Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1355791
REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2021 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE I I-CONNECT007 19 McConnell: Yes, always, because they recog- nized that IPC helps you develop new tech- nology. It also helps you identify where your company is. All my positions have been in support and forward-looking, "Where do I need to encourage my tool vendors to go?" at's been my job. ere has always been a forward-looking IPC committee. Back in my starting days, it was the data transfer, which I am passionate about. If you don't have the data right, you might as well not do any- thing else if you can't keep that data correct and secure. Don't mess with it too much. Data integrity is something that I still care about today. Many times, the data transfer committee would discuss the methods to have machines talk to each other. In the '90s we were talking about this, but we were way ahead of what the industry was looking for. Now, along comes the connected factory (IPC-CFX), and I con- nected the new people with the people who worked on the previous stuff back in the '90s, so that the new group didn't have to start from scratch. I'm a member of that community, and again, that's data centric. When IPC decided that committee chairs needed to rotate off committees to bring new ideas and direction to the leadership, I looked around, and I was chair of nine committees. I'm sitting there saying, "Why am I doing all this work?" My first mentee took one of my committee chairs. A friend who was a Lock- heed Emerging Engineer took another one of my committees. In fact, aer my most recent document gets released, I will not be a chair anymore. I will be stepping down from my final chairing position. I'm still chair of TAEC, but that's only until the next APEX. I only have a year le on that. Goldman: But you'll still have a lifetime mem- bership in TAEC. McConnell: Oh yes, I'm a lifetime member of TAEC. My husband said, "What are you going to do? Can you retire? Every now and then you need a technical fix." We'd b e on v acation for a week, and I'd have IPC with me. He said, "What are you going to do when you retire?" I looked at him and said, "Lots of IPC work!" I am setting up things now. ere's been a changeover in what I've been looking at in the last few years. Whenever I'd go to an IPC meeting, I would go out to my printed circuit board and assembly community, and my pro- ducibility community, and say, "I know they can't send us all, and I know the people they're sending already have their schedule. So, guys, what aren't you able to cover that you need somebody to sit down and listen to and see if it's something we need to pay attention to." I'll get two or three papers. at's been something I've done all the time at IPC conferences. But guess what? At my next APEX EXPO, I can satisfy Karen McConnell. Goldman: ere you go. You can do whatever you want, right? McConnell: Yes. I'm looking forward to that. I've always cared about everything, but I'm looking forward to doing the things that are data-centric, pushing technology and seeing where I can interject my knowledge of design and process. Somehow, for a girl who used to fail in English class, I write a lot of documents now. ere are so many things now that I can't go to. I'm saying, "Ahh, what do I choose?" But I do have a mentee. is will be our second APEX EXPO, and I want to devote some time to her. Goldman: Karen, thank you so much for your time. And congratulations again. I look for- ward to seeing you at our next meeting of the Hall of Fame Council. McConnell: You're welcome. S&T Watch Karen's Hall of Fame acceptance speech video on page 11.