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LINKING PEOPLE, JOINING NATIONS
Raj was justifiably pleased with the progress
achieved during his term of office as President when
he handed over the reins to Prof. Gary B. Marquis
(Finland) in 2014. Marquis, like many before him,
was an able administrator having just completed his
term of office as the Chair of the TMB and a period
as the Chair of Commission XIII
Fatigue of Welded
Components and Structures
(C-XIII). Two of his
first acts as President were to sign the new service
agreement between IIW and the French Institut de
Soudure for hosting the IIW General Secretariat,
and also with the Instituto de Soldadura e Qualidade
(ISQ) Portugal for hosting the IIW IAB Secretariat.
At the outset he signalled the need for continued
change beyond 2019 in terms of strengthening
the rules, operating procedures and practices for
education, training, qualification and certification activities. The increasingly commercial
nature of IIW’s developing interests, over the longer term, would also require change to its
structure, including the pursuance of global best practices and governance.
33
In terms of the
latter, Marquis declared that ‘IIW must continue to pursue improved governance practices.
Our goals are to develop greater accountability, openness, integrity and transparency with
respect to decisions and policies’.
34
In conjunction with Marquis’ election as President, other important
appointments were made to senior positions in IIW. These included Mr
Douglas Luciani (Canada) as Treasurer, replacing Kotecki, with Kotecki
passing on the ‘piggy’ bank and Luciani receiving it with humility and good
grace. Also Mr James Guild (South Africa) was to take over as Chair of the
IAB in a period that would see his diplomacy and commitment
tested to the limit, and Dr Luca Costa (Italy) demonstrated
his all-round capabilities bybecoming theChair of theTMB.
In terms of governance, IIW still continued to adapt and
maintain its relevance in changing times bringing membership of
IIW to a record 59 Member Countries by the end of 2015. This was a
satisfactory position to be in as the Institute neared another milestone
in its future, the 70th anniversary in 2018. Marquis was to
remark ‘The expanse of our organisation is clear testimony
to its strength, purpose and value. The IIW provides a
unique platform for scientific, technological and educational
development in the field of materials joining and as an
organisation we possess a wealth of knowledge and support
Doug Luciani
IIW VALUES
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