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PSMA Annual Meeting Attracts A Crowd!

Was it the breakfast buffet or the growing awareness of the benefits from membership in PSMA – or both – that attracted more than 60 people to the Annual Meeting of PSMA the Monday of APEC 2010 at the Palm Springs Renaissance Hotel? The PSMA members and guests who attended had a very busy and full morning.

Attendees included many of the twenty-two students who were given the APEC 2010 Attendance Award of up to $1000 by PSMA this year. There were a record number of applications competing for the award.

The terms of office for four of the existing Directors expired at the 2010 Annual Meeting. Chairman Dusty Becker recognized the contributions of Cian O’Mathuna and Rob Hill, who are both leaving the Board and expressed the appreciation of PSMA for their service and continued contributions to the Association.

The following were elected to the Board of Directors for the three-year term 2010-2013:

  Henry Lee   Murata Power Solutions (Regular Member)
  Jim Marinos   Payton America Inc. (Associate Member)
  John McManus   Lincoln International (Affiliate Member)
  Aung Thet Tu   Fairchild Semiconductor (Associate Member)

The attendees congratulated the new Directors and Dusty welcomed them to the Board of Directors.

Following the election of Directors, Dusty Becker reviewed the PSMA activities and notable accomplishments for the year 2009 and discussed his objectives for the Association in the coming year.

Dusty at annual meeting
PSMA Chairman Dusty Becker

Dusty reviewed and welcomed the list of the new members, which included four Regular members, two Associate members and eleven Affiliate members. A number of special projects were completed this past year including publication of the 2009 Technology Roadmap, organization of four full Special Presentation Sessions at APEC 2010 and financial support for 22 students to attend APEC 2010. The Alternative Energy Committee has been re-energized with two new co-chairs. The PSMA website continues to attract a growing number of visitors and is scheduled to undergo a complete renovation in 2010.

Dusty also stressed the contributions of the PSMA committees and encouraged all PSMA members to get involved with a committee as a sure way to increase the benefits of membership.

Following the Chairman’s Report was a financial report provided by Secretary/Treasurer Michel Grenon and individual reports by each of the PSMA Committee Chairs.

At the meeting, Dusty presented Frank Cirolia, Ed Herbert and Kevin Parmenter each with a plaque in appreciation of their outstanding contributions to PSMA. Frank has served as PSMA Vice President and Secretary/Treasurer, is currently co-chair of the Marketing Committee and the PSMA representative on the APEC leadership track. Ed is Co-chair of the Magnetics Committee and is active on several other committees. Kevin has been PSMA President and Marketing Committee Co-chair, and served as the General Chair for APEC 2009 in Washington, DC.

A token of appreciation for Frank Cirolia
A token of appreciation for Frank Cirolia

Babak Fahimi, General Chair for APEC 2010, reported that registration for the seminars, technical sessions and exhibits should set new records. There were a record number of digests submitted and the exhibit booths were sold out. In addition, there was good representation by the press and financial communities. In short he reported that APEC 2010 will be very successful from both a technical and financial viewpoint

Babak Fahimi Patrick Chapman
Babak Fahimi Patrick Chapman

Patrick Chapman, Technical Program Chair for APEC 2010 and the General Chair for APEC 2011, briefly reviewed planning for that conference. APEC 2011 will be held at the Fort Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas March 6 – 10. The committee is looking forward to a very successful conference in Fort Worth.

Guest speaker  Brian Fortenberry, Program Manager, Energy Utilization from EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) discussed the Smart Grid work being conducted by EPRI and provided an overview of the demonstration, methodology and projects currently underway and planned.

Brian Fortenberry Takashi Takeda
Brian Fortenberry Takashi Takeda

He was followed by Mr. Takashi Takeda, research engineer from NTT Facilities, who discussed the high voltage dc power distribution system being developed. This system will result in significant energy savings and will be installed in data centers starting in 2010.

These presentations generated a great deal of interest and each was followed by a brief question and answer period.

The Annual Meeting was immediately followed by the February Board of Directors meeting.

Most of the PSMA Committees held meetings during APEC 2010 to set their programs for the upcoming year. The individual committee reports will be featured in future issues of the Update.
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