United Concept Trainers
About Us
Founded in 2010, United Concept Trainers manufactures electrical training aids for auto, diesel, and aviation. Their mission is to develop electrical diagnostic training aids that work in the classroom for both the instructor and the student.
Our Story
Founded in 2010, United Concept Trainers manufactures electrical training aids for auto, diesel, and aviation. Their mission is to develop electrical diagnostic training aids that work in the classroom for both the instructor and the student.
Quick story? Norm Chapman was tired of overpriced, overcomplicated, and overtechnical electrical training aids so he took matters into his own hands!
Instructors face three challenges: Too little money, too many students, and not enough time. United Concept Trainers helps solve this challenge by providing affordable, durable, and proven electrical training aids that improve students’ confidence in electrical theory and practical application.
Since the launch in 2010, United Concept Trainers has provided solutions to hundreds of organizations in the public and private sector.
Norm Chapman receiving 2017 Byrl Shoemaker Industry Education Alliance Instructor of the Year award
Our Team
Owned and operated by father and son, Norm and Bryan Chapman. Norm would say he is the brains and Bryan is the brawn; however, they complement each other very well. Norm comes from an mechanical engineering background and Bryan as a small business executive.
Norm Chapman
Managing Partner
Norm Chapman has worn many “hats” in his career. He spent more than thirty years, active and reserve, in the United States Coast Guard and retired as Chief Warrant Officer of Naval Engineering. He wrote the book on Automotive Electronics* and then he wrote it again (2nd edition, 2009). He was a professor and Dean of Applied Sciences at South Puget Sound Community College for more than thirty years. Until 2021, Norm served as Evaluation Team Lead for the National Automotive Technician Education Foundation (NATEF), and has conducted more than 200 NATEF evaluations.
In 2017 Norm was awarded the prestigious Byrl Shoemaker Industry Education Alliance Instructor of the Year award.
Norm rebuilt his first motor at the age of six. It was only a little go-cart motor, but it was a great beginning. Seven years later his mother nearly killed him when he started a Covair engine he rebuilt, upstairs in his bedroom. All these experiences (good and not so good) have helped shape who Norm is today.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in Industrial Technology and Master’s in Education at Humboldt State University. Norm is married and has four children and fourteen grandchildren.
Norm’s Textbook: *Principles of Electricity and Electronics for the Automotive Technician (2002)
Bryan Chapman
Managing Partner
Bryan Chapman is a managing partner at United Concept Trainers. His expertise is in directional and competitive strategy and leadership.
For sixteen years he worked for AboveTraining Inc, an online training small business where he held many different positions, and from 2016-2021 he served as Chief Executive Officer. In 2021 the company was sold to a private equity firm.
He is now excited to be spending more time growing United Concept Trainers rather than it being his “second job”.
Like growing a small business, Bryan will undertake just about anything where he can see the results of his labors. He loves to be busy and when he is not spending time with his wife and four children he is fishing, hunting, woodworking, or doing a hundred other hobbies.
His fourth child, Brylie Storm Chapman, is named after her grandpa, Norm. “Stormin’ Norman” is the nickname he got in the U.S. Coast Guard.