Standard of Friendship: Debbie McDade and Symon Franklin Went From Classmates to Colleagues

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

As a fairly new IPC Master Trainer, I nervously attended my first IPC committee meeting in 2002 in New Orleans—a 4,600-mile trip from my home in the UK—for the IPC-610 Task Group. With more than 250 members, it was the largest IPC committee at that time.

Despite those initial nerves, the experience highlighted the importance of involvement in IPC standards task groups. Since then, I have gained knowledge and long-lasting friendships.

During my training classes, regardless of the level of the class, I always draw my students’ attention to the acknowledgment pages (I like to call them the “thank you” pages) that recognize the committee members for their hard work and dedication in helping to write the documents. My students are often amazed, telling me, “We thought that the Global Electronics Association wrote the standards and associated training programs.”

For example, I am vice chair of the 7-30 Product Assurance groups, vice chair of V-TPAC, Global Training, and chair of European Standards Development and European Training groups. I offer my personal thanks to all those committee members for their efforts.

A True Example of Leadership
Symon Franklin, Custom Interconnect Ltd, UK, is a dedicated colleague who truly understands the benefits of committee participation, and how it leads to a better understanding of standards, professional growth, and the opportunity to influence the industry.

Symon probably rolls his eyes with boredom because I love retelling his story, but I can’t underestimate its value in reinforcing the benefits of IPC committee participation.

The story starts with a new Certified IPC Trainer class I was teaching. During the morning introductions, one student said, “My name is Symon…” Before he could even finish, I replied, “Symon Franklin?” At this point, we realized who each other was and we had known each other since we were 11 years old. We attended high school together and then went our separate ways after graduating. Little did we know that our paths were not that different.

Read the rest of their story in the Summer 2025 issue of Community Magazine.