A new awards ceremony, the Golden Gnome Awards, was launched at IPC SummerCom 2021. The Golden Gnomes, inspired by IPC’s fictional TechNet gnomes Clumpy and Kloumpios, will occur annually at IPC SummerCom.

The Golden Gnome Awards recognize A-Teams and specific members for accomplishments and creativity during the year prior to each SummerCom. A-Teams are dedicated groups of volunteers within IPC working groups who take on a significant amount of work on behalf of their groups.  

“The Golden Gnome Awards give us the opportunity to honor our standards development committee A-Team members who demonstrate significant work ethic or rise above challenges – this past year was a prime example – to complete their groups’ projects, all in the spirit of hard work, diligence and helping our industry build electronics better,” said Teresa Rowe, IPC senior director, assembly and standards technology, “And what could be more fun than receiving a Golden Gnome trophy?”

Each Golden Gnome trophy was created using a 3D printer and then hand-painted by an IPC staff liaison, making these trophies one of a kind.

Categories for 2021 awards and their winners are:

The A-Team Name of the Year, which is selected by vote of the IPC Committee Chair Council, for the A-Team with the most creative name. Winner: Shock and Awe, presented to Tiberiu Baranyi, Flextronics Romania SRL; Bob Cooke, NASA Johnson Space Center; Francisco Fourcade, NASA Johnson Space Center; Symon Franklin, Custom Interconnect Ltd.; Garry McGuire, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center; and Richard Rumas, Honeywell Aerospace.

The IPC Works Leaderboard recognizes A-Team members with the most activity on IPC Works, IPC’s standards development community’s collaboration and networking intranet. The IPC Works Leaderboard award was presented to Debbie Wade, Advanced Rework Technology – A.R.T.

The Gnome Spirit Award is presented to A-Team members who have made significant contributions despite difficult situations. The 2021 Gnome Spirit awards were presented to Chuck LePard, DXC Technology and Julie Silk, Keysight Technologies.

The Gnoble Gnome Award recognizes lifetime or long-term achievement of A-Team members who have demonstrated dedicated A-Team participation or leadership over multiple years and/or have shaped the way A-Teams work in developing IPC standards.

This year’s Gnoble Gnome Award recipients were Dave Hillman and Doug Pauls, both of Collins Aerospace, co-creators of Clumpy and Kloumpios, long-time IPC committee member volunteers and leaders of many A-Teams.

The Outstanding A-Team Member of the Year is presented to an A-Team member who has gone above and beyond in their A-Team participation. This year’s winner was Francisco Fourcade, Fourcad, Inc.

For more information on IPC’s Golden Gnome Awards, contact Teresa Rowe at TeresaRowe@ipc.org. For industry members interested in joining an IPC standards working group and charting a path to their own Golden Gnome Award, visit www.ipc.org/ipc-standards.

IPC presented Committee Leadership, Special Recognition and Distinguished Committee Service Awards on August 30 at IPC’s SummerCom Standards Development Committee Meetings in Milwaukee, Wis. The awards were presented to individuals who made significant contributions to IPC and the industry by lending their time and expertise in the development of electronics manufacturing standards.

         For their leadership of the 5-22a J-STD-001 Task Group that developed IPC J-STD-001H, Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies, Gaston Hildalgo, Toyota Motor North America; Milea Kammer, Honeywell International; and Jonathon Vermillion, Collins Aerospace earned a Committee Leadership Award. For their contributions to IPC J-STD-001H, a Distinguished Committee Service Award was presented to Tiberiu Baranyi, Flextronics Romania SRL; Symon Franklin, Custom Interconnect Ltd.; Kathy Johnston; Tim Pearson, Collins Aerospace; and Kate Stees, Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control.

For their leadership of the 7-31b IPC-A-610 Task Group that developed IPC-A-610H, Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies, Tiberiu Baranyi, Flextronics Romania SRL; Robert Fornefeld, STI Electronics, Inc.; Symon Franklin, Custom Interconnect Ltd.; Melby Muckom, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems; and Kate Stees, Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control earned a Committee Leadership Award. For their contributions to IPC-A-610H, Milea Kammer, Honeywell International; and Jonathon Vermillion, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. earned a Distinguished Committee Service Award. For their work on both the 5-22a and 7-31b Task Groups, a Distinguished Committee Service Award was presented to Robert Cooke, NASA Johnson Space Center; James Daggett, Raytheon Company; Francisco Fourcade, Fourcad, Inc.; Ben Gumpert, Lockheed Martin-Missiles & Fire Control; Dave Hillman, Collins Aerospace; Joseph Kane, BAE Systems; Garry McGuire, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center; Debbie Wade, Advanced Rework Technology- A.R.T.; and Udo Welzel, Robert Bosch GmbH.

For their leadership of the 7-31fs Task Group that developed IPC/WHMA-A-620D-S, Space and Military Applications Electronic Hardware Addendum to IPC/WHMA-A-620D, a Committee Leadership Award was presented to Garry McGuire, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center; George Millman, Raytheon Missile Systems; and Christina Trussell, Blue Origin, LLC. For their contributions to IPC/WHMA-A-620D-S, James Blanche, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center; Thomas Carle, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.; Chris Fitzgerald, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; Rebekah Kovarik, Lockheed Martin; and Gary Latta, SAIC received a Distinguished Committee Service Award.

For leadership of the 5-22as J-STD-001 Space and Military Electronic Assemblies Task Group that revised the J-STD-001HS, Space and Military Applications Electronic Hardware Addendum to IPC J-STD-001H, Garry Maguire, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center; and Kate Stees, Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control earned a Committee Leadership Award. Contributions to J-STD-001HS earned James Blanche, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center;James Daggett, Raytheon Company; Stefan Hanigk, Ariane Group GmbH; and Jonathon Vermillion, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. a Distinguished Committee Service Award.

For leadership of the D-31b IPC 2221/2222 Task Group that developed IPC-2222B, Sectional Design Standard for Rigid Printed Organic Boards, Michael Creeden, EPTAC Corp.; and Allen Holl, TTM Technologies were presented with a Committee Leadership Award. A Distinguished Committee Service Award was presented to Lance Auer, Conductor Analysis Technology, Inc.; Scott Bowles, Lockheed Martin Corporation; Vicka Hammill, Honeywell Aerospace; Kevin Kusiak, Lockheed Martin Corporation; Steven Murray, Northrop Grumman Corp.; Joey Rios, Raytheon Missile Systems; Thomas Romont, IFTEC; Bhanu Sood, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; and Crystal Vanderpan, UL LLC for their contributions to IPC-2222B.

For leadership of the D-12 Flexible Circuits Performance Subcommittee that developed 6013E, Qualifications and Performance Specifications for Flexible/Rigid-flexible Printed Boards, Mahendra Gandhi, Northrop Grumman Space Systems; and Nick Koop, TTM Technologies, Inc. earned a Committee Leadership Award. For their contributions to IPC-6013E, Scott Bowles, Lockheed Martin Corporation; Denise Charest, Amphenol Printed Circuits, Inc.; Don Dupriest, Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control; Mark Finstad, Flexible Circuit Technologies, Inc.; Roxanne Jones, Pioneer Circuits, Inc.; Kevin Kusiak, Lockheed Martin Corporation; Kris Moyer, CSUS; Steven Murray, Northrop Grumman Corp.; Thomas Romont, IFTEC; Russell Shepherd, NTS – Anaheim; and Adeodato Vigano, Compunetics Inc. earned a Distinguished Committee Service Award

For leadership of the 4-14 Plating Processes Subcommittee that developed IPC-4552B, Specification for Electroless Nickel/Immersion Gold (ENIG) Plating for Printed Boards, Joey Rios, Raytheon Missile Systems; and Ingrid Swenson, TTM Technologies were presented with a Committee Leadership Award. For contributions to IPC-4552B, Martin Bayes, TE Connectivity; Scott Bryan, Superior Processing; Srinivas Chada, Raytheon Missile Systems; Zhiman Chen, Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric Co., Ltd.; Julie Ellis, TTM Technologies; John Konrad, TTM Technologies; Dan Loew, L3Harris; Joe McGurran, Atotech USA; Gerard O’Brien, Solderability Testing & Solutions Inc.; Alan Preston, TTM Technologies; Thomas Romont, IFTEC; Mario Rosin, Atotech Deutschland GmbH; Timo Schlosser, Atotech Corporation; and Pat Valentine, Uyemura International earned a Distinguished Committee Service Award.

For leading the IPC APEX EXPO 2021 Technical Program Committee a Special Recognition Award was presented to Bev Christian, HDP User Group International Inc.; Russ Nowland, Nokia; Stan Rak, Stan Rak Consulting; Bhanu Sood, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; and Udo Welzel, Robert Bosch GmbH.

For her leadership of the 6-10d SMT Attachment Reliability Committee that developed IPC-9709A, Test Guidelines for Acoustic Emission Measurement During Mechanical Test, Julie Silk, Keysight Technologies earned a Committee Leadership Award. For exceptional contributions to IPC-9709A, Nicole Butel, Avago Technologies; Keith Newman, AMD; and Jagadeesh Radhakrishnan, Intel Corporation received Special Recognition Awards. For their contributions to the A revision, Elizabeth Benedetto, HP Inc.; Mahdi Farahikia, SUNY New Paltz; Greg Morscher, University of Akron; and Carter Ralph, Southern Research Institute received a Distinguished Committee Service Award.

For leading the 7-31at IPC-A-600K Training Program Committee, Jeffrey Duane Duch, TandemWorks Customized Training Solutions L.L.C.; and Leo Lambert, EPTAC Corporation received a Committee Leadership Award. For exceptional contributions to the IPC-A-600K Training Program, Jamie Noland, Blackfox Training Institute was presented with a Special Recognition Award.  Chris Copson, Express Circuits Ltd.; William Graver, NTS – Baltimore; and Helena Pasquito, EPTAC Corporation received a Distinguished Committee Service Award for their contributions to the IPC-A-600K Training Program.

For his leadership of the D-33at IPC-6012E Training Program Committee, Jamie Noland, Blackfox Training Institute received a Committee Leadership Award. For their exceptional contributions to the IPC-6012E Training Program, Leo Lambert, EPTAC Corporation; and Debbie Wade, Advanced Rework Technology- A.R.T. earned a Special Recognition Award. Denise Charest, Amphenol Printed Circuits, Inc.; Jeffrey Duane Duch, TandemWorks Customized Training Solutions L.L.C.; William Graver, NTS – Baltimore; and Helena Pasquito, EPTAC Corporation earned a Distinguished Committee Service award for their contributions to the IPC-6012E Training Program.

For leadership of the 7-31ft, IPC/WHMA A-620D Training Program Committee, Catherine Hanlin, Precision Manufacturing Company, Inc.; Shelly Holt, L3 Harris Communications; and Debbie Wade, Advanced Rework Technology- A.R.T. received a Committee Leadership Award. A Special Recognition Award went to Francisco Fourcade, Fourcad, Inc.; and Garry McGuire, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center for their outstanding contributions to the A-620D Training Program. For their contributions to the A-620D Training Program, a Distinguished Committee Service Award was presented to Kevin Boblits, K&M Manufacturing Solutions, LLC; Symon Franklin, Custom Interconnect Ltd.; John O’Neill, The Electronics Group Ltd.; Agnes Ozarowski, BAE Systems; Helena Pasquito, EPTAC Corporation; and Pat Scott, STI Electronics, Inc.

For leading the V-TPTG Training Programs Translation Group that developed the IPC-A-620D Training Program in Spanish and French, a Committee Leadership Award was presented to Symon Franklin, Custom Interconnect Ltd.; and Debbie Wade, Advanced Rework Technology- A.R.T. For their exceptional contributions to IPC-A-620D Training Program in Spanish and French, Jonathan Albrieux, IFTEC; and Francisco Fourcade, Fourcad, Inc. received a Special Recognition Award. For their contributions to the IPC-A-620D Training Program in Spanish and French, a Distinguished Service Award was presented to Lorena Garza, Dalus, S.A. de C.V.; Luis Garcia de la Cruz, Sinectech Training SAPI de C.V.; Andreas Gregor, Consultronica, S.L.; Jose Luis Martinez-Madrigal, Sinectech Training SAPI de C.V.; Juan Navarro Puga, General Dynamics Santa Barbara Sistemas; Rafael Garcia Reyes, Dalus, S.A. de C.V.; and Pierre Roge, CapQua Sarl.

For their leadership of the 2-19b Trusted Supplier Task Group that developed IPC-1791B, Trusted Electronics Designer, Fabricator and Assembler Requirements, Richard Snogren, Bristlecone LLC; and William May, Naval Surface Warfare Center earned a Committee Leadership Award. For their contributions to IPC-1291B, Peter Bigelow, IMI Inc.; Scott Bowles, Lockheed Martin Corporation; Marc Carter, Aeromarc, LLC; Zhiman Chen, Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric Co., Ltd.; Michael Collier, Teledyne Leeman Labs; Don Dupriest, Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control; Dennis Fritz, Denny Fritz Consulting; Joe Heery, TTM Technologies, Inc.; Joe Hughes, Hughes Circuits, Inc.; Ife Hsu, Intel; Mark Kirkman, SAIC; Kevin Kusiak, Joe Hughes, Hughes Circuits, Inc.; Lockheed Martin Corporation; Meredith LaBeau, Calumet Electronics; Mark McMeen, STI Electronics, Inc.; Kathy Nargi-Toth, Bowhead; Randy Reed, R. Reed Consultancy LLC; David Riechart, DuPont; Douglas Schueller, AbelConn, LLC; Herb Snogren, Bristlecone LLC; Roger Tingler, FTG Circuits Fredericksburg; Jesse Vaughan, ACDI - American Computer Development, Inc. received a Distinguished Committee Service Award.

For their leadership of the 2-17 Connected Factory Initiative Subcommittee that developed IPC-2591, Connected Factory Exchange (CFX) V1.2/1.3, Marc Peo, Heller Industries Inc.; and Jason Spera, Aegis Software received a Committee Leadership Award. A Distinguished Committee Service Award was presented to Tim Burke, Arch Systems (V1.3 only); Michael Ford, Aegis Software; Alexis Fouquet, Europlacer; Thomas Marktscheffel, ASM Assembly Systems; and Simon Smith, Pillarhouse International, Ltd. for their contributions to IPC-2591, V1.2/1.3.

For this leadership of the D-55 Embedded Devices Process Implementation Subcommittee that developed IPC-6017A, Qualification and Performance Specification for Printed Boards Containing Embedded Passive Devices, Rajesh Kumar, TTM Technologies received a Committee Leadership Award. For their contributions to IPC-6017A, Gary Erickson, Sanmina Corporation; Bruce Hughes, Nvidia Corporation; Benjamin Piepgrass, Southwest Research Institute; and Bhanu Sood, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center were presented with a Distinguished Committee Service Award.

For leading the 7-24a Printed Board Process Effects Handbook Task Group that developed IPC-9121A, Troubleshooting Printed Board Fabrication Processes, Mike Carano, RBP Chemical Technology, Inc.; and Paul Cooke, Asahi Glass Co. Ltd. received a Committee Leadership Award. A Distinguished Committee Service award was presented to Sarah Czaplewski-Campbell, IBM Corporation; Tom Fitzgerald, TTM Technologies; Daniel Heitner, Summit Interconnect – Orange; Kevin Kusiak, Lockheed Martin Corp.; Jennifer Ly, BAE Systems; Brianna McCarthy, Summit Interconnect – Orange; Robert Roessler, ABB Power Electronics Inc.; and Bhanu Sood, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for their contributions to IPC-9121A.

For their leadership of the D-63A Printed Electronics Functional Dielectic Materials Task Group that developed IPC-4592, Requirements for Printed Electronics Functional Conductive Materials, Neil Bolding, MacDermid Alpha Electronics Solutions; and Haridoss Sarma, GO 2 Scout 4 R&T received a Committee Leadership Award. For exceptional contributions to IPC-4592, Andy Behr, Panasonic Industrial Devices Sales Company of America (PIDSA); Lim Ming, Jabil Circuit Sdn. Bhd; Outi Rusanen, TactoTek; and Colin Xing Tong, SAIC were presented with a Special Recognition Award. For his contributions to IPC-4592, Mike Mastropietro, ACI Materials received a Distinguished Committee Service Award.

A Committee Leadership Award was presented to Michelle Gleason, Plexus Corporation; Kris Moyer, Kristopher Moyer Consulting; and Karen McConnell, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems for leading the 1-13 Land Pattern Subcommittee that developed IPC-7352, Generic Guideline for Land Pattern Design. For his exceptional contributions to IPC-7352, a Distinguished Committee Service Award was presented to Dale Lee, Plexus Corporation.

For leadership of the 5-45-AT Reflow Oven Process Control A-Team that developed IPC-7801A, Reflow Oven Process Control Standard, Joseph Kane, BAE Systems; and Linda Woody, LWC Consulting received a Committee Leadership Award.

For their leadership of the E-31b Materials Declaration Task that developed IPC-1752B, Materials Declaration Management Standard, JB Hollister, Apple Inc.; and Aidan Turnbull, BomCheck received a Committee Leadership Award. For his contributions to IPC-1752B, Materials Declaration Management Standard and IPC-1754Am2, Materials and Substances Declaration for Aerospace and Defense and Other Industries, N. Nagaraj, Papros Inc. earned a Distinguished Committee Service Award. In addition, N. Nagaraj also received a Special Recognition Award for his exceptional contributions to sectional schema for all E-31 task group standards, IPC-1752, IPC-1753, IPC-1754 and IPC-1755.

For his work on the E-31K-SPR Materials and Substances Declaration for Aerospace and Defense and Other Industries Solution Provider Review Team, Chuck LePard, DXC Technology, earned a Distinguished Committee Service Award for his contributions to IPC-1754Am2, Materials and Substances for Aerospace and Defense and Other Industries and leading the inaugural IPC-1754 solution provider review process.

For her leadership of the E-31H Conflict Minerals Data Exchange Task Group that developed 1755A, Responsible Sourcing of Minerals Data Exchange Standard, Nikki Johnson, Total Parts Plus. Inc. received a Committee Leadership Award.

For their leadership of the 2-16 Digital Product Model Exchange Subcommittee that developed IPC-2581, Generic Requirements for Printed Board Assembly Products Manufacturing Description Data and Transfer Methodology, Ed Acheson, Cadence Design Systems, Inc.; Terry Hoffman, Cisco Systems Inc.; and Chris Shaw, Fujitsu Network Communications received a Committee Leadership Award.

For more information on these awards or the award recipients, contact Sandy Gentry, IPC communications director, at +1 847-597-2871.

Attendees, exhibitors, speakers, instructors, staff and all convention center contractors attending/working at IPC APEX EXPO 2022, to be held in-person January 22-27 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California, will be required to present either proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test (NCT) within 72 hours of arrival to enter the event.

“The safety, security and health of those experiencing IPC APEX EXPO is our top priority,” said John Mitchell, IPC president and CEO. “IPC APEX EXPO is a large, indoor event with several thousand attendees expected, increasing the risk of transmission. To mitigate that risk, we will follow the guidelines set by the California Department of Public Health, requiring vaccine verification or negative testing to ‘indoor mega events’ involving 1,000 or more participants. IPC will continue to monitor and evaluate the situation and may update protocols as we get closer to the event.” 

IPC APEX EXPO is the largest North American event for the electronics manufacturing industry, drawing approximately 9,000 attendees from 45 countries. Attendees will have the opportunity to choose from more than 100 educational opportunities, network with hundreds of exhibitors and network with peers and industry leaders from across the world. Registration for the 2022 event will be live by September 17, 2021.

For further information on the guidelines from the California Department of Health, see www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/Beyond-Blueprint-Framework.aspx. For additional information on IPC APEX EXPO 2022, visit www.ipcapexexpo.org. And, for updated COVID protocols at IPC APEX EXPO 2022, visit the FAQ page at www.ipcapexexpo.org/event-information/covid-19.