James N. Pearse

Biography

 James N. Pearse was elected as chair of the ANSI Board of Directors in 1989 and served until 1991. He was also a member of the ANSI Executive Committee, the ANSI Committee on Standards and Data Services, and the Institute’s Appeals Board. He served as chair of ANSI’s Company Member Council (now known as the Company Member Forum), where he helped to direct development of the publication, Standards Management.   Outside ANSI, he was group vice president for engineering at Leviton Manufacturing Company. Responsible for the research, design, and development of electrical wiring devices and electronic components and assemblies, Mr. Pearse retired from Leviton in 2001. In his past assignments, he served as vice president of product design and research at Appleton Electric Company, and also oversaw research and development of electrical products and numerical control systems at the Allen-Bradley Company.   Throughout his career, he was involved with the design and development of products for personnel protection, including ground fault circuit interrupters and immersion detection circuit interrupters. He was a member of the National Electrical Code Committee, serving on two code making panels, and was a registered professional engineer in the state of Wisconsin.   A leader in the standards development community of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), James N. Pearse served on many NEMA Boards and section committees over the years, including the Standards and Conformity Assessment Policy Committee, the Lighting Controls Council, the National Lighting Bureau Board of Directors, the Ground Fault Personnel Protection Section, the Industry Development Committee, the NEMA/UL Policy Committee, and the International Regional Standardization Committee. He was also awarded the NEMA Kite and Key Award.   Mr. Pearse authored technical papers in a variety of trade magazines and professional journals and held 44 United States patents and 50 foreign patents.   Born in La Crosse, WI, in 1930, he attended the University of Notre Dame, IN, served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps in Korea as a mobile radar technician, and later graduated with honors from the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering.

Research Interest

 Chair of ANSI Board 1989-91 American National Standards Institute (ANSI)