Two Industry Rising Stars Recognized at IPC APEX EXPO 2024

Two of the industry’s best and brightest were presented with an IPC Rising Star Award at IPC APEX EXPO 2024 in recognition of their leadership roles and support of IPC standards, education, advocacy, and solutions to industry challenges. Award recipients were Naim Kapadia and Michael Schleicher.

Naim Kapadia of Grinsty Rail Ltd. has spent more than 20 years in electronics manufacturing working for contract manufacturers and PCB fabricators. He has participated in and led many programs in the UK: disseminating the Montreal Protocol, developing surface mount technology, and implementing lead-free processes. His passion for revolutionizing digital factories for electronic manufacturing led to the development of the first smart factory using legacy equipment in the UK. Naim's demonstration included implementing IPC-CFX, augmented reality/mixed reality, and collaborative robots.

Michael Schleicher of Semikron Elektronik GmbH has more than 30 years of experience in PCB design, contributing to projects in defense, automotive, healthcare, consumer electronics, and other industries. A multidiscipline engineer with Semikron, Michael has won numerous awards, including “Most Challenging High-Speed Design, "FED PCB Design award, the “IEC 1906 Award” and the IPC Golden Gnome “Globetrotter Award” (2023). A member of the FED EV Board and co-founder of the FED Arbeitskreis 3D-Elektronik working group, Schleicher is deeply involved in international standardization activities for IPC and IEC, as well as in the German national committees of DKE and ZVEI. For IPC he serves on the following standards committees: D-31B and D-31B-Creeps-A Team, 5-21N, European Standards Steering Committee, and the IPC APEX 2024 Technical Program Committee.

“We are thrilled to recognize the accomplishments of our Rising Stars and to take this opportunity to thank them for their contributions,” said John W. Mitchell, IPC president and CEO. “We are privileged that Naim and Michael have chosen to share their knowledge and expertise with us and with the entire global electronics manufacturing industry.”