NECA

2008 National Award Winners Recognized at NECA Annual Convention

Four members of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), along with a NECA chapter executive and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, were recognized as winners of the association’s 2008 national awards at a special ceremony during NECA’s annual convention in Chicago, Oct. 4-7.

2008 L.K. Comstock Award
Jerrold H. Nixon, Chairman of Maron Electric and the Maron Network, Skokie, Ill.
The Comstock Award is NECA’s highest honor recognizing contributions in the complex field of labor relations. The 2008 award is given to Jerry Nixon, a man who has throughout his long career, evinced the foresight to recognize the need, the strength to seek the goal, and the leadership qualities needed to achieve meaningful and lasting benefits in the realm of labor-management partnering.

Nixon’s contributions as chair of the Labor Management Cooperation Committee of Chicago include his instrumental role in founding the Drug-Free Alliance, and establishing the Architecture, Construction and Engineering Technical Charter School (ACE Tech) to provide specialized secondary education. He was also the driving force behind many other progressive joint programs that recruited new talent to the industry and new customers to the benefits of working with NECA and the IBEW. Nixon is commended for providing the inspiration that sparked such positive activities and the leadership that continues to propel their success.

2008 James H. McGraw Award
Larry Cogburn, Co-owner, Cogburn Brothers Electric, Jacksonville, Fla.
The McGraw Award is given to an individual who has contributed a new or useful idea to the electrical contracting industry or has performed an industry service over and above normal responsibility.

Cogburn has been a member of the NECA Codes and Standards Committee for five years, where he has been charged with reviewing and refining proposals and guiding the revision process to keep the NEC technically updated and workable. He has carried out this work as a highly respected participant on the Code-making Panel (CMP) 4 for the National Fire Protection Association, the sponsor of the NEC. Cogburn’s dedication to safety through self-regulation, as well as his service as a member of NECA’s Political Leadership Council and the Foundation’s ELECTRI Council, earned him this honor.

2008 Allan Coggeshall Award
Greg Stewart, CEO/Owner, Superior Group: A Division of Electrical Specialists, Columbus, Oh.
The Coggeshall Award honors a NECA member who has made an outstanding contribution to the progress of the electrical contracting industry in the technical and training area.

Stewart’s work on the Advisory Committee of the National Training Institute (NTI) helped steer the NTI in a new, broader direction. NTI has expanded far beyond its original purpose of providing continuing education for electrical industry trainers to become a reliable source of technical training for electrical workers and business-development education for contractors. Stewart also serves on NECA’s Workforce Development Committee, is a member of the association’s Political Leadership Council, and is a strong advocate for industry research through his service on the ELECTRI Council’s Program Review Committee.

2008 NECA Association Executive Distinguished Service Award
Glenn W. Kingsbury, Executive Chapter Manager, Boston Chapter, NECA
The NECA Association Executive Distinguished Service Award recognizes a NECA staff executive or chapter manager who has made the greatest contribution to NECA’s advancement.

Throughout his long and highly productive career with the association, Kingsbury has worked not only to benefit his chapter, but to move the entire organization forward. His accomplishments have earned him the respect of contractors and union officials alike Kingsbury chairs the board of directors for the New England Electrical Benefit Fund and is a trustee for the health and welfare and pension funds for IBEW Locals 103 and 490. He negotiated a five-year contract and a highly successful market recovery program with Local 103 that brought long-term stability to the Boston area, as well as a mandatory foreman training program with the union. In addition, he negotiated commercial market recovery agreements with Local 490 in New Hampshire and Locals 567 and 1253 in Maine.

2008 NECA Industry Partner Award
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Dept. of Labor
NECA’s Industry Partner Award recognizes those organizations or individuals that, though not members of the National Electrical Contractors Association, contribute to the electrical contracting industry’s success through their decisions, actions, or cooperation with NECA.

OSHA, the federal agency that develops and enforces measures that protect workers, earned this honor in part to spearheading the OSHA Electric Transmission & Distribution Strategic Safety Partnership between the agency, NECA, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Edison Electric Institute, and the leading electrical transmission and distribution construction contractors who together employ more than 80 percent of all workers in America’s T&D industry. Assistance Secretary of Labor Edwin Foulke accepted the award on behalf of OSHA at the Industry Leadership Luncheon.

2008 Wendt Award
Robert J. Bruce, Chairman/CEO, Bruce & Merrilees Electric, New Castle, Penn.
The Wendt Award is the highest honor bestowed annually by ELECTRI International-The Foundation for Electrical Construction, Inc. to recognizes exemplary leadership and service to the electrical industry.

Bruce is the 2007-08 Chair of the ELECTRI Council and has represented the Western Pennsylvania Chapter, NECA, on the Council ever since the chapter committed initial funding at the Founder ($100,000) level in 1993. He recently led his chapter to upgrade its commitment to the Regent ($250,000) level in support of the Foundation’s Talent Initiative, a program that works through NECA chapters and educational institutions to attract the “best and brightest” construction management interns and graduates to electrical construction. Bruce has been active on several Foundation research task forces over the years. He received NECA’s Comstock Award last year.

NECA is the voice of the $130 billion electrical construction industry that brings power, light, and communication technology to buildings and communities across the U.S. NECA’s national office and 119 local chapters advance the industry through advocacy, education, research and standards development.. For more information, visit www.necanet.org.

Contact Information

Beth Margulies, Director, Public Relations

301-215-4526, beth.margulies@necanet.org