BANNOCKBURN, Ill., USA, April 12, 2018 — Don Dupriest, Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control, has been elected chair of the IPC Technical Activities Executive Committee (TAEC) for a two-year term. Dupriest succeeds Chris Mahanna of Robisan Laboratory, Inc., who held the role for IPC's top standards development oversight committee for the past two years.

As a Lockheed Martin Fellow on Lockheed Martin’s Technical staff, Dupriest provides leadership in interconnect technology development for electronic manufacturing and is responsible for advanced technology, process development and product manufacturability for electronic systems.

An active IPC volunteer for more than 25 years, Dupriest has provided invaluable service to IPC. A previous chair of the TAEC, he is also a member of IPC’s Hall of Fame and President’s Award recipient. Dupriest currently co-chairs the IPC D-35 Printed Board Storage and Handling Subcommittee.

Dupriest was elected to the TAEC post while attending a mentorship meeting for IPC Emerging Engineers. “I have to admit I was surprised to hear I was elected – I guess this is what happens when you miss your first TAEC meeting in twenty plus years,” he joked. “The committee voted to change the rules to allow a second term.” Dupriest added, “I am honored to be chosen and trusted by my peers to lead and serve as the first second term chairman of the TAEC.”

Citing his goals for chairmanship, Dupriest stated, “I typically jump right in when approaching any task, so I plan to do that with the TAEC. We now have greater use of task groups within committees to speed up creating content and resolution of requirements under development, but there is always room for improvement.

“I’d like to see what else we can do to better execute standards development by revising the Project Initiation Number (PIN) process for each new document at IPC. I’d like the process to better describe potential influences on other general committees and documents; i.e., requirements that might be impacted by the new PIN, giving general chairs a broader idea of activities outside their purview that may be impacted by new document development. I am also interested in keeping the communication lines open between general chairs so that we keep one another informed.”

Mentioning his commitment to mentoring the next generation of engineers, Dupriest indicated his interest in bringing emerging engineers to TAEC meetings to give them an idea of what to expect once they are members of IPC.

For additional information on the IPC TAEC and its activities, visit www.ipc.org/TAEC.aspx.