SIA 2024 Elections – Candidate Bios
Below are biographies and photos for this year’s SIA election. Voting will be conducted primarily online. In advance of the election, SIA members will receive information about how to cast their ballots digitally.
CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT (2-year term, you will vote for 1)
Fred Quivik
A member of the SIA since the early 1980s, Fred Quivik helped organize the Klepetko (Montana) Chapter in the mid-1980s and, with long-time chapter president Brian Shovers, organized SIA fall tours to Butte and Anaconda (1989), NE Montana (2003), and Great Falls (2015). He is the organizing committee for the 2024 SIA meeting in Minneapolis. He has served on the SIA board of directors and as Society president, and for six years he edited IA. For the past quarter century, he has served as an expert witness in environmental litigation, where his experience in IA has helped him develop his expertise. He looks forward to continuing working with the board to instill a similar passion for IA in future generations.
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CANDIDATE FOR VICE PRESIDENT (2-year term, you will vote for 1)
David Vago
Dave Vago is the Cultural Resources Program Manager at Thomas Edison National Historical Park. Prior to joining the National Park Service, he worked 20 years as a nonprofit manager and consultant. He coordinated efforts in strategic planning, exhibit design, public history programming, restoration and conservation, collections management, and organizational development for museums, historic site stewards, and preservation agencies. Dave’s portfolio of work includes several dozen projects with heritage railroad organizations, historic mills, mining community sites, and community museums featuring narratives dealing with transportation and industrial history. He is a 2005 graduate of the master’s degree program in Industrial Archaeology at Michigan Tech.
CANDIDATES FOR BOARD OF DIRECTORS (3-year term, you will vote for 3)
Jacob Kaplan
A lifelong resident of Chicago, Jacob Kaplan is particularly interested in the industrial history of the Chicagoland area, and has given many tours highlighting this heritage. He co-founded Forgotten
Chicago, a group that spent years researching and offering tours of overlooked aspects of Chicago including its rich industrial history.He is involved with the effort to create a Calumet National Heritage
Area in the industrial Calumet Region of Chicago and Northwest Indiana. Jacob is particularly proud of his work as conference committee chair for the 2019 SIA conference in Chicago. He is the author of numerous articles, and he co-authored books on two Chicago neighborhoods including their industrial heritage.
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Anthony Meadow
I’m running for the board because I want to grow the membership and increase the number and variety of activities that we have. Our membership has declined by a third over the last ten years or so, and I strongly believe that we can change this.
Way back in 1997 I helped found the Samuel Knight Chapter in California. A few years later I become president and organized most of our events (3-4 each year). At the same time, I was president of the software company I’d help to start in 1985. With that, and a family with young kids, I didn’t have time to attend more than a handful of national conferences.
It was during this era when my interest in the steel industry in the west grew. I’ve give two papers on this topic at our annual conferences in Seattle (2011) and Portland, OR (2022).
A couple of years ago I retired from my job and we moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. When I came to the Lehigh Valley conference in 2021, I meet more people interested in iron and steel. I began thinking of how to bring together people interested in this topic.
After another year I thought that setting up a special interest group might be a good approach. I’ve proposed to the board that we create the Iron and Steel Heritage Forum, the first special interest group, for the SIA. To join the Forum you have to be a member of the SIA. This will include organizations involved with iron and steel heritage – they will join as affiliate members. Bringing these organizations together will enable SIA to take a stronger role as the leading industrial heritage organization.
I’ve been spending an average of 10 or so hours per week towards launching this first SIG. I’m also excited by the effort by John Mayer and Dave Vago to lead a strategic planning effort for SIA.
If elected, I will continue my efforts to establish a community of people – and organizations – interested in iron and steel heritage, assist others who want to establish other special interest groups (perhaps bridges and infrastructure, industrial museums, textiles) and assist with the strategic planning process.
NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE (3-year term, you will vote for 1)
Lynn Rakos
Lynn Rakos has been a long-time member of the SIA. She has served on the board and on various committees. Lynn is also active with the Roebling Chapter and served as chapter president. She has had a long career as an archaeologist and environmental protection specialist with several federal agencies. She tries to attend as many SIA events as she can to meet fellow SIA member and see fascinating places. She will be looking to recruit great candidates for office – so watch out!
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TICCIH REPRESENTATIVE (3-year term, you will vote for 1)
Ron Petrie
Ron Petrie has been a member of SIA since 1992. He served as the Society’s Event Coordinator for several Annual Conferences and Fall Tours between 2010 and 2014. He currently serves as Vice President of the Northern Ohio Chapter, which hosted the 2023 Fall Tour in Akron. Ron is retired from a banking career in which he advised corporations on Rust Belt economic opportunities, and spent his days inspecting industrial facilities in hundreds of small cities between New York and Chicago. Ron earned an undergraduate degree from Western University in London, Ontario, and an MBA from the University of Toronto before relocating to Ohio. He enjoys international travel and can speak three languages.