Vancouver BC Becomes Newest IAQA Organization Chapter Group
- July 8, 2016
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- health
- Posted in Association Watch
ATLANTA – “A great team expecting great things” sums up the enthusiastic attitude of the newly chartered Vancouver Chapter of the Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA). Vancouver and Los Angeles are the two newest chapters for IAQA, which now has 20 chapters in North America.
Efforts to charter a chapter began in 2014. Graham Dick, vice chapter director, said time constraints for those involved stalled the process, which picked up this year.
“I told them that if they could find someone to lead a chapter in Vancouver, I would throw in some time and support to help make it a success,” he said.
That someone turned out to be Mona Shum, who Dick describes as “our fearless leader.” Shum is a local consultant who stepped up to start the chapter.
Together, Shum and Dick found that the biggest hurdle was not having enough local IAQA members to meet the requirements for forming a chapter. So they appealed to the IAQA Board of Directors and staff, saying “’if we build it, they will come.’ They just needed to approve us so we could start…. So they did.”
The first meeting was held June 2, drawing more than 60 people. Dick says they now have sponsors to provide food and to support upcoming meetings.
“In addition to quality speakers and topics, one of the things we want to do that’s a little different is that we will hold our meetings at various unique facilities to give attendees a ‘field trip’ experience,” Dick said. “Our plans are for a facility manager to give a brief tour and explain how they have overcome various IAQ/IEQ challenges. We will give the facility staff free passes to the workshop, and they donate the meeting space and time.”
Since the chapter was charted, it has expanded its officers to include five IAQA members from the area. Others have voiced that since the officer slots are full, they would like to get involved to support the chapter in whatever ways they feel would be helpful. “We have a great team and are expecting great things,” he said.
The vision for the chapter is to expand the reach of IAQ to professionals from design, architecture, engineering, construction, renovation/repair, remediation/abatement, facility managers and maintenance staff and environmental consulting.
“Basically everyone with a stake in creating and maintaining healthy buildings for healthy occupants,” Dick said. “We are currently building our own website and look forward to becoming a strong voice for IAQ in this region.”
The Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing practitioners together to prevent and solve indoor environmental problems for the benefit of customers and the public. IAQA was established in 1995 and is the nation’s largest indoor air quality trade association with over 2,000 members and some 15 local chapters. More information is available at www.iaqa.org/news.
Contact:
Jodi Scott
Public Relations
678-539-1140
jscott@iaqa.org