Control Engineering announced on Mar. 28 that Doug Bell, president of InterConnecting Automation Inc., has joined its editorial advisory board to provide input to editorial staff on editorial content, relevancy, automation market, and audience; to serve as a first-level sounding board for new initiatives and ideas; and to participate in events and contribute editorially.

Bell graduated in 1977 from a trade school in Milwaukee and began working as a controls electrician in a foundry. He then the attended Milwaukee School of Engineering. After that, he went to work for Crown Cork & Seal in Milwaukee. Bell worked as a control electrician for 17 years in the plant, which produced 25 million bottle caps a day. After the plant closed, Bell took a corporate job for Crown and was in charge of installing controls on production lines, putting up plants, troubleshooting controls, and performing every facet of control work. From there, he went to Eaton Cutler Hammer working in the Apollo group developing the new PC-based control system they were going to introduce. Bell left and started a company, InterConnecting Automation Inc., which focuses on training people in the AutomationDirect line of automation products. Bell lives in Milwaukee.