our members of the Board of Directors are elected at the PSMA Annual Meeting held every year, usually during the APEC conference. Each Director serves a three-year term on the Board and is eligible to be reelected for one additional term.

At the PSMA Annual Meeting held virtually in March 2021, Tim McDonald was elected for his second terms and three new board members were elected - Ajay Hari, George Slama and Renee Yawger. In this issue we would like to introduce you to Ajay, George and Renee.

Below are the biographies and statements they submitted when running as candidates for the Board of Directors.

Ajay Hari
Applications Director, ON Semiconductor

Ajay Hari is an Applications Director at ON Semiconductor, where he leads a team of product definers, systems, and applications engineers working on of Ac-Dc and isolated Dc-Dc applications. Prior to ON Semiconductor, Ajay worked for National Semiconductor/TI, specializing in isolated power conversion. Ajay started his career at General Electric as a design engineer. Ajay has a Master's in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Florida and has authored many technical papers, articles, and holds over 18 patents in power electronics.

I have been actively involved with PSMA since 2015 and co-edited the applications section of the bi-annual PSMA Technology Roadmap for the years 2015, 2017, and 2019. I believe that the PSMA provides an excellent platform for power engineering professionals to give back to the community. The mission of the PSMA to bring together various resources of power sources industry is a worthy mission and would like to support it by bringing in a fresh perspective to the board of directors. With the advent of wide bandgap semiconductors, low cost digital processors, and advances in artificial intelligence, power electronics is at the cusp of another exciting growth phase and if given a chance to serve as a Director I would like to contribute in a meaningful fashion to this new growth phase.

Provided by Ajay Hari, Applications Director, ON Semiconductor

George Slama
Senior Applications and Content Engineer, Wurth Electronic

George Slama spent nearly two decades working at Electronic Craftsmen, a well-respected custom transformer and power supply manufacturer in Canada serving the industrial market. Being a small business, as many such places are, it was the perfect learning ground allowing the opportunity to move around to many different roles as the company developed, technology evolved and opportunity arose. His move to Midcom in South Dakota in 1997 continued the trend, now at a mid-sized company that had a different emphasis. There he spent many years working on low temperature co-fired ceramic transformers, which eventually became a separate business when Wurth Electronics purchased Midcom. Today George serves as Senior Application and Content Engineer in the Technical Marketing group helping to provide and vet technical literature, presentations and software for customers and internal use worldwide.
George serves as the current chair of the IEEE PELS Electronic Transformer Technical Committee, which writes and maintains standards and recommended practices for the transformer industry. He also serves on the IEC TC51 committee, "Magnetic components, ferrite and magnetic materials", is a co-convener of Working Group 9 – "Inductive Components" and serves as a US technical advisor.

I have been fortunate to spend my entire career in the custom magnetics and power supply industry. At first, it was interesting, then I when through a phase where I was not sure – it just didn't seem high tech. Finally, I embraced it with the realization that no electronic gadget works without power conversion and it was going through a big change. I came to realize that my work was part of many diverse products, both large and small. From telephone systems to elevators to aircraft radar to the United Nations and seemly everything in between... high voltage to low voltage, large to miniature, wide band or narrow, high frequency or low, up to the bleeding edge. Getting involved in custom switching power supplies added more things I contributed too. The entire journey has been one of continuous learning and working with smart and talented people both as colleagues and as customers. The creativity of those designing the final product whether it's a phone or a rocket to the Mars is only possible when matched by the creativity of those who design the components that go into it. Microcontrollers run everything today and they do not work for a microsecond without proper conditioned power, our specialty.

PSMA is about working and cooperating together to advance the industry. The various committees work individually and cooperatively to promote and disseminate new knowledge. We also want to encourage, educate, and raise up the next generation of engineers who will taking the reins. I am currently a co-chair of the Magnetics committee and am part of the Education committee. My goal as a director is to foster good interaction between all members to further our industry and to show young engineers that this is an exciting, challenging and rewarding field.

Provided by George Slama, Senior Applications and Content Engineer, Wurth Electronics

Renee Yawger
Director of Marketing at Efficient Power Conversion (EPC),
Director Corporate Marketing at EPC Space

Renee Yawger has over 25 years of sales and marketing experience within the semiconductor industry.  Prior to joining EPC, she was at Vishay Siliconix for nearly 15 years.  Over her tenure she has held various positions in sales support, customer service, and regional marketing.

In 2010, Renee joined EPC when the company first launched its commercial GaN-based power products.  EPC is the leading provider of gallium nitride (GaN)-based semiconductor power conversion technology, providing greater space, energy savings, and cost efficiency in applications such as DC-DC converters, remote sensing technology (lidar), motor drives, wireless power transfer, envelope tracking, and class-D audio amplifiers. At EPC, she is responsible for product marketing and marketing communication worldwide. She is also responsible for the corporate marketing function at EPC Space, which is a joint venture of EPC and VPT targeting the radiation hardened power electronics market for mission critical applications.  Radiation hardened GaN-based power devices address critical space-borne environments for applications including power supplies, light detection and ranging (lidar), motor drive, and ion thrusters.

It is an honor to be considered for a position on the PSMA Board of Directors. I have enjoyed serving on the semiconductor committee for the past few years and look forward to bringing my experience in marketing and promotion to help grow PSMA membership and contribute to the promotion of the many exciting power technology advances taking place across our industry.

Provided by Renee Yawger, Director of Marketing at Efficient Power Conversion (EPC)

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.