Leadership spotlight: Thomas Peterson

The International Code Council Board of Directors are responsible for steering the association and its family of solutions towards a sustainable future while adhering to the stated mission of building safety. To carry out this charge, the board meets multiple times a year to provide oversight and strategic direction, ensure adequate financial and program resources, and oversee and evaluate the chief executive officer.

The board is comprised of four officers, eight at-large directors and six sectional directors who all serve the interests of code professionals in the building safety industry through advocacy, education and research. They act as the voice of the association’s 64,000 members across the country and around the world.

“We are very grateful to have a board of directors with such extensive expertise in the building safety industry,” said International Code Council Chief Executive Officer Dominic Sims, CBO. “These officers and directors volunteer their time to make our buildings safer and our communities more resilient. We thank them for their leadership.”

Section C Director
Thomas W. Peterson
Building Official
Division of Facilities Construction and Management, Utah

Maybe it’s something Thomas Peterson learned in Boy Scouts, the backbone of youth in his native Utah. Or maybe it was subliminally instilled watching his father devote time to his community. “When I am a part of something, I give it my all and try to go above and beyond,” said Peterson, elected to the International Code Council Board of Directors at the Annual Business Meeting in Kansas City, Mo.

“I’ve always been active in whatever I am a part of, but I really was drawn into the Code Council while attending my first Annual Business Meeting in Phoenix. I was welcomed by the membership and by the Code Council leaders who made me feel part of the group. That’s very important to a young person just getting involved.”

As a Code Council board member, Peterson — Utah’s state building official in the Division of Facilities Construction and Management — said he had, and has, many mentors. He believes it is crucial to pay it forward, not only for the individual’s growth, but for that of an industry seeing many of its officials and inspectors retiring soon. With a state leadership position at the relatively young age of 38, Peterson is well poised to draw in and mentor the next generation of code officials. He certainly can tell them, “It doesn’t matter how you start; just get started.”

He got started in the business “as a fluke.” After graduating from Box Elder High School, he spent two years in Cape Town, South Africa, where he served on a religious mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Not sure what he wanted to do when he returned home, Peterson accompanied a friend to a job interview for an entry-level electrician. “I started out as an ‘expediter,’ running parts to different job sites,” Peterson said. “I got to know the names of those parts and how they were used.”

Ultimately, he became a journeyman electrician, installing electrical equipment in commercial and industrial sites, which included hospitals and businesses ranging from a Walmart to a ski resort. Peterson then became a master electrician with another firm, installing electrical equipment in commercial and industrial sites.

While he was learning a lot as an electrician, Peterson said he knew he couldn’t do the heavy lifting for much longer. He already had two back surgeries, so when an inspector from Brigham City Corp. came by the site one day, he wasn’t shy. “I asked him how a person goes about getting a cushy job like he had,” Peterson remembered, chuckling. “He told me they just happened to have an opening for an inspector, and I should apply.”

So in 2005, he set on an eight-year path as a combination inspector for Brigham City Corp. There, he provided plan reviews and conducted on-site inspections of commercial, residential and industrial buildings to verify building code compliance. He had the chance to work with the public, helping them with their building code questions and concerns. “I’ve always been interested in the code world,” said Peterson, who was quick to join the local Code Council chapter in his area.

But who knows how long it might have taken for Peterson to get more involved had then-Code Council Board President Ron Piester and future President Stephen Jones not welcomed him with open arms at the 2011 ICC Annual Conference in Phoenix. “For those guys to take the time to welcome me and continue to support me has been just tremendous,” said Peterson. Now on the City Council in Brigham City, he encourages his building official to attend Code Council meetings, as well.

Related:

Code Council board winter meeting highlights

Code Council board summer meeting highlights

Code Council board spring meeting highlights

Code Council voting members elect 2019–2020 board officers, directors

Before taking the job as Utah’s assistant building official late in 2015, Peterson served as chief building official for Box Elder County, where he managed the inspection department, and performed inspections and plan reviews. There, he got the chance to have a statewide impact, working with elected officials in creating ordinances and adopting codes. One of his favorite accomplishments so far has been bringing code officials and legislators together for common ground on the codes.

Peterson, who also has his own electrical contracting business, is married to Jodi, and they have four children, most of whom have adopted Lacrosse, which he coaches. He also enjoys golf, four-wheeling, snowmobiling, mechanic work “and serving those around me.”

In late fall each year, they’ll pack up the car and head to a friend’s cabin in Idaho, where they’ll cut down their Christmas tree. “We pass a lot of good trees on the way out there,” Peterson said, “but it’s a nice family trip.”