Western Electrical Contractors Association, Inc.

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Apprentice Instructors: Teacher Appreciation Week

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

A huge shout out to our apprenticeship instructors! These dedicated individuals come from the industry as former contractors, foremen, project managers and estimators--all with an unwavering foundation of experience. Our credentialed instructors are all currently-certified electricians and/or low voltage technicians in the State of California, to ensure we give our apprentices the very best expertise from which to learn. As part of National Teacher Appreciation Day, we’re sharing them with you!


Jimmie Slemp primarily teaches second year Apprenticeship full time, manages the Rancho Cordova lab facility, and helps with apprenticeship curriculum development.


Dan Bierly utilizes his teaching and field experience, along with his technical expertise, to develop rigorous exam prep curriculum to prepare WECA’s apprentices for the State certification exams.



Rick Labon teaches apprenticeship at the Riverside training facility and also works with WECA's instructional development team to create leading electrician education curriculum



Mike Moyer is WECA's fourth year Apprenticeship Instructor and specializes in instrumentation and controls. He’s made incredible contributions to the apprenticeship education program with his highly detailed and effective labs.



Rick Mortensen has worked with WECA for more than six years, first as a Get Wired! Instructor, and now as an Apprentice instructor in San Diego. He teaches all five years of the Commercial Electrical apprenticeship program.


Zach Wallace teaches for WECA as an apprenticeship instructor, primarily teaching 3rd year. Zach feels that his greatest reward as a teacher is knowing that students are moving forward in their careers because of a concept he helped them to understand.



LaKeal Morris primarily teaches 1st year apprenticeship, where he is able to combine his knowledge of the trade with his love for teaching in order to keep WECA’s apprentices at the top of their game.


Keith Smart continues his teaching passion as an Apprenticeship Instructor at WECA with duties that take him from teaching Ohms Law and load calculations, to proper conduit bending, and navigating trainees through Pythagorean theorems. He teaches all five years of the Commercial Electrical program.


Steve Kappes is based at WECA's Rancho Cordova training facility as the LowVolt apprenticeship instructor, and holds a C-10 Electrical Contractors license, and is a certified Low Voltage Technician and Fire Life Safety Technician in California, as well as NICET Level III, Senior Electronics Technician certification.


Tom Thompson has worked at nearly every level of the electrical construction business and has expertise in commercial and residential settings, as well as in low voltage. He’s the lead curriculum developer for our low voltage apprenticeship programs.

Neil Pesarillo is based in San Diego as a Low Voltage apprenticeship instructor, and holds VDV and FLS technician certifications. He brings expertise from the field and a knack for helping others understand concepts and applications.