A buffet breakfast was served at 7:30 a.m. and provided an opportunity for networking and meeting colleagues. Outgoing Chairman Dusty Becker opened the meeting by welcoming all the attendees and asked each to briefly introduce themselves. Among those present were many of the 30 student recipients of the APEC Attendance Awards. This is the first year the awards were provided jointly by IAS, PELS and PSMA and attracted applicants from 37 different schools in 8 countries.

Some of the attendees at the 2012 PSMA Annual Meeting

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 (2012-2015):

Don Woodard, Carl Blake, Ed Herbert and Michel Grenon

Dusty introduced Carl Blake as the new Chairman for the term 2012-2014 and also introduced the other Executive Officers who will serve for the next two years:

Dusty Becker receives his plaque from Carl Blake

Dusty Becker turns over the gavel to new Chairman Carl Blake

Before giving his report, Carl presented Dusty with a plaque to acknowledge his leadership and contributions to the Association.

Carl Blake discussed his vision for the coming year which is to expand the participation of member companies as a means to increase the value of membership. He encouraged every company representatives to promote the activities of PSMA to others in their company and inform them of the opportunities provided by each of the PSMA Technical Committees, especially the Power Technology Roadmap activities in the coming year.

Michel Grenon reports on the Association finances.

Siamak Abedinpour, APEC 2013 Program Chair

Frank Cirolia, APEC 2012 Program Chair

Following the Chairman’s Report was a financial Report from Michel Grenon and individual reports from the PSMA Committees.

Frank Cirolia, General Chairman for APEC 2012, reported that there were over 3,400 attendees – a new record! There were also a record number of exhibitor booths. APEC 2012 should be successful from both a technical and financial viewpoint

Siamak Abedinpour, who will be the General Chair for APEC 2013, reported that plans for that conference are underway and he is looking forward to another successful APEC.

The invited speaker at this year’s Annual Meeting was Brian Patterson, Chairman of EMerge Alliance. He explained what the Emerge Alliance is; who the members are and what they hope to accomplish. The purpose of the Alliance is to define new power platforms for improved economics, reliability and ecology. The membership represents all key industry stakeholders. Standards are created, vetted, voted on and used by member organizations. Brian Patterson’s presentation also included information about Net Zero Energy Buildings – buildings that produce as much energy as they consume.

Dusty Becker and Brian Patterson

Aung Tu leads the workshop preparing for the 2013 Power Technology Roadmap

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

Most of the PSMA Technical Committees held meetings during APEC 2012 to set their program for the upcoming year. The Saturday prior to the start of APEC 2012, the Power Technology Committee co-chaired by Eric Persson and Aung Tu held an organizing and planning meeting for the next Technology Roadmap, which will be available prior to APEC 2013.

The dinner for APEC Sponsors was held as usual on Sunday evening. Since this was also the night of Super Bowl XLVI, the formal dinner was replaced by a lively Super Bowl party.

Some of the APEC Sponsors enjoying the Super Bowl party

This NY Giants fan was happy with the outcome of the Super Bowl!

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 banquet, held at Harry Potter’s World, in Universal Studios, was a chance for everyone to relax and enjoy themselves.

Attendees at the Hospitality Suite seemed to enjoy the event

Harry Potter fan, Michael Horzepa, was thrilled to win a wand in Ollivanders Wand Shop

The PSMA Hospitality Suite was held again this year to introduce the Association to people from member companies who wanted to learn more about PSMA and to inform non-members about the benefits of membership.

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.