Conference Update: Bill Brown, Peter Ngai, Others Receive IES Awards

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Orlando—23 OCT 2016—Your humble editor is attending the IES Annual Conference in Orlando.   The Society has made previous investments in the conference, such as booking speakers like Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and those ventures are paying off with increased attendance and an overall improvement in the look and the feel of the conference.

The IES Awards Ceremony was a spectacular event, held Sunday evening.  IES President Shirley Coyle welcomed the crowd of approximately 500+.

One of the EdisonReport’s best friends, Bill Brown, received the Louis B. Marks Award named in honor of the first IES president. It was presented to Bill in recognition of his exceptional service to the Society.  

Fred Bill2.jpgWhen Bill approached the microphone, his first words, were, “Can I help you?”  In his speech, Bill said that he joined the society in 1961 because he wanted to learn about lighting so he could teach others about the importance of quality lighting.  He went on to discuss the tremendous changes within the industry and within IES.  He was on the original selection committee that hired Bill Hanley, the Executive VP who preceded Tim Licitra.  During the talk, he thanked his wife Norma, twice and explained that she was as committed to IES as he.  EdisonReport obtained a copy of his first draft and you can read it here.

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Ngai.  Peter said that he was honored and humbled to receive this award from the Society.  He talked of the feverish high-speed push for innovation in controls, IoT and big data.  He went on to discuss the importance of combining technical with a harmonized design and that the two fields are really inseparable. Peter talked about the importance of smart phones in our lives, and his final comment was extremely well received by the audience, “Attractive things work better.”

Blitzer2.jpgRick Mistrick introduced the two Fellow awards.  Frist was Daniel Blitzer who thanked all of the mentors and people who enabled him to enjoy a career in lighting.  Originally, he had to decide between being a salesman or an educator, and he said he was able to be both. After the ceremony, I caught up with him and asked about the award.   He said, “The most touching thing was the support of the nominators.” 

Lorne Whitehead also received a Fellow Award.  He explained to

 the audience that he was pleased and grateful to receive the award.  “IES is such a great organization, this means a lot to me. “ He went on to thank his family, teachers, college, nominating committee, and the IES itself. 

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