News and Announcements

This year, NECA Notes features articles telling the stories of NECA’s new Premier Partner companies. This month, we are proud to feature Buckingham Manufacturing. As the story goes, Ezra Cornell, the name behind Cornell University, found a need for hanging telegraph wire after failing to bury them or run them along the ground because of things like condensation and poor insulation. At a later date given his contributions to aerial lines, Cornell was labeled as the world’s first lineman. Why is that important? Because just a short drive from where Cornell was working in Upstate New York, Wilmot Stephens founded...

This year, in ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR, NECA Notes features articles telling the stories of its new Premier Partner companies. This month, we are proud to feature Procore. Paradigm-changing inventions aren’t always born of necessity. Sometimes they’re born of frustration. Procore is a case in point. Ranked No. 8 (at this writing) on the coveted Forbes 2020 Cloud 100, the construction management software company began some 19 years ago—as a homeowner trying to follow the construction of his new house from 300 miles away. While the company’s success grew out of a single bold idea—that of remotely overseeing a build—the innovation spawned...

The staff of The Hill has named Marco Giamberardino, NECA’s Vice President of Government and Public Affairs, as a top lobbyist of 2020. The website, which covers U.S. politics with a focus on Capitol Hill, names the year’s top corporate, association, independent and grassroot lobbyists each December. Giamberardino has received this honor each year since 2018. NECA’s Government Affairs team, led by Giamberardino, has spent the majority of 2020 communicating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the electrical construction industry to Members of Congress and ensuring that the coronavirus response legislation will give our members resources to help their...

FERRET TOOLS, (rebranded from the Cable Ferret company) headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand, are creating the future with new thinking and innovation in smart inspection camera technology for the trades and DIY industry. They have used a unique perspective to solve frustrating visual inspections, cabling installations and maintenance problems in a different way. They initially revolutionized the inspection camera industry with the launch of the world's first combination compact wireless rechargeable inspection camera and cable pulling tool in 2018 with the original Ferret Wi-Fi model. Its innovation and design were accoladed, and the company was acknowledged globally as an innovator...

The National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) is excited to announce the selection of Tauhira Ali as Executive Director of Industry Innovation, effective January 25. In this role, Ali will lead NECA’s innovation efforts and gather insights from end users, industry experts and technology providers to deliver awareness, education and implementation strategies to specialty contractors. These efforts will empower NECA member companies to leverage technical innovations and industry trends, as well as drive process and productivity, ultimately increasing their market share. Ali has more than 15 years of research, product design, and strategic roadmap experience in the computing, automotive, aerospace, robotics...

Jim Phillips, Arc Flash Safety columnist for Electrical Contractor Magazine and founder of the training company Brainfiller.com, recently received TWO prestigious awards from IEEE PCIC. These include: The 2020 Electrical Safety Excellence Award for: “Outstanding dedication and contributions to advance and accelerate the dispersion of information and knowledge impacting electrical safety through activities within the PCIC.” Best Paper Award for the technical paper: Introduction to IEEE Standard 1584 – IEEE 1584 Guide for Performing Arc-Flash Hazard Calculations–2018 Edition. Jim had the privilege of authoring this with three great friends and also presenting at the 2019 PCIC Conference in Vancouver, British...