ECIA announced the recipient of the association’s highest annual honour, the Northstar Award. This accolade celebrates individuals whose unwavering commitment, exceptional leadership, and tireless dedication have significantly impacted the field of electronic components and the ECIA community.
ECIA President and CEO David Loftus announced the winner at the 2025 Executive Conference held in Rosemont last month.
“I’m honoured to present this year’s award to Mark Shiring, CEO Americas of ebm-papst,” he remarked at the conference. “Mark has led ebm-papst since 2015, where he has built, staffed, and optimised new manufacturing plants in the US, yet he has still somehow found time to invest significant time in ECIA. Mark served a full six-year term on the EDS board of directors. He has served on the ECIA Manufacturer Council since 2018. Mark was voted onto the ECIA Board of Directors in 2019 and served as Board Chair for a two-year term in 2023 and 2024.
“Under Mark’s leadership, we saw the rejuvenation of EDS and Executive Conference, delivery of the Texas A&M study on the value of the authorised channel, record new member recruiting, the expansion of our PACE Training, our deepening engagement in advocacy with Department of Commerce and Bureau of Industry Security, and many other key initiatives,” Loftus continued. “I’d like to note that Mark and the ebm-papst team are also strong supporters of and contributors to FIRST Robotics. It is with tremendous pride and appreciation that we present our 2025 Northstar Award to Mark Shiring.”
“I’m quite honoured, humbled, and appreciative of this recognition … I got involved in ECIA because I wanted to do more than just sell, do more than my day job. And it’s cliche but it’s true. You get out what you put in. The amount of passion and time put in is rewarding,” Shiring shared at the awards ceremony. “As I look forward, our challenge is to spark that curiosity like I had in our next group of leaders. ECIA has great programs like PACE, GIPC, panels with young professionals and more. We need all of those young people in our organisations with their ideas and their energy … Thank you very much for this recognition. It’s very special and I very much appreciate it.”
The ECIA Executive Conference is the premier event for industry executives. The conference is specifically tailored for senior management and executives in the industry’s leading companies. The date for the 2026 Executive Conference is October 19-21st 2026, at the Westin O’Hare Hotel.
