The Upper Midwest (UMW) chapter is one of the oldest and very active chapter in the Society of Information Display (SID). The SID was founded in Room 3400, Boelter Hall, UCLA, on September 29, 1962, by Dr. H.R. Luxenberg and 39 attendees who represented major high-tech firms. The UMW Chapter was formed in early 70’s, when SID had only a few chapters. It was called Minneapolis- St. Paul (MSP) Chapter in early days. Dr. Birendra Bahadur was able to convince SID in 2003 to change the chapter’s name to the Upper Midwest (UMW) chapter to reflect its broad geographical area. The Chapter serves the membership of SID in the Upper Midwestern area of the United States; including, but not limited to, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. The chapter functions and activities are, in general, carried out by our dedicated volunteers within the geographical area covered by these states. We arrange ~ 6-8 chapter meetings every year on display related technical topics and encourage people to participate in SID activities and membership. Any SID member can attend the chapter meetings. Non SID members are also welcomed to attend our technical meetings. The chapter also arranges some joint meetings, including annual MinnTS (www.minnts.org), with other societies to promote display activities in our chapter. Monthly chapter executive meetings are held regularly to discuss chapter issues and programs. Our UMW Chapter members actively participate in SID (www.sid.org) programs and conferences.

In early days (1970- 1985), Martin Noffke, Vern Born, Tom Werner, Richard Jamieson, Edward Tomzack, Robert Shurson and Russel Ingvaldsen were very active and laid the foundation of this active chapter and arranged numerous chapter meetings. During 1986-2000 period, the chapter was led and managed by Tom Werner, Vern Born, Vic Holec, Edward Tomzack, Robert Shurson and Russel Ingvaldsen. During 2001- 2015 period, some of the noteworthy executive members serving more than 5 years, have been Birendra Bahadur, Vic Holec, Vern Born, Robert Shurson, Russel Ingvaldsen, Phil Downen, Madhu Reddy, Bo Polak and James Lupino. Vern Born (~35 years), Rusel Ingalaldsen (~20 years), Bob Shurson (~ 35 years) and Birendra Bahadur ((~15)   served the chapter for quite long time. Vern, Bob and Russel retired during 2005- 2009. Dr. Birendra Bahadur was brought in chapter executive in 2001 and is credited to transform the chapter to its current form. Besides numerous activities, he also wrote the current chapter bylaws with assistance of Tony Lowe (SID bylaws chair) and got it approved from UMW chapter and SID in 2013. James Lupino has been an excellent volunteer for arranging chapter meetings during this period. Dr. Bahadur retired from the chapter directorship in June 2015 due to his health but is still providing his advices and mentorship to the chapter executive. The chapter is currently led by Bruce Hufnagel, Mike Wilson, Madhu Reddy, Tracy Barnidge, James Lupino and Hari Atkuri. Names of all the volunteers and executive members could not be mentioned due to the limited space, but certainly the chapter is very thankful to all of them for their selfless dedication and contributions during last 45 years.

The following chart, prepared by Dr. Bahadur, shows the names and positions of all the UMW chapter executive members to the best of our knowledge and records.