Meet Our Member

The IESNYC spotlights a member each month whose volunteerism, perspectives or personal story helps advance our goals, pique our curiosity, and whose contributions help 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

October 2023

Dan Blitzer
Principal
The Practical Lighting Workshop 

Q: How did you first get started in the lighting industry?
My lighting career began in late 1979, after 5 years working for a large company in finance. I was looking for a smaller company, and my wife suggested Lightolier, where I had strong family connections, of course. The head of HR sounded dubious when he asked what I wanted to do, but his attitude changed quickly when I said I wanted to be a salesman. Lightolier was one of just a few lighting fixture companies that supported a factory sales organization. He said there were no openings in Seattle, my first choice, but San Francisco had a spot.

Although it didn’t appear so at the beginning, Northern California turned out to be a lucky start.    Starting in the late 1960s, the company had expanded its product offering sufficiently to be able to package specifications, at a time when that practice was still in its infancy. The local sales team was able to close projects directly with contractors, beating out competing sales agencies that had yet to develop effective packaging tactics of their own.

Lightolier was very aggressive locally, too aggressive. A year before I arrived, it all crashed when the company could not meet strong demand for its leading parabolic fixtures. “Scorched earth,” was how management described the territory.

Most of the established specifiers in the market had little time for an inexperienced junior salesperson representing a company struggling under a cloud. But the Bay Area design community included many younger people who were more approachable, people who are prominent today. There were opportunities and nowhere to go but up.

A year after I arrived, the Northern California sales manager was fired, and I took over the job. The lighting community was dynamic; it was fun, and we started to claw our way back in the market. When my wife took a job in New York, my time out West had to end. Although Lightolier would never regain its once dominant position, we did sufficiently well that I was returned to headquarters in New Jersey to manage specification sales. That was back in 1983.

Q: How do you see your role with the IESNYC?
In San Francisco, I had joined both the IES and the Designers Lighting Forum. Moving East, my IES membership transferred to the New Jersey Section (now the Edison Section), and I joined the DLF in New York City. While I attended IES events in the City, I became actively involved on the board of the DLF, as I am today, and served several terms as president.

In 2008, Addison Kelly and Bill Maiman of the IESNYC History Committee asked me to be an on-camera interviewer for the TALK (Talk, Archive, Learn, Keep) project, recording the recollections of notables in the New York lighting community. Several years earlier, I had interviewed 20 current and retired employees at Lightolier in developing the company’s 100 year commemoration. The TALK project, which is still running, was a wonderful opportunity. We interviewed true luminaries: Francesca Bettridge, Howard Brandston, Imero Fiorentino, Jules Fisher, Jim Kaloudis, Theo Kondos, Joanne Lindsley, Paul Marantz, David Mintz, Barbara Montgomery, and Joel Spira, among many others.

Recently, I joined the team organizing NYControlled, a joint program sponsored and led by the IESNYC and the DLFNY. NYControlled will combine tabletop exhibits from two dozen manufacturers with educational seminars and tech talks. Mark your calendar for November 14!

Q: In your opinion, what are the best assets of the IESNYC?
The passion, intelligence, creativity, and commitment of the New York lighting community makes volunteer work very rewarding. Educational programs are valuable, but it’s the members – both young and, well, experienced – who are the IESNYC’s greatest asset.