Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/612684
86 The PCB Magazine • December 2015 by Patty Goldman I-cOnnect007 I spent some time with my friend and for- mer colleague Renee Michalkiewicz, vice presi- dent and general manager at NTS Baltimore, formerly Trace Laboratories. I was interested in Renee's views on IPC and the Technical Activi- ties Executive Council, of which she is currently the chairman, a position I held some years ago. Patty Goldman: Hi Renee. It's good to see you again. Please fill me in on you and your company. Renee Michalkiewicz: William McGinley, one of the founders of our previous parent compa- ny, Methode Electronics, was one of the origi- nal IPC founding members more than 50 years ago and was the first recipient of the IPC Hall of Fame award. When he started Trace Labora- tories in 1980, there was no question that we would continue this IPC involvement. George Smith, another Hall of Famer, became president of Trace and was part of the small group that wrote the original IPC-TM-650 [test methods] document. Working for the Industry: NTS' Renee Michalkiewicz In February of this year we joined National Technical Systems and are now part of the larg- est test lab in the United States. Our Baltimore lab specializes in root cause failure analysis and elec- tronics and materials testing. NTS as a whole is the leading indepen- dent provider of envi- ronmental simulation testing, inspection, and certification in the United States. It was really nice to join a lab that's so large with such ex- pansive capabilities. We've really enjoyed the acquisition; it's been a great learning experience so far. Goldman: Great, and now you're chairman of IPC's Technical Activities Executive Council. Michalkiewicz: Yes, I'm chairman of the TAEC, and I've actually been a member of IPC for 20 years this year acting as an active member of many different standards development com- renee Michalkiewicz FeATure inTerview