NECA management education programs address the needs of electrical contractors who want to remain profitable in a competitive business environment. Meeting the challenges of the advances in technology and their impact on the marketplace, business and project management requires continuous improvement in the knowledge and skills of managers at all levels of the industry.

The Management Education Institute (MEI) is the principal resource for management development and training within the National Electrical Contractors Association. MEI's purpose is to provide a professional development curriculum that is both comprehensive in scope and focused on the needs of NECA members. Starting with their initial management responsibilities as supervisors, MEI offers a program of business, technical and project management courses for middle- and executive-level electrical contractors that is responsive to their increasing responsibilities as managers.

The Electrical Project Supervision (EPS) series is an entry level program that transitions the electrician into the management role as supervisor. Taught in three levels, the course covers the broad scope of supervisory responsibilities and progressively builds upon knowledge acquired at each level. The Electrical Project Supervision series is taught by locally based instructors trained by the NECA staff.

With EPS as a foundation, the MEI curriculum constitutes a hierarchy of knowledge that continues to serve the professional development needs of the advancing manager over the course of his or her career. It includes seminars in overall project management as well as specific, skill-building workshops on design-build, project delivery, scheduling, cost control, and contract law. At the executive level, the focus on business management includes courses on corporate finance and legal issues, as well as customer relations, marketing and succession planning. New courses are continually being developed in partnership with the Electrical Contracting Foundations, whose support of applied research in the industry generates new knowledge to be added to the curriculum.

MEI provides the management development program as a NECA member service in partnership with NECA Chapters. Courses are conducted by qualified instructors on the NECA staff, adjunct faculty from academic institutions, and instructors contracted through educational development and training organizations. Information regarding the MEI program and a schedule of courses offered throughout the year are available on the NECA website at www.necanet.org or by calling NECA/MEI at 301-657-3110.