Mitch Hefter has been working in lighting controls for over 40 years. He has played a major role in setting entertainment technology standards, promoting electrical safety, developing certification for entertainment industry electricians, and is an ETCP Certified Entertainment Electrician and Recognized Trainer. He is a founding member of the Entertainment Services and Technology Association (ESTA) Technical Standards Program (ANSI E1) and co-chairs the Electrical Power Working Group. Mitch was instrumental in the development of USITT DMX512 in 1986 and chairs the ESTA E1.11 USITT DMX512-A Task Group.
Mitch is a USITT Fellow, a USITT Founders Award recipient, a past Engineering Commissioner, and was awarded Honorary Lifetime USITT Membership in 2014.
Mitch has worked on updates to the National Electrical Code since 1981and was instrumental in getting USITT’s first representative onto NEC Panel 15. Mitch has been representing the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) on NEC Panel 15 since 1997. He was appointed the USITT Alternate on NEC Panel 13 in 2022.
Mitch also chairs the IES Lighting Control Systems committee and worked on several IES standards. Mitch is also an IES Fellow. He has presented at LightFair, LDI, USITT, NAMM, and at IES chapters on several topics, including Emergency Lighting Control.