Hydraulics & Pneumatics has expanded its content team at the beginning of 2020, bringing three editors with almost 100 combined years of experience in publishing and manufacturing to lead the magazine, website, and its associated content properties.
Bob Vavra is H&P’s senior content director and will lead the H&P editorial team. After a long career in the newspaper industry, Vavra has been an editorial team leader for more than 20 years. He spent the prior 15 years as editor and content manager for Plant Engineering. During that time, Vavra covered the global transition of the plant floor and its systems and managed several international automation conferences. He also is a sought-after webcast moderator and event emcee, and has presided over events in the U.S., Germany, and China.
“I’m honored to join H&P at such an important time for manufacturing,” Vavra said. “My background in publishing, including the last 17 years covering safety and plant operations, has given me a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities in this sector.
“My role is to provide clear and useful knowledge across multiple content platforms and ensure our readers have the knowledge they need to develop new solutions,” he added. “As with all great engineering feats, this is a collaborative effort—so your voice is both welcome and needed as we build a powerful content resource for our global audience.
Rehana Begg has joined Hydraulics & Pneumatics as senior editor. “Rehana brings 20 years of global manufacturing knowledge to our team and is among our profession's most accomplished editors,” said Vavra. “She brings a great insight into the connection between suppliers, machine design professionals, and end-users and can communicate those insights effectively across print and electronic media. In what promises to be an exciting and important year for manufacturing, these skills will bring great value to our global audience.”
Begg is a Toronto-based writer and editor whose recent work includes an exploration of news, trends, and technologies that matter to industrial decision-makers in industrial manufacturing, plant engineering, and maintenance sectors. Her previous roles as a B2B editor include Canadian Manufacturing.com, Machinery and Equipment MRO, Plant Engineering and Maintenance, and Benefits Canada magazines.
She holds a Master’s degree in journalism, along with an MBA in project management. She grew up in Cape Town, South Africa.
Stephen Mraz will expand his role as a senior editor within Endeavor Business Media, taking on coverages for H&P. “Steve is a veteran, and a veteran business media writer, editor, and industry leader,” said Vavra. ”His vast knowledge will provide our audience with both experience and a keen understanding of how modern technologies are being used today.
Mraz earned a biomedical engineering degree from Case Western Reserve. He then entered the Navy, got a commissioned as an officer, and flew as a Naval flight officer in an airborne early warning squadron; he then scheduled transport aircraft.
After eight years, he left the Navy as a lieutenant and started working as an editor for Machine Design magazine. He has advanced through to senior editor over 32 years writing on engineering management, fastening and joining, tribology, motion control, materials, mechanical engineering, 3D printing, and IoT/IIoT. He has also covered technologies in the biomedical, aerospace and defense, automotive, and packaging industries.
