- Michael Garl, President of James Thomas Engineering, Inc. and current Chair of the Rigging Working Group, is assuming the Chair of the Technical Standards Committee and leaving the leadership of the Rigging Working group in the hands of Bill Sapsis, the current Co-Chair and President of Sapsis Rigging.
- The Technical Standards Committee will appoint a new Co-Chair to serve with Bill on the Rigging Working Group. Mikes first meeting as TSC Chair will be the meeting at the USITT Conference in Toronto on March 16.
- The change in leadership is occasioned by Paul Vincents stepping down after many years of service. My first involvement with ESTA was as a founding member of the Theatrical Dealers Association, says Paul.
- After serving as Vice-President, President, Immediate Past President, Chair of the Ethics Committee, member of the BizEd Committee and Chair of the Technical Standards Committee its time for me to retire from volunteer work and allow other very capable people to serve in a leadership capacity.
- Im pleased that Mike Garl, who has done an outstanding job serving the ESTA Technical Standards Program as the Chair of the Rigging Work Group and as a member of the TSC, will become the new Chair of the Technical Standards Committee. I know that the program will be in good hands, not only through Mikes commitment, but also through the continuing hard work of the hundreds of volunteers and financial contributions from our members and related organizations.
- Im grateful to have had an opportunity to serve ESTA members over the past 15 plus years, and I look forward to being a less involved member in the future as I continue to grow Vincent Lighting Systems, concludes Paul.
- Mike Garl credits Paul with getting him involved in the Technical Standards Program when it was started.
- While walking through the Knoxville airport 10 years ago, remembers Mike, I received a call from Paul Vincent, who at that time was the president of ESTA. He explained that they were creating a Technical Standards program and asked if I would consider being a member of the Technical Standards Committee and Chairman of a working group to deal with issues involving rigging. Needless to say, I accepted his invitation.
- For more information, please contact Karl G. Ruling, Technical Standards Manager at standards@esta.org.
