James Hayes is a founder of the Structured Cabling Association and President of The Fiber Optic Association, the professional society for fiber optics. He is also a partner in VDV Works, a company that provides technical support to the voice-data-video industry. Originally educated as a physicist and astronomer at Vanderbilt University and The University of California at Santa Cruz, Mr. Hayes has been involved with the electronics and test instrumentation industry since 1968. For the last twenty-five years he has been involved with fiber optics and communications. A frequent lecturer on communications, he writes monthly columns for Electrical Contractor and TED (The Electrical Distributor) and is also the author of THE FIBER OPTIC TECHNICIANS MANUAL, and numerous articles on fiber optics and cabling.