Retired Code Official and Code Development Hearings Moderator John N. Terry Receives 2024 Bobby J. Fowler Award

The Bobby J. Fowler Award was created to honor the memory of the first chairman of the International Code Council Board of Directors. Fowler famously led the charge to develop a single set of national model codes, paving the way for the Code Council. Every year, the Code Council presents the award to a leader who demonstrates integrity, professionalism and compassion in furthering the noble cause of the organization.

The Bobby J. Fowler Award is the most prestigious award presented by the Code Council. For 2024 recipient John N. Terry, the award’s legacy, including the impressive list of previous recipients, makes it even more meaningful.

“Receiving the Bobby J. Fowler Award is a great honor,” said Terry, CBO, retired Assistant Director of Codes and Standards for the State of New Jersey. “I was taken aback by my name being used in the same circles as some of the people in the industry that I hold in very high regard. For example, Paul Heilstedt, Jim Sealy, Emory Rodgers, Ron Burton and my close friends Terry Cobb, Tim Ryan, Henry Green, Cash Olszowy and Mike Pfeiffer. To receive the same award as these folks, I can only describe it as honored, very honored.”

Henry “Hank” J. Kelly Jr., a homebuilder from New Jersey and founder and CEO of Kelly Group, Inc., nominated Terry for the award and praised his commitment to building safety.

“John is well respected by his peers and understands the need for safe, resilient, affordable structures that utilize new technologies and are environmentally conscientious,” said Kelly. “He has dedicated most of his life to assuring building codes are produced, published and enforced to that end. He has lived the mission and goals of the Code Council his entire career. He is also cognizant that building structures constructed to currently adopted codes and standards must reach a balance with keeping them affordable. JT gets it!”

Understanding All Aspects of the Code

Terry’s career in building safety began in 1986 when he joined the State of New Jersey Department of Community Affairs as a Construction Code Inspector. He has served as both a Plans Examiner and Regional Claims Supervisor for the State of New Jersey and as an Adjunct Instructor at Mercer County Community College.

After transitioning from front-line code enforcement to code assistance and code development, Terry began working as the liaison for the State of New Jersey to the New Jersey Builders Association Codes and Construction Committee.

“This assignment gave me more insight into the impact of codes from the other side,” said Terry. “Being one of two code officials in a room full of builders could be an intimidating assignment, but I embraced it. I wanted to understand why they had issues with certain code provisions. In doing so, it helped me balance the code with the needs of the regulated community. I think that’s the most important thing to keep in mind when developing or changing the code. You need to understand the ability to actually build what the code requires. You can’t just require things because you can. Or you shouldn’t because you can.”

Terry’s hard work and dedication did not go unnoticed. In 2020, he received the Meritorious Service Award from the New Jersey Builders Association.

“Receiving an award from the community that you regulate always has a special meaning to me,” said Terry. “After being retired for five years, the Bobby J. Fowler award is the cherry on the top. It has made me feel [that] my career has been successful.”

Doing His Part to Improve Building Safety

Terry was instrumental in the development of the New Jersey Rehabilitation Subcode, colloquially known as the Rehab Code. Terry served on the team that, in roughly two years, “created a home-grown code from scratch that would promote the safe and creative reuse of the existing building stock in the State of New Jersey,” he said.

“I guess we did a pretty good job as this document was awarded the Innovations in American Government Award in 1999 from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University,” Terry recalled. “As a result, I was then asked to serve on [and] was selected as the Chairman of the International Existing Building Code® (IEBC) Code Drafting Committee.”

Terry has served on many other Code Council committees, including the Government Review Ad Hoc Committee, Building Code Council, Codes and Standards Council and the Board Committee on the Long-Term Code Development Process. He has also served on numerous Appeals Boards.

“Other than the awards, the highest accomplishment with the Code Council is serving as a moderator for the Code Development Hearings,” Terry boasted. “[It] has been an honor. I started this journey in the spring of 2006, so I’ve been serving for almost 20 years.”

Terry’s role as a moderator is to make sure everyone follows the rules. He said he is consistent in his decision-making, which provides clarity and consistency for all who are involved in the process.

Terry met some of his closest friends, who also serve as moderators, at the Code Development Hearings. He appreciates that the hearings provide an opportunity to reconnect with them twice a year, but the experience isn’t all fun and games. Terry said it would be an “understatement” to say that the grueling, multi-hour Code Development Hearings are exhausting.

“You come off the podium and you’re just mush,” he said. “It was [always] so emotionally charged and such a great debate.”

Terry’s Dream Job Wasn’t the Job of His Dreams

Like many professionals in building safety, Terry didn’t come to this industry with a lifelong dream of being a code official. But fate steered him in the right direction, leading to a fulfilling, multi-decade career.

“When I graduated from college, I took a job with a small construction company,” said Terry. “I really wasn’t able to make ends meet with the salary they paid me, so on weekends I worked in a delicatessen. One day I was talking with one of the regular customers and he asked me about my ‘real job.’ Long story short, this gentleman worked for the State of New Jersey, Department of Community Affairs. Because of him, I got my first job in code enforcement. I came to realize that this would be my calling in life, and I spent the next 33 years doing what I really loved.”

Over the many years of his career, Terry has found that the term “building safety” means different things to different people. To him, its meaning is quite simple.

“[It means] that if I do my job right, nothing happens,” Terry asserted. “Think about that for a moment. If I have performed a thorough construction document review, and I have inspected the building to verify that it complies with the requirements of the code, that building should be safe. Thus, nothing happens. That’s kind of the mantra that I used with my staff, regardless of what was being regulated.”

To learn more about the Code Council’s annual awards, click here.