The ESSA International Leadership Award, which was introduced for the first time last year, was once again awarded to an important person in the international security industry this year. The award honors people, who have made a special contribution to the continuous development of the industry due to their extraordinary commitment.

This year, Pieter de Vlaam from Gunnebo was honored with the award. "Pieter de Vlaam has dedicated his entire career to the industry. He is one of those rare people whose dedication and motivation have really made a difference in our field. Above all, his analytical way of dealing with difficult topics with little emotion and full of confidence is impressive.", says Wolfgang Bruna (Wertheim Betriebsberatungs GmbH) in his laudatory speech. Pieter de Vlaam shaped the industry mainly through his extraordinary commitment to standardization. Since the beginning of the 1990s he took over the management of ad-hoc group tools. Furthermore, since 2003 he has been the convener of Working Group 2 for "Fire Resistance". In this capacity, he quickly introduced the standard for light fire storage cabinets. In addition to these positions, he also heads the Certification Board of the European Certification Body since 2016. "We are very pleased that the award is so well received by all our member companies. We are already looking forward to the submissions for next year", states Dr. Markus Heering, Managing Director of ESSA.

The next ESSA International Leadership Award will be presented at the next ESSA General Assembly on the 13^th and 14^th of November 2019.