News

Print page

Email page

Posted On: 09/08/2004

Standards of excellence

Frank Coda, longtime executive vice president of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASRHAE), has been posthumously recognized for his accomplishments in standards development.

Coda, who died in June, will receive the George S. Wham Leadership Medal from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in October in conjunction with World Standards Week.

The medal honors outstanding contributions by an individual who has provided direction and long-range planning to the ANSI standards federation in commitment and support of the national and/or international standards system or in a specific area of voluntary standardization.

“Frank once noted that ASHRAE’s standards process must be above reproach, saying, ‘We must guarantee a process that is fair and open, one that involves all mutually affected and interested parties to the greatest extent possible and one that works to achieve consensus both internally and industry-wide,’” says Ron Vallort, ASHRAE president. “Through his leadership of IESNA and ASHRAE and his involvement with ANSI, Frank strived to ensure that the process was indeed above reproach, thereby providing standards that contribute to the advancement of the industry and standards that utilize technological and scientific knowledge for the benefit of the public.”

Coda advanced ASHRAE’s involvement at ANSI. In addition to encouraging other staff members to serve, Coda held numerous offices at ANSI. He joined the ANSI Board of Directors in 1992 as an organizational member and served on the Board until December 2003.

Coda served as chair of the Organizational Member Council and later continued as an active member of the Organizational Member Forum. He served on the Finance Committee, chaired the ANSI International Forum and served on the International Advisory Committee/International Committee. He served on the Board's Executive Committee from 1998 through 2000.

As the chief staff officer of Illuminating Engineering Society (now IESNA) from 1973-1981, Coda directed many changes to the IESNA development of standards and other technical information.

He encouraged a change in the Society’s constitution that mandated balance on all IESNA technical standards writing committees. In 1979-1980 Coda oversaw a change in the technical committee management system, which resulted in a more flexible and efficient standards development system and gave more members an opportunity to work at a management level.

The ANSI award is named in honor of Dr. George S. Wham, technical director at Good Housekeeping magazine, who has served as a past chair of ANSI’s Board of Directors and who was a member of the Board for more than a decade.