DALLAS, October 10, 2011 – The American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) announces Dwight Bateman, founder and president, Southeast Fire Protection, Inc., Houston, has been elected Chairman of the 2011-2012 AFSA Board of Directors.
Bateman was elected Chairman of the Board during the Wednesday, September 14 Board of Directors’ meeting at the AFSA Convention in San Antonio, Texas, and was installed at the close of the 2011 convention.
Bateman has 30-plus years of experience in the industry, beginning his career as vice president of fire sprinkler contractor Semico International, Inc. In 1986 he opened Southeast Fire Protection and joined AFSA in 1989. Bateman has served on a number of AFSA committees, and he is also a past vice president of the Texas Fire Sprinkler Contractors Association. In addition to his leadership role on the AFSA board, he serves as chairman of the board of the Center for Life Safety Education (CLSE).
As Chairman of the Board, Bateman has also assumed chairmanship of the AFSA Executive Committee. Other officers elected to serve on the 2011-12 Executive Committee are:
- First Vice Chairman Joseph A. Heinrich, Bamford Fire Sprinkler Co., Salina, Kan.;
- Second Vice Chairman Michael F. Meehan, Virginia Sprinkler Co., Inc., VSC Corp., Virginia Beach, Va.;
- Secretary Linda M. Biernacki, Fire Tech Systems, Inc., Shreveport, La.;
- Treasurer Thomas J. McKinnon, Aegis Fire Systems, Inc., Pleasanton, Calif.; and
- Immediate Past Chairman Don Kaufman, Kaufman Fire Protection, Albuquerque, N.M.
In the 2011 election, Jack A. Medovich, P.E., Fire & Life Safety America (an ECFP Co.), Hanover, Md.; Wayne Weisz, Cen-Cal Fire Systems, Inc., Lodi, Calif.; and Theodore C. Wills, Jr., Anchor Fire Protection, Co., Perkiomenville, Pa., were re-elected to three-year terms as at-large directors. William J. Rhodes, Hampshire Fire Protection, LLC, Westfield, Mass., was elected to a three-year term as Region 7 Director.
Each year, one-third of AFSA’s Board of Directors is elected to a three-year term, providing continuity in the association’s governing body. The Board consists of seven regional directors (one for each of the seven membership regions), at-large directors and the immediate past chairman. For more information, visit www.firesprinkler.org/.
