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LINKING PEOPLE, JOINING NATIONS
Beaufils had an excellent background in welding and
a distinguished period of service over many years with
the Institut de Soudure. He recalled later that he was very
surprised when Mr Viré, former head of Institut de Soudure,
offered him the position of CEO should the Institut become
successful in winning the contract. In making the offer, Viré
explained some of the difficulties encountered and what
the expectations of some countries were.
26
During the
actual interview Braithwaite explained to Beaufils
that the French IIW Secretariat had not performed up
to expectations and that this had led the IIW Board
of Directors to look for new candidates. Beaufils
remembered being very impressed by the interview itself
but was equally certain that he would not get the job.
27
Following the interviews a long discussion took place on the merits of
the presentations. After much debate Pilarczyk, like others on the task force,
was asked what his views were. After some consideration he said ‘Daniel
as the new CEO and the Secretariat in Paris again’.
28
It was the unanimous
decision of the Task Group that the next five-year term, starting 1 January
2001, should be awarded to the French Institut de Soudure with Beaufils
as CEO, pending approval by the General Assembly in Florence, Italy the
following July.
In recognition of Bramat’s efforts a presentation was made to him on behalf of
everyone at IIW at the Florence General Assembly. Bramat, who
had been involved continuously with IIW for almost 30 years,
responded by saying that ‘…it was one of the most enjoyable
jobs he had ever done in his professional career’.
29
Beaufils showed quick initiative by moving to
improve the operations of the Secretariat through the
acquisition of new computing equipment, implementation of
new software, upgrading of the database for searching IIW
documents and improvements to the new website. Beaufils
also made changes to the staff of the IIWSecretariat and
invited Ms Noëlle Fauriol to take on the position of IIW
Scientific and Technical Officer with the responsibility
for
Welding in the World
and the IIW database. Beaufils
was most impressed by Fauriol’s standing within IIW
and her ability to speak five languages.
30
Noëlle Fauriol
Daniel Beaufils