Letter from the President.

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As I pen this note just prior to the celebration of Labor Day, it would be appropriate for us to pay tribute to all of our loyal clients, the IAS staff and the wonderful volunteers that serve on our board of directors, committees and councils working countless hours for the organization and what it stands for. Meetings of our Laboratory and Inspection Bodies Technical Advisory Councils preceded the three-day assessor forum towards the end of July. These meetings generated spirited discussions on complex issues surrounding assessments and accreditation and were conducted with the utmost camaraderie and company spirit. I would like to thank IAS Senior Vice President Raj Nathan and Chief Technical Officer Patrick V. McCullen for their leadership. Under Nathan's close guidance, Senior Accreditation Officer Prasanth Ramakrishnan — together with IAS Quality Manager Mohan Sabaratnam, IAS Deputy Quality Manager Karthik Easwar and IAS Acreditation Specialist Patrick McCullen Jr. — spent untold hours to execute the week-long events with great precision. Radua Nazir's outstanding administrative talent, coupled with clever organizational skills, helped make the week a memorable one. The end of September is not too far and IAS staff are preparing for a series of events linked to ICC's Annual Conference in Long Beach, Calif. Once again, we will be hosting the Global Forum with invited speakers coming from several continents. This year's Global Forum theme is "Earthquake Preparedness and Recovery within the Frame of Disaster Risk Reduction in the World: Are Building Codes the Ultimate Solution?" The Global Forum will focus on how earthquake preparedness and/or earthquake recovery programs in different countries mitigate risks. Convergence of the topic and the venue could not be more appropriate as the 1933 Long Beach earthquake was the first seismic event that resulted in enhanced design and construction provisions to be included in building codes. All in all, the Long Beach event will signal the end of a very hectic 10-month period in IAS history. Please allow me take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support, and to wish you a very pleasant start to the Fall season. C.P. (Chuck) Ramani, PE, CBO President International Accreditation Service