James Benham, CEO of JBKnowledge, Inc., will be the featured speaker at the January 2016 ELECTRI Council meeting in Naples, Florida.  Benham’s firm, headquartered in Bryan/College Station, Texas, is a premier provider of technology and cloud solutions for the construction and insurance industries, with clients across North America, the Caribbean and the Middle East.

With extensive experience in the design, development and use of technology to improve efficiency, Benham is a sought-after speaker on business information technology, data security and innovative software tools.  His topic for the Council meeting will be Future Forecast: How Drones, Sensors and Integrated Apps are Rewriting all the Rules.

Benham began writing code at age 11. By age 14, he had developed his first application, and at age 17 co-managed an internet services provider, offering dial-up Internet to more than 4,000 users. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Master of Science in Information Systems while in the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University. He has stayed involved with his alma mater by joining the Texas A&M faculty as a Guest Lecturing Professor in the Department of Construction Science.

In 2014, Benham was recognized among ENR Texas & Louisiana’s “Top 20 Under 40” for his advancements in construction technology. In addition to a wide array of awards and honors for his work, Benham is a founding member of the Construction Open Software Alliance. He is an active member of the Risk Management Society, Construction Financial Management Association, Canadian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Associated General Contractors of America, American Society of Professional Estimators, National Speakers Association and the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets Association.

The ELECTRI International Board of Trustees welcomes two new members:  Jarrett Hayes (United Electric Company, Marietta, GA) and Gerald Schulz (Michels Corporation, Neenah, WI). Both are members of the ELECTRI Council at the Governor level.

ELECTRI International expresses its appreciation for the service of its two outgoing Trustees whose terms are now completed:  Thomas Curran and David Pinter. Curran serves on the ELECTRI Council at the Program Guarantor level, representing the Electrical Contractors Trust of Alameda County, CA.  David Pinter (Zwicker Electric Company, Inc., NY) is a Founder-level member of the ELECTRI Council.

ELECTRI International has invited five researchers to attend the January 2016 ELECTRI Council Meeting. Investigators will each present a summary of their proposed project for the Council’s discussion and vote. The field was narrowed by ELECTRI’s Program Review Committee from a total of 31 project concepts submitted for review. The five projects selected include:

• Collective Bargaining and Collective Business Development. A Strategic Initiative for the Electrical Industry, Richard Barnes, C. Richard Barnes and Associates, LLC
• Opportunities in the Emerging Energy Storage Market, Richard Baxter, Mustang Prairie Energy
• Identifying BIM Related Costs Due to Changes, Hisham Said, Santa Clara University
• Applications for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in Electric Utility Construction, Lonny Simonian, California Polytechnic State University
• A Guide for Knowledge Management, Todd L. Sirotiak, Diversified Construction Services

ELECTRI International is pleased to announce it received a total of 31 research proposal outlines in response to its 2016 Request for Proposals.

The next step will be for ELECTRI’s Program Review Committee to invite specific researchers to submit full proposals and budgets for review. These institutions will be notified by Monday, December 7, 2015.

The Committee will then recommend finalists to invite to the ELECTRI Council Meeting January 20 – 22, 2016 in Naples, Florida. Each researcher will have the opportunity to present the project proposal to Council members who will then vote to commission specific projects for 2016.

ELECTRI International acknowledges a second annual gift of $4,000 from the Hyslop Shannon Foundation. Tom Morton, CEP of L.L.D. Electric Company notified ELECTRI of the commitment and requested that the funds be dedicated to the ELECTRI Education Center.

The Wendt Award is the highest form of tribute bestowed annually by ELECTRI International – The Foundation for Electrical Construction, Inc.  The Award is named in honor of the philosophical and financial commitments made to the electrical contracting industry by one of its premier members, Albert G. Wendt, president of Cannon & Wendt Electric in Phoenix, Arizona.  The Award recognizes exemplary leadership and service to the electrical industry.

This year’s highly deserving recipient, David MacKay, is so honored for his leadership and service as a member of the ELECTRI Council.  He has served as Chairman of the ELECTRI International Investment Committee and as a member of the Board of Trustees, Program Review Committee, and Kitchen Cabinet Fund-raising Committee.  As a Council member, he has participated in analyzing industry trends and issues, recommending major initiatives for project funding, and serving on task forces to guide commissioned projects from start to finish.  MacKay was also influential in the development in the Student Passport Program.

With Mr. MacKay’s enthusiastic endorsement, NECA’s Boston Chapter has invested $350,000 in ELECTRI International and his own firm, Edward G. Sawyer Company, Inc., has committed $100,000 to the Foundation.  When combined with other commitments to ELECTRI, the resources generated with Mr. MacKay’s assistance will be used by ELECTRI International for generations to come to expand its research agenda and talent initiatives.

Mr. MacKay entered the electrical industry in 1965 with the Edward G. Sawyer Company.  He has been very active with the Boston Chapter, NECA, serving 17 years on the Chapter’s Board of Directors, as Chapter President and Governor, and on numerous committees.

In addition to his work on behalf of ELECTRI International, David MacKay has served on a number of national committees and in leadership positions within NECA.  He served on the Management Development Committee and is a member of NECA’s Political Leadership Council.  He is active and well respected in the larger electrical industry and within his community.

Leading by example with his years of dedicated service in far-ranging activities, David MacKay has proven himself worthy of the Wendt Award and of his industry’s undying gratitude.

Iowa State University has taken top honors at the 7th Annual Green Energy Challenge Competition, held in San Francisco. This event and the financial prize for the winning school are sponsored by ELECTRI International.

A standing-room-only audience of leading EC contractors and industry allies watched as three finalist teams – Iowa State, Penn State, and the Illinois Institute of Technology – presented their retrofit proposals.  The ELECTRI jury chose Iowa State and also honored Iowa State team member Britta Sortland as Best Presenter. The companion Poster Competition was won by Purdue University.

The Green Energy Challenge is a hallmark of ELECTRI’s ongoing Talent Initiative, an agenda designed to bring the best and brightest students to the attention of their future employers throughout the EC industry. For information about ELECTRI’s Talent Initiative and Green Energy Challenge, visit www.electri.org or contact Laura Holmes at 301-215-4538, laura.holmes@electri.org.

ELECTRI International extends its deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Michael A. Mazzeo who died suddenly on August 13, 2015.  Mazzeo had served as chairman of the ELECTRI Council in 2009 and 2010.  He worked tirelessly to revitalize ELECTRI’s resource development initiative and created its vibrant Partners for Progress campaign, working with his fund-raising committee whom he fondly named his Kitchen Cabinet.  Mazzeo’s entire career was dedicated to the electrical construction industry in New York. He served as a proud member and contractor of Local 3 and Local 25 IBEW.  In 2010, the ELECTRI International Board of Trustees named Mazzeo as the recipient of the Wendt Award for Exemplary Leadership and Service to the Electrical Industry.