During the recent virtual annual meeting of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) earlier this week, the organisation has announced the completion of its election of its current slate of directors, including one new member.

Amy Acton, a burn survivor, former burn nurse and nurse manager, and CEO of the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors, is serving her second year of a two-year term as chair. Acton became the second female chair of the NFPA Board in the organization’s 125-year history last year.

The affirmed slate of officers includes Russell Leavitt as first vice chair, R. David Paulison as second vice chair, John Bonney as secretary, Donald Cook and Kwame Cooper as assistant secretaries, Roger Montembeault as treasurer, Michael Wallace as assistant treasurer, and Keith Williams as immediate past chair.

Raj Arora was elected as a new director on the NFPA Board. Arora has more than 20 years’ experience working in all facets of fire protection. He is the CEO of Jensen Hughes – a safety, security, and risk-based engineering, and consulting firm based in Baltimore, Maryland, a role he has held since 2019. Before that, Arora served as the consultancy’s president of strategy and business development, leading the company’s software innovation, business development, marketing, communications, strategy, and mergers and acquisitions operations.

His first professional role upon graduating college was at Tyco International, a firm he returned to (now Johnson Controls) five years prior to joining Jensen Hughes, where he ultimately rose to vice president and general manager of fire detection and special hazards products. Arora also spent 10 years as executive vice president of Arora Engineers and Arora Systems Group, overseeing profit and loss operations, quality assurance and control, and business development.

A University of Maryland graduate, Arora has been recognized with multiple awards during his years in the fire protection industry, including Johnson Controls’ Chairman’s Award for Accountability in 2016, the company’s highest employee honor. Arora has also been honored with the University of Maryland Clark School of Engineering’s Early Career Award, the Tyco CEO Award for Teamwork, Consulting-Specifying Engineer Magazine’s Top 40 under 40, and The Engineers Club of Philadelphia Young Engineer of the Year award in 2008.

Arora joins NFPA Board of Directors members Brion Callori, Reginald Freeman, William Fries, and Lou Paulson, who were elected to their second three-year terms.