(Fairfax, Virginia) - The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) announced today that Gemma Frock, PhD, NATE Workforce Consultant, and Dave Hallowell, President of the Connectivity, Commercial, and Industrial Sector at Black & Veatch, have been appointed as new members of the organization's Board of Directors.
NWSA also announced that Don Doty, VP of Broadcast Services at Broadcast Construction Solutions, LLC, Mark Ciarfella, EVP, Domestic Operations at SBA Communications Corporations, and Andy Haldane, Owner, Tower Engineering Professionals, have been appointed to serve as Executive Officers for the positions of President, Vice President, and Secretary/Treasurer, respectively.
NWSA, headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, is a national non-profit assessment and certification organization established to provide thorough, independent assessments of knowledge and skills and provide verifiable, ANSI accredited trade certifications to enhance safety, reduce workplace risk, improve quality, encourage training, and recognize the skilled professionals who work on towers and other non-standard communication structures.
NWSA currently offers the following industry-wide trade certification programs: Telecommunications Tower Technician 1 (TTT-1), Telecommunications Tower Technician 2 (TTT-2), Telecommunications Tower Foreman and Antenna & Line Specialty Certification Program.
Other assessment and certification programs NWSA will likely unveil in the future include Advanced Rigging, Structural Modifications, Small Cell Technician, Gin Pole Operations and Broadcast Tall Tower Technician.
“NWSA is excited to be able to add Gemma and Dave to the organization’s Board of Directors leadership team that we have assembled,” said Executive Director Duane MacEntee. “Additionally, NWSA is thrilled to have Don, Mark, and Andy provide their leadership acumen in their roles as Executive Officers on the Board of Directors. All these appointed leaders possess unique talents, workforce development experience, and subject matter expertise that will serve to continue helping our credentialing organization scale the number of NWSA certified trade workers in the United States,” added MacEntee.
As part of today’s announcement, the NWSA also acknowledged the vital contributions of departing Board of Directors members Jim Miller of ET Tower and Marty Travers of Black & Veatch, whose terms serving as Directors expired this year.
Biographies
Gemma K. Frock, Ph.D.
Dr. Gemma Frock has been engaged with the telecommunications industry since 2012 in her role as the Vice President of Education and Training at Aiken Technical College. She led the efforts to develop and implement a series of stackable certificates for a tower technicians’ program at the two-year community technical college. Students were able to earn certificates that led toward an Associate of Applied Science of General Technology in Telecommunications. Currently, she serves as a Workforce Consultant with NATE and in this capacity chairs the NATE Workforce Development Committee.
Gemma has extensive experience in education. She has worked in education and training for over 35 years holding progressively responsible positions. Her experience includes K-12 public education sector where she worked at a vocational technical education center, the Department of the Army, and in post-secondary education at a comprehensive community and technical college and held a Clinical faculty in the College of Education at the University of South Carolina, a research I. During her tenure in post-secondary education, she held positions in workforce development, continuing education, academic affairs, and institutional effectiveness. Additionally, her experience with the Army Education System included serving as an education and transition counselor at an education center.
She is actively involved in supporting veterans through local community boards and supports the Telecommunication Industry by serving on the Board of Governors of the National Wireless Safety Alliance. Additionally, she serves on the Written Exam Management Committee and recently chaired the Job Task Analysis ad hoc committee for the Tower Technicians I and II.
Dave Hallowell
Dave Hallowell is the president of the Connectivity, Commercial and Industrial Sector at Black & Veatch, where he is responsible for the profitable growth of a variety of markets, including Communications, Technology, Transportation and Logistics, Financial and Consumer Services, and Industrial Manufacturing. The Sector delivers advisory, engineering/design, and construction services primarily to help its clients to meet their sustainability and business growth goals, and he leads the development of growth and innovation strategies in key solutions, including Communications, Clean Transportation, Distributed Infrastructure, and Sustainable Data Centers.
With more than 29 years of service at Black & Veatch, Dave has spent over 25 years of that service working with Telecommunications customers, holding various positions from design engineer through executive management. For the last six years of his time in the Telecommunication business, he guided the company’s telecommunications public networks business before serving as leader of Black & Veatch’s global renewable energy business. He has led the development of strategic client relationships and leading-edge capabilities, bringing the disciplines of program and risk management to complement the innovation and technological advancement in these arenas. He has also built a strong, collaborative culture of respect, accountability, and shared purpose across his team.
Mr. Hallowell holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University Nebraska – Lincoln and is a licensed Professional Engineer, State of Kansas.
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