Today’s Pioneers of EMC Originally published in the IEEE EMC Newsletter, Issue 231, Fall 2011 O will surely recall the attitude of unusual excitement as we all got to meet and shake hands with engineers who are singularly responsible for what our industry looks like today. Ray Adams approached me well over a year before our event took place to ask me if I would be willing to work with him on the exhibits side of the 2011 symposium. I can only guess that my long-time exposure to the entire Southern Californian EMC community was the primary qualification that he considered in proffering his invitation. Ray knew that, in my career as an independent Manufacturers Representative, I was constantly meeting and working with engineers and companies all over the SoCal territory. My job is to help them solve their EMC problems by matching their Working on the exhibits floor with our symposium partners, Three Dimensions and GES Convention Services, was rewarding but difficult. Suffice it to say that I have a better appreciation of how much fun Mr. Boehner and Mr. Reid have on a daily basis! It literally did not matter what the topic was. On the exhibit floor there were always conflicting agendas and differing opinions! On everything from temperature to which fans were turned on to hours of operation to food, there were passionate advocates of various and sundry alternatives. The best news of all, however, was that in the end at the Exhibitors Breakfast on Thursday morning, there were no complaints and no angry exhibitors. photo by the EMC 2011 Symposium Photography Team ur 2011 symposium has disappeared into history, along with that one week of the year when EMC experts and friends from all over the world get together for the exchange of ideas and words.  This year, the symposium committee tried a few new things on the exhibit floor that were intended to enhance the experience of all our attendees and exhibitors. Our symposium chair, Mr. Ray Adams from Boeing, was very supportive to all of the committee members as they explored a few changes from symposia of the past. One experiment that he encouraged me to try was a unique attempt to honor important members of our society. That is the background picture into which we were able to paint the stories of about a dozen Pioneers Of EMC (POE). Readers who were there needs to the best products available. Since I work closely with many of our long-time EMC exhibitors in that manner, helping them on the exhibit floor was a natural fit. Pioneers of EMC attending the EMC 2011 Symposium in Long Beach included (front row from left) Ray Klouda, Joyce Ware (daughter of Paul Bender), George Kunkel of Spira Manufacturing Corporation, Richard Parker of Fair-Rite Products Corp, Art Cohen of AH Systems, and Tom Klouda. Tom and Ray are the sons of Jim Klouda, founder of Elite Electronic Engineering. (Back row from left) Richard Janiec of Retlif (representing Walter Poggi), Don Shepherd of AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation, Joe Fischer of Fischer Custom Communications, Brian Lawrence of iNARTE, Alwyn Broaddus of DNB Engineering, and Don Sweeney of DLS Electronic Systems rounded out the pioneers present in Long Beach. 48 IN Compliance February 2012 www.incompliancemag.com