by Disruptive Business Models. Chris reviewed the growth and current market estimate of Electric passenger vehicles worldwide and by country. The global market is forecast to continue its rapid growth with the emergence of autonomous vehicles expected by 2021. This potential opportunity is being addressed by major companies worldwide. He briefly reviewed some of the technology and materials gaps that need to be solved to bring the technology to market. 

Before adjourning, Chairman Stephen Oliver asked the attendees for their comments and any suggestions for the future directions and activities for Association that would increase the value of their membership. A number of areas were discussed and will be considered by the Board. Stephen Oliver thanked all presenters and attendees for their participation and invited interested individuals to attend the March meeting of the PSMA Board of Directors, which immediately followed.

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 Sunday prior to the Annual Meeting PSMA hosted a reception with members of the China Power Supply Society (CPSS). This provided a great opportunity for members of both organizations to network and discuss options and activities that will benefit members of both organizations over the next year. Several members of CPSS also attended the PSMA Annual Meeting.

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, featuring live music and several Texas themed activities, gave everyone a chance to relax and enjoy themselves.

There was a full exhibit hall at APEC 2018. 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 iPad and a Samsung Smartwatch. Traffic to members' booths was brisk and the lucky winners were very happy with the prizes.

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.