IPC International Community magazine an association member publication
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IPC COMMUNITY 79 SUMMER 2024 ning its journey into sustainability reporting, and has successfully led the sustainability program management office in close collaboration with the senior vice president of sustainability and president of the Flex Foundation, Flex's philan- thropic arm, to develop and integrate Flex's sus- tainability strategy. Barjouth also sits on the IPC Sustainability for Electronics Leadership Coun- cil. As head of the Flex Foundation from 2016 to 2022, she worked to support more than 220 projects in 22 countries, resulting in more than eight billion beneficiaries. Lorena Villanueva: Barjouth, how nice to see you again. What is it like to be part of the IPC Sustainability for Electronics Leadership Coun- cil, working with IPC and other colleagues around the world on this issue? Barjouth Aguilar: I love working in this multi- disciplinary group in terms of the types of com- panies that each live sustainably in their own way. We also experience similar difficulties, such as the accelerated rate at which the regulatory environment is changing and the need for com- panies to work together to be ready. This includes having a shared understanding of terminology and tools that we have at our disposal, crafting a shared vision to move in that direction, and accelerating activities and knowledge as a group to facilitate this process for the rest of the indus- try. Sustainability is a very long road that began many, many years ago, and we are now moving at an accelerated pace because society is already seeing the impact and the effects of doing or not doing something. As we have discussed, you are a pioneer in our country, the region, and the industry. What career choices did you make to get to where you are now? I have always had the goal of making a change in society, a real change, like fixing things that I don't like. In my youth, there were things that didn't convince me, that didn't make me very happy, and I said, "Maybe I'm not going to make things happen in public service, but you can make changes in the private sector," and that's when I started to research and investigate what I would like to study. I liked many things, so when I learned that international business included mathematics, law, and finance in a holistic way, I decided to pursue that. I live in Guadalajara, Jalisco, which is known as the Mexican Silicon Valley, and there are many electronics manufacturing companies here. In my second semester in the university, visits to companies were organized and one of those vis- its was precisely to Flex. We are a brand behind many brands that you know in different indus- tries, including automotive, industrial, lifestyle (products that you can find in your house), health solutions, cloud enterprise, and communica- tions, among others. I was impressed by how big Flex is, its scope, and how the company could provide an impact that I could see in my daily life. It became almost like an obsession for me to work at Flex, and I said to myself, "I'm going to work here!" I will always be grateful to Flex for an opportunity to create, to find new opportuni- ties, and to innovate. Sustainability is part of what makes my job so interesting because it is very dynamic. For exam- ple, when it comes to the regulatory environ- ment, there will be a new law or program that we have to implement that goes beyond the issue of compliance. In my more than 13 years in the com- pany, I have been part of designing processes in This video interview is conducted in Spanish. This article contains excerpts from the interview, but please read the full Spanish and English transcripts of this engaging interview on the IPC Sustainability for Electronics website.