Emerging Engineer: Jesse Vaughan

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Andy Shaughnessy: Jesse, we just wanted to get your feel for this year’s virtual IPC APEX EXPO. Why don’t you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself and your company?

Jesse Vaughan: I’m the manager of design services at ACDi, based in Frederick, Maryland. We are a contract manufacturer, but we started out as a layout services bureau, and that’s how we grew. Our president, Bill Hornbaker, started in a garage in Gaithersburg, I believe, and that grew into ACDi. Then we got into the assembly side; we actually bought Patapsco Designs, which used to do all of the CCA manufacturing for certain cities in the local area.

I started out at what was DDi, which is now TTM in Sterling, Virginia. My father has been in the industry forever, so I’ve been around the industry for as long as I can remember. I have the PCB manufacturing experience. And then I was with my father’s company for some time as a manufacturer’s representative for several U.S.-based PCB houses.

And obviously, part of my role at ACDi is managing a group of 10 designers and draftsmen. With the background that I have in CCA manufacturing, I’m able to capture programs at the design level and see them through to the main manufacturing side.

Shaughnessy: I saw you online during virtual IPC APEX EXPO this year. You’re in IPC’s Emerging Engineer program, so what did you think about the show and the format?

Vaughan: Honestly, I think that they did a great job. Nobody knew what to expect. Recently, I’ve done some online courses and stuff like that, so I’m more used to that kind of learning environment. Now, obviously, I was in the Emerging Engineers program, so a lot of the logistics of that were already in place. That was handled smoothly and all pretty much in place.

I had a full schedule throughout the whole week. They put the committee meetings before and after the actual conference, which was really forward thinking; it allowed anybody who had an all-access pass the opportunity to take full advantage of the schedule throughout the week. And yeah, technology-wise, I didn’t have any buffering or screen issues, or accessibility issues. All presenters were on time. I would say for a first shot, it was handled tremendously well.

To read this entire conversation, which appeared in the 2021 edition of Show & Tell Magazine, click here.