With election
day already upon us, control of both the
U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S.
Senate along with 36 governorships will be
decided by voters. Elections will
also be held for over 6,000 of the 7,382
state legislative seats across the nation.
Two hundred ballot initiatives and
referenda are also on the ballot.
What will these elections bring? Be
part of the process and get involved in
shaping our future by voting tomorrow.
AeA will be
conducting numerous meetings with our
elected officials over the coming months in
Illinois, Washington, DC, and across the
country. Be sure to register for the
AeA Election Analysis & Lame Duck Planning
Session conference call on November 8
and stay tuned for details on
AeA's 2nd Annual Illinois Congressional
Fly-In. This will be our first
opportunity to interface with our existing
and newly elected congressional leaders.
Please be sure
to register for our upcoming programs and
take a moment to view AeA member news from
October. As always, please feel free
to contact me anytime with your questions,
comments or suggestions on how we can best
serve your needs:
ed_longanecker@aeanet.org,
630-613-7174. Thank you.
AeA Midwest
Events:
AeA Midwest
Announcements, and Member News:
Ed
Longanecker
Executive
Director
AeA Midwest Council
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China RoHS MII Delegation
Under AeA Sponsorship Makes
Unprecedented Visit to
U.S. to Discuss
Impending Chinese Environment Rules |
On October 26,
AeA hosted a half-day conference on China
RoHS (regulations restricting the use of
certain substances in the production of
electronic information products) that drew
a sold out crowd of over 250 people from
across the country to Sun Microsystem's
auditorium in Santa Clara, CA.
Attendees came to hear presentations by the
primary drafters and implementers of the
regulation from the
China Ministry of
Information Industries (MII). With
the impending effective date of March 1,
2007, companies were eagerly seeking more
information and clarification of the
requirements they will have to meet for
their products to be compliant.
AeA, with the
support of 12 sponsoring companies,
organized a ten-day trip from October 17-27
for the delegation of eleven senior MII
officials that included meetings in
Washington, DC;
Austin, TX; and
San Jose,
CA. For over two years the AeA China RoHS Coalition has been providing input to
these officials on U.S. company views and
concerns related to development and
implementation of the China RoHS
regulations, including several technical
exchanges in Beijing. This was the
first time that the MII group had met with
companies in the U.S. on the China RoHS
rules and the AeA program was the only
public opportunity for non-sponsoring
companies to hear first-hand the latest
information on the implementing rules.
Tad Ferris of
Holland and Knight law firm opened the
conference with an overview of the China
regulatory system and a summary of the key
issues related to China RoHS. This
was followed by a panel discussion with Joe
Johnson (Cisco) and Linda Young (Intel) on
how their companies are approaching
compliance with RoHS requirements in Europe
and globally. Finally, five different
MII speakers explained the current China
RoHS regulations and answered questions
trying to clarify ongoing U.S. industry
confusion and concerns.
The visit by
the MII officials provided a valuable
opportunity for AeA companies to ask many technical
questions while raising the regulator’s
awareness of some of the challenges
confronting companies seeking to comply
with the new rules. The AeA China RoHS Coalition will continue to lead U.S.
high-tech industry dialogue with MII as the
implementing rules are finalized over the
coming year. For more information
about AeA’s efforts and China RoHS, please
visit
www.aeanet.org/ChinaRoHs.
Rob Mulligan (bio)
Senior Vice President, International
The Chinese MII
Delegation including WANG Bingke, Deputy
Director General, Department of Economy and
Economic Operations, MII; AeA Executives William T. Archey (President & CEO) & Rob Mulligan
(Sr. VP International); and AeA Member
Company Representatives at the AeA DC
Headquarters on October 23.
For more information on the International Issues affecting your company, visit:
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Board
Meeting Update: New Chairman & Board
Members, Medal of Achievement Awarded, and
AeA Patent Reform Policy
I'd like to report to
you the events of our most recent
Board
Meeting, held October 17-19, in San Jose,
CA, and the 2006 Medal of Achievement
Dinner where AeA honored John Warnock and
Chuck Geschke, the Co-Founders and Chairmen
of
Adobe Systems Incorporated.
Medal of Achievement Dinner
Thanks to all who helped to make our
AeA
2006 Medal of Achievement Dinner a success,
including our Platinum Sponsors –
Adobe,
United Healthcare, and
Lionbridge and our
Gold Sponsors –
Applied Materials and
Guckenheimer. This was the first time
in 47 years that AeA honored luminaries
from the software sector. The more
than 300 attendees included the families of
this year’s honorees Chuck Geschke and John
Warnock, as well as Bruce Chizen, CEO,
Adobe Systems Incorporated.
AeA was honored to host a number of
foreign dignitaries and California
political leaders, including:
- Rita Bral, Consulate General of
Belgium;
- Soumen Bagchi, Consulate General of
India;
- Makoto Yamanaka, Consulate General of
Japan;
- Congresswoman, Anna G. Eshoo, 14th
Congressional District;
- California State Senate Candidate, Ellen Corbett, 10th District;
- California State Senator
Abel Maldonado;
- California Assemblywoman, Sally
Lieber, 22nd Assembly District;
- California Assemblyman, Ira Ruskin,
21st Assembly District;
- California Assemblyman, Alberto Torrico,
20th Assembly District;
- Brandon Gesicki, California District
Representative;
- Jon Kessler, California District
Director for Senator Alquist, California
State Senate; and
- Forrest Williams, Council Member,
District 2, City of San Jose.
During John and Chuck's acceptance
speeches, they shared with our audience the
imagination, innovation and risks it takes
to start a high-tech company. They
talked about their early beginnings and
highlighted
AeA's Classic Financial
Conference as being the financial
conference that provided them with plenty
of exposure to the right investors as they
were starting and growing Adobe Systems
Incorporated. It was AeA's honor to present
our 2006 Medal of Achievement Award to
Chuck Geschke and John Warnock for their
advancements and service to the high-tech
industry and our community.
Board Meeting Recap
First, I would like to thank Tom Edman for
his tireless work as the Chairman for the
past year and announce that Tim Guertin,
President & CEO,
Varian Medical Systems,
has been elected as the new Chairman of
the Board. Mr. Guertin has been an
active member of the Executive Committee of
the
Silicon Valley/Northern California
Council and is a highly respected executive
in the Valley and around the country.
Mr. Guertin has been with Varian Medical
Systems since he joined Varian Associates
in 1976 as an engineer. He has held a
variety of positions, including general
manager of customer support, general
manager of the radiation division for
Varian Associates, was named Vice President
in 1992, and Chief Operating Officer and
President of Varian Medical Systems in 2005. Mr. Guertin holds
a BS in electrical engineering and computer
sciences from the University of California
at Berkeley.
One of the first duties of the Chairman
was to moderate the Board’s discussion on
patent reform. AeA has thus come out with a position on
certain aspects of the issue. In
other instances we will remain neutral
because the Board was too split, and in one
issue we will be outright opposed.
Stay tuned for more information as AeA will
soon be releasing our Board recommended
Patent Reform Policy Statement.
Each of the four policy committees of
the Board also established the major
priorities for 2007, as well as provided a
recap of pending policy issues.
Lastly, I would like to welcome Peter J.
Boni, President & CEO,
Safeguard
Scientifics, Inc; Paul Domorski, President
& CEO,
EMS Technologies, Inc; Jay McNamara,
President & CEO,
Endicott Interconnect
Technologies, Inc; Sophie Vandebroek,
Vice President & CTO,
Xerox Corporation,
and Jennifer B. Wuamett, Vice President
Intellectual Property, Freescale
Semiconductor, as
our newest members to the Board.
The
next meeting of the Board will be from
January 29 - 31 in Hollywood, FL.
Sincerely,
William T. Archey (bio)
President and CEO, AeA
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Congress: Lame Duck? Ruptured
Duck. |
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As the end of
the year approaches, AeA waits to see what
the November Congressional elections will
do to the current majorities in the House
and Senate. What we know now is that
Congress will hold a lame duck session that
will begin on November 13 and could run for
as few as five days or go into December.
What happens at
the lame duck will be dependent on who wins
the elections the previous week,
non-the-less high tech has three priority
issues for the
session. Top on AeA’s agenda is extension of the
R&D
tax credit, which expired last year and has
not yet been renewed. We hope that we
can get at least a two year extension with
some modifications as to how the credit is
applied.
Next on the
list is
visa and green card reform.
Despite widespread support for some needed
changes in the numbers of visas and green
cards, the decision by congressional
leaders to tie this kind of reform to
overall immigration reform has prevented
any action at all because of passionate
opposition in the House of Representatives
to proposals affecting illegal immigrants.
AeA hopes that after the election, Congress
can take positive action to give some
relief in this vital area.
The third
priority for tech is increased funding for
government-funded basic research.
Although the House passed a bill to
increase funding on this important element
of President Bush’s
American Competitive
Initiative, the Senate failed to take
action. AeA is lobbying hard to
ensure that this key element of U.S.
competitiveness is adequately funded for FY
2007.
For more
insight on the effect of the elections on
high tech, attend or dial into AeA’s
Election Analysis on Wednesday, Nov. 8, at
noon Eastern Time. To get details on the
meeting or to register, click here:
www.aeanet.org/elections2006.
John
Palafoutas (bio)
Senior Vice President for Domestic
Policy & Congressional Affairs
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AeA
State Government Affairs to Hold
January SPAN Meeting in Santa Clara,
CA |
 AeA State
Government Affairs' (AeA/SGA) next State
Policy Action Network (SPAN) meeting will
be held at AeA's newly renovated Santa
Clara, California, facility on January 9
and 10.
The Bay Area
SPAN meeting is shaping up to be a great,
value-filled event, with additional
emphasis on:
-
legislative
strategy;
-
professional
development; and
-
case studies on
best practices.
Additionally,
AeA will be hosting a dinner event on
January 9. If interested in
attending, please visit
www.aeanet.org/span2007 to sign up.
Marc-Anthony Signorino
(bio)
Director, State
Government Affairs
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Attend AeA's
Government-Industry Executive
Interchange:
Actionable Opportunities in
e-Health and Identity
Management
 Be
part of AeA's next
Government & Commercial
Markets Group (GCMG)
conference and premiere
executive networking series
for high-tech leaders, on
December 7 in Washington, DC,
discussing E-Health & Identity
Management. As part of
AeA's Government-Industry
Executive Interchanges,
GCMG brings together federal
Chief Information Officers,
program managers, and top
government procurement
officials with senior-level
executives from the high-tech
industry for an intimate
gathering that allows
government and business power
players to share insights
privately and exchange best
practices.
The following key areas of
emerging technology will be
discussed at this conference:
-
E-Health: Trends,
Challenges, and Actionable
Opportunities
-
Identity Management:
Biometric and RFID
Technologies
The keynote address will be
delivered by the Honorable
Dale Meyerrose (bio).
Mr. Meyerrose serves as Chief
Information Officer to the
U.S. Intelligence Community
and has procurement approval
authority over all information
technology items related to
the enterprise architectures
of all Intelligence Community
components. Mr.
Meyerrose came to this
position after over thirty
years of military service,
culminating with his
retirement from the United
States Air Force as a Major
General in November 2005.
Register for this event online
or for more information on
this program contact
Goldy Kamali, Director,
Federal Government Market
Group, at 202.682.4432.
Greg Poersch
(bio)
Vice President, Government and
Commercial Markets Group
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Save on Every Car Rental with Avis
and Hertz
Take Advantage of Special Savings
& Exclusive Services
AeA members can
enjoy great benefits in savings
and special services with Avis.
Rent with Avis using your AeA/Avis
Worldwide Discount Number (AWD)
and you will save up to 25% on
business and leisure car rentals.
Also, check out our Avis Preferred®
Service, so you can skip the lines
and paperwork and go right to your
car. With great products like XM
Satellite Radio, Where2™ GPS
Navigation, Avis Wi-Fi and our
Cool Cars fleet from Avis, you’ll
see that our “trying harder”
spirit knows no bounds for
members, every time you hit the
road. For additional program
information, visit
www.aeanet.org/avis
or contact our
AeA/Avis Specialist at
301.441.3481.
Plan on More Productive Employees
Every Business Trip
Hertz has all the
right products and services for
business travel.
Wherever your
employees’ next business trip
takes them, book Hertz and plan on
everything going smoothly. Because
Hertz has everything needed for a
more productive trip. Like
reliable, newer vehicles, and
thousands of locations across the
country. Hertz also offers #1 Club
Gold®, so your
employees can spend less time at
the airport and more time focusing
on business. And with NeverLost®,
the GPS in-car navigation
satellite system, getting there is
easy. Find Hertz on the web at
www.aeanet.org/hertz. For
additional program information,
contact our
AeA/Hertz Specialist at
877.257.9461. And when you want everything to go
according to plan, book Hertz. It’s your business.
Rent Wisely.
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The Challenge to
Achieve Worksite Wellness
A principal objective of AeA's corporate
initiative on
healthcare is to provide our
member companies with tools to more
effectively manage and control costs.
There is widespread agreement now within
the high-tech, medical, and insurance
industries that the promotion of wellness
through healthy lifestyle choices can
measurably impact employee health status
and satisfaction, as well as trends in
corporate health claims.
However, it is oftentimes difficult for
small and intermediate size companies to
organize and sustain wellness initiatives
at the enterprise level. To help
address this need, AeA will introduce in
2007 a National Wellness Challenge
designed to help our member companies
better communicate the importance of
healthy lifestyles to their members.
Recently, AeA endorsed
UnitedHealthcare
as our preferred national insurance
provider. Part of our new agreement
establishes substantially more
sophisticated wellness tools and support
for participating companies.
Three immediately addressable categories
of lifestyle choices, which are
statistically proven to drive medical costs,
include: smoking, improper diet and eating
disorders, and lack of exercise. AeA's National Wellness Challenge will
focus on three core components:
- Lifestyle choice education campaign
to encourage employees and their
dependents to reduce body weight by
better diet.
- Campaign to promote physical exercise
by high-tech employees and their families
through walking, biking, jogging, or
other regular indoor exercise.
- National smoking cessation and
healthy lung awareness initiative focused
on those populations which have seen the
highest rates of smoking and which
clearly lead to greater incidence of
heart disease and severe risk of lung
cancer.
The first building block of all these
campaigns is information. Many
important informational tools are available
through the
UnitedHealthwellness.com website which
offers employees and their families a very
positive approach to wellness. The
beginning step is completion of a health
and wellness self-assessment survey to
identify those areas where an annual
medical check-up, nutrition, exercising,
smoking cessation, stress relief, and more
can improve outlook and well-being of
employees and dependents. This web
site offers many tools for setting goals
and tracking progress as well as discounts
on health and wellness products.
Through the unique AeA program with
UnitedHealthcare, we also have the ability
to offer participating employers on-site
educational forums led by specially trained
nurse practitioners to work directly with
employees on reinforcement of wellness
issues.
UnitedHealthcare also offers a wide
range of disease management programs for
those individuals that are already dealing
with chronic illness or specific medical
conditions. These programs are also
designed to improve health and focus on
successful outcomes of existing medical
conditions.
One area of particular importance is
UnitedHealthcare’s healthy pregnancy
program to support and reinforce
pregnant women throughout gestation.
As a final note, the wellness portfolio
offered through UnitedHealthcare is fully
integrated with their 24/7 nurse and
counselor telephone help lines which
include mental health and preventive care
assistance.
AeA will distribute to our member
companies more information on how they can
participate in this national wellness
challenge throughout 2007. We'll be
providing a range of materials and
information and events to support better
health awareness through wellness at the
workplace. For additional information on
the AeA Wellness Challenge, please contact
Eric
Meyer, AeA Vice President of Insurance
Services, at 202.682.4430.
We urge your company to build worksite
wellness into your planning model for
corporate objectives in 2007.
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All Four
Sectors of the U.S. Tech Industry
Add Jobs in the First Half of 2006
Tech
Manufacturing Employment Up for Second
Year in a Row
Employment
By High-Tech Sector
(January 2006 - June 2006)
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics
The U.S.
high-tech industry added 140,200 net
jobs between January and June of 2006,
a 2.5 percent increase, for an
industry total of 5.81 jobs.
This is nearly double the 78,900 tech
jobs added in the first half of 2005.
All four tech sectors added jobs over
this time period. Nonetheless,
the January to June 2006 tech job
growth lags that of the U.S. private
sector, which rose by 3.5 percent over
that period.
For more
details on high-tech employment
trends, see AeA's most recent
installment of our ongoing
Competitiveness Series.
For more
information on Industry Data and AeA Publications visit
www.aeanet.org/research
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AeA Honors
Co-Chairs/Co-Founders of Adobe Systems Incorporated with the Annual Medal
of Achievement Award
William T. Archey, President & CEO,
AeA; Dr. John Warnock, Co-Chairman, Adobe; Dr. Charles M.
Geschke, Co-Chairman, Adobe, and winners of the
2006 AeA
Medal of Achievement; Tim Guertin, President & CEO,
Varian Medical Systems, and 2007 Chairman of the AeA Board; and
Tom Edman, VP, Applied Materials, and 2006 Chairman of the AeA
Board (L-R).
Bruce Chizen, CEO, Adobe |
The Medal of Achievement
Awards |
300+ MOA guests enjoy networking |
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AeA awarded
$3,000 on October 6 to promising students
that plan to study Science, Technology,
Engineering, or Math (STEM). Nearly
300 of Colorado's business leaders attended
the
Celebrate Technology Awards 2006 in
Colorado Springs, CO, where nearly $10,000
was raised for educational scholarships. |
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Nearly 130
investors and tech executives enjoyed
networking at the first annual
AeA Technology Capital Conference in
beautiful Dana Point, CA, Oct 11-12. The
conference showcased 18 privately held
technology companies from across the
country. |
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On October 12,
the AeA San Diego Council hosted the sold
out
13th Annual High Tech Awards.
Nearly 600 attendees gathered to recognize
the winners: Exametric, Inc.;
WebSideStory; Continuous Computing;
Staccato Communications; XIFIN, Inc.; Elgar
Electronics Corp.; Dexcom, Inc.; and
Verimatrix, Inc. |
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On October 19,
AeA's
Midwest Council CFO Committee met
including CFOs from Andrew Corporation,
ISCO International, Littlefuse, Cabot
Microelectronics, eCollege, M-Wave Inc,
Nanophase Technologies, Inc, Vasco Data
Security, and Stratos International for an
opportunity for private networking with
industry peers and to openly address issues
of mutual interest and concern to finance
professionals. |
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AeA
hosted a delegation of 11 senior Chinese
Government Ministry of Information
Industries (MII) officials in
Washington, DC; Austin, TX; and Silicon
Valley, CA, for ten days of meetings with
U.S. high-tech companies to discuss the
China RoHS regulations. Pictured are WANG Bingke,
Deputy Director General, Department of
Economy Reform and Economic Operations of MII, Leader of China RoHS Standard Working
Group, and William T. Archey, President &
CEO, AeA, on October 23 at the AeA David
Packard Conference Center in DC. |
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