The story
AeA was founded in 1943 by David Packard and 25 of Hewlett-Packard's suppliers to help lobby for government contracts. It was originally named the West Coast Electronic Manufacturers Association (WCEMA). In 1969, WCEMA changed its name to the Western Electronic Manufacturers Association (WEMA) to reflect the growing membership outside California. In 1977, the association once again changed its name to the American Electronics Association, in an effort to more accurately represent its 750 members nationwide. With the addition of an experienced CEO and EVP’s the association grew to 3000 members from Tech Centers throughout the USA, Japan and Europe. With the internet age at the turn of the century, a final name change occurred in 2001, as the American Electronics Association was shortened to AeA with the tagline "Advancing the Business of Technology."
AeA had 18 offices across the United States, and had two international offices in Brussels and Tokyo. AeA had nearly 3,000 corporate members (and the 1.8 million employees they represent nationwide) at the time of the merger. The membership was drawn from a wide range of high tech sectors, including the aerospace/defense, business related services, computers, medical equipment, semiconductors/electronic components, software, and telecommunications industries.
Since 1959, AeA has awarded an annual Medal of Achievement to a recipient selected for contributions and advances within the high-tech industry, their community, and humankind.
AeA also produced an annual Cyberstates report which quantifies the high-tech industry on a state-by-state basis in the United States.
On September 11, 2008, The Boards of Directors of weakened AeA and the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) announced that they are in discussions to merge the trade associations’ memberships and programs.
On December 9, 2008, the Boards of Directors of AeA and ITAA announced that they have each approved the merger of the two trade associations' memberships and programs. The combined associations became TechAmerica (The Technology Association of America) on January 1, 2009.
From Wikipedia’s article on AeA, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3