Dan's Biz Bookshelf: 'Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company'
The Chemical Connection: Experience and Wisdom Gained by Doing Business
It's Only Common Sense: Leveraging AI in Your Sales Strategy
IPC President's Award: Barry Matties
April 21, 2025 | Pete Starkey, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
The IPC President’s Award is given to IPC members who have exhibited ongoing leadership in IPC and have made significant contributions of their time and talent to the association and the electronic interconnect industry. Individuals can receive this award only once.
Barry Matties has been a leading global force in publishing content about the electronics industry for nearly 40 years. He began his publishing career as a co-founder of CircuiTree Magazine in 1987, which became the leading printed trade journal serving the PCB industry. After selling CircuiTree in 1999, Barry founded I-Connect007, now the leading online media source for original content related to the electronics manufacturing supply chain. I-Connect007 publishes multiple magazines, newsletters, books, webinars, podcasts, and real-time event coverage.
The following begins an interview between Barry Matties and Pete Starkey, about Barry’s entry into the electronics industry, building a successful business that aligned with his values, and a unique philosophy that has fueled that success.
Leadership That Inspires Change
It's been great to reflect upon the 30-odd years since I bumped into Barry Matties, a long-haired American bloke in a T-shirt and baseball cap, roving around with a camera at productronica in Munich in the 1990s.
It was sometime later that I was privileged to be adopted into his editorial team. As a PCB fabricator, Barry’s publications kept me in touch with industry news and gave me insight into developments and advances in the technology.
In 2022, Barry sold his business, I-Connect007, to IPC and will remain as an executive advisor for several months as he begins to explore other business opportunities.
Pete Starkey: Barry, what motivated you to create and publish a new magazine for the industry back in the 1980s?
Barry Matties: I was probably about 23 or 24 years old, and I realized the only way to create the lifestyle that I wanted for me and my family was to create my own business. I realized I would never achieve it by working for somebody else. I didn't know anything about business, publishing magazines, leadership, or really any other business skill, but the timing was right, and I was driven to learn and succeed.
In 1987, we pioneered desktop publishing and launched CircuiTree Magazine. We were challenging the publishing paradigm, and because we did not know the rules of publishing, it allowed us to compete against much larger magazines in ways they did not expect.
Starkey: Your tagline is “good for the industry.” Why do you believe it matters to promote electronics?
Matties: It's important to have an information source that's good for the industry. Our business strategy is simple: Publish content that people want to share. You can describe that in many ways—relevant, timely, useful, entertaining—whatever resonates with someone. Everyone has a different opinion of what's important to them. We try to bring in a diverse bit of content, but it's always designed to help build electronics better, which turned out great because as, you know, we were acquired by IPC, and that fits really well with I-Connect007.
Continue reading this article in the Spring 2025 issue of IPC Community.
Share on:
Testimonial
"Advertising in PCB007 Magazine has been a great way to showcase our bare board testers to the right audience. The I-Connect007 team makes the process smooth and professional. We’re proud to be featured in such a trusted publication."
Klaus Koziol - atgSuggested Items
I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
09/05/2025 | Andy Shaughnessy, I-Connect007It’s almost fall here in Atlanta, and that means that the temperature is finally dropping. And it quit raining! It’s been raining since March, and I’m so over it, as the social influencers say. Last night we grilled out on the deck, and it wasn’t hot, and we didn’t get rained on. Life is good. It was a busy week in the industry. In this installment of my must-reads, we say goodbye to Walt Custer, the man who made PCB data points interesting for the rest of us.
UHDI Fundamentals: UHDI Technology and Industry 4.0
09/03/2025 | Anaya Vardya, American Standard CircuitsUltra high density interconnect (UHDI) technology is rapidly transforming how smart systems are designed and deployed in the context of Industry 4.0. With its capacity to support highly miniaturized, high-performance, and densely packed electronics, UHDI is a critical enabler of the smart, connected, and automated industrial future. Here, I’ll explore the synergy between UHDI and Industry 4.0 technologies, highlighting applications, benefits, and future directions.
Nolan’s Notes: Everyone Has Their Eye on India
09/03/2025 | Nolan Johnson -- Column: Nolan's NotesIn this issue of SMT007 Magazine, we turn our attention to the Indian EMS market. We start with an interview with David Bergman, whose foresight in the early 2000s opened doors for the Global Electronics Association to begin helping Indian EMS companies with standards and certifications that would give EMS companies a footing to enter a global EMS market.
I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
08/29/2025 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007This week, we bring you Global Electronics Association’s Chris Mitchell’s government relations column on—you guessed it—trade deals. TTM is balancing its facilities between East and West. The Global Electronics Association released July numbers for North American PCB shipments, and the news is good. Meanwhile, the corresponding report for EMS might seem like bad news, but that’s misleading. Be sure to look deeper for the rest of the story. Finally, for a bit space-science palate cleansing, I’m sharing news of the latest launch of NASA’s X-37B.
Summit Interconnect Names Milan Shah as Vice Chairman of the Board
08/26/2025 | Summit Interconnect, Inc.Summit Interconnect, a leading provider of advanced PCB manufacturing, today announced that Milan Shah has been named Vice Chairman of the Board.