The candidates running for 2008 IEEE President-Elect are [from left to right] Marc Apter, Pedro Ray, and John Vig.

With IEEE elections three months away, The Institute spoke with the candidates already on the ballot for 2008 President-Elect to learn more about them. Marc Apter, Pedro Ray, and John Vig were chosen as candidates by the IEEE Board of Directors.

Apter and Ray are first-time candidates, while this is Vig’s second try at the office. He came in second behind Lewis Terman for 2007 President-Elect.

All three men are, in a sense, entrepreneurs. Apter and Vig work as independent consultants after retiring from U.S. government agencies. Ray is the founder of one of the largest architectural design firms in Puerto Rico, and he owns several other companies.

Apter, an IEEE senior member, is a consultant on information assurance and computer security policy for EG&G Technical Services, in Gaithersburg, Md., a subsidiary of URS Corp., in San Francisco. He began consulting following his retirement in 2000 after 36 years at the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command, in Washington, D.C.

Vig, an IEEE Fellow, is a technical consultant to Systems Planning Corp., in Arlington, Va., and also serves on the technical advisory board of SiTime Corp., a Silicon Valley start-up. He retired in 2006 after 36 years as an electronics engineer leading R&D programs at the U.S. Army Communications and Electronics Research, Development, and Engineering Center, in Fort Monmouth, N.J.

Ray, a senior member, is chief executive of Ray Engineers, a company he founded in Old San Juan. He also owns Magdalena 1212, a builder of luxury, high-rise condominiums, and River Stone Development, which erects office buildings.

The three are familiar with how the IEEE runs, having served on the IEEE Board of Directors and as directors of its regional or technical activities boards. Vig was director of Division IX in 2002 and 2003, and he was vice president of IEEE Technical Activities in 2005. This is Ray’s second year as vice president of Regional Activities, succeeding Apter, who held that position in 2004 and 2005. Ray was IEEE treasurer in 2003 and 2004 and director of Region 9 (Latin America) in 2000 and 2001. Apter was director of Region 2 (Eastern United States) in 2001 and 2002.

TECHNICALLY SPEAKING When The Institute interviewed Vig during last year’s run [see “Up Close with the President-Elect Candidates,” June 2006], he was a recent retiree who had just begun consulting. “I didn’t really retire, I just changed jobs,” he explains.

Today he offers his expertise on frequency-control issues and on projects that involve quartz crystals and other kinds of oscillators, including cutting-edge technologies such as nanoelectromechanical systems. He is helping SiTime with its goal of displacing the low end of the quartz business with silicon-based resonators and oscillators.

In Apter’s role as a consultant, he works on projects involving information assurance and computer security for EG&G’s clients, which include the U.S. Department of Defense. Although he likes the flexibility of working from home and “not sitting and looking at four cubicle walls all the time,” he cares less for the other part of his job: drumming up new business and marketing his services.

Ray, as chief executive of Ray En­gineers, is responsible for developing strategies for the 100-employee company, marketing its architectural services, and bringing in new business. He likes the challenge of new projects such as the cruise ship terminals and three piers he just completed in Old San Juan. For him, the worst part of his job is dealing with personnel issues. “I think that sentiment is shared by a lot of people,” he says.

Who inspired these three to take up physics and engineering? For Vig and Ray, it was their fathers. Vig’s was a successful jewelry manufacturer and a self-educated man. Ray’s father was an engineer who owned an engineering firm.

For Apter, it was the school system. When he was in high school, becoming an engineer was the career choice for young men who excelled at math, he says. And Apter excelled. He received his bachelor’s of science degree in electrical engineering in 1964 from Pennsylvania State University, in University Park.

Vig earned his bachelor’s degree from the City College of New York also in 1964, and master’s and doctoral degrees from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., in 1966 and 1969, respectively—all in physics.

Ray received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech in 1982 and 1983, respectively.

All three candidates say that the key to a successful career is to never stop learning.

“Nearly everything today is interdisciplinary,” Vig says. “Not only is it important for a person to keep up with his or her own field, it’s also important to maintain an awareness of advances in other fields of engineering and science. It also helps to know about the soft sciences, such as finance, effective communications, and leadership.”

Members should make time to further their education, according to Apter. “An engineering degree is not enough,” he says. “Learn how to write and how to make presentations. And consider getting a professional engineer’s license. It might make a difference whether you get the next job or the next promotion.”

“Whether it’s reading books or going to IEEE meetings, you need to continue your education,” Ray says. “You need to differentiate yourself. If you don’t, you’re not going to advance.” He returned to school to learn about running a business, and he graduated in 2001 from the Harvard Business School.

“Engineers are used to looking at finite solutions; we like one answer,” he says. “Business schools teach you that there’s no one solution; they show you to see the world in different ways.”

GREAT THINGS What is it about the IEEE that keeps the three candidates volunteering, year after year? Vig joined shortly after graduating from college, while Apter and Ray joined as student members.

For Vig, it’s “all the great things the IEEE does. The IEEE’s products and services—primarily publications, conferences, standards, educational products, and geographic activities—are making the world a better place,” he says.

Ray likes the networking opportunities. “I enjoy the people, and I’ve made a lot of friends around the world,” he says. “I like to be part of this community, and I cherish the relationships I’ve built.”

Apter has stayed, he says, because he counted on the IEEE to help him at each stage of his career. When he started out, he turned to its publications to get the practical information he needed. “The information matched up perfectly to the type of job I had,” he says. Later in his career, it was meeting experts at conferences. Now the networking opportunities are more important to him.

In their spare time, the three men know how to have fun. Ray likes to ski and cruise around the Caribbean on his yacht with his wife, Nilsa, and their two daughters.

Apter travels with his wife, Rose, and their five children and six grandchildren. He also enjoys reading biographies and history books.

Vig pursues his passion of ballroom dancing with his wife, Arianna. He also volunteers for the Environmental Commission in his hometown of Colts Neck, N.J., and is the editor of the township’s Web site.

The ballot package for the election is scheduled to be sent via first-class mail to voting members by 1 September. Apter, Ray, and Vig may be joined on the ballot by members who successfully petition the IEEE membership to become candidates for 2008 President-Elect.

To learn more about each of the candidates, visit http://www.ieee.org/election.