The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) announced today that Bernard Borghei, Executive Vice President – Operations and Co-Founder of Vertical Bridge, Doug Dickinson, Western Region Environmental Health & Safety Manager at Ericsson; Bruce Eades, President of USA Telecom Insurance Services; Pat Moore, Field Service Specialist at Stainless; Paul Roberts, Vice President of Compliance for American Tower Corporation; Jose Tarafa, Corporate Operations Manager at Mastec Network Solutions; and Gary Trent, Quality Assurance Engineer for U.S. Cellular have been appointed to serve on the organization’s Board of Governors.
The NWSA, headquartered in Fairfax, Va., is a national non-profit assessment and certification organization established to provide thorough, independent assessments of knowledge and skills and provide verifiable worker certification in order 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.
The NWSA Board of Governors consists of representatives from a broad cross-section of the industry and is tasked with developing policy and overseeing the activities of the various committees that will serve under their jurisdiction.
“The NWSA is thrilled to welcome the expertise and talents of Bernard, Doug, Bruce, Pat, Paul, Jose and Gary to the Board of Governors,” said Executive Director Duane MacEntee. “The Board of Governors continues to play an integral role in the organization as NWSA certification requirements become commonplace in the marketplace and as the industry continues to evolve,” added MacEntee.
The NWSA currently offers two industry-wide certification programs: Telecommunications Tower Technician 1 (TTT-1) and Telecommunications Tower Technician 2 (TTT-2). Additionally, an NWSA task force is currently in the process of developing a new certification and credential for Telecommunication Tower Foreman. This new certification will create a credentialing system for industry workers who supervise crews that work on communications structures, whether they are antenna and line crews, construction crews, or structural modification crews.
Other assessment and certification programs NWSA will likely unveil in the future include Rigging, DAS Systems, Small Cell Systems, Broadcast Structures and Outside Plant/Fiber to the Home and Business.
“The NWSA’s nationwide and portable certification offerings are a game-changer for the industry and the new members of the Board of Governors will have a major impact in terms of shaping a skilled and safe workforce who are capable of meeting the industry’s intense buildout demands,” stated Board of Directors President Don Doty.
Industry workers, companies and stakeholders are encouraged to visit the NWSA website at www.nws-a.org to learn more about the organization and how to begin the process of obtaining certification.
Biographies
Bernard Borghei
Bernard Borghei is the Co-Founder and Senior Vice President of Operations of Vertical Bridge. He is responsible for Vertical Bridge’s daily operations, regulatory compliance, vendor management, engineering services, human resources and emerging technologies.
Borghei has over 24 years of experience in wireless industries and before co-founding Vertical Bridge, he served as Senior Vice President and Partner at Global Tower Partners (GTP), where he oversaw domestic and international market operations, including a portfolio of more than 6,500 towers and 12,000 managed properties.
Borghei has also held executive and senior management positions in operations, engineering, sales, supply chain, site development, and customer care at several wireless operators and service providers including SkyBitz, Wireless Facilities, Inc. Western Wireless International, and at Triton PCS where he successfully ran operations across 24 different countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North and South America.
Bernard has a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Villanova University and an MBA in global management from the University of Phoenix. He also serves on the Advisory Board for the Villanova University School of Engineering.
Doug Dickinson
Doug Dickinson oversees all environmental, health, and safety issues for Ericsson’s western region locations to include Ericsson and customer offices, warehouses, switches and cell sites. Doug’s responsibilities include writing policies, practices, and procedures, conducting audits and inspections and facilitating employee safety training.
Bruce Eades
Bruce Eades has been serving the insurance needs for the telecommunications industry for over 20 years. He consults regularly with telecommunication executives across the country to help executives understand how risk management concepts can impact their business and to give them a better understanding of the current commercial property and casualty trends. He is very active in NATE and is currently serving on the trade show committee. He is also active in most of the state wireless associations. Bruce is currently President of USA Telecom Insurance Services and the Georgia region of Insurance Office of America as well as serving on the Board of Directors for Insurance Office of America (IOA).
A veteran of the insurance industry since 1984 he was raised in Gainesville, Georgia, Bruce continues to live in Gainesville with his wife and three children. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama. He received his Accredited Advisor of Insurance designation in 1996 and received his Certified Insurance Counselor designation in 2005. Bruce was IOA’s 2009 agent of the year and was appointed to IOA’s Board of Directors in 2010. He is active in his local church and currently serves on the North Georgia Mountain’s YMCA Board of Directors.
Patrick Moore
Patrick Moore is a Field Service Specialist at Stainless. Patrick assists in field specialist crew selection, timing, rigging plans, allocation and equipment coordination for all field projects. Pat has worked very closely with the field personnel to help understand the challenges of multi-tenant broadcast tower sites. Starting in the tower erection business in 1976, Pat has performed in every area of broadcast tower related service. In 1995, Pat was one of the first members of the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) Safety and Education Committee, of which he is still a member. In 2000, Pat joined Stainless during the hectic DTV (digital) transition period assisting in very complicated projects. Pat was also a member of the team that created the TIA-1019A gin pole standard which later was moved into ANSI 10.48.
Paul Roberts
Paul Roberts is the Vice President of Compliance for American Tower Corporation. In this role, Mr. Roberts guides the Environmental Compliance, FAA/FCC Regulatory Compliance, Safety and Health initiatives of the company as well as regulatory advocacy. Mr. Roberts is actively involved in advocacy efforts across all federal agencies that both regulate and support the telecommunications industry and has been a key voice in helping to shape rulemakings that affect us all. With 15 years managing telecom regulatory operations rooted in legal, systems safety and quality engineering principles, Mr. Roberts brings valuable insight and perspectives that will contribute to the NWSA mission.
Jose Tarafa
Jose Tarafa manages corporate operations, which includes Safety, D.O.T., Quality, Integration, Mobility Maintenance, Systems and Analytics, Disaster Recovery, Small Cell Process, and Special Projects. Jose joined MasTec Network Solutions in 2014, after a long telecommunications career with AT&T where he led teams in varied disciplines including, Engineering, Planning, Construction, Central Office, Mobility Implementation and Field Operations, Digital Electronics, and Technical Support.
Jose emigrated from Cuba when he was eight years old. He has lived in the Miami area ever since, and obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Miami. Jose was one of the first engineers to introduce digital electronics into the field of telecommunications at Bellsouth in the eighties. He is just as excited about the future of telecom now as he was then. “Telecommunications not only changes lives; it changes everything. I don’t know what’s coming next, but it will revolutionize the way we live, work and play. It all hinges on the next big development in communications.”
In 2009, Jose was part of an engineering team that built and maintained broadband telephone facilities at Bellsouth, now AT&T. He was asked to pivot to mobility field operations and embraced the new challenges of a combined broadband and wireless network. No matter how the industry changes over the years, Jose leads by encouraging transparent communications and relationship development.
Throughout his career, Jose has been routinely asked to transition into under-performing operations and takes pride in his track record of managing those organizations up and turning them into high-performing groups. He carries that leadership skill into community improvement endeavors. Jose was a board member of the Junior Achievement for Greater Miami for 20 years, and has recently joined the board of directors for the Hispanic Unity of Florida charity. He enjoys offering guidance to minority, impoverished or disenfranchised youth.
Gary Trent
Gary has worked in the communication industry for 35 years and has seen the industry evolve as the United States migrated from wireline to wireless; Gary started his career in long distance communications with Microwave Communications Inc. (MCI), installing telephone switching equipment and building telephone offices throughout the United States. Gary then joined MCI Metro installing fiber optic equipment and deploying fiber rings around all major U.S. cities, for local and long distance telephone service. For the last 15 years Gary has been with U. S. Cellular writing policies, procedures, standards, and quality assurance auditing.
