Meet the Moderators

 

Dennis Alwon (Current Chief Moderator) (Dennis Alwon) Send Private Messge

Dennis started doing electrical work at the age of 14 working summers, holidays and weekends with his dad , he made a whopping $1/hr. At 17 years old he left for college and got a BA in psychology from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY. He worked as a psychotherapeutic technician, in a home for emotionally disturbed children, for a few years and then realized he really missed the physical labor that went along with electrical work. He got a job in Woodstock, NY for an electrical contractor for a few years doing light commercial work mostly at the Kingston, NY IBM plant. In 1978 he moved to Chapel Hill, NC where he currently resides. He worked for a few years with a local electrical contractor till he got his license in 1980. He started Alwon Electric in 1980 and the business is still going with an emphasis on custom residential work. He is also the current president of the local chapter of the NC Association of Electrical Contractors.

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Robert Meier (Chief Moderator 2012-2016) (infinity) Send Private Messge

Rob has had an interest in the electrical trade since first working around the house with his dad, a journeyman electrician. Later, while in college, Rob took a job as a stagehand and rekindled his interest in the electrical field while working on a performing arts theatre modernization. After graduating from college he enrolled in an apprentice program and worked his way up to a journeyman electrician. He has also held the job titles of sub-foreman, foreman and general foreman. Rob is a third generation electrician (along with his grandfather, father, brother, father-in-law and brother-in-law). He has over 25 years experience in residential, commercial, industrial, and utility network installations. He continues to work in and around the New York metropolitan area. He recently became a Licensed Electrical Inspector.

Rob is a lifelong resident of Northeastern New Jersey.

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Chris Jensen (Chief Moderator 2010-2011) (raider1) Send Private Messge

Chris Jensen was introduced to the electrical trade at an early age. He was in his early teens when he would work summers at his grandfather�s electrical contracting company hauling material, digging trenches and performing general labor. In August of 1994 he received his Journeyman electricians licensed and in June of 2004 he received his Master electrician�s license. From 1990 to 2005 he worked as an electrician, until May of 2005 when he changed hats and became a combination inspector for North Logan City where he remains employed today. He has taught the electrical apprenticeship program for Bridgerland Applied Technology College , and is an active member of the Utah Chapter of the I.A.E.I and holds a position on the board.

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George Stolz (Chief Moderator 2009) (georgestolz) Send Private Messge

George Stolz is a master electrician who began in the trade in 2002. His first four years of experience focused mainly on residential projects, subsequent three years was spent doing small commercial work. At last report, he was seen alternating between the two.

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Roger Deas (Chief Moderator 2008) (roger) Send Private Messge

Roger started the electrical trade in 1973 pre-wiring houses and installing underground services for telephone. Most of his electrical career has been in hospital and health care facilities and he's done school, residential and industrial work.

Roger holds an unlimited license in NC and is employed as a Project Manager for a company he has been with since 1989. Hobbies include building furniture and vegetable gardening.

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Bob Badger (Chief Moderator 2007) (iwire) Send Private Messge

By age 14 Bob was in electrical trade School, it was a natural fit of his interests and abilities. In 1981 Bob started earning a living in the trade. The first company Bob worked for was a single man shop; they did light commercial and residential. After a few years he moved on to a larger shop and started running work that was typically multi unit condo jobs. By 1991 construction work had slowed so Bob took a job with an amusement park as their electrician. There he was involved with all aspects of the maintenance of the park. That lasted 5 years until the park closed and Bob moved on to his present employer of 10 years. He now works for a large Electrical Contractor in MA as a Project superintendent and service technician. He is typically found doing light industrial, large and small retail along with high Tech office space.

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Charlie Beck (Chief Moderator 2006) (charlie b) Send Private Messge

Charlie Beck is a Licensed Professional Engineer with BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering. He is also a Licensed Electrical Administrator in the State of Washington. Most of his nine years in the US Navy was focused on the operation and maintenance of shipboard electrical and electronic systems. He has been a design engineer and a consultant to the electrical industry for nineteen years. His experience includes assignments as the Chief Engineer for a large electrical contracting company and as an electrical Project Manager for several large Architect Engineering firms. For the two years preceding his move to the Great Northwest, he was the co-owner of a professional design firm in the Midwest.

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Don Ganiere (Chief Moderator 2005) (don_resqcapt19) Send Private Messge

Don began his apprenticeship in 1973 after completing an Associates in Science degree. As an apprentice he worked on multifamily residential, commercial and industrial projects. For the next few years he worked on mostly commercial projects. The last 12 years he has been assigned to industrial projects, mostly in the plastics industry. Don started teaching code changes and grounding classes for his local in 1981 and continues to do so. He is also an active member of a local fire/resuce service and has a Firefighter 3 certification.

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Tom Baker (Chief Moderator 2001-2003) (tom baker) Send Private Messge

Tom Baker is a Washington State Master Electrician and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Workforce Education. An electrician for 24 years, Tom offers electrical continuing education classes for local electricians and instructs in house classes for clients such as Ft Lewis Army Base, McCord Air Force Base, the City of Seattle and others. His experience includes process control, SCADA, roadway lighting, traffic signals, radio systems and water/waste water systems. Tom is the author of Code Corner, a regular article on the NEC for the International Municipal Signal Association Journal. He stills works as an electrician.

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Dave Luchini

Dave Luchini received his BSEE in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 1990. After college, he worked as a field engineer for a company building cogeneration plants in the northeast, before transitioning into consulting engineering. Dave was a co-owner of a professional design firm in Connecticut before moving to his present employer in 2013. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Bob Alexander

Bob Alexander received his BSEE from Louisiana Tech University and is a Registered Professional Engineer in California. He has been involved with several major engineering and construction projects nationally and worldwide, primarily in the process and power generation industries. Currently, he owns a consulting firm specializing in classified (hazardous) location solutions, system reliability and electrical safety compliance.

He has served on several national technical and safety committees, including the NEC, NFPA 70E, NFPA’s Committee for Electrical Equipment in Chemical Atmospheres, the American Petroleum Institute’s Subcommittee on Electrical Equipment, and several IEEE/IAS/PCIC working task groups.

He has published / presented IEEE papers on IEC installations, classified (hazardous) locations and electrical reliability. He is a member of NFPA, IEEE and the NSPE.

Steve Arne, emeritus (stevearne) Send Private Messge

Steve Arne has been involved in the electrical industry since 1974 working in various positions from electrician to full-time instructor and department chair in technical post secondary education. Steve has developed curriculum for many electrical training courses and has developed university business and leadership courses. Currently, Steve offers occasional exam prep and Continuing Education Code classes.

Steve believes that as a teacher he understands the joy of helping others as they learn and experience new insights. His goal is to help others understand more of the technological marvels that surround us. Steve thanks God for the wonders of His creation and for the opportunity to share it with others.

Steve and his lovely wife Deb live in Rapid City, South Dakota where they are both active in their church and community. They have two grown children and five grandchildren.

Steve is Mike Holt’s Technical Editorial Director.

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Dereck Campbell (dereckbc)

Dereck Campbell is a Licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Oklahoma with a BS in Electrical Engineering. After graduating from Oklahoma State University in 1979 he began his career as an Relay Control and Substation Technician for Public Service Company of Oklahoma for one year, then transferred into the communications department as an Engineering Technician where her worked until 1989.

After leaving PSO he worked for Nortel as a Field Engineer until 1994 when he joined what now is called MCI/WorldCom. He started at MCI as an Installation Manager until 1996 when a critical need for Electrical Power Engineers was developed due to rapid growth. He quickly headed up the department and was in charge of all new DC power plant construction, lightning protection, protective grounding, power monitoring, and PQ audit responsibilities. After leaving MCI/WorldCom he currently works for Alltel as Building & Facility engineer.

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Charlie Eldridge, emeritus (charlie)

Charlie was the Supervisor of the Major Overhead Projects Engineering Division at the Indianapolis Power & Light Company and retired after 38 years with the company. Charlie is now a consultant for the Indianapolis Power & Light Company, working with codes and standards and does some training. Charlie has been serving as an Edison Electric Institute member on Code Making Panel 10 for the National Electrical Code since 1993.

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Karl Riley, emeritus (karl riley) Send Private Messge

Karl Riley is the author of "Tracing EMFs in Building Wiring and Grounding", a book written for electricians to help them locate and correct wiring errors which cause high magnetic fields in buildings. It also deals with eliminating currents on water pipes as allowed by Code.

Mr. Riley, a former science teacher, designed and marketed the MSI gaussmeters for measuring AC magnetic fields. He has sold the company and now does consulting exclusively. He created a video for California school electricians under a grant from the Cal. Health Services. It illustrates graphically some of the tracing techniques spelled out in his book. Mr Riley has been working with electricians to eliminate EMF-related errors since 1989. He has written many articles on the subject for professional journals, including Electrical Contractor.

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Jim Dungar (Jim Dungar) Send Private Messge

Jim received his BSEE, with a power systems emphasis, from Michigan Tech University in 1978. Right out of engineering college he went to work for Square D Company as a field sales engineer calling on industrial customers. After earning his MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 1989, he spent 16 years working for a regional electrical wholesaler as a technical sales/application engineer. Jim is now employed as a power systems engineer with a national firm. While his home state is Wisconsin, he is also licensed as a Professional Engineer in several other states.

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Gus Bryan (augie47) Send Private Messge

Gus Bryan is a semi-retired Deputy Electrical Inspector for the State of Tennessee. His experience dates back to the �60s and over the years he has been an apprentice, a journeyman, a Plant Engineer for a heavy industry (paper), a small shop contractor, and an inspector for the City of Chattanooga and later for the State of Tennessee. Gus has held licenses as a journeyman, a contractor, a Plant Master Electrician, and has the IAEI Certifications. His �hands on� experience has been mostly industrial with some commercial and residential work. He has some 10 years of inspection experience in rural and urban settings.

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Derek Guridi (jumper) Send Private Messge

Derek started his electrical career later in life than most people, he was 30 years old. His background is residential, commercial, and maintenance. He is currently employed with a defense contractor working on portable support units for the military. His hobbies include WWII, Medieval history, and cooking.

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John Childress (cowboyjwc) Send Private Messge

I became an electrician in 1978, working for a small two man shop doing mostly custom homes and custom swimming pools. I worked there until 1983 when I was offered a position at Dataproducts Corp. as a maintenance electrician where I worked until I was laid off in 1990. Not knowing what I was going to do I got my California Electrical Contractors License and applied for a position as the Electrical Inspector for the City of Simi Valley. In March of 1990 I was offered the position of Electrical Inspector and I have been here ever since. I was on the Board of Directors for the Southern California Chapter of the IAEI from 1997 to 2009, where I served as Education Chairman in 1999, Vice President in 2000 and President in 2001. I was also on the Board of Directors for the now defunct California Electrical Inspectors, from 2002 to 2007.

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David James (ActionDave) Send Private Messge

David started his career in the trades literally at the bottom, working on a concrete crew forming and pouring foundations. A series of fortunate events led to him entering the electrical trade as an apprentice in 2002 and he earned his journeyman license in 2006. He currently works for a small electrical contractor doing both new construction and service work.

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Jeff Raefield (Jraef) Send Private Messge

Jeff began in the electrical field at the tender age of 14 working in the electrical shop of his father�s manufacturing business, building control panels for large industrial washing machines used in bakeries and laboratories. He apprenticed as a residential construction electrician after high school, then moved on to industrial work at a US Steel plant for 5 years. After sustaining injuries that required he do desk work, he spent time working for distributors, motor shops and then manufacturers reps while earning his BS EET (Electrical Engineering Technology) degree. Since then he has worked for various electrical equipment manufacturers such as Klockner Moeller, Square D, ABB, Benshaw, Motortronics, Siemens and Allen Bradley primarily in LV and MV motor control and drives, with a 5 year stint in the middle as an EC and UL508A panel shop in Seattle. He is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area working for a major equipment manufacturer as a Power Technical Consultant (only because �Miracle Worker� is not an official job title).

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Billy Carr (Little Bill) Send Private Messge

I have always had an interest in things electrical. Starting with installing my own 8-track player (Google 8-track but don�t do the math to �age� me) in my car when I was 16. Then progressed into making lights/lamps from different things, taking things apart to see how they work, etc.

Skip ahead a few years and I started doing small electrical projects for family & friends. While working in a manufacturing plant I started doing setup & takedown of machines rather than waiting on the maintenance men to come. I caught the eye of the plant manager and was asked to transfer to the maintenance/electrical department.

I took advantage of some electrical training the company paid for and I ended up going to Technical school receiving an electrical maintenance degree and credit towards an electrical technical engineering degree.

I worked my way up to machine specialist at the company which included taking care of all the computer operated equipment, installing new circuits for anything needed in house, working under a master electrician.

I continued to do electrical projects for family/friends to the point that the projects interested me more than my job. I self studied to take my state electrical license exam, using mostly Mike Holt�s exam prep material. I passed the test and received my electrical license.

Shortly after receiving my license, the company I worked for downsized and moved the work overseas.

I decided then, instead of looking for another job, I would work for myself. After working with other contractors for a while I started my own electrical contracting business and have been doing that for seven years, doing mostly residential but do quite a bit of commercial. I also have installed the electrical for several pools, specializing in bonding.

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Code Forum Moderators

Role of a Moderator

A Forum Moderator acts under the authority of the Forum Owner, but does not speak on behalf of the Forum Owner.  Any comments you post are to be understood to be expressions of your own views alone.

Moderator responsibilities include:

  • Periodically review new threads and posts, and post comments as desired.
  • Periodically scan the forum for “moderated” threads or posts, and take appropriate action (e.g., approve, disapprove, delete, etc.).
  • Prevent the use of rude or inappropriate language and the display of unprofessional behavior towards another member. 
  • Prevent the discussion of an inappropriate topics, such as politics, religion, race, cultural heritage, or union versus non-union situations.
  • Prevent the use of the Forum by a person who is not an electrician and who is seeking assistance in performing their own electrical installation work. 
  • Prevent the use of the Forum as a means to gather information for a legal dispute.
  • Contact the Chief Moderator if you are uncertain of what action should be taken in a given situation. 
  • post a notice in the “Moderator Only Forum,” if you are going to be unavailable for a significant length of time (e.g., a week or longer).

Role of the Chief Moderator

The Chief Moderator provides a degree of leadership to the other Moderators and to the membership at large.  Additional responsibilities of the Chief Moderator include the following

  • Keep the Forum Owner informed of any situations that are severely disruptive to the smooth operation of the Forum. 
  • Make the final decision as to whether that member is to be treated as a DIY.
  • Make the final decision on any other issues that arise, where the issue is of a non-technical nature. 
  • Keep the other Moderators informed of the need to keep a watch on a member who appears to be a source of problems. 
  • As circumstances warrant, submit to the Forum Owner a recommendations for assigning new Moderators or removing a present Moderator from that role.
  • Periodically check the forum's email account, and utilize it to act as liaison between the forum moderators and administrators, and banned members.
  • Ensure that members facing disciplinary action are treated with due process, adhering to the policies of the Forum.
  • During December of each year, submit to the Forum Owner recommendations on the continued assignment of each of the current Moderators.
  • During December of each year, submit to the Forum Owner a nomination for your successor.

How To Become A Moderator

To become a forum moderator you must:

  • 1. Be registered for 6 months
  • 2. Participate in the forum. You don't have to post every day, just monitor the posts (thats what the moderators do), and comment where necessary
  • 3. If after 6 months, you are still interested in becoming a moderator, contact one of the moderators via email

Once you meet the above requirements you can contact on of the moderators listed above to be considered for the position.

The following comments are from one of our forum moderators, Tom Baker, in response to the following question asked by Mike Holt:

Has being a moderator helped you in any way ?

Yes, being a moderator has helped me in the following ways:

  • 1. Confirms my knowledge of the NEC
  • 2. Confirms there is a lot I don't know
  • 3. Makes me appreciate those who help others on the forum
  • 4. Appreciate those who take the time to thank me directly for an answer
  • 5. Provides me with a forum to ask my questions
  • 6. And the honor of being a moderator

mike-tom-charlie
Tom Baker (center) is the 2001-2003 Code Forum Chief Moderator. Charlie Beck (right) is our moderator
that is mostly responsible for engineering issues and for code issues, as viewed from the engineer's perspective.