Electronics Trade Group Locates Regional Headquarters in Irvine : SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY
Orange County, with its burgeoning high-technology industry, will serve as regional headquarters for a leading electronics industry trade group.
The American Electronics Assn.’s office at Brinderson Tower in Irvine will coordinate the group’s activities throughout Southern California, Arizona, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
Membership in the AEA’s Orange County chapter, one of the fastest-growing in the nation, has climbed from 184 in 1986 to 253 today.
Orange County “really is the center of growth for the electronics industry” in Southern California, said Jefferson Z. Amacker, president of Buena Park-based Leach Corp. and head of the AEA’s Orange County Council.
The AEA, with 3,200 member companies, is the nation’s largest trade group serving the high-tech industry.
One of the AEA’s principal charges is lobbying for state and federal legislation favorable to the electronics industry.
In early February, 60 California high-tech executives will go to Sacramento to take their messages to state lawmakers. Frank Singer, president of FMH, a Costa Mesa electronics company, will head the Orange County delegation.
Issues that will be high on the AEA’s agenda, Singer said, include legislation that would require employers to give advance notice of plant closures and establish “comparable worth” employment guidelines. The trade group is opposed to both ideas. The group will also focus attention on issues such as taxes and improving scientific and technical education.
