EASA Presents Exceptional Achievement and Service Award (September 01, 2007)

St. Louis, MO — The Electrical Apparatus Service Association (EASA) has honoured Austin Bonnett as the 2007 recipient of its Exceptional Achievement Service Award. The presentation was made earlier this year at the association’s annual convention in Minneapolis, Minn.

Established in 1997, this annual award recognizes an individual who has provided exceptional service to the electrical apparatus sales and service industry over a lifetime.

“It is the highest honour an individual can receive from our association,” says Linda Raynes, EASA president and CEO. “We view it as our Nobel Prize for achievement and service.”

Bonnett served the electrical apparatus industry throughout his entire professional career. He initially worked for an EASA service centre in Santa Monica, Calif., and then served in the U.S. Navy, working in electrical apparatus operation and maintenance. Later he joined a major electric motor manufacturer (U.S. Electrical Motors, division of Emerson), managing the service and quality departments, serving as a plant manager, design engineer and eventually vice-president of technology until his retirement.

Over the years, Bonnett has been a committed volunteer to EASA. In addition to extraordinary committee service, his efforts include a key role in the development of four world-class educational programs, including the highly popular ‘Root Cause Failure Analysis’.

Bonnet was co-chair of the EASA committee that produced the 2003 benchmark study ‘The Effect of Repair/Rewinding on Motor Efficiency: EASA/AEMT Rewind Study and Good Practice Guide’.

At the meeting, EASA elected new international officers for the 2007-2008 administrative year: Chairman — George Stratton, G.E. Jones Electric Co., Amarillo, Tex.; vice-chairman — Kevin Miller, Apparatus Repair & Engineering, Hagerstown, Md.; and secretary-treasurer — David Griffin, CPM Engineering Ltd., Manchester, England.

Directors include immediate past chair Art Anderson, Electrical Mechanical Services, St. Paul, Minn., Sandi Howlett, Ainsworth Inc., Toronto, Ont.; and Kevin Toor, Birclar Electric & Electronics, Romulus, Mich.

The Electrical Apparatus Service Association (EASA) is an international trade organization consisting of more than 2,000 electromechanical sales and service firms in 59 countries. For more information, visit www.easa.com.