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92 The PCB Magazine • June 2017 Having coordinated nearly 60 of these site visits in the United States and more than a doz- en in China, the program continues to grow. IPC is now seeking to arrange "Meet the Policy- maker" events in Europe, as well. All in all, these site visits provide a unique opportunity for you to have your voice heard as a business leader, and for IPC to advance the in- terests of the entire industry. For more information on the Meet the Pol- icymakers program, contact IPC Government Relations Coordinator Julie Desisto. PCB John Mitchell is president and CEO of IPC—Association Connecting Electronics Industries. To read past columns or to contact Mitchell, click here. Based on that success, IPC coordinated a second site visit a few weeks later at its Austin, Texas facility with Congressman Michael Mc- Caul (R-TX). Other IPC member companies that have hosted congressional site visits in recent years have included Bay Area Circuits, Creation Tech- nologies, Hunter Technology, Juki Automation Systems, MC Assembly, Suntronic, TTM Tech- nologies and Viscom. Members of Congress find the visits valu- able as well. After touring TTM Technologies' facility in San Jose, California, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) said, "The advanced manufacturing in- dustry has contributed greatly to our economy here in California and across the globe. I was very interested to see the work taking place at TTM Technologies, and I'm glad we had an op- portunity to discuss the policies that impact the industry today." HAVING AN IMPACT FROM THE SHOP FLOOR TO THE HALLS OF GOVERNMENT IPC places a high priority on making our pres- ence known in the halls of government, to educate our government officials on the policies that will strengthen the advanced manufacturing industry. Senior executives from leading electronics manufac - turing companies—all members of IPC—gathered in Washington, D.C. recently for IMPACT Washing- ton, D.C. 2017 to advocate for a pro-growth, pro- advanced-manufacturing policy agenda. The gathering was especially timely considering President Trump's recent moves to strengthen U.S. manufacturing, including establishing a new White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, and launching a wave of policy initiatives in the ar- eas of taxes, trade, workforce skills, and regulations. During the two-and-a-half day event, near- ly 30 executives met with members of Congress and leaders of the Trump Administration to share their views on issues including tax reform; federal funding for manufacturing-re- lated research and development pro- grams; environmen- tal policy and conflict minerals regulations. The electronics executives met with leaders of the Trump Administration including: • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt • Earl Comstock, Director of the Office of Policy and Strategic Planning at the U.S. Department of Commerce • Kim Ford, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Education for Career, Technical, and Adult Education • Dr. Robert Irie of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics • Alexander Gray, Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director for Defense Industrial Base, White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy; • Daris Meeks, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Domestic Policy for Vice President Mike Pence Participants also met with key members of Congress. To read the full article, click here. IMPACT 2017: Electronics Industry Leaders Meet on Capitol Hill