Meet Our Honorary Member

The IESNYC spotlights a member each month whose volunteerism, perspective or personal story helps advance our goals, piques our curiosity, and makes the IESNYC become a more vibrant and diverse lighting community. We value their expertise and thank them for volunteering their time and energy for the betterment of the section and NYC Lighting Community. #the_iesnycmom

May 2026

Al Uszynski
Publisher, Inside Lighting

Q: How did you first get started in the lighting industry?
My first job out of college was with a worldwide leader in lighting controls. Even though they didn’t recruit at my school, I somehow managed to get myself onto their interview schedule at the University of Pennsylvania. That led to a job offer and, ultimately, a career in lighting.

About 9 months in, the company made a major shift in New York City, and I was one of five OGs assigned to Lutron’s first New York Spec Team. With only a short time under my belt (and a collection of questionable polyester suits), they didn’t send me straight into Manhattan’s top accounts. Instead, I was assigned Long Island, Westchester, and some godforsaken place called Poughkeepsie, before eventually earning some key accounts in NYC.

The nineties was a formative time in the industry, as lighting controls were moving from analog to digital. I spent my days working with engineers, architects, and lighting designers, helping them navigate that transition. The projects ranged from landmark buildings in Manhattan to small-town firehouses to high-end residences in the Hamptons. This is where I truly found my footing in the industry. 

Q: How did you first get involved in the IESNYC?
When I arrived in Long Island, I was new to both the Metro area and the industry. I didn’t know anyone. So I did the most logical thing I could think of: I started going to IES meetings.

I immersed myself in the local sections – the IESNYC, IES Mid-Hudson Valley (R.I.P.), and IES Long Island – and attended as many events as I could. At first, my goal was simple: meet people and build a network. It worked, but something else happened along the way. The programs and conversations helped me understand the lighting industry as a much bigger ecosystem than the narrow slice I was experiencing through controls alone.

The polish of the big-city section meetings was impressive: the programs, the speakers, and the lighting VIPs who would show up. But I also really enjoyed the smaller-scale meetings outside of the city that focused on more everyday work: local churches, ballast retrofits, school projects, and the kind of practical lighting jobs that quietly keep places running.

Seeing both sides helped me appreciate the different flavors of the industry. From landmark projects to bread-and-butter work, I gained a much more complete picture of how lighting actually touches people’s lives.  

Q: How do you see your role as an honorary member of the IESNYC?
When I was less experienced, I mostly focused on what I could learn and who I could meet. Now, as a decades-long member and more of an industry observer than a day-to-day practitioner, I see my role as primarily supportive, both locally and nationally.

Through my work running Inside Lighting (the most-visited lighting industry news site in North America) I reach a large and diverse audience of lighting people. My goal is to broaden professionals’ knowledge and perspective by sharing information and context from across the industry, grounded in what I hear from people active in various IES sections and local markets.

I’m grateful to have a strong home IES section in Atlanta, and each year I get to attend section events in New York, Boston, Detroit, and Los Angeles, along with national IES gatherings. I’m not there to lead or mentor, but to show up, listen, and contribute where I can. If my presence or support helps in even a small way, that matters to me. And everywhere I go, I still learn something from the smart, generous lighting people who make this community what it is. 

Q: In your opinion, what are the best assets of the IESNYC?
IESNYC benefits from the highest concentration of architectural lighting designers in the country. That density of talent creates a uniquely high level of discourse. When you attend a program or panel, you’re often sitting alongside people who are shaping some of the most ambitious lighting projects in North America, and frequently, the world.

What sharpens that talent is the nature of the work itself. New York projects can be architecturally complex, historically sensitive, technically demanding, and well-funded enough to pursue sophisticated lighting and controls. Whether it’s a landmark theater renovation, a global corporate headquarters, a cultural institution, or ultra-high-end hospitality, these projects require nuance in photometric precision, layered controls, tight tolerances, and thoughtful integration.

Over time, this concentration of innovation produces a community with a high collective IQ for lighting. Designers, engineers, contractors, and manufacturers become fluent in complexity. They’re accustomed to solving difficult problems and executing at a very high standard.

The IESNYC Section reflects that reality. The programs, conversations, and leadership are shaped by people operating at that level every day. It creates an ecosystem where ambition, technical rigor, and peer engagement all reinforce one another.

Editor's Note: Inside Lighting’s support of the New York City Section includes frequent highlights of our activities and programs. The IESNYC appreciates the service and contributions of Al Uszynski as we bestow this Honorary Member of Month.