UP CLOSE WITH BERNIE ERICKSON

By Shirley Coyle, LC

Growing up in New Jersey, Bernie Erickson was already making good impressions at the age of 14. He had a job cutting the grass for a neighbor who owned an auction business, and soon found himself standing on the back of truck, auctioning off contents– one of the youngest auctioneers in his area, after his boss noted, “You’ve got spunk, and you have no shame– you can do this!” Looking back today from his well-earned position as Chief Marketing Officer and Director of Innovation for Facility Solutions Group(FSG), Bernie joked that he was both admired and hated for his auctioneer skills, especially after his father gave him a Federal Signal bullhorn. “It taught me a lot of good things, but one problem was, in the Northeast, we already talk fast– I got to the point where I would rattle stuff off, and people would say, ‘Slow down!’”

Bernie entered the lighting industry in the 1980s, joining his dad who worked at Okay Electric Supply, a long-established NJ electrical distributor. “I remember when I joined the lighting business, my dad said, ‘Jeez, you missed the whole lighting revolution(Mercury Vapor to HPS)–the lumens per watt are so high!’” Bernie and his father went on to buy Okay Electric Supply with another partner in 1986.“I was always looking for the next thing–that’s really how we built our reputation. When Energy Star started, we got certified.” They would go on to be one of the first electrical distributor ESCOs doing turn-key retrofits. Okay Supply was later acquired by FSG, becoming the genesis of FSG’s northeast U.S. business.

Reflecting on business challenges, Bernie noted, “The biggest challenge when I first started as an electrical distributor was transitioning our business, my father, my partner, and our employees, from selling products to really selling solutions–and that was a very difficult transition for our company, and for the distribution industry. When energy conservation became big, and all the new innovations were coming out, everyone was very skeptical about it. I ended up doing a lot of speaking at NAED on selling solutions for energy conservation...it took a while for the industry to be convinced.”

Bernie has done a lot of work to help the entire industry. He serves as President of the NCQLP, the national lighting certification agency in the U.S., and has been on the NCQLP Board for over 14 years. He expressed concern over the next generation coming into lighting– some have only grown up with only LED technology, not wanting to invest the time and effort to understand legacy technology. “We get complaints on the lighting certification testing about all the questions on legacy technology– they feel it’s irrelevant. We are working to change that perception for the next generation to help them understand the importance of knowing the foundations, understanding design, getting certified–and we’re seeing a good response.”

Bernie underscored the importance of learning the foundations of legacy lighting and lighting design with an example– a favorite lighting project of his, the World Trade Center Oculus in New York City. “It could have been a vanilla project...just put an LED replacement lamp into the original sockets. ”Instead, after studying the design challenges, the equipment and installation issues, considering the mandate for solemnity, Bernie put forward a riskier proposal for an RGB lighting solution that was accepted and now provides the Port Authority with the ability to change the color(which they currently do for special occasions, thirteen times per year.)The Oculus project won an IES design award.

Bernie’s advice to those coming into lighting: “Think about the possibilities and look beyond the obvious and the easy. That’s going to allow us to still treat light as an art– and we won’t become like the janitorial industry where you’re selling a bottle of cleaner! It’s not just about light bulbs, it’s about knowing design and creativity."

Asked about his own success, Bernie offered, “When I think about success, I think it is about being willing to consider change, to consider innovation. I think of some of the things we did before anyone did, as a little company–we ended up designing our own fluorescent high bay in the late ‘80s. We took it to some manufacturers, who told us, ‘You can’t replace an HID fixture with a fluorescent fixture. ’So, we ended up doing it ourselves.” Bernie cites other examples where his company innovated: using digital marketing for LED exit signs in the late ‘90s, partnering with the utilities on DSM programs, becoming an ESCO. “Not every idea worked, but the ones that did made us thought leaders in the space– and that was one of our success factors. People thought we were much bigger than we were. Under FSG, the support and capital helped the growth really take off. I’ll forever be grateful for Bill Graham (FSG’s Founder and CEO)– he enabled us to go from good to great. He let us flourish.”

And what occupies Bernie when he is not working on the next thing for lighting? Bernie loves spending time with his six-year-old twin grandsons–“It’s a blast!”