Don Talka

Senior Vice President and Chief Engineer
Underwriters Laboratories Inc.

Don Talka presently serves as UL's Chief Engineer.  He is responsible for UL's Principle Engineer and Corporate Research functions.  These functions drive the development of safety standards and safety science research in support of UL's Corporate Safety mission and objectives.  He serves as final arbitrator for technical appeals and technical decisions regarding UL standards.  Mr. Talka has had a highly successful and accomplished career at UL, holding a number of positions with increasing levels of responsibility and authority that have substantially contributed to the success of the Corporation and our Public Safety Mission.

Mr. Talka graduated from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn New York with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, in 1974.  He was also a member of Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu honor societies. In 1983 he earned a Master of Science in Engineering Management from Polytechnic Institute of New York, winning the Wall Street Journal Student Achievement Award.   Mr. Talka began his career at UL in 1977, after gaining valuable experience at Westinghouse Electric Corporation and Lepel High Frequency Labs.

Mr. Talka's contributions to public safety as envisioned by UL's founder William Henry Merrill are evidenced through his efforts in developing safety requirements utilizing state of the art technology, establishing safety requirements for the use of new technology, developing and implementing technical training programs, providing leadership in the development and expansion of product safety certification programs on a global basis, and coordinating and leading the most comprehensive Gage R&R initiative in UL's history. 

Throughout his career at UL, Mr. Talka has primarily focused on the development of sound technical criteria.  He has served as the lead engineer on numerous UL Standards development activities. Under his leadership such advances in safety as immersion protection for hairdryers, breakaway cords for deep fat fryers, and enhanced GFCI criteria have found their way into UL standards.   He has served as the IAC chair for such standards as, Molded Case Circuit Breakers, UL489, Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters, UL943, Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters, UL1699, Household Cooking Appliances, UL1026, UL1082 and UL1083, to name just a few. Don has also been a strong influence on the staff through his mentoring and decision-making activities.  He is a thoughtful and strong leader who demonstrates his integrity through his active participation in testing, standardization and business initiatives, both inside and outside of UL.

Mr. Talka has also been actively involved in standards development activities outside of UL.  He has served as a principle member of the NFPA National Electrical Code making process since 1990.  He recently completed a 9 year assignment as chairman of CMP 15, dealing with Healthcare Facilities and Assembly Occupancies.  Prior to that he served 12 years on Code making Panel 20, which dealt with Swimming Pools and Appliances.  Mr. Talka also served for 6 years as UL's representative on the NFPA Standards Council.  The Standards Council is the highest standing committee at NFPA.  Mr. Talka presently also serves as chairman of UL Electrical Council.

Mr. Talka understands the benefit of technical development and education to UL's safety mission.  Mr. Talka has either lead or participated in numerous technical development and education activities both within and external to UL.  Among his accomplishments are: Gage R&R activities at UL, development of 16 week new engineer training program at Melville, creation of Melville data acquisition team, FIRST Robotics volunteer, instructor at State University of NY at Farmingdale electricity laboratory.

Throughout his 33 year career at UL, Mr. Talka's unwavering commitment to UL's safety mission and his logical approach to technical problem solving have been an invaluable asset to UL.