Curtis Ashton is the Training Director, lead Electrical Engineer, and Master Electrician for American Power Systems LLC, which is owned by East Penn Mfg (sometimes known by their former name of Deka Batteries). He has over 35 years of experience with backup power, batteries and grounding, and has written numerous standards, peer-reviewed technical papers and articles, and has presented at conferences all over the world on these subjects. Curtis is a past chair of IEEE PES ESSB, a past vice-president of the IEC in IEEE PELS TC7, a past vice-chair of ATIS-STEP, and a principal member of the NFPA 855 committee. Mr. Ashton is fluent in Spanish and enjoys refereeing high school basketball and soccer in his spare time.