During their annual meeting, the members of the International Water Mist Association (IWMA) have elected a new chair. His name: Max Lakkonen!
Max Lakkonen is the Managing Director of IFAB – the Institute for Applied Fire Safety Research headquartered in Berlin, Germany. He has been involved with IWMA since 2005 when he gave his first presentation at the International Water Mist Conference. Since 2009 he has been serving as IWMA’s representative in the NFPA 750 technical committee. He is also a member of the NFPA technical committees 130 and 502. He has been a member of the IWMA Scientific Council for over ten years.
Max Lakkonen says: “"I am honored to continue the excellent work of Bert Yu (FM Global), the former Chair of the Scientific Council. As the newly appointed Chair, my objective is to leverage my experience to enhance the water mist industry. Together, as a Scientific Council, we are committed to serving the fire protection industry in all matters related to water mist systems."
The election of a new chairperson for the IWMA Scientific Council had become inevitable after Prof. Hong-Zeng Yu, who had been chair of the council since 2007, had retired from his position at FM Global and consequently stepped down from his position within IWMA.
The IWMA Scientific Council is a group of well experienced fire protection scientists and engineers from testing laboratories, authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs), research institutes and universities around the world. It provides advisory input to IWMA on technical and scientific matters, evaluates the IWMA conference abstracts, applications for the IWMA Young Talent Award and offers guidance to the water mist industry. It also participates in research programmes and provides technical and scientific guidance to the fire protection industry, especially when related to water mist systems or best practices.