Solid-State Circuits Council Conversion to a Society: In 1995, the Solid-State Circuits Council began to investigate the possibility of becoming a society. After much discussion, the Council decided that it was very important for the needs of its constituency to become a society. I worked with other members of the SSCC AdCom, creating the Constitution and ByLaws, developing the formal TAB proposal, and helping to overcome some strong opposition. The SSCC became the SSCS on January 1, 1997, and I served as the first elected president of the Society in 1998-1999. The Society has been very successful; SSCS is now the 5th largest Society in IEEE, the Journal of Solid-State Circuits went from 7000+ subscriptions to around 14K subscriptions at its peak, and it has the highest number of hits of any IEEE publication in IEL.

Similarly, I helped in the creation of the Council on Electronic Design Automation, working with the creating team and the CAS reps, playing Devil’s Advocate, and helping them through the process.

TAB Treasurer, and the 2001 Downturn: In 1995, I was appointed TAB Treasurer in mid-term after TAB had become confused about the current financial situation, and had lost confidence in the then current TAB Treasurer. I was appointed TAB Treasurer, and working with an excellent staff, clarified the TAB financial situation and restored TAB confidence. It was at this time we established financing TAB through the TAB Support line, which made the revenue and expense allocation fairer and more transparent. This approach continues to remain in place. I was appointed to a second 2-year term as Treasurer.

In 2001, the IEEE faced major deficits and the Board had to make hard decisions. I was part of the BoD team that worked through the problems, made the decisions, established the requirement of a balanced operating budget, and stabilized the financial situation. I (unsuccessfully) opposed the use of IEEE reserves to pay off a large loan which IEEE had at the time; that position has proven correct, as interest rates stayed low and the IEEE reserves have more than recovered, greatly exceeding what they were at the time.

New Conferences: Over the years, I have been involved in the creation of six new conferences. Two of them are in Regions 1-6 (ICCD and the Int. Symposium on Low Power Electronics and Design); two alternate between Region 10 and Region 6 (the VLSI Technology Symposium and the VLSI Circuits Symposium); one is in Region 10 (the Int. Symposium on VLSI Technology, Systems, and Applications, initially a biennial conference that has recently split into two annual conferences, one on VLSI circuits, design and test, and the other on VLSI technology); and one is in Region 8 (ESSCIRC). All the conferences are still in existence and are, in fact, key conferences in their respective fields.

JSSC Editor: During my tenure as Journal of Solid-State Circuits Editor, it increased in size by almost 30% over three years while retaining its submission to publication delay less than 1 year for submitted papers. With the start of the new European Solid-State Circuits Conference (ESSCIRC), I created an annual special issue for expanded versions of its best papers. It was the first Journal special issue annual series from a conference held outside of Regions 1-6, and has proven quite successful.

Fellow and Awards Nominations: Over the years, I have been very active making nominations for IEEE Fellow and Awards. I have been the nominator or directly involved with at least 10 successful IEEE Fellow nominations, two successful IEEE Technical Field Award Nominations, and two successful IEEE Medal nominations, one for the Edison Medal, and the other for the IEEE Medal of Honor.

IEEE President-Elect Elections: In 2004, I proposed that the Board recommend only two candidates for IEEE President-Elect. I pointed out only in that case would the winner be sure of receiving a majority of the votes cast. The motion passed, though a petition candidate resulted in a three way race, with yet another plurality winner. In 2005, as a potential candidate, I felt could not make the motion, but it was made and carried, and in the absence of a petition candidate, at long last we will have a majority winner.