Letter from the President.

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This past summer, IAS achieved a significant milestone by issuing its 800th accreditation. We organized a special dinner in Brea, Calif., to commemorate the achievement. More than 35 IAS contract assessors and technical experts who were in town for the IAS Assessor Forum attended the dinner along with IAS staff and IAS Board of Directors Vice Chair Isam Hasenin. Everyone present agreed that given the pace at which our business is growing, IAS will, in the not-to-distant future, have to prepare another celebration marking our 1,000th accreditation. Thank you IAS staff and IAS contractors for your extraordinary hard work in 2015 that made this another banner year for the organization. Over the past 12 months, three new members joined the IAS staff: in December 2014, Amy Gensicke as a Business Process Specialist; in May, Patrick J. McCullen as an Accreditation Specialist; and in September, Dr. George Anastasopoulos as Director of Conformity Assessment. Each of these individuals brings specialized talents to match our organization's rapid growth. After nearly 28 years, IAS Program Manager Nancy Libby retired from the company last month. During her tenure with IAS, Nancy handled her heavy workload with dignity, grace and compassion. All of us at IAS congratulate Nancy on her well-deserved retirement and wish her and her family the very best in the coming years. Nancy will be hard to replace and her departure will add to the already heavy burden carried by the remaining staff. I want to recognize IAS staff for their contributions to the tremendous success of the training programs presented at the September 2015 ICC Annual Conference in Long Beach, Calif. Two very important presentations were made by IAS — a training session on Building Department Best Practices and the other one on Special Inspection Agency Accreditation. Both classes were well attended and resulted in positive feedback. ICC's Global Forum at the Annual Conference was once again a great success. This year's theme, "Earthquake Preparedness and Recovery within the Frame of Disaster Risk Reduction in the World: Are Building Codes the Ultimate Solution?" attracted speakers from the World Bank and participants representing the public sector regulators and private consultants from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Nepal, Canada and the United States. Congratulations to our Global Services staff for a job well done! Next year, IAS will undergo substantial changes that will reflect innovative developments. If all goes according to plan, we will be a very different company at the end of 2016, but a much stronger company. I would like to thank our volunteers on the Board, committees and council members, and our loyal customers and contractors for their contributions in 2015 and wish you all a very happy and safe holiday season. Remember, during the holiday season, family and friends come first. Take the time to reflect on the blessings you received, the friendships you nurtured and the many acts of compassion that were bestowed on you. I look forward to working with you all in 2016. C.P. (Chuck) Ramani, PE, CBO President International Accreditation Service