Video Team for 2017 Understanding the NEC Vol. 2 textbook & DVDs

Victor Ammons was born in North Carolina, but has lived primarily in New Jersey since the age of five. He spent his high school and college vacation times working in a small, family owned electrical contracting firm. Vic married his high school sweetheart after his sophomore year at North Carolina State University, from which both graduated with honors two years later. After four years in the Army, during which time their first child was born in Germany, Vic and Anne alternated getting MBA degrees. They now have three married children and six grandchildren.

After a number of years of running the family electrical contracting business while his father’s health declined, Vic trained and turned the business over to his brother-in-law. He then returned to the engineering field in which he had been trained. Vic is a registered Professional Engineer in New Jersey and has served in an engineering management role for several engineering and architectural/engineering firms. He’s now a senior electrical engineer for Jacobs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Morristown, New Jersey.

Vic and Anne now reside in west central New Jersey in an area with a few dozen families among over a thousand acres of woodlands. Yes, there are still woodlands in New Jersey; we haven’t gotten around to paving them all yet. Vic and Anne, who will celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2019, are avid square- and ballroom-dancers, and are presidents of their local cluband the Northern New Jersey Square Dance Association. Vic is also a woodworker and an amateur beekeeper. Both are active in several capacities in their church.

Mike Culbreath has devoted his career to the electrical industry and worked his way up from apprentice electrician to master electrician. He began by doing residential and light commercial construction, and later did service work and custom electrical installations. While working as a journeyman electrician, he suffered a serious on-the-job knee injury. As part of his rehabilitation, Mike completed courses at Mike Holt Enterprises, and then passed the exam to receive his Master Electrician’s license. ln 1986, with a keen interest in continuing education for electricians, he joined the staff to update material and began illustrating Mike Holt’s textbooks and magazine articles.

Mike started with simple hand-drawn diagrams and cut-and-paste graphics. When frustrated by the limitations of that style of illustrating, he took a company computer home to learn how to operate some basic computer graphic software. Realizing that computer graphics offered a lot of flexibility for creating illustrations, Mike took every computer graphics class and seminar he could to help develop his skills. He’s worked as an illustrator and editor with the company for over 30 years and, as Mike Holt has proudly acknowledged, has helped to transform his words and visions into lifelike graphics.

0riginally from south Florida, Mike now lives in northern lower Michigan where he enjoys hiking, kayaking, photography, gardening, and cooking; but his real passion is his horses. He also loves spending time with his children Dawn and Mac and his grandchildren Jonah, Kieley, and Scarlet

Thomas Domitrovich is an electrical engineer with Eaton Corporation’s Bussmann series solutions in the Circuit Protection Division. He has experienced in power systems engineering, sales and marketing, business development, and product management. Thomas is actively involved with the electrical industry through industry organizations including NFPA, NEMA, IEC, NECA, IBEW, the electrical training ALLIANCE, and more.

He’s the principle representative for NEMA on NFPA Code Making Panel 2 for the continued development of the National Electrical Code (NFPA 70). Thomas also represents NEMA on the NFPA committee for the continued development of NFPA 73, Standard for Electrical Inspections for Existing Dwellings. In addition, he’s a LEED® Accredited Professional, a licensed Professional Engineer, and holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Gannon University.

Thomas is passionate about saving lives through the continued growth of electrical safety and is an author with a wide range of trade magazine articles and technical white papers.

Brian House is Vice President of Digital and Technical Training at Mike Holt Enterprises, and a Certified Mike Holt Instructor. He is a permanent member of the video teams, on which he has served since the 2011 Code cycle. Brian has worked in the trade since the 1990s in residential, commercial and industrial settings. He opened a contracting firm in 2003 that designed energy-efficient lighting retrofits, explored “green” biomass generators, and partnered with
residential PV companies in addition to traditional electrical installation and service.

In 2007, Brian was personally selected by Mike for development and began teaching seminars for Mike Holt Enterprises after being named a “Top Gun Presenter” in Mike’s Train the Trainer boot camp. Brian travels around the country teaching electricians, instructors,military personnel, and engineers. His experience in the trenches as an electrical contractor, along with Mike Holt’s instructor training, gives him a teaching style that is practical, straightforward, and refreshing.

Today, as Vice President of Digital and Technical Training at Mike Holt Enterprises, Brian leads the apprenticeship and digital product teams. They create cutting-edge training tools, and partner with in-house and apprenticeship training programs nationwide to help them reach the next level. He is also part of the content team that helps Mike bring his products to market, assisting in the editing of the textbooks, coordinating the content and illustrations, and assuring
the technical accuracy and flow of the information.

Brian served as the chief editor for this new edition of Understanding Electrical Estimating and assembled the team for the video production, and content review of this textbook and its supporting resources. Brian is high energy, with a passion for doing business the right way. He expresses his commitment to the industry and his love for its people in his teaching, working on books, and developing instructional programs and software tools.

Brian and his wife Carissa have shared the joy of their four children and many foster children during 25 years of marriage. When not mentoring youth at work or church, he can be found racing mountain bikes or SCUBA diving with his kids. He’s passionate about helping others and regularly engages with the youth of his community to motivate them into exploring their future.

Tom Landa is currently the Electrical Director for Conti Corporation, a large multi-national contractor. He’s been affiliated with the construction/electrical industry his entire life and has worked in the trades for thirty years. Tom began as an apprentice at an early age and worked his way up through the electrical field, following his family’s preceding path. He currently holds master and electrical contractor licenses in several states throughout North America.

Tom was intrigued by this ever-changing occupation early on, and he’s continually striving to be the best he can be. Electricity and this business are Tom’s life and he believes he’s been educated from an early age to provide quality results for his customers, family, friends, and everyone he’s had the benefit of encountering in this industry. Tom believes this goal can be accomplished through dedication to one’s trade, along with a strong education base, honesty, and integrity.

When he isn’t working, Tom can be found on the basketball court coaching and teaching young athletes about the sport and a strong work ethic. He puts forth everything that God has provided to him for his family, TinaAnne, Tommaso, and Antonio. Without his family, he couldn’t be where he is today.

Chris Lohr is a senior electrical designer/engineer at GSA in Broomall, Pennsylvania. His interest in electrical design and engineering began in high school when he built a VOX to control his room lights and stereo. He’s worked as an electrician in new homes and new commercial buildings. When he joined the USMC he was trained to be a C-130 electrical technician. Chris studied Electrical Engineering at Purdue after working at Smith, Seckman and Reid in Nashville, Tennessee designing electrical, fire alarm, and nurse call systems for hospitals all over the U.S.

He’s worked as an electrical department manager/designer at other companies designing electrical systems for schools, prisons, shopping malls, churches, Salvation Army facilities, Department of Government Service facilities, apartment complexes, and now casinos. Chris also has experience in the transmission and distribution field as a substation designer.

Chris first learned about Mike Holt while he was an electrical instructor. He used Mike’s books for many years teaching high school graduates and up to become electricians, and then another course to pass their Master Electricians’ exam. “There is no easier and better way to learn the Code than using Understanding the NEC”.

Chris spends his off time on the golf course, playing several instruments, reading, writing, and playing with his dogs. He’s a huge Boilermaker Fan and loves watching all the Philadelphia Pro sports teams. He’s also a very talented chef, having worked in 4-star restaurants as the Executive Chef.

Eric Stromberg has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and is a professional engineer. He started in the electrical industry when he was a teenager helping the neighborhood electrician. After high school, and a year of college, Eric worked for a couple of different audio companies, installing sound systems in a variety of locations from small buildings to baseball stadiums. After returning to college he worked as a journeyman wireman for an electrical contractor.

After graduating from the University of Houston, Eric took a job as an electronic technician and installed and serviced life safety systems in high-rise buildings. After seven years he went to work for Dow Chemical as a power distribution engineer. His work with audio systems had made him very sensitive to grounding issues and he took this experience with him into power distribution. Because of this expertise, Eric became one of Dow’s grounding subject matter experts. This is also how Eric met Mike Holt, as Mike was looking for grounding experts for his 2002 Grounding vs. Bonding video.

Eric taught the National Electrical Code for professional engineering exam preparation for over 20 years, and has held continuing education teacher certificates for the states of Texas and New Mexico. He was on the electrical licensing and advisory board for the State of Texas, as well as on their electrician licensing exam board. Eric now consults for a Department of Energy research laboratory in New Mexico, where he’s responsible for the electrical standards as well as assisting the laboratory’s AHJ.

Eric’s oldest daughter lives with her husband in Zurich, Switzerland, where she teaches for an international school. His son served in the Air Force, has a degree in Aviation logistics, and is a pilot and owner of an aerial photography business. His youngest daughter is a singer/songwriter in Los Angeles.