he 2018 PSMA Planning Meeting was held on Saturday September 29, 2018 at the Anaheim Marriott in Anaheim, CA with 22 attendees. The purpose of the Planning Meeting was to review where the Association is today, discuss outstanding issues and to identify possible programs and projects that promise to bring value to the membership.

PSMA Chairman Stephen Oliver led the meeting and reviewed his vision for the organization and summarized the general health of the association as well as membership statistics and the changes since the 2017 Planning Meeting. He listed organizations PSMA interacts with, reviewed recent sponsored conferences and workshops and emphasized that the technical committees are the heart of the organization. It is in these committees that the real work of PSMA is done.

In discussing some of the areas of concern to the organization he highlighted the need to continue to invest in special projects that will bring value to our members, increase the effort to develop more and deeper involvement with more individuals within member companies and the continued commitment to bring more industry content to APEC. He suggested "Tiger Teams", powerful, agile groups of experts brought together for a single, short project, to address some of the current opportunities and challenges.

Michel Grenon, Secretary/Treasurer, prepared a 6-Quarter financial forecast which indicated that the Association will remain in a reasonable financial position over the period which will allow funding to support Special Projects that promise to bring value to the membership and the industry.

There was a report from each of the technical committees that summarized their accomplishments over the past year and focused on ongoing programs and projects for 2019. Seven of the technical committees have submitted proposals to organize Industry Sessions at APEC 2019 and all technical committees are supporting the 2019 Power Technology Roadmap effort. In addition:

• Pierre Lohrber, Capacitor Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee is sponsoring educational webinars on Capacitor Design Basics and planning a second workshop, The Impact of Wideband Technologies on Application of Capacitors - A Deep Dive on Capacitor Technology, the Saturday before APEC 2019.
• Energy Harvesting Committee Co-Chairs Mike Hayes and Brian Zahnstecher reported some of the highlights from EnerHarv 2018 Workshop recently held at Tyndall in Cork Ireland. The committee is organizing a student competition.
• Ed Herbert, Energy Management Committee Interim Co-Chair, reported that due to a number of circumstances, the Technical Committee has recently lost its chair and co-chair and is actively seeking volunteers for the leadership position. As a result, the committee has not proposed an Industry Session for APEC2019. The committee continues to support the Energy Efficiency Database (EEDB) on the PSMA website.
• Joe Horzepa reported that the Industry-Education Committee supported the Student Travel Support for APEC 2018. The program, co-sponsored by IAS and PELS provides travel reimbursement up to $1,000 each totaling $60,000 for students whose technical abstracts were selected for presentation and who will be attending the conference. The committee will continue to support the program for APEC 2019. The I-E committee is in need of more active support from both Industry and University volunteers to identify and offer programs to encourage high school and undergraduate student to consider opportunities in the Power Sources industry.
• Ed Herbert, Magnetics Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee held a very successful Magnetics Workshop at APEC 2018 and is organizing a fourth Power Magnetics @ High Frequency Workshop, for the Saturday before APEC 2019. The committee is also working on a Special Project with SMA on core testing.
• Greg Evans, Marketing Committee Co-Chair, reviewed the recent activities of the committee including plans for APEC 2019. For the sixth year, the committee will sponsor the "PSMA Passport Game" to increase visibility and traffic to PSMA member exhibit booths during APEC. The committee will continue to issue news releases for PSMA events and activities. The committee recently proposed changes to the Membership Categories which was accepted by the Board. In addition, the committee has proposed changes in membership Dues structure that is being reviewed by the Board.

• Dhaval Dalal and Conor Quinn, Power Technology Roadmap Committee Co-Chairs, reviewed the current status and Timeline for the 2019 Power Technology Roadmap Report that will be published in March. The Committee continues to organize a number of technical Webinars in support of the Roadmap and is preparing a survey of the industry targeted at key individuals in the Industry – the survey will be both in English and Chinese to attract higher participation.
• Reliability Committee Co-Chair Brian Zahnstecher reported that the committee was formed in July 2017 and now has 19 members. The committee is currently focused on ta Special Project to report on best practices for Power supply Software/ Firmware/Test/Standardization with a report targeted for release by APEC 2019.
• Kevin Parmenter, Safety and Compliance Committee Co-Chair, reviewed past activities and planning for the coming year. The committee continues to support the Safety & Compliance Data Base. Committee members have presented at external events to build awareness and the co-chairs contribute a monthly column in How2Power.
• Semiconductor Committee Co-Chair Tim McDonald reported that the committee has proposed 3 Industry Sessions for APEC 2019 and is supporting as technical and financial co-sponsor with IEEE PELS the WiPDA Workshop in Atlanta, GA. The committee has recruited several new members recently and is currently looking for a new co-chair.
• The Co-Chairs of the Transportation Power Electronics Committee, Ralph Taylor and Fred Weber, were unable to attend in person, but submitted a report reviewing the committee's activities. The committee typically has 5-10 participants at their monthly meetings.

During the Committee Reports a number of issues and possible future activities were identified and discussed. These issues will be the focus for PSMA over the next year (and beyond).

Following the committee reports, PSMA President Mike Hayes led the Planning Discussion which generated a short list of 7 Tiger Teams addressing issues including Privacy, Workshop Policies, Committee Consolidation and Cooperation, Public Image, Strategy, Collaborations with Other Organizations, and Student Mentoring.
 
PSMA members can view the minutes of the Planning Meeting on the "Members Only" section of the PSMA web site.

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