Rita Harrold, IES Director of Technology, Retires After 23 Years; Mark Roush Named IES President

The Illuminating Engineering Society recently announced the retirement of Rita Harrold, Director of Technology. I was pleased to work with Rita on the development of various IES publications. Her shoes are going to be very hard to fill. Wishing her the absolute best in her next stage of life.

Rita was the first woman elected President of the IES, becoming the Society’s 81st president (1985-86) and then IES Fellow. In 1992, she joined the IES staff as Director of Educational and Technical Development (now Director of Technology). During her tenure, she became IES’s chief liaison to the lighting industry, built the Society’s education program, and guided hundreds of technical documents and standards to publication. Her retirement became effective June 30.

“Spending almost 50 years in the lighting industry, 23 years of which in lighting standards development, has afforded a wonderful opportunity to participate in so many exciting changes in areas of product development and application, and challenges of helping to develop technical recommendations and educational programs to satisfy new requirements in building codes and energy legislation,” Rita said. “When you love an industry it is hard to step away but I am looking forward to ‘next steps’ and continuing to participate in different ways.”

In other IES news, Mark Roush has assumed the office of IES President, succeeding Paul Mercier’s successful term. Congratulations, Mark.

Mark has been a member of the IES for 36 years. During his career in lighting, he has worked in various capacities including marketing, application engineering, business development and training. Mark’s a very intelligent, thoughtful and energetic advocate for quality lighting, and I believe he’ll make a strong impact on IES.

Craig DiLouie

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