IIW History 1990-2015

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

Daniel Beaufils

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

LINKING PEOPLE, JOINING NATIONS 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