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”.

Brian Stokes – speaking at the NGV Coalition annual conference in San Francisco, Oct 2005

Brian Stokes, an NGV industry leader in the USA for nearly 20 years, died earlier this month after battling cancer. Brian played a key role in driving and shaping NGV research and product development, and the industry owes a great deal of its excellent safety record to Brian's willingness to take on the unglamorous work of developing standards. We will all miss him enormously as a colleague and a friend.