Microshield IAQ and the American Indoor Air Quality Council

John P. Lapotaire, CIEC

The American Indoor Air Quality Council promotes awareness, education and certification in the field of indoor air quality.  Our mission is to establish credible certifications that provide value to certificants, their clients and the public.  It is their goal to serve the public interest with integrity as an independent certifying body.

As the Council grew, so did interest in starting similar organizations in other states. In 1998, the corporation changed its name to the American Indoor Air Quality Council, and began to grow nationally.  By September 2000, the Council had grown to over 500 members with 23 corporate sponsors.  By 2002, the IAQ Council had reached approximately 3000 members, 200 corporate sponsors and had 46 local chapters in 26 states and several international locations.

On January 1, 2006, a major event changed the scope of the Council’s activities. As part of a unification agreement with the Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA) and the Indoor Environmental Standards Organization (IESO), the Council no longer offers membership services, but instead focuses exclusively on certification programs.  At the end of 2006, the IAQ Council had 5351 certificants in nine disciplines related to IAQ consulting, investigation, remediation and administration.  Governance of the IAQ Council, The operations and governance of the IAQ Council function at three levels. Final executive authority is vested in a Board of Directors by the Council’s bylaws.

The Board of Directors in turn appoints a National Advisory Board to assist them in their decisions. The National Advisory Board is composed of both IAQ professionals and members of the public sector, and offers the Directors an independent perspective on issues facing the IAQ industry. The National Advisory Board also oversees the implementation of basic certification and operational guidelines common to all Council  certification programs.

Finally, each Council certification program is operated by a separate Certification Board, which presides over the awarding of certifications in its category. Certification Boards are composed of experts who have field experience in the values required for eh certification, and each of them holds the certification that he or she votes to award. Certification Board members develop and approve all examination materials and eligibility requirements, and review all application materials. They approve the awarding of certifications by unanimous vote.

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