The Holm Conference began in 1953 as a forum for the discussion of electrical contact phenomena and related fields. In 1968, the conference was named the Holm Conference in honor of Dr. Ragnar Holm. Dr. Holm, whose contributions to the field of electrical contacts spanned 50 years and form the foundation of the electrical contacts field, was the inspiration and guide of the Conference from its inception until his death in 1970. In 1985, IEEE society started sponsoring the conference as a recognition of its importance in the field of electrical engineering. In addition to the Annual Conference, the Conference Organization regularly conducts an intensive one-week course on contacts and participates in the biannual International Conference on Electrical Contacts. Technical presentations normally also include the Ragnar Holm Scientific Achievement Award, the Dr. Morton Antler Lecture and hot topic panel workshops. They highlight the most recent electrical contact work all over the world. Contacts Properties and Performance, Connector Contacts, Sliding Contacts, Aluminum Contacts, Arcing Contacts, Silver Metal Oxide Contacts, MEM Systems, Automotive Switches and Relays, Superconductor Contacts, and Real world Design and Applications Problems are familiar themes in the presentation. Recent activities on Arc Fault Detection, AFCI, Smart Grid, ROHS and renewable power generation are adding new themes to the technical program.