The Marketing Minute: A Brand Visibility Playbook—Get Seen, Heard, and Remembered
American Made Advocacy: Supporting the Entire PCB Ecosystem—Materials to OEMs
Marcy's Musings: The Hole Truth—Via Integrity in an HDI World
Steven Bowles: Taking a Stand
April 7, 2023 | Patty Goldman, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Steven Bowles, an associate fellow at Lockheed Martin Space, talks about his journey as a leader in IPC, beginning with the unexpected opportunity that launched his leadership career across a range of professional committees. True progress, Steven says, requires input from a diverse set of perspectives alongside the passion that drives our industry forward.
Steven, congratulations on receiving the IPC President’s Award. As you know, this award is about leadership, so why do you feel it’s important to be a leader at IPC?
It’s important to lead within IPC for a couple of reasons. One of the primary reasons that I enjoy leadership within the standards development committees is to ensure that the standards we release are keeping up with modern technology and that they benefit both user and supplier. It’s a really good idea for us to lead within these groups, to usher in the next generation of IPC participants—the ones who will be writing our technical standards and developing requirements for our industry going forward.
How do you get into this? Did you raise your hand? [laughs]
I kind of got into leadership by accident. About 15 years ago, I was still relatively early in my career, and I joined committees just to learn. I joined IPC T-50, which is terms and definitions, and IPC-6012, which is the performance specification for rigid printed boards. I really liked the T-50 committee because we were determining and defining industry terms that supported electronics. We had two very good committee chairs. When one committee member, Mike Green from Lockheed, announced he was retiring and stepping down, some individuals on the committee commented that it would be good to have some younger leadership. I spoke up and said that I was probably the youngest person in the group and that I would do it. So, I co-led that group with Vicka Hammill of Honeywell for about eight years. From there, it just flourished. I enjoyed leading that group, and subsequently joined several other committees supporting different documents where I started taking on some leadership roles. I’m now chairing six different groups and at least one general committee.
When Vicka retired from Honeywell, she stepped down from leadership of IPC T-50 and we brought on my Emerging Engineer mentee, Aaron Kennedy of Summit, as my vice chair. Now I have stepped down as chair of IPC T-50 this past year and I recommended my internal-to-Lockheed mentee, David Caputa, to be my replacement. Both individuals were actively supporting the group prior to that. It’s pretty cool to see two people who I’m currently mentoring are now holding leadership roles in IPC T-50. I was named Chair Emeritus of that group, so I’m still helping to guide them.
To read this entire conversation, which appeared in the 2023 edition of Show & Tell Magazine, click here.
Share on:
Suggested Items
The Marketing Minute: A Brand Visibility Playbook—Get Seen, Heard, and Remembered
06/18/2025 | Brittany Martin -- Column: The Marketing MinuteIn the competitive world of electronics, recognition isn’t given—it’s earned. With so many companies vying for attention, how do you ensure your brand voice stands out and stays top-of-mind? This month, I’m focusing on building recognition using three high-impact tools: social media, paid advertising, and thought leadership.
The Government Circuit: From Tax Policy to Tariffs, Denver to Delhi, Speaking Up for Electronics
06/18/2025 | Chris Mitchell -- Column: The Government CircuitI had the privilege of attending the June 3 opening ceremony of AT&S’s HTB3 facility in Leoben, Austria—a milestone moment for Europe’s electronics ecosystem. HTB3 is now the first and only facility in Europe capable of both developing and producing high-performance IC substrates—the advanced platforms that allow powerful chips to connect, process, and function. As demand for AI, 5G, and other cutting-edge technologies grows, so too does the need for sophisticated substrates like those HTB3 will produce.
Takeaways from the Keynotes at the Edinburgh EIPC Summer Conference
06/16/2025 | Pete Starkey, I-Connect007It was seasonably wet and windy in Edinburgh, Scotland, June 3-4, where delegates from 17 countries convened for the 2025 EIPC Summer Conference to enjoy a superlative program of 18 technical presentations over two days, plus an excursion to a whisky distillery. EIPC President Alun Morgan welcomed everyone to the Delta Hotel, reminding us that in its previous iteration, it was the Royal Scot, traditionally the annual venue of the Institute of Circuit Technology Northern Symposium.
I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
06/13/2025 | Marcy LaRont, I-Connect007Today is Friday the 13th, and in much of Western folklore, this is a day when bad luck is lurking. But while Friday the 13th may top Western superstition charts, the global calendar is sprinkled with its own unlucky legends. In Spain and Greece, the bad juju lands on Tuesday the 13th—a day linked to Mars, the god of war, and naturally, chaos. In Italy, it’s Friday the 17th that is feared, thanks to the Roman numeral XVII, which can be rearranged to spell VIXI—Latin for “I have lived” (a poetic way of saying you’re dead).
Priority Software Appoints Ben Karniel as Chief Revenue Officer to Spearhead Global Growth
06/12/2025 | Priority SoftwarePriority Software, a leading provider of scalable and agile cloud-based business management solutions, proudly announces the appointment of Ben Karniel as its new Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), effective May 1, 2025. This strategic addition to the executive team underscores Priority's commitment to expand its global footprint.