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32 The PCB Design Magazine • June 2016 I made contact with Matt Turpin, CEO of Zentech, before the first evening's dinner. We sat down to discuss what he hoped to gain by attending the event. Patty Goldman: Matt, I'd like to know what your expectations are of this meeting. Matt Turpin: The IPC does this every year, and I've been here the last five years for IPC. It's a great opportunity for the IPC and members of the IPC to meet with their local officials on Cap- itol Hill as well as other people on Capitol Hill and kind of deliver the message of what's im- portant to IPC and the IPC vendor, whether it's in terms of RoHS compliance or conflict miner- als, etc. This year it's Defense Department labor regulations and things like that. It's a good way for IPC to get its point across and to influence what happens on Capitol Hill. Goldman: How has that worked in the past? Turpin: It's worked out well. Some of the issues in the past have been the R&D tax credit and it looks like that is permanent at this point. I think some of the things relative to changing the narrative with conflict minerals is going slow, but it keeps the issue alive and shows that it's not the slam dunk that Dodd-Frank thought it was going to be. There are other issues where they have had some success, like the NNMI (Na- Veteran IMPACT Washington, D.C. Attendee Matt Turpin on the Event's Benefits Zentech's CEO Matt Turpin and VP John Vaughan during a preliminary meeting.