“The James R. White Electrical Safety Awardis given in honor of Jim White’s legacy,” began NETA Board Member Scott Blizard, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Asplundh Electrical Testing,“ and Vickie White, Jim’s wife, is here with me to present the award to this year’s recipient.”
“Jim White dedicated his career to electrical safety, so this award is presented each year to another safety warrior who is committed to promoting electrical safety within their organization and across the industry,” Blizard explained to the audience at the Member and Alliance Luncheon during the recent 2025 PowerTest conference in Orlando. “Our 2025 recipient, Tony Demaria, the recently retired founder of Tony Demaria Electric (TDE), is recognized as an advocate for safety education and standards development and has provided invaluable support to NETA in achieving its safety mission.”
Vickie White added, “From the very beginning of Jim and Tony’s friendship, they were on the same page where electrical safety was concerned. So knowing what this award means in the safety world, I was so very happy to learn that Tony was the recipient this year. I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more.”
“Tony Demaria is a truly deserving candidate for NETA’s James R. White Electrical Safety Award,” Blizard told the audience. “Tony made a lifelong commitment to advancing safety in the electrical testing industry. He has been a pioneer in electrical safety since founding Tony Demaria Electric (TDE) in 1995, consistently prioritizing safety, quality, and satisfaction as core values. Under his leadership, TDE became a NETA Accredited Company in 2004, reflecting its adherence to the highest industry standards.”
NETA board member and PowerTest Conference Chair Ron Widup shared, “In our industry, we cross paths with people from all walks of life, but every once in a while, you meet someone who leaves a lasting mark — someone whose presence makes you better, whose influence stays with you. Tony is one of those rare individuals. His unwavering passion for safety is only matched by his deep care for the well-being of everyone around him. Whether he’s training a technician or mentoring a peer, his goal is always the same: Help others grow, succeed, and return home safely to the ones they love. And he doesn’t just talk about making a difference – he lives it, every single day.”
“I’m proud to say I’m not only a peer, but also a friend to Tony,” says Widup. “Together, Tony and Jim were fellow safety pioneers, and it is a well-deserved recognition for him to be the recipient of the James R. White Electrical Safety Award.”
Demaria was surprised and honored to hear his name called. “Receiving the James R. White Electrical Safety Award is deeply meaningful to me,” he said. “Jim was not just a safety advocate — he was a dear friend and an inspiration. To be honored with an award that carries his name is humbling. It’s a reminder that the work we poured into making the industry safer has lasting value. This award isn’t just mine — it belongs to everyone at TDE who lived that mission every day.”
A SAFETY PIONEER
Since founding Tony Demaria Electric (TDE), which specializes in maintenance and testing of electrical apparatus for industrial facilities and the marine industry, Tony has consistently prioritized safety, quality, and satisfaction as core values. Under his leadership, TDE became a NETA Accredited Company in 2004, reflecting its adherence to the highest industry standards. Tony also played a pivotal role in initiating NETA’s collaboration with Long Beach City College (LBCC) to offer the Electrical Power Testing Technician curriculum.
At NETA, Tony served as the NETA Electrical Safety Committee Chair for many years and was a good friend of Jim White’s, the Safety Award’s namesake. Demaria says he got involved with NETA in the early 2000s because he wanted to align TDE with an organization that truly valued what we stood for: safety, quality, and professionalism. “When I founded Tony Demaria Electric (named after my father, Tony Demaria Sr.), those principles were at the core of everything we did,” he explained,“ and NETA provided a framework that reinforced and challenged us to keep raising the bar. We became a NETA Accredited Company in 2004, and it’s been an invaluable partnership ever since. NETA gave me and TDE the opportunity to be part of a community that leads with integrity. It kept us sharp, connected us with like-minded professionals, and reinforced our focus on training, standards, and accountability. It helped us build a reputation that extended well beyond Southern California — and that’s something I’m proud of.”
“Over the years, I was a very active NETA member, working on technical issues such as medium-voltage cable testing and circuit breaker lubrication. TDE became a recognized leader in our industry in very-low frequency (VLF) and tan delta (VLF-TD) cable testing. Contributing articles to NETA World, such as “Hazards of Performing Maintenance on Medium-Voltage Motor Staters,” allowed TDE to collaborate with other experts on safety best practices. One of the most meaningful parts of this involvement was being honored to join and lead safety panel discussions at PowerTest.”
Demaria was also an active member and chair of NETA’s Safety Committee, where he influenced the development of safety standards across the industry. “One of the most meaningful parts of my involvement on the Safety Committee was working alongside Jim White, who was not only a thought leader in the industry but also one of my closest friends,” Demaria remembers. “We always recognized the value when it came to safety. It was literally the lives of our coworkers, friends, and family members that were at risk. We pushed each other to make the industry better.”
Mose Ramieh, Vice President of business development for CBS Field Services and NETA Level 4 Certified Senior Technician, remembers, “During his many years on the NETA Safety Committee, Tony was a consistent and influential voice, helping shape safety policies, promote best practices, and raise industry-wide awareness through his hands-on experience, thoughtful contributions, simple yet ingenious solutions, and passion for protecting workers in the field.”
Rick Eynon, who recently retired from the industry, recalls, “From the day I met Tony Demaria at AVO International, you just knew he was a special person. He would give you a little test when you met him, and he always carried a binder with all kinds of pictures. It was a great honor to work with him and for him, and he taught me how to safely run an electrical testing and contracting company. Being in his shop every Monday morning, going through the company’s safety protocols was something I’d never seen in the twenty years I was in the industry before that. How many contractors do you know who set up substations in their shop for you to learn how to test and evaluate whether it’s live power or dead? He also knows quite a bit about partial discharge and tan delta testing.”
A THREE-GENERATION FAMILY BUSINESS
Demaria highlights starting TDE with his family and watching it grow into a respected industry leader as a key achievement in his career. With its roots as a father-and-sons and daughters family-owned business for over 50 years, TDE has grown into one of the premier maintenance, testing, and engineering companies in Southern California.
“The thing I admire the most about Tony is that he made safety the No. 1 priority for the people who work in his facility,” says D. Ray Crow, Principal Technical Consultant at DRC Consulting. “If you want to improve safety, you have to change the focus — you have to continue to focus on safer work practices — and Tony did that.”
Becoming a NETA Accredited Company was a milestone, as was contributing to the development of safety programs and best practices that make a real difference, Demaria says. “Most of all, I’m proud of the people — training them, working alongside them, mentoring them, and seeing them carry forward the values we built the company on.”
Roz Demaria, Tony’s wife, remembers, “Tony was definitely the hands-on owner of the business from the time he started working there. Dad was hands-on, the brothers were all hands-on, everybody was hands-on. His No. 1 priority has always been — and will always be — safety on the job. Our good buddy Jim White was a very close friend, and he was such an influence on Tony at Demaria Electric.”
Demaria retired at the end of 2024, and Katie Scarlett Reyes, Tony’s niece and TDE President, continues the family legacy at TDE. “Tony’s contribution to safety in the industry is nearly unmatched,” she says. “When we go into places, people take notice. We are industry leaders in safety, and Tony is the driving force in that.”
“Tony made TDE a safer company due to his expertise and over 60 years of experience in the field. That’s what kept him safe and us safe,” says Rick Reyes, Tony’s brother-in-law and TDE Chairman, who was alongside Tony from day one.
GOING FORWARD
Demaria says leadership starts with showing up. “Being hands-on. Listening,” he says. “I always believed in leading by example. If safety were our priority, then I would have to live it every day. When problems came up — and they always do in this line of work — it was about staying calm, being fair, and finding solutions that never compromised safety or integrity.”
Neno Pasic, Chief Information Officer and NETA Accredited Representative at Tony Demaria Electric, admires the wide range of Tony’s passions. “Tony always wanted his legacy to be leaving a better world behind him. His living legacy continues to inspire all of us who have the privilege of working with him. His friends and colleagues respect him for his many passions: family, mentoring and inspiring children through his involvement in local schools, and a lifelong interest in rocks, stars, and dinosaurs!”
“Even though I officially retired from TDE at the end of 2024, I’m not done contributing,” Demaria assures us. I love spending time with my beautiful wife of 60 years, sharing our lives and traveling with our children and grandchildren. One of my greatest passions now is sharing science with kids in fun, visual, and hands-on ways. “My wife worked in the school district, and both of our children are retired schoolteachers — one of them even married a fellow teacher. Two of our grandchildren are now schoolteachers as well. My wife and I love visiting their classrooms, where we bring science to life by sharing our personal collections of rocks and gems, dinosaur skeletons, and space-related materials, along with demonstrations using Tesla coils, Van de Graaff generators, and telescopes. We hand out children’s books about geology along with rock samples to spark their curiosity. My goal is to inspire the next generation to explore science and, ultimately, to see electrical technology as a rewarding and exciting career path. “
Demaria believes it’s a very important time for our industry. “With infrastructure growing and evolving, reliable power and electrical safety are more important than ever,” he explains. “The challenge is preparing the next generation — we need to invest in training and mentorship. But that’s also the opportunity. If we do it right, we can shape a safer, smarter, and more sustainable future.”
“Tony was a leader in safety, and he cares about the people who work here at Tony Demaria Electric. He leaves a legacy of big shoes to fill,” Katie Scarlett Reyes says.
