February 24, 2023
5 Things to Know: Week Ending February 25
Some recent IES staff changes. Plus, six huge projects just broke ground.
Here's a roundup of some of the week's happenings curated to help lighting people stay informed.
1. IES Loses Three Staffers, One Consultant
The Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) staff page has seen some edits in recent months as three staffers and one consultant have parted ways with the organization since mid-December. We asked IES Executive Director, Colleen Harper, about the changes and she attributed them to normal attrition.
When asked about backfilling the jobs, Harper explained "Whenever we have an open position due to normal attrition, we evaluate whether filling that exact position is what IES needs, or whether our needs/priorities from a staffing perspective have shifted. We do expect to add a couple staff members to the team but likely not in the same roles/positions as the ones people have left."
The Bureau of Labor & Statistics data shows that Professional Services businesses have median employee tenure of 3.7 years. Thus, a 21-person organization like the IES would stand to churn 5-6 people per year. In this case, a cluster of three employee departures seemingly happened to occur during a short time span.
Recent staff departures:
Feb 16-21
Joseph Wood
Solutions Architect (including website and database)
Jan 24-30
Nikole TenBrink
Director of Marketing and Membership
Dec 13-19
Fima Zlatsin
Assistant Controller
Jennifer Jaques (part time consultant)
Membership
NOTABLE: Joseph Wood and Jennifer Jaques have each taken new positions with the IEEE, the same organization that former IES Executive Director, Tim Licitra, joined in 2021.
2. Keeping things clean
Corporate Knights has published its annual Clean200, billed as "a list of publicly traded companies worldwide that are leading the clean energy charge." On average, 58.3% of revenues earned by Clean200 companies are classified as sustainable, representing close to $2.4 trillion (all figures in U.S. dollars) in revenue.
Two major lighting and controls manufacturers, Signify and Acuity Brands, made the list as did other companies that produce and distribute lighting products and components.
28. ABB
38. Samsung
55. Rexel
98. Signify
157. Acuity Brands
3. Some big projects just broke ground
The largest nonresidential building projects to break ground in January were the $1 billion Prime Data Center campus in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, the $515 million Amazon data center in Hilliard, Ohio, and the $460 million CoStar Group corporate campus in Richmond, Virginia.
The largest multifamily structures to break ground in January were a $200 million mixed-use building in Gowanus, New York, a $172 million mixed-use building in Greenpoint, New York, and the $150 million The Cove residential community in Sacramento, California.
4. Join the Fun! Visit inside.lighting at LEDucation
The inside.lighting Photo Booth will be back at LEDucation on March 7-8 in New York City. Swing by to say "hello" and stay for a fun photo. Our staff will be happy to take a pic with your phone, too, so you can commemorate the event and/or post to your social media.
Booth is located in the lobby area by the Entrance to the Grand Ballroom.
Here are some of our favorite photos from last year:
5. Bridgelux Comments on Nichia Lawsuit
On February 15, 2023, Nichia announced that it had filed a lawsuit in Tokyo Japan seeking damages and to enjoin trading company CoreStaff, from selling products from the F90 family of LEDs made by U.S.-based Bridgelux, Inc.
Bridgelux recently released a statement citing that Nichia’s infringement claims are entirely without merit. The company shared, "For many years,
Bridgelux has invested significantly in its research and development producing significant intellectual property rights. Bridgelux respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects others to respect its intellectual property rights. Bridgelux will not be intimidated by the misuse of litigation from those seeking an unfair advantage or seeking to limit the advantage Bridgelux has earned from our technology investments."
