NEMIC says goodbye to longtime stalwarts

NEMIC is saying “see you later” to two longtime sheet metal stalwarts who recently retired after decades of valu­able service. Their hard work and the countless contributions they have made as leaders have kept our industry at the forefront of the skilled construction trades.

John Hamilton, director of imple­mentation for the Testing, Adjusting and Balancing Bureau (TABB), began his career as a sheet metal apprentice in 1982. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, John has been a member of Local 10 in Maplewood, Minnesota, his entire career.

John attended Saint Paul Technical College and graduated with an associate degree in sheet metal and HVAC, which jump-started his apprenticeship. After his apprentice­ship, John spent five years as a field foreman and manager of testing, adjusting and balancing (TAB) jobs at Harris Mechanical in Saint Paul. He advanced by joining the National Energy Management Institute (NEMI) as a field representative and then the International Training Institute (ITI), the education arm of the unionized sheet metal industry, as a regional coordinator. During that time, he founded the train-the-trainer program for TAB instructors and developed the current ITI/ NEMIC air duct calculator.

As a regional coordinator, John served as the technical expert for many of the current ITI training modules, including fire life safety, sound and vibration, piping systems, ventilation/indoor air quality, pumps, fans, psychometrics, the TAB manual and the TABB home study course for test and balance.

In 1995, he was hired as the chief operating officer (later, director of implementation) of TABB. There, he helped craft the current International Certification Board (ICB)/TABB certification program; lobbied for fire life safety legisla­tion in cities, counties and states nationwide; worked to get TABB-specific language into thousands of construction specifications; and was instrumental in the accredi­tation of ICB/TABB to ISO/IEC 17024 by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) National Accreditation Board (ANAB).

Scott Hammond, NEMIC’s director of research, is a lifelong resident of Circleville, Ohio. Scott joined SMART Local 24 in Columbus as an apprentice in 1986. As a young journeyperson working with Speer Mechanical, he was appointed to a committee to investigate the establishment of a defined contribu­tion pension plan in the Columbus district. In 1999, he became an organizer with Local 24, where he reached out to potential members and oversaw the youth-to-youth program. He took on additional responsibilities when he was elected business representative in 2008.

In 2011, he became business manager for Local 24. In this role, Scott, his team and fellow leaders of other Ohio locals worked to get ordinances passed in cities and counties around the state to require damper inspections and repairs by ICB-certified technicians.

As the director of research for NEMIC, he used his extensive knowledge of fire damper legislation to help members across the country educate their local politicians, fire and building inspectors and building owners about the impor­tance of HVAC fire life safety.

Scott also served as a trustee on several Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and Taft-Hartley funds, and he has represented sheet metal workers on multiple funds, boards and committees, including Mayor Andrew Ginther’s Labor Advisory Committee, established by the city of Columbus, and the Ohio State Building Trades Council Executive Board.