AeANET : AeA Midwest Council : State Government Affairs

March 17, 2006: (Washington, DC) On March 8th members of AeA's Midwest Board participated in a fly-in to Washington, D.C. to lobby Illinois Congressional leaders and the SEC on critical issues facing the high-tech industry. Members met with the offices of Representative Henry Hyde, Representative Ray LaHood, Representative Rahm Emanuel, Representative John Shimkus, SEC Commissioners Paul Atkins and Annette Nazareth and members of the PCAOB. Among the issues discussed were US Competitiveness, Highly-skilled Visa Reform, Education and SOX 404. For more information on AeA's ongoing competitiveness initiative, please visit the AeA Competitiveness page.

January 23, 2006: Members of AeA's Midwest Executive Board met with Congresswoman Melissa Bean to discuss issues of concern to the Illinois high-tech industry, including, education, a greater emphasis on math & science in K-12, SOX 404, immigration, the R&D Tax Credit, IP protection, the rising cost of health care, and a general discussion on how to enhance the high tech sector in Chicago. AeA's meeting with Congresswoman Bean was part of an ongoing effort to raise the visibility of high tech in Illinois and the business issues facing our industry. For more information, please contact Ed Longanecker, Executive Director, AeA Midwest Council, 613-613-7174.

Senator Bob Nelson (D-NE) with retired AeA CEO, Bill Archey at AeA's Cyberseries program	Representative Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) and John Palafoutas at AeA's Cyberseries program
Tony Hylton, Cook County CIO & Ed Longanecker, Executive Director, AeA Midwest Council
L-R: Ed Longanecker, Executive Director, AeA Midwest Council, MayeBeth Hadfield, Partner, The Roosevelt Group; Monica Mueller, Director, State Legislative Affairs, Motorola; Michael Schamberger, Partner, Grant Thornton; Karla Mitchell, Corporate Counsel, Cabot Microelectronics; Marty Singer, Chairman, CEO, PCTEL, Inc.; T. Kendall Hunt, Chairman, CEO, VASCO Data Security; Joe Cross, President, Chief Executive Officer, Nanophase Technologies; Tom Cross, Illinois House Republican Leader; Bob Blee, Senior Manager, Silicon Valley Bank; John Thode, Chief Executive Officer, ISCO International; Steve Deppe, President, Antenna Products Group, PCTEL, Inc.; Michael Noonan, The Roosevelt Group; Dave Samyn, General Manager, Littelfuse, Inc.; Bill Guidera, Senior Counsel, Microsoft
L to R: Marty Singer, Chairman & CEO, PCTEL: Representative Dennis Hastert; Bob Binder, President, Mverify; Stephen Crout, Director, Motorola	L to R: Marty Singer, Chairman & CEO, PCTel; Paul Atkins, SEC Commissioner
From left to right: Ed Longanecker, AEA Midwest Council; Michael Schamberger, Partner, Grant Thornton; Marty Singer, CEO, PCTEL and AeA Midwest Council Chairman; William Weissman, EVP/CFO, Kanbay International; Kendall T. Hunt, Chairman/CEO, VASCO Data International, Congresswoman Melissa Bean, Bob Nelson, John Thode, CEO, ISCO International.
Ed Longanecker, Executive Director, AeA Midwest Council; Christopher O'Brien, CIO, Chicago; Phil McGuigan, Partner, Gordon & Glickson LLC; Rhonda Starr, Director Procurement Programs, AeA; Brian Flood, VP Sales/Client Services, FSI; Nancy Wuttke, Outreach Coordinator for Procurement Services, State of IL Small & Minority Owned Business Initiative; and Antonio Daniels, CTO, Dept. of Central Management Services (CMS), State of Illinois (L - R)