2007-2008 Automated Imaging Association Board of Directors Announced

(Ann Arbor, Michigan - February 20, 2007)  The Automated Imaging Association (AIA) announced its newly elected Board of Directors for 2007-2008 at its annual Business Conference in Orlando, Florida.  The AIA is the global trade association for the machine vision and imaging industry.  John Merva, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, CCS America Inc. has been elected 2007 President.  ‘‘I am excited to continue serving the industry in this important role with the AIA,’‘ Merva said.  ‘‘We have two particularly exciting initiatives for the next year.  The AIA’s international efforts are coming together with those of the European Machine Vision Association and the new Japan Industrial Imaging Association to create new global machine vision standards.  This should help our member companies create products to sell in global markets.  At the same time the AIA is investing in efforts to find new markets for machine vision technology.  Both of these efforts should assist business development for our members and grow the industry, which is the overall focus of the AIA,’‘ he explained.

Also newly elected to two-year terms on the AIA Board are: Glenn Archer, Director of Business Development, EPIC Vision Solutions; Michael Cyros, President, Allied Vision Technologies, Inc.; Mike Kelley, Director, Machine Vision, Neural ID; Rusty Ponce de Leon, President, Phase 1 Technology Corp.; Edward Roney, Development Manager-Vision, FANUC Robotics America, Inc. and Adil Shafi, President, SHAFI, Inc.

‘‘We’re looking forward to valuable insights from these industry veterans, each of whom has a great deal of experience in the machine vision industry,’‘ said Jeffrey A. Burnstein, AIA’s Executive Director.

Returning board members elected to new two-year terms include: Joseph Christenson, President & CEO, PPT Vision, Inc.; Rob Giesen, Senior Group Manager, National Instruments; Henrik Ilsby, Senior Vice President, JAI A/S; Dietmar Ley, CEO, Basler Vision Technologies; Amir Novini, President/CEO, Applied Vision Company; Keith Reuben, President, DALSA Asia-Pacific; and Bob Settle, Vice President, Worldwide Distribution, Cognex Corporation.

Donald Vincent, Executive Vice President, Automation Technologies Council remains on the Board as an ex-officio member.

Founded in 1984, AIA is the world’s largest machine vision trade group, representing over 265 member companies from 26 nations.  Members include leading suppliers of complete vision systems, vision components, system integrators, end users, OEMs, consulting firms, and research groups. 

AIA is best known for its annual Machine Vision Market Study (next study due out in March 2007); The International Robots & Vision Show and Conference (June 12-14, 2007 in Chicago, Illinois; The Vision Show and Conference; the annual AIA Business Conference (January 30 – February 1, 2008); and Machine Vision Online (www.machinevisiononline.org), the world’s leading resource for machine vision information on the internet.  For more information on AIA, visit www.machinevisiononline.org or contact AIA Headquarters at (734) 994-6088.