ICC Board Member

Sam Palmer is the Las Vegas Branch Manager for UES, having previously served as Assistant Director for the Clark County Building Department, and as Principal with two national engineering firms. He was recently the Chair of the Code Council Major Jurisdiction Committee, and Chair of the IAS Board of Directors before being elected to the Code Council Board of Directors.

In previous years, Sam has also served as President of both ICC Region I and the Southern Nevada Code Council Chapter. He brings with him a long tenure of Board experience, having also been appointed by the Governor of Nevada to serve as the Chair for the Nevada State Board of Professional Engineers, and as an active board member for a major national engineering firm for nearly a decade.

With over 30 years of experience in the building and code profession, Sam has significantly contributed to the development and advancement of the Code Council and IAS. His primary materials engineering lab was among the first to achieve IAS accreditation for special inspections, with more than 15 additional labs under his leadership following suit. In addition to pushing for additional lab accreditations, Sam also ensured each of his staff members obtained comprehensive Code Council certifications, ensuring the highest standard of practice for the profession. He has also served as a subject matter expert on special inspections abroad, sharing his best practices with countries including Canada, Qatar, and Mexico.

Beyond his work in the industry, Sam also participates in numerous professional development initiatives within the Code Council. He chaired the 2019 Code Council Annual Business Meeting held in Las Vegas (the most successful ABM to date), participated in numerous exam development committees, and sponsored regular Code Council-led training sessions. He has also authored multiple papers on topics such as special inspections and remote inspections for the Code Council’s ABMs and Learn Live.

Most notably, Sam was the honored recipient of the Code Council’s Gerald R. Jones Code Official of the Year award in 2022.

Born in Goldsboro, NC, and raised in an Air Force family, Sam lived in multiple states as well as Germany and Turkey. This diverse upbringing instilled in him a unique global perspective and natural ability to find common ground. He holds a BS in Engineering from the University of Nevada, Reno, and an MBA in Management from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is married to Heather, originally from Vancouver, B.C., and they have three beautiful daughters. The family has made Las Vegas their home for many years and enjoy spending time together cheering on their hometown hockey team, the Vegas Golden Knights.