Message from the publisher
To our readers, customers, suppliers, staff and other stakeholders
by Chris Yelland and Irene Blythe, EE Publishers
It is with some sadness that I must advise that, after more than 25 years of business, EE Publishers will be closing at the end of November 2019. It is however heartening for us to remember past achievements – from the initial business as the Elektron Partnership started by Jack Yelland, which brought the SAIEE magazine Elektron to profitability and growth – to the merging of the Elektron business with that of Energize magazine to form EE Publishers.
In due course we acquired further titles, Vector and PositionIT, and the establishment of EngineerIT magazine to replace Elektron magazine, which reverted to the SAIEE. Highlights over the past 25 years included the winning of numerous Specialist Press Association Pica Awards for publishing excellence, and the close relationships established with numerous professional institutes and industry associations across the sectors served by EE Publishers.
We also ventured into staging major conferences and exhibitions, often partnering with relevant industry bodies – events such as Switchgear, Drives & Control; Intelligent Building Automation; GISSA Ukubuzana; SA Surveying + Geomatics Indaba; Geomatics Indaba; SA GeoTech; SA Energy Storage; and ICT Infrastructure. This was supplemented with the staging of numerous public seminars and debates on topical issues of public interest across the sectors served by EE Publishers, the most notable of which were the series of five energy and ICT seminars hosted in partnership with Nedbank in 2019.
Our annual industry leadership and customer breakfasts were legendary, and the highlight of many peoples’ event calendars. Guest speakers included Judge Albie Sachs, Adv. Vusi Pikoli, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Bobby Godsell, JP Landman, Michael Power, Ferial Haffajee, Prof. Anton Harber, Mark Heywood, Dr. Harry Seftel, Martin Welz and Nik Rabinowitz.
A special thanks to the editors, writers, sales, production and administration staff for each of the four publications, EngineerIT, Energize, Vector and PositionIT, and our events management staff, for their dedicated service and the sterling work over many years. I would like to single out the leadership roles played by recent editors of PositionIT magazine, namely Pierre Potgieter and Clare van Zwieten, together with the associated sales, production, events and administration staff.
We take this opportunity to thank the many stakeholders of EE Publishers, including readers, customers, suppliers, professional institutes, industry associations and especially the staff for the wonderful journey we have had over the last 25 years. It has been a pleasure and an honour to be part of, and to serve, the energy, electricity, measurement, instrumentation, automation, lighting, ICT and geomatics sectors of South and southern Africa.
www.ee.co.za
