Rich Walke - Technical Director at Creative Technology Inc. cover art

Rich Walke - Technical Director at Creative Technology Inc.

Rich Walke - Technical Director at Creative Technology Inc.

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Key Takeaways




  • Rich ’s Background



  • Valparaiso University Grad, ,multi-Fraternity member 


  • Always wanted to go into engineering


  • Passion started in Junior High School when he modified a bike


  • Originally wanted to be in mechanical engineering, pivoted to civil engineering. 






  • Working at UL



  • Had a friend who introduced him to the company. 


  • Lab work/office work combo was appealing.


  • Did not think of it at Life Safety or Fire Protection.


  • Started in tunnel testing


  • Moved over to fire-resistance group


  • 43 years at UL






  • Project Engineer Work 



  • Interior finish materials, insulation materials 


  • Steiner Tunnel Test


  • Involved in the MGM Fire investigation. 


  • Several major historical fires had impact on testing methods and codes. 






  • Impacting Change



  • Joined Fire Resistance Group at UL in 1987


  • Niche group that was into Fire Stopping


  • Wanted to move the industry forward. 


  • Involved in evolutionary changes to standards. 


  • Air Leakage Tests didn’t exist at the time. 


  • Many standards didn’t exist, drain systems, perimeter fire containment, etc. 






  • Senior Regulatory Engineer



  • Regulatory Services Group at UL


  • Interfaces with code enforcement committee


  • Involved in code development


  • Opportunity to do training with code officials 






  • Consulting Work



  • Recommissioned his side business of racing cars to become his consulting business. 


  • Engineering judgements


  • Trying to avoid conflicts with the fire industry 







About Rich




I am leveraging my 43 years of experience at UL by providing fire protection related consulting services. Areas of expertise include building materials, fire-resistance-rated construction, and the protection of breaches within fire-resistance-rated construction.




Services provided by Creative Technology include teaching, assistance in identifying and interpreting UL Fire-Resistance Designs, engineering judgments, code development, standards development, writing technical articles and technical manuals, and assistance with product certifications.



RichWalke61@gmail.com
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