Steve Terry

Bio:

Steve Terry is currently the Director of Standards and Industry Relations at ETC. From 2001 to 2004 he was VP of Professional Services, and from 2004-2017, he was VP of Research & Development and led the team that is responsible for global development of new products. During that era, his group was responsible for the development of many new technologies, including the transition to LED light sources and entry into the rigging machinery and controls market.

Steve began his professional career as the Production Electrician for the Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1971. In 1976, he was responsible for the care and feeding of the first computerized lighting control system on Broadway at “A Chorus Line”. From 1977-1981, he was the Production Sound Engineer for that production.

Steve joined Production Arts Lighting in 1976 and served as Executive Vice President and Chief Engineer until 1998 when the company was acquired by PRG. In that capacity, he led the Systems Integration and Consulting Group of Production Arts.

In 1986, he chaired the USITT Committee that wrote the internationally-accepted DMX512 standard for digital communications in lighting systems. This standard has had perhaps the largest economic impact of any single item on the lighting industry over the last 40 years, by enabling wide interoperability of equipment from multiple manufacturers. Today, we take such interoperability for granted, but before DMX512, that was not the case.

Steve has maintained an active involvement in lighting industry standards for more than 45 years. He founded the USITT National Electrical Code Committee in 1980 and was its original chair. He was appointed to National Electrical Code Panel 15 in 1994, and continues to represent the USITT in that role today. He was a founding member of the ESTA Technical Standards Program, and continues active participation in that program. He is a recipient of the prestigious

ESTA Eva Swan Award and the Wally Russell Award for Lifetime Achievement.