Plumbing-industry members and trade press visited the new Chicagoland office of the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) Sept. 6 as part of an open house celebration.
Russ Chaney, IAPMO executive director, spoke to those in attendance via telephone. “The office is located in a south suburb of Chicago [Mokena], giving IAPMO an increased presence in the midwest and eastern United States,” he said. “Nationally, code users will now become aware of the many services and products IAPMO has, and will soon have, to offer.”
The new operation is part of the IAPMO business unit headed by Allen Inlow, senior director of Business and Product Development. According to Inlow, “Establishing this office meets a strategic goal of providing new services to IAPMO members as well as enhanced services on the Uniform Plumbing and Uniform Mechanical Codes.”
The gathering also gave industry members a chance to meet with new IAPMO staff members Dave Viola, Terrence A. Leppellere, P.E., and Kathleen Mihelich. Viola started in August as director of special services after spending many years as technical director for the Plumbing Manufacturers Institute.
Leppellere, P.E., director of member services, is responsible for member recruitment and retention, product development, sales and customer service. Mihelich is manager of career services and will be focusing on developing a package of career services that will go beyond traditional training and certification programs to improve and elevate the profile of code administrators throughout the United States.
Leppellere and Mihelich come to IAPMO with more than 50 combined years of model code association experience, the last four years of which were serving on the senior management team with the International Code Council. Both were executives with BOCA International prior to the model code organization merger in 2003.
Pictured above are (from left) IAPMO staffers Allen Inlow, Dave Viola and Terrence Leppellere, and IAPMO Director at Large William Erickson standing in front of the new office in Mokena, IL. Erickson is chairman of the board of C.J. Erickson Plumbing Co. (Photo by Jim Camillo)
