Four Industry Rising Stars Recognized at IPC APEX EXPO 2021

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In recognition of their leadership roles and support of IPC standards, education, advocacy and solutions to industry challenges, four of industry’s best and brightest were presented with an IPC Rising Star Award at IPC APEX EXPO 2021. Award recipients were Benoit Dagenais, Radu Diaconescu, Vladan Koncar, and Audra Thurston.

Dagenais, an electric vehicle technician at the Innovative Vehicle Institute in Quebec, Canada, was honored for his leadership of IPC’s 7-31FHV: IPC/WHMA-A-620 High-Voltage Cable Task Group and embracing the innovation of the automotive world.

Diaconescu, an electrical engineer at Swie.io in Lausanne, Switzerland, was honored for his technical expertise and high energy to the nine standards committees on which he serves. In the last year, Diaconescu took on a leadership role for IPC’s traceability standard while also acting as a key contributor to the brand-new digital twin standard.

Koncar, a distinguished professor at ENSAIT in Roubaix, France, was honored for leading IPC’s D-75-a-EU Task Group developing IPC-8981, Quality and Reliability for E-Textiles Wearables, and for this active participation on/contributions to five additional e-textile committees.

Thurston, a chemical engineer at Calumet Electronics in Calumet, Michigan, was honored for her work on four standards development committees: the Solder Mask Performance Task Group; the Rigid Printed Board Performance Specifications Task Group, the IPC-A-600 Task Group; and the Trusted Supplier Task Group.

“The work that the Rising Star recipients have done to enrich the industry and IPC within the last five years will continue to have a lasting impact for many years to come,” said John Mitchell, IPC president and CEO. “IPC is privileged that Ben, Radu, Vladan and Audra have chosen to share their knowledge and expertise with us and with the entire electronics industry.”