Looking to the Future
Since the last issue of Advancing Microelectronics I have taken over as President under somewhat unusual circumstances. It is not necessary to discuss this matter any further here, but I would like to publicly thank both the Executive Council and the Advisory Council - the Past Presidents - for their complete support. I would also like to recognize and applaud the staff for its professionalism during a difficult time. I hope that I can go some way to fulfilling the hopes of both Council and most important, you, the members. I pledge to do all I can for the Society between now and November, 2003.
Immediately following the Denver Symposium we had a full meeting of the Executive Council at which a number of important decisions were made. One, which has immediate effect, is that we have decided to discontinue our negotiations with the SMTA regarding a possible merger. It is important to make it clear that this is not a reflection in any way on the SMTA, with whom we have always enjoyed friendly and very positive discussions. It is merely a reflection on the fact that Council believes that we need to pursue and develop a number of activities within the Society, rather than put our efforts and energies into a merger that would place a major drain on resources for some considerable time. We hope that we can continue to run joint events with SMTA and indeed look to these to increase. Council sees joint activities with other societies as being very positive - for example next April we are holding a full Conference, “Ceramic Interconnect Technology: The Next Generation,” in Denver, in collaboration with ACERS.
So - if we are concentrating our energies on our own activities, what are we looking at? This was discussed at the Denver Council meeting and it was agreed to form four “Task Forces” to look at key activities of the Society. These task forces address the following:
• Membership benefits, both Individual and Organizational. This group will be lead by Phil Zulueta, President Elect. All relevant matters - dues, costs, benefits, etcetera - will be reviewed with the aim of enhancing the relevance and value of your IMAPS membership. We will of course need input from members on this and as I travel to local chapters over the coming months I look forward to hearing input from you. Phil of course will also be pleased to receive input - phillip.j.zulueta@jpl.nasa.gov - of a constructive nature please!
• Long term budgeting, lead by Steve Capp, Treasurer. We are concerned that over the last few years the Society as endeavored to balance its budget by cutting costs. This can only go so far and this group will work to build a budget from the bottom up, looking at our structure and deciding what events we need to run for a prosperous developing organization. This group will of course need to work closely with the Membership Benefits group - stevec@laserage.com
• Bylaws and Policy and Procedures, lead by Larry Rexing, Secretary. Our P&P document was due for revision in the 2003 year and the Bylaws were reviewed this year. Council feels that it is important on this occasion to review both at the same time in order to make them work together better. Members of the Advisory Council have agreed to assist in writing various parts of the P&Ps, particularly relating to ethics and discrimination - lrexing@4cmd.com
• Marketing, lead by Peter Barnwell. As someone with a background in technical marketing I volunteered to take this group, but will also link into the other groups. I see this group looking at all aspects of marketing - the Society; the Symposium and Exhibition; Workshops and, most important, promoting our technologies to the electronics industry at large.
These task forces have been actioned to gather information, discuss with members and others and report back to the Executive Council with proposals and recommendations. This will then allow the Executive Council to develop a plan to take the Society forward to success in the future. I look forward to your support and thoughtful input - contact me at pbarnwell@4cmd.com
