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IPC Chairman of the Board Plzak Passes Away
September 25, 2003 |Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Northbrook, Ill. — IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries announces that Stan Plzak, chairman of the IPC Board of Directors, died on September 22, 2003, at St. Elizabeth Hospital, Appleton, Wis.
The memorial service will be held at 10 a.m., on Saturday, September 27, 2003, at the Salvation Army of the Fox Cities, 130 East North Ave., Appleton. In lieu of flowers, gifts to benefit Life Promotions Inc., "Instilling Hope in the Lives of Our Youth," 213 East College Avenue, Appleton, WI 54911; or the Salvation Army of the Fox Cities would be appreciated
Plzak spent most of his career as president and CEO of Pensar Corp. He helped found the company in 1983 and guided it until its acquisition by SMTC in 2000. Plzak helped take Pensar's sales from $125,000 to $50 million, building its staff from five people to more than 600. After the company was sold, he served as executive vice president of SMTC and as a member of the board until he retired this summer.
Plzak's interest in electronics began as a teenager. A lover of science, he took all the industrial arts classes in electricity and electronics that his high school offered. After graduating, he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he earned a degree in electrical engineering. He then obtained his MBA in 1974 from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and Plzak's career veered off the electronics path for a few years into logistics, finance, information systems and manufacturing operations. But he returned to electronics, joining Century Tech Corp. in 1981.
According to a 2001 interview, Plzak founded Pensar on three principles: integrity, continuous improvement, and mutual benefit. Pensar's mission was to provide both the highest quality assembly services for OEM customers, as well as offer product design, including circuit design, software and packaging.
In the late 1980s, Plzak became involved in IPC. He assumed a leadership role in the newly created EMSI Council, a management-focused working group representing the assembly industry. A few years later, he became the chair of the EMSI Steering Committee, holding this position until he accepted an invitation to join the IPC Board in 1997. He also served as liaison to the Technical Activities Executive Committee (TAEC) and Committee Chairmen Council (CCC). Plzak was involved in the creation of the Assembly Market Research Council (AMRC) before its merger with the Technology Market Research Council (TMRC).
In the same 2001 interview, he said, "The IPC Chairman should be a collaborative leader. The vision and objectives of IPC are created by the needs of its members and articulated by focus groups... My role is to positively influence this process." During his time as IPC board chairman, he focused the organization on meeting the goals defined in the 2001 Long-Range Strategic Plan.
Plzak came from humble beginnings and believed in giving back to the community. In addition to his volunteer work with IPC, he also served his country as an officer in the U.S. Army Field Artillery, serving as a unit commander from 1970-1972. Plzak served as chairman of the board of Rawhide Boys Ranch (a rehabilitative program for court adjudicated delinquent young men), director and chair of Life Promotions (speaker's bureau for teens facing difficult life choices), and member of the Salvation Army Board of Advisors for the Appleton Corps.
He will be missed by his wife, Sara, his daughters Lydia and Mai, a granddaughter, his family, friends, and the industry.
For more information on IPC, visit www.ipc.org.