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REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2022 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE I I-CONNECT007 37 Joe O'Neil has nearly 30 years of experi- ence in the electronic manufacturing services (EMS) sector. Joe is currently advising cli- ents through his firm, OAA Ventures, which he founded in 2015 following the acquisition of Hunter Technology Corp by Sparton Cor- poration. OAA Ventures provides consulting and advisory services to electronic manu- facturing service providers, printed circuit board fabricators, and technology start-ups. In addition to his consulting engagements, Joe serves as chairman of the IPC Edu- cation Foundation, has served on the IPC Board for more than 12 years, and has served as IPC Board chair. Joe is a very involved IPC volunteer and is either cur- rently serving or has served on the V9-20 PCB/IMS President's Management Council Steering Commit- tee, the G-10 Government Relations Steering Commit- tee, G-11, IPC Department of Defense Task Force, G-11A, Defense Road Map Task Group, and G-12, the G o v e r n m e n t R e l a t i o n s Grassroots Par ticipants committee. Joe's company was an active participant in the 2019 IPC Cares pro- gram as well as IPC's Workforce Champions initiative. Joe was part of a four-member IPC team that presented the initiative to the U.S. White House administration. Patty Goldman: Joe, where should we start? First, congratulations! Joe O'Neil: ank you. Goldman: You got a call from John Mitchell. What did he have to say to you? O'Neil: He said, "How familiar are you with the Hall of Fame award?" And I thought, "I am familiar with it." I figured it was a call where we were going to brainstorm for a few names of people who might be on the list of nomi- nees. When he mentioned, "No, we'd like to make you the recipient," I thought it was kind of funny, because off the top of my head I can name a dozen people who I think are more deserving of the award. But he talked me through the rationale, and I thought, all right, it's an opportunity to take pre- sumptive acceptance of the award and then spend the rest of my career trying to live up to the loy aspi- rations. Goldman: It's certainly one of IPC's highest hon- ors. Tell me about your involvement here at IPC. When did it start? I know once it starts it never ends. O'Neil: It is an honor to join an illustrious group of which you are included. I'll never forget the first IPC meeting I attended. I was in my 20s, didn't know much about anything, and went to the management meetings. In those days it was almost all board shops, PCB fabricators. It was like drinking through a firehose during the day of the meetings, learning a lot and taking a lot of notes. I didn't know anybody there and was definitely the youngest guy in the room. We went to dinner, I sat down at a table, and I