An English major who’s a building inspector? Many people would call that combination unlikely, yet it exists in IAPMO’s new director of the southern region. Doug Fredericksen, a building inspector II - plumbing/mechanical specialist for the city of Corona, Calif., has managed to combine the two disciplines seamlessly.

On the professional side, Fredericksen started as a union plumber with Local 582, working there from 1969 to 1989. At that point, he accepted a position with the city of Santa Ana, Calif. as a plumbing and mechanical inspector, where he remained for four years. He then moved on to the city of Garden Grove, Calif. as a building inspector, where he stayed for four years. Now a member of Local 398, Fredericksen has held his current position with the city of Corona for nine years.

Fredericksen has been active with IAPMO since 1991. He was chairman of IAPMO’s Orange Empire chapter and vice chairman for four years and currently serves as secretary for that chapter. Nationally, Fredericksen served as the IAPMO Executive Committee secretary for two years and has just been elected as a director for the southern region. He is active on the Mechanical Code Workshop Committee and Study Guide Committee; and has served for the last two years as the committee chairman of the Certification Exam Committee.

So where does the English major part come in?  Fredericksen graduated from the University of California, Irvine, with a bachelor’s degree in English and then was accepted into the post-graduate creative writing program at UCI. He was editor of both the Santa Ana College and UCI student newspapers and currently writes regular articles for a popular national music magazine. The creative side of his personality is reflected in his interest in reading, archaeology, and traveling. His wife, Julie, library director for the city of Corona, shares many of those same interests.