IEEE Annual Election: IEEE President-Elect Candidates

Roger D. Pollard

ROGER D. POLLARD
(Nominated by IEEE Board of Directors)

Emeritus Professor, The University of Leeds, UK
Bournemouth, United Kingdom

Consulting Engineer, Agilent Technologies
Santa Rosa, California, USA
www.rogerpollard.org

Roger Pollard’s professional career has been in both academia and industry. Until September 2010, he was Professor and Dean of Engineering at the University of Leeds where he had been a faculty member since 1974. Since 1981, he has also been consulting engineer at Agilent Technologies (formerly Hewlett-Packard Company), Santa Rosa, CA where he continues working on the next generation of network analyzers. He has made research contributions to high-frequency devices and is noted for work in microwave and millimeter-wave circuits, network measurements, calibration and error correction, terahertz technology and large-signal characterization.

He has authored technical contributions in books, over 150 journal articles, 3 patents and company and commercial publications.

Roger was elected to the UK’s national academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering, in 2005 and is an IEEE Fellow, a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the IET (formerly the IEE).

IEEE Accomplishments and Activities
(M’77-SM’91-F’97)

I have served in a wide range of IEEE volunteer roles. These include IEEE Vice-President, IEEE Secretary, IEEE Board of Directors, Technical Activities Board (including a term as its chairman), Publications, Services and Products Board, Awards Board, Fellow Committee, Admissions and Advancement Committee, and the New Initiatives Committee. I have focussed on strategic planning and contributed to numerous important developments.

As Chair of the TAB/PAB Electronic Products Committee I provided the leadership for the creation and launch of IEEE-Xplore, a world-class resource of technical information. I led the development of the Publication Services and Products Board strategic plan articulating the goal for IEEE to be the world’s leader in technology information, offering a vision for the continued transformation to meet the evolving needs of IEEE’s members and customers.

In the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland Section, I have had most roles including Section Chair, Section and Region committee member, Chapter founder member, treasurer and chair and Membership Development Chair.

I served as Microwave Theory and Techniques Society President and chaired many of its committees including Publications, Membership, Transnational, Meetings, Long-Range Planning, Budget, Marketing and Publicity, Nominations and Appointments. I am proud to have pioneered the MTT-S electronic information activities (e-mail, WWW and electronic publishing including the complete digital archive of everything since the Society’s 1952 foundation).

I have considerable experience of conference organization include responsibility as chair, publications and technical program. On the 1996 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Steering Committee, I created the conference's first publication of the Digest on CD-ROM and have subsequently served as Technical Program Chair, 2006 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium, (approximately 1,000 submitted papers, 45 workshops, 10,000 attendees) as well as Co-Chair and Treasurer, 2006 European Microwave Week. 
 

Statement

IEEE has been an important part of my 40-year career in academia and industry. Wishing to give back to the profession that has given me so much, as President, I would strive to maintain and grow the IEEE whose strengths are in its technical and regional diversity, highly committed volunteers and staff, and the international scope and reputation of its products and services.

IEEE should provide its members with their technical and geographic home and resources at all stages of their careers. Fulfilling IEEE’s mission requires that its members are successful and their technologies benefit society at large. The key elements for IEEE's success are:

• Nurturing and sustaining global, diverse, decentralized communities.
• Support for new and emerging technologies through conferences promoting rapid communication of information, networking and community building.
• An efficient, effective, coherent, flexible, responsive, affordable and consistent infrastructure.
• Developing IEEE’s vast database of technical articles into world-class tools and providing an indispensible resource for the widest range of practitioners.
• Increasing the range of membership opportunities and providing loyalty benefits.

My technical and leadership skills in university and industry and my breadth of IEEE volunteer experience in technical, regional, publications and conference activities equip me to work effectively with members, volunteers, staff and external organizations. Please support my belief that we need open communication, consensus building, imaginative problem solving and efficient use of resources building IEEE as a global community of professionals that satisfies present needs but has a bold vision for the future. 

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Peter W. Staecker

PETER W. STAECKER
(Nominated by IEEE Board of Directors)

AMP M/A-COM (Retired)
Lowell, Massachusetts, USA
www.peterstaecker.net

Peter Staecker holds BS and EE degrees from MIT, and MS and PhD degrees from Polytechnic University. His professional career started in 1972 at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, where he developed microwave design and test techniques for satellite communications. In 1986 he joined M/A-COM, where he led program, product and process development, then helped the company’s transition from defense to commercial markets. During this period he also established strong ties with US and European universities and with research organizations. He retired from M/A-COM as Director of Research & Development.

Staecker served industry and government on manufacturing and advisory panels, and is consulting editor to Microwave Journal.

Staecker is Past-President and Honorary Life Member of the MTT Society, and is an IEEE Life Fellow. His 28-year service to IEEE includes leadership roles in Finance, Strategic Planning, Publications, and Membership. He has served on the IEEE Board of Directors for five years.

IEEE Accomplishments and Activities
(S’62-S’65-M’72-SM’87-F’95-LF’08)

MTT-S Administrative Committee (from 1986):

• Created the first digital Society Operations Manual
• Codified the MTT-S Awards portfolio and process and created its digital archive.
• Chaired the Site Selection process for MTT’s International Microwave Symposium (IMS), chaired the meeting in 1991, and introduced e-submission in 2000.
• Organized and grew additional conferences, and served as Society President in 1993.
• Led IEEE Strategic Planning process adoption by MTT-S (2008)
• Helped students and faculty establish IEEE and MTT-S student branches in China (2008-2009). 

Division IV Director (2001-2002: financial crisis)

• Led efforts to assure future financial operational stability,
• Worked with volunteers/ staff to reduce expenses (e.g., trimming US$1M/year from membership costs).
• Developed performance metrics used today by Societies to monitor and improve their financial operations.

TAB Treasurer/PSPB Treasurer (2003-2006: recovery)

• Encouraged Societies to invest in reducing technical journal manuscript backlog, and in digitizing archives for the IEEE Electronic Library.
• Chaired a 2006 PSPB Ad Hoc Committee on IEEE Spectrum, which recommended creating an electronic delivery platform (2006).
• Today, there’s an app for that.

VP-Elect/VP/Past VP Technical Activities (2006-2008: strategy)

• Engaged Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) with the Technical Activities Board (TAB). Societies with GOLD members in their administrative bodies tripled in two years.
• Led TAB through the process of developing and ratifying a comprehensive strategic plan.
• Chaired a Presidential Ad Hoc Committee on volunteer leadership, developing elements of a program to improve leadership skills that are now integrated into the IEEE nominations and appointments (N&A) process. 

IEEE Treasurer (2009-2010: recovery and investment)

• Led FinCom volunteer/staff effort to reduce budget development time. 
• Following two bad economic years, executed cost containment in 2009 and smart spending in 2010, using surplus to commit to extensive investments for new publication products. 

 Statement

As President I will deploy the collective strengths of our members in five principal areas:

Advancing Technology
Extend IEEE’s technical fields of interest to new areas and emerging technologies, including the smart grid, cloud computing, and bio-informatics.

Improving Quality of our Publications and Conferences

• Improve editorial and publishing metrics and reader feedback, thereby enhancing the quality of our publications.
• Secure the reputation of IEEE’s technical conferences as best in class.

Deploying Technology for Humanitarian Purposes

• Apply the considerable strengths of the IEEE community for humanitarian purposes.
• Motivate and develop the best and brightest to lead IEEE’s humanitarian efforts.

Increasing the Value of IEEE Membership
Add benefits, features and access opportunities,

• …globally, where growth has been slow, and in emerging economies.
• …for professionals in their first 5 years of membership, who represent nearly half of our member base.

Providing Life-long Career Support and Resources for IEEE Members

• Expand IEEE continuing education and certification programs.
• Recognize achievements of members in industry, especially for elevation to Fellow member grade.
• Increase global and local professional activity support in career management and transition, and leadership training.

I will apply the leadership skills I have gained professionally and my 28-year experience as an IEEE volunteer.

I will be guided by respect for fellow volunteers and staff, recognition of the value of membership, and a thorough understanding of the business and culture of IEEE.

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