John Stephenson (3rd from Right) with members of the IANGV Executive Committee in Sweden 1992.

As announced in NGV Global last week, it is with great sadness that we record our friend John Stephenson has just passed away at age 87.

I had known John since the late 1970s when we both had offices in the School of Engineering at the University of Auckland. The CNG program in New Zealand was just commencing, driven strongly by the New Zealand Government. It was clear that an important element for successful implementation of CNG in New Zealand was going to be the availability of expertise which could deal with issues that were bound to arise when people tried to convert engines and fuel systems designed to run on petrol to run on natural gas instead. Thus the New Zealand Energy Research and Development Committee decided it would fund the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Auckland to establish a facility which would have the equipment needed to undertake experiments on engines and vehicles and the expertise to deal with the technical issues which would arise in the nascent NGV industry.

New Zealand, Auckland

It is with great sadness that we report the death of former IANGV Treasurer, John Stephenson, in Auckland, New Zealand, earlier this week. John contributed greatly to IANGV including all the editions of our widely used Position Paper in the 1990s. NGV Global will carry a tribute to John in next week's issue. Readers wishing to send condolences to his family is welcome to send a message via email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we will forward to the family.

USA, Oklahoma

Lloyd G. Austin – 57 died on Tuesday March 4th, 2008, as a result of a tragic plane crash, which also took the lives of Garth Bates, President United Engines, and Frank Pool, vice president. Lloyd was born on July 27th, 1950, in Fredonia Kansas and grew up in Alamosa, CO.  He was a Vietnam veteran serving with the Navy Seabees.  During his career he worked for Stewart & Stevenson Services Inc. Denver CO.  He then moved to Waterloo, Ontario Canada and founded GFI Control Systems Inc. serving as President and CEO.   He moved to Palm Coast from Canada in 2004.  Since 2006, Lloyd has been vice- president of United Holdings which is an affiliate of United Engines in Oklahoma City. (image source - Kitchener Waterloo Record).

USA

Gunnar Lindstrom, who has spearheaded Honda’s NGV program in the USA the past several years, has opted for early retirement. February 1st was his last day at Honda.  Gunnar joined American Honda in 1978, working first in Motorcycle and later with the Automobile Service division as a technical trouble-shooting Engineer.  He joined Honda R&D and the newly formed Electrical Vehicle team in 1990 where he was responsible for the initial US strategy and coordination of Honda North American EV activities.  He also worked to develop EV recharging infrastructure standards jointly with the Electric Utility industry.  Today, his department is responsible for the Honda Civic GX, developing the launch strategy and business plan for the FuelMaker “Phill” home refueling appliance and the launch of the Honda FCX.  For the past three years, Gunnar also has served as the vice-chair of NGVAmerica. Gunnar has been a stronger advocate and effective spokesman for light-duty NGVs.  NGVAmerica and the entire NGV industry will miss his leadership and guidance.

USA

NGVAmerica Recognizes Mario Pirraglia for Marketing Role 

US industry association NGVAmerica has recognized FuelMaker Corporation’s Senior VP of Sales and Marketing, Mario Pirraglia, for his term as Chairman of the Marketing Advisory Committee (MAC) from 2004-2006. Special recognition was given to Mario during the National NGV Conference Summit in Reno, Nevada for accomplishments the MAC achieved during his term as Chairman.  Stephe Yborra, Director of Marketing and Communications at NGV America praised Mario for bringing a true marketing focus to the committee;  “Mario helped us focus our efforts on finding and reaching the true end user decision makers of natural gas fleet vehicles, most notably transit officials, school transportation managers, and city fleet managers” .

Belgium, Brussels

Dr Jeffrey M. Seisler, the founding Executive Director of the European Natural Gas Vehicle Association (ENGVA) is opening a Brussels-based consultancy, Clean Fuels Consulting “to foster a more proactive advocacy effort with the European institutions, focusing on natural gas vehicles (NGVs), renewable biomethane, hydrogen and other clean fuels”.

We regret to inform readers of NGV Global that Carlos Lugones passed away on April 30th at the age of 70 years after a long illness. Carlos was the fourth President of IANGV, 1992 – 1994.  He presided over a significant period of development and growth of the association during which the numbers of NGVs around the world rose from 500,000 to over 800,000.

Much to the surprise and thanks of the IANGV Council, he offered to hold the second conference NGV90 in Buenos Aires at a time when the NGV industry in Argentina was nowhere near as strong as it is now.  He put the resources of his not so large company behind the organization of the conference which was a most successful event.  He enlisted his daughter Marina to get her friends to assist with registration, etc and add great colour to the event.  With characteristic flair, he arranged the exhibition and opening ceremony to be held in an enormous marquee erected on the median strip of Avenida 9 Julio, the huge main avenue in central Buenos Aires.