Meet Our Team

First a funny recollection: I started with ESD when my manager with the 1 Meg DRAM design group at TI had the vision that ESD was going to become very critical and so he asked me to present a seminar on ESD. I said that I don't know anything about ESD to which he replied that no one else does either but that I should read up on what I can and convince others I know what I was talking about! That was how I got into ESD, and for the rest of my career at TI it was a life sentence and even when I tried to get out of ESD was each time dragged back into the "ESD Jail."
That was when I first approached ESDA. This organization has tremendously helped shape my eventual career in ESD. Many interactions with the learned colleagues, opportunities to publish and give tutorials, and contributing, in general, to promote ESD through the Association activities have all been a very rewarding experience.

My involvement with static electricity started well before the first Symposium and before the ESDA even existed. I started at 3M as a chemical technician involved in the processing of radioactive materials for radiation sources and static eliminators. It was an exciting time as the 3M project was rapidly growing in size and profitability. I went to school full time at night for several years and finally graduated from the University of Minnesota. After graduation, the 3M management at the time asked me to take on responsibility for developing a brand new Technical Service Department supporting all the division products and to take care of 3M factories as a customer. 3M was in fact the largest customer we had for static eliminator devices. That is where my real education started - dealing with huge levels of static electricity in the tape factories - way more than is needed to make your hair stand on end (yes, I had some hair back then) or knock you down (occurred on several occasions).

3M was involved in the creation and operation of the early EOS/ESD Symposiums. I did not get to go to the first one but attended all of them that followed. The 3M management at the time really believed in the ESDA and helped with the formation of the association. Management asked me to get involved in ESDA standards from the beginning and provided more or less a blank check. Those would be considered the "good old days" for sure. After 10 years or so, I was asked to run for the Board of Directors - unheard of for a "Vendor" at that time. The 1990s saw a great expansion of the ESD control world and I had global responsibility for static control products from 3M as well as being an Ambassador for the ESDA. The best and most curious recognition of the ESDA came at a meeting between 3M and Samsung in Korea. A meeting was set up between 3M (sales, technical, and management) and Samsung (purchasing, technical and management). I was traveling with my division VP so he was seated at the center of one side of a long table in the vendor reception area. I was seated next to him on his right side and all the other 3M people arranged basically based on rank. The Samsung people were arranged on the other side of the table opposite of their perceived 3M counterpart. The meeting was arranged to discuss flooring and workstation products for a new factory Samsung was building. After introductions, and mandatory cigarette smoke, the 3M Korea head of sales asked me to discuss the flooring products and industry specifications. The senior Samsung person (General Manager - sitting across from my VP) raised his hand and through a translator asked "Excuse me but what gives you the right to talk about industry specifications and standards?". He already had my business card indicating my job title as Global Technical Service Manager. I reached in my briefcase and took out my ESD Association business card - I was Sr. VP at the time. After the Samsung GM saw that card, there were some quick words in Korean on the Samsung side of the table and everyone got up and shifted positions - the GM moved to opposite me. My VP sitting next to me said " What was that card you gave him?" I said I would explain later. He was relatively new to our division and after that encounter, he had a very strong and positive opinion about the power of the ESDA for supporting the 3M business that continued for his time as VP. It carried over to the next VP as well although I had some difficulty with a Technical Director who was not convinced of the value a bit later on, that is another chapter in my book.

Overall, the ESDA certainly provided me with credibility when meeting with others and helped forge long-lasting relationships with colleagues, customers, and even competitors. My life certainly would not be the same without the ESDA.

Early in my engineering career at a semi-conductor manufacturing company, ESD was a frequent and often misunderstood problem. The information I learned at EOS/ESD Symposiums encouraged me to experiment and then contribute to technical papers of my own. Over the years, I developed ESD control programs at my company and interacted with many experts on ESD Association committees. I continued troubleshooting ESD issues and teaching ESD control classes which lead to my current ESD consulting work. While I had many different engineering assignments throughout my career, Electrostatic Discharge control and the EOS/ESD Association were key contributors to where I am today.

When I was first assigned duties as the ESD Control Program coordinator, I had very little knowledge or experience in electrostatics. I realized that I needed more education and I sought out and found the ESDA. Through research I quickly realized that this organization was the foremost authority on the subject.
The opportunities afforded me through involvement with ESDA through training, involvement with document review and development, and networking with electrostatic professionals has given me the foundation needed to develop and implement robust ESD control programs for 2 major Aerospace and Defense companies.

ESDA has given me numerous opportunities to network and grow my leadership skills. Joining the organizing committees of IEW and the ESD Symp. has helped me form lasting friendships with industry experts. I’ve turned to them multiple times to ask questions and learn about things that have helped me through technical challenges I’ve faced in my career. I’ve also developed confidence in my organizational and management skills through these experiences that have helped me be a better leader at my own company. Furthermore, volunteering in the standards committees has bolstered my performance reviews as I’m able to share the impact that I have at the industry level.

I started my career in ESD device/design in 2003. In the search for education and literature on the topic, I found the ESD Association information online and signed up for the tutorials and Symposium in September of that year. Attending this event essentially jump-started my understanding of ESD circuit design. When I joined RFMD (now Qorvo) in 2005, I began attending the standards working group meetings in addition to attending the annual EOS/ESD Symposium.

One of the most important benefits to my career in ESD has been the involvement with and volunteering for the ESD Association. First, the networking this involvement provided enabled me to grow much faster in my ESD knowledge and expertise. In some cases, I learned solutions to problems that I had yet to encounter but did need later. I also learned what the state of the art was for ESD engineering. Another benefit has been that, since I was involved with discussions on the such topics as system/device level ESD codesign and simulation, my company could develop learnership with its customers in this field. This is only one example. With the networking that I have been able to do as an ESDA volunteer, I have built relationships with many of the leaders in the ESD field. Finally, with this exposure, I and my company have gained credibility in ESD that we would not have had otherwise.

As a junior engineer working in our Technology Development Organization, I first attended the EOS/ESD Symposium in the late 90s. I was able to attend tutorials and the EOS/ESD Symposium technical sessions as well. After continuing to attend over the years I started publishing at the EOS/ESD Symposium and got integrated into workshops and eventually the Symposium Management Team ladder. This progression helped me learn from the most knowledgeable in industry and take what I learned and apply it to technology and ESD device development within IBM's Advanced Technology Development Organization. The technical knowledge learned at the Symposium was key to helping me become a technical expert on ESD device design and latchup prevention within IBM which helped me get promoted up through the technical ranks. As I transitioned into management in IBM I also transitioned into leadership positions with the ESDA such as EOS/ESD Symposium TPC, Vice General Chair, General Chair and ESDA BoD. The leadership positions within ESDA allowed me to grow my leadership skills and apply many within IBM and vice-versa my IBM leadership skills were able to be applied to the ESDA and help grow the ESDA business through having effective strategic plans. As I've continued my industry career growth between IBM and GlobalFoundries growing into higher level leadership positions within both companies I've expanded by ESDA roles as well into the BoD but also onto the EXCOM team. Again my IBM/GlobalFoundries leadership skills have been valuable to bring to the ESDA but also the skills I've gained within the ESDA have complimented my IBM/GlobalFoundries skills, together they complement each other and haven together opened doors for my career to grown inside the company and outside in industry.

I joined ESDA more than 10 years ago. I got lots of professional help, met new peers, learned new skills at the same time what I always felt was a close knit extended family which helps you to grow while providing you with a path and some constructive ideas for future growth. Managing the ESD Symposium and ESD workshop helped me in gaining leadership skills beyond my organizational skills outside of IBM and Globalfoundries. Now being a BoD, helps me to navigate through difficult decisions and provide definitive guidance to other teams in ESDA and my work place through influencing future roadmap. There are many words that I can write but again the net is ESDA provided me with a solid knowledge base and many leadership skills that helped in shaping my career path.

Being involved in the development of Pulsed EMI and ESD simulators and test systems early in my career introduced me to test standards, which were the basis of the equipment we manufactured. Assisting in the development of system level standards, such as the IEC 61000-4-2 standard made me appreciate the work that goes into standards development. As my role switched to focusing on device level ESD test systems and their applications, I became more familiar with the EOS/ESD Association, their standards and the role the association played in the overall ESD awareness within the electronics industry.

My first introduction to the Association was as an exhibitor at the symposiums, which by simply attending allowed me to network with other manufacturers, meet with engineers, gather additional knowledge on ESD and develop insights into product development. Continuing to attend symposiums, I began to attending papers on device protection strategies and began developing papers on testing methods and other related topics. I was introduced to standards development as the next step within the association. Standards development provides so much insight into different aspects of processes within companies and of course direction of testing requirements. Working on standards development and being the chair on a number of working groups has proved invaluable in my career and development of myself personally. Having this insight and name recognition also presented me with possibilities, such as being invited as a guest speaker at number of international conferences, which may not have happened without my ESDA interactions and affiliation.

As my involvement continued, I began working on STDCOM in an effort to improve documents being offered from the association. Along the same lines, I’ve worked on tutorials and reviews of papers and tutorials presented at the symposiums, all of which has introduced me to topics I may not have been involved with had I not worked on these committees. Being elected as a member of the Board of Directors has allowed me to better understand the workings of the association. As a member of the board, I provide as much insight and support I can offer to help keep the EOS/ESD Association, Inc. a valuable part of the ESD industry going forward.

When I started my career, my first EOS/ESD Symposium and the ESDA meeting series before the Symposium was extremely important for me. I got the first impression of standardization work and the learning outcome from the discussions with all the famous ESD experts in these two weeks was enormous. This event was a kind of an eyeopener for me and it awakened the desire in me to be – in a while – part of this group of world-leading experts. The importance of the Symposia and the standardization work hosted by the ESDA on my career can hardly be overestimated. Just the possibility to contribute to international standardization work helped me to get recognized as a leading ESD expert in my company. Teaching for the ESDA and becoming a Working Group chair definitely also had a very positive impact on my career as it underlined my professional status in the international ESD community. ESDA allowed (and still allows me today) me to network with other experts in this field. This made my transfer to my new company so easy as I was already known and accepted as a leading ESD expert.