Mark Mahaney
| James R. Benya |
If there is one name that is synonymous with lighting, it is Benya’s. Intrigued by light as a youngster, Benya was first introduced to the medium through high school theater productions. His technical nature led him to study electrical engineering, but his interest in theater and lighting remained. He was heading toward a career in computers and construction when he met Steve Squillace at the Detroit-based architecture and engineering firm SmithGroup. Benya credits Squillace with encouraging him to choose the lighting route. And he hasn’t looked back since. For more than 30 years, Benya has devoted himself to all things lighting, and he has been at the forefront from the start, specializing in integrated daylighting strategies and sustainable lighting approaches long before most designers knew what that was. He was integrating computers into the design process and working with early programs such as Lumen Micro when most designers were still doing all calculations by hand. There isn’t a lighting organization he hasn’t been part of, a lighting committee he hasn’t served on, a lighting conference he hasn’t spoken at. His is a critical voice, and one that has helped to shape the lighting profession into what it is today.
