The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Board of Directors has appointed three new members to the NFPA Standards Council: Richard A. Gallagher of Zurich Services Corporation, Wilmington, Del., David P. Klein of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, D.C., and Catherine L. Stashak of the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshall, Chicago, Ill. are each serving three-year terms effective January 1, 2021.

In addition, two current council members were reappointed to serve a second three-year term: Jack Poole of Poole Fire Protection Inc., and Rodger Reiswig of Johnson Controls. Both reappointments are effective January 1, 2021.

Richard A. Gallagher is an AVP Property Technical Director with Zurich Services Corporation’s technical team in Wilmington, Del. In this role, he provides support and guidance to the Risk Engineering property staff. He received a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree from the University of Delaware. Prior to joining Zurich in 2003, Gallagher held various property loss prevention roles with both the Industrial Risk Insurers and CIGNA. He is a member of NFPA, and a member of the NFPA technical committees related to sprinklers, boilers, and industrial ovens and furnaces.

David P. Klein, PE has over 35 years of experience as a fire protection engineer in the federal government, including 15 years as the Fire Protection Program Manager for the Veterans Health Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C. He graduated from the University of Maryland in 1976 with a Bachelor of Science in Fire Protection Engineering and is a registered Professional Engineer in Maryland and Delaware.

He has been a member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers for over 35 years. Klein is a member of the NFPA 101/5000 Technical Committee on Fundamentals, as well as a member and former chair of the NFPA 101/5000 Technical Committee on Health Care Occupancies and the NFPA 99 Technical Committee on Fundamentals. He is also a member of the Healthcare Interpretations Task Force (HITF). Klein is currently the National Director of Occupational Safety and Health for the Veterans Health Administration.

Catherine L. Stashak is currently employed as an engineer with the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal (OSFM) in Chicago, Ill. Stashak is retired from the fire services after serving 20 years with the Des Plaines (Illinois) Fire Department as a firefighter/paramedic and a firefighter/inspector. She graduated from the Fire Protection and Safety Engineering program at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in 1985.

She obtained an MBA from IIT in 1997. Currently, she serves as the Section Chief for the OSFM Technical Services Division, supervising staff that provides engineering services as support for other operating divisions within the OSFM as well as providing assistance to design professionals, the fire service, and the general public with technical and engineering expertise in the form of code interpretation and plan/application review.

Technical Services also provides expert advice in the agency’s variance process and their rulemaking processes for a variety of subjects, including aboveground tank storage regulation, LP-gas regulation, motor fuel dispensing facility operation, fire and life safety rules, safe cigarette rules, and myriad of other fire protection, petroleum, and chemical safety-related issues. Stashak has been active in the NFPA Life Safety Project since 1991, as well as several other NFPA Technical Committees, and represents the fire service on various national and international working groups.

The NFPA Standards Council, appointed by the NFPA Board of Directors, is comprised of 13 members. The responsibilities of the Council include overseeing NFPA standards development activities, ensuring compliance with the NFPA Regulations and Rules, and serving as the appeals body over matters related to standards development.