What exactly is the National Lighting Bureau? Well, Tom can tell us because he is now the Executive Director. He gives us a sneak peak on what's ahead for the Bureau. Tom also explains three personal goals he has as Director: increasing member benefits, outreach to like-minded organizations, and public outreach. The topic of transformation comes up between Tom, Michael and Greg. Is it coming? Listen to this episode to find out. Tom Butters, LC, is the creative mind and developer behind some of the most well received educational tools and events of the global lighting industry. Since 1986, Tom ..read more

From billionaires’ butler to very successful owner of 3 hair salons with 77 employees (which also meant 77 headaches) to lighting designer and decorative lighting store retailer. William has always had a knack for what looks good and that has served him well as a lighting designer. When he’s not out designing the interior and exterior lighting of a home, he’s minding the store in Santa Barbara (lightandhome.com). William George has been a photographer, interior designer, art historian, theatrical set and lighting designer, and successful entrepreneur in the beauty industry. He has always loved ..read more

Omar is so knowledgeable about the Internet of Things that he’s written a book about it. He talks to Michael and Greg about the future of smart sensors and cloud data. Imagine a smart sensor that can see where, when and why people gather in a particular spot in a retail establishment. But, as Michael points out, a downside of collecting all this data is that it has to be stored on physical drives that take enormous amounts of energy and cover acres and acres of land around the planet. Omar A. Rivera is an industry-leading product development professional with more than 30 years of experience w ..read more

Michael and Greg continue their conversation in Frankfurt Germany. This time Michael is the “guest.” Greg asks Michael what he thinks about the organizers of Light + Building taking over LightFair. Is this a trojan horse? Is this a way for European companies to worm their way into the North American market ..read more

Entschuldigung! Greg is Michael's "guest" on this one, reporting from Light + Building in Germany. But mostly they talk about LightFair in America. It seems Light + Building will be organizing the next LightFair. Greg is a little more ambivalent than Michael about it. But they both agree LightFair needs to be shaken up. Maybe some Europeans can do that.  ..read more

You might have caught Buddy on Restoring Darkness ep. 92. We had him on Restoring Darkness because he’s at the front lines of manufacturing responsible outdoor lighting. You might even say, he’s cornered the market. When Sedona Arizona put out a tender for dark sky friendly lighting, his company, Crossroads LED was the only bidder. And this gels with what Michael has been saying - there’s money to be made in the relighting (or darkening?) of America. Buddy Stefanoff is an entrepreneur, small business owner and the Vice President of Engineering for Crossroads LED. With over 20 plus years of exp ..read more

You can’t help getting swept up in Dirk’s enthusiasm and energy. And that’s over the internet. Dirk insists that distribution is a noble calling. It’s a 7 Trillion dollar economic engine and it supports over 6 million jobs. In the middle of the pandemic, Dirk decided he wanted to support that calling, so he went on the road with his We Supply America Tour. Go to https://wesupplyamerica.net/ and maybe you can get him to come to your distribution business. Dirk Beveridge is a visionary entrepreneur and the founder of UnleashWD, an innovative firm that creates transformative learning experiences ..read more

Avi doesn’t give a damn who makes the lights or what kind of lights they are as long as the feeling and emotion is achieved in a space. And of course, that feeling has to be maintained. So if you’ve buried a light fixture in concrete, that “feeling” is going away in about 5 years when the light burns out and you can’t get at it. If you want to keep the feeling, call on Morlights to design your lighting. Founding Principal, Avraham “Avi” M. Mor has been practicing lighting design for over 20 years. After graduating from the University of Kansas with a BFA in Theater Design with an emphasis in A ..read more

Returning guest Melvin Newman tells us what’s been going on with Patabid since we last saw him. There’s a new partnership with City Electric Supply, improved estimating software and AI, and even more time savings for contractors. Melvin is the President/CTO of PataBid. Prior to co-founding PataBid in 2018, Melvin worked in the construction industry for 15+ years as an estimator and project manager. As an entrepreneur, Melvin co-founded PataBid and is the full stack developer on the platform, specializing in the development of the internal ML/AI systems. In addition to developing the platform ..read more

Another short one with Michael and Greg. In this episode, our hosts discuss the phases of a career in lighting distribution. The first phase had Greg going everywhere looking for dead light bulbs or broken lenses just to get a supply business going. Michael’s story is similar except he did it on Rollerblades. Buy some inline skates and get your business going! Michael Colligan is President of Atlas Lighting in Toronto, Canada.  Greg Ehrich is President of Premier Lighting in St. Paul, Minnesota.  ..read more