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NEW YORK, NY – PLASA presented the 2012 Frank Stewart Volunteer of the Year Award to members of the Technical Standards Program’s E1.6-1 Powered Hoist Systems Task Group and the Entertainment Technician Certification Program’s Rigging Subject Matter Experts on Thursday evening, October 18^th at PLASA’s Cocktails and Awards Reception.

The award to the E1.6-1 Task group was presented by the Chair of the TSP Rigging Working Group, Bill Sapsis, who told the crowd, “The effort put into this document has been staggering. While countless people have worked on this project over the years, the really heavy lifting has been accomplished by the current Task Group who took over the project in 2006.” The members of the group are Joe Champelli, Kimberly Corbett, Chris Kaiser, Michael Lichter, Jack Miller, Jim Niesel, Pete Svitavsky, Steve Walker, and Task Group leader Harvey Sweet.

The award to the ETCP Rigging Subject Matter Experts was presented by PLASA North American Regional Board Chair Eddie Raymond who said, “These individuals volunteered numerous hours over the last year to the task of reviewing and updating the certification exams. This endeavor was necessary due to the success of the program and the number of certifications that have been awarded. This also assures that the exams are up to date with the latest rigging practices, equipment and regulations.” The ETCP SMEs honored were Patrick Bash, John Bleich, David Boevers, Marcel Boulet, Eric Braun, Olan Cottrill, Dan Culhane, Brad Dittmer, Jim Doherty, Russ Dusek, Tony Galuppi, Kelly Green, Tom Heemskerk, Dan Houser, Glenn Hufford, Ed Kish, Eric McAfee, Joseph McGeough, Brian Miller, Joe Mooneyham, Walter Murphy, Mark O’Brien, Michael Reed, Stephen Rees, Bill Sapsis (Chair, Arena SMEs), Peter Scheu, Loren Schreiber, Karen Seifried (Chair, Theatre SMEs), and Gil Vinzant.

The Frank Stewart award was created to honour Frank’s unrivalled service to ESTA during the 18 years that he served as its Treasurer. This award recognizes extraordinary effort by a volunteer or group of volunteers during the previous year and is bestowed by the PLASA North American Regional Board.