Eric Winnepenninckx

BBRI Coordinator Standardization and Certification

European Construction Industry Federation

Eric Winnepenninckx has been employed by the Belgian Building Research Institute for more than 20 years. He is the BBRI’s Coordinator Standardization and Certification, responsible for organizing approx. 25 NBN national standardization commissions, mirroring the activities of a large number of CEN and ISO technical commissions.

Being the CEN/TC128 Chairman and CEN/TC277 Secretary and member of the Belgian Technical Committee Construction, mirroring the EC Standing Committee on Construction and involved in technical assessment and certification activities, he acts as Rapporteur in FIEC’s Technical Commission 1 “Standardization and Quality Assurance”, informing its members about developments in the framework of Regulation (EU) N° 305/2011 and in standardization in general.

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Elie van Strien

Chairman

European Fire Safety Alliance (EuroFSA)

Elie van Strien, former fire chief in Eindhoven, Rotterdam and Amsterdam became the Advisor of the Minister of Interior for fire and disaster management from 2000 to 2005.

He has been member of the international Federation of the European Fire Officer Associations (FEU) for many years.

Elie is currently Chairman of the European Fire Safety Alliance since January 2019. He is committed to putting fire safety high on the agenda of decision makers to improve fire safety for the benefit of European citizens.

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Heikki Väänänen

DG GROW, Policy Officer

European Commission

Heikki Väänänen works as a policy officer in Unit “Clean products and Technologies” in DG GROW. He joined the Commission in 2004 in Audit and evaluation unit of DG for Consumer Protection and Public Health. In 2008 he moved to DG Joint Research Centre (JRC) as the corporate Quality Manager. Since 2012 he has been coordinating and developing the planning and execution processes related to JRC Work Programme.

Heikki has master’s degrees in Civil Engineering (Helsinki University of technology), and in Economics and Business Administration (Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration).

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Colin Todd

Managing Director

C.S. Todd & Associates Ltd.

Colin is regularly retained as an expert witness in enforcement and prosecution cases associated with fire, either by the enforcing authority or Defendants. He was an expert witness for the Crown in the Fatal Accident Inquiry into the Rosepark fire.  He is currently appointed as an expert witness for the Public Inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire.  He was also a member of the Building Standards (Fire Safety) Review Panel which advised Scottish Ministers on changes to the Building Regulations in Scotland in response to the Grenfell Tower fire.  Colin serves on a number of British Standard Committees, is a Board member of the Fire Industry Association (FIA), Chairman of the FIA Fire Risk Assessment Council and the author of a number of British Standards Institution (BSI) publications, including PAS 79, the BSI guidance on fire risk assessment.

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Guido Sabatini

Technical Manager Building Market Group and Standards

European Aluminium

Guido Sabatini works as Technical Manager at European Aluminium where he oversees the standardisation activities of the Building Market Group. He previously dealt with standardisation issues linked to the implementation of the Construction Products Regulation at DG GROW and at the European Builders Confederation. He studied Environmental Engineering at both the University of Florence (Italy) and Lund University (Sweden).

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Lance Rütimann

Director Industry Affairs

Siemens Switzerland

Lance works for the international headquarters of Siemens Smart Infrastructure. He has been part of this industry since over 30 years, during which he held numerous management and leadership positions. His broad experience spans across the business areas of solutions and services.

Lance focuses on the long-term development of the Fire/Life Safety industry including relevant digitisation topics. In his association and committee roles as director, board member, chairman or delegate, Lance advocates for safe, secure and sustainable societies confronted with an increasing legislative and regulatory challenges.
Presently, Lance is Vice-President of Euralarm and Chairman of the association’s Fire Section. He also sits on the EUSAS Executive Committee and is an active member in other fire safety related organisations such as NFPA and SFPE.
Lance’s educational background is Electronics Engineering, Marketing, General Management and Philosophy + Management.

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Christophe Richon

Chair of the CPR Working Group

Europacable

A professional of international strategy and marketing with 29 years of experience, Christophe Richon has strong expertise in B to B, with a major focus in the electrical industries. He worked for major players such as Legrand, Philips, Zumtobel, General Electric and Osram, in market, product and training management roles. In 2012, he created Lux Fit, a consultancy supporting businesses and organisations worldwide in their strategy, marketing, and training activities. Since 2018, Christophe leads marketing and innovation at Nexans’s Building and Territories division, focusing on differentiation and premium positioning. In Europacable, Christophe chairs the Working Group on CPR, which joins Europe´s leading cable manufacturers in their effort to increase fire safety.

Christophe graduated from ESCP Europe, the Paris Management School, and holds an MBA from the University of Ottawa.

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Robert Reinermann

CEO

VdS

Dr. Robert Reinermann is CEO of VdS and has held this position for 10 years. VdS is a fully-owned subsidiary of the German Insurance Association (GDV) and is one of the leading independent testing and certification institutions in the security and safety market. A vitally important business sector for VdS is IT security and safety, and Dr. Reinermann has played a leading role in the development of the Cyber Security Standard VdS-3473. VdS now offers a practicable and comprehensive level of protection for the first time for medium-sized companies with the award-winning Cyber Security Standard VdS-3473, and offers the insurance industry innovative solutions for evaluating IT risks. Dr. Reinermann has a doctorate in Psychology, holds an MBA & Engineering degree (with a focus on management and mechanical engineering) and is a certified systems security professional (CISSP).

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Prof. Guillermo Rein

Professor of Fire Science

Imperial College London

Guillermo is Professor of Fire Science at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Imperial College London and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Fire Technology. The purpose of his work is to reduce the worldwide burden of accidental fires and protect people, their property, and the environment.

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Fulvia Raffaelli

DG GROW, Head of Unit C1

European Commission

Fulvia Raffaelli is the Head of Unit ‘Clean Products and Technologies’ in DG GROW. She joined the Commission in 2002 and was responsible for Waste management and Recycling related issues in the former DG Enterprise.

From March 2005, she worked on REACH, first as Policy Advisor on the legislative process, then as responsible for the implementation of the Authorisation and Restriction processes and for the first REACH review. In 2012, she joined the Strategic Policy Unit in charge of Relations with the Council and implementation of COSME (SMEs supporting programme). Since 2015, Mrs Raffaelli has been leading the Commission’s unit in charge of the implementation of the Construction Products Regulation, the Construction 2020 strategy and the Ecodesign Directive. The competitiveness aspects of the circular economy, energy efficiency and climate related policies are also part of her portfolio.

Born in 1969 in Italy, she has studied in Italy, Belgium and France and has graduated in Contemporary History, European Political Affairs and Political Science.

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