P2S Magazine Issue 2 | Page 13

STA F F P R O F I L E : B E N C H A DVA R I A N Ben Chavdarian, PE, LC Senior Electrical Engineer Ben Chavdarian joins P2S as a Senior Electrical Engineer after having been employed by the Port of Los Angeles for 32 years and then by the Port of Long Beach for 16 years. During his long and storied career working for the nation’s busiest ports, Ben was part of several transformative developments. At POLA, Ben was involved in electrical design in nearly every corner of the port. When he left POLA in 2002 as Harbor Engineer, he was supervising the Architectural Design Group, Structural Design Group, Permits and Right of Ways Design group, in addition to the Electrical Design Group. During his time at POLB, Ben guided the development of electrical standards and specifications for design and construction at port facilities. He also established the electrical design parameters for the first “cold ironing” (shore power) facility for a tanker vessel, which was built at the POLB. Ben has also been instrumental in developing several international standards and recommended practices that relate to ports. He was on the first meeting to plan for international shore power standards, now known as the IEC/ISO/IEEE 80005 standard, used for ports worldwide. He helped to start the committee to prepare an IES (Illuminating Engineering Society), Recommended Practice for changing High Pressure Sodium lights to LED lighting, now known as RP-41. He also contributed to the standardization of port vehicle electrification. Not to mention that he’s also an expert member of the United States National Committee of the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) and has served on the City of Los Angeles Technical Advisory Code Committee since 1979. Ben’s comprehensive experience and skills are an incredible addition to the team and we’re very excited to welcome him. 13