Dr. John Somavarapu Receives IOMA International Harmonization Award

The Harmonization Award is a prestigious award presented to an individual who displays strong commitment, leadership, technical excellence and sustained contribution for the development of harmonized standards within the industrial gas industry. 

Known by most as Dr. John, the award was presented to him at the IOMA Annual Meeting in Vienna, Austria, on Oct. 1. Dr. John is an Air Liquide International Fellow and has been with Air Liquide since 2005. He is one of the four Air Liquide recipients of this award along with Gary Prezbindowski, Herve Barthelemy and Alain Colson. No other IOMA member company has had more than two recipients of the Harmonization Award.

Numerous Air Liquide employees worldwide have been engaged in IOMA and the industry associations for decades including senior leaders from Air Liquide and Airgas who have held leadership roles,” explains Richard Pawulski, Large Industries vice president, Center for Technical Expertise and Dr. John’s manager. “Air Liquide USA CEO Sue Ellerbusch has recently been elected as Air Liquide’s representative to the IOMA Board of Directors. Pascal Vinet, Airgas CEO, represents Air Liquide in IOMA’s Global Committee, which selects the recipient of the Harmonization Award. By design, our participation is used as a platform to position Air Liquide as a leader in developing industry standards. Our management team supports and encourages participation in the industry association activities by our Technical Community Leaders (TCL), who have expertise in technology, innovation and knowledge management. They are in a position to set the safety standards for the entire industrial gas industry worldwide.

International Harmonization Award
The Global Committee of IOMA selects outstanding individuals who demonstrate exemplary service and contributions to the industrial gas industry’s international harmonization efforts. The award is based on the following:

• Individual’s record of achievement and leadership on behalf of the industry
• Individual’s reputation and professional recognition in the industry
• Individual’s reputation and recognition by international and national authorities
• Individual’s involvement and cooperation with the industry and authorities in developing and promoting harmonized legislation and standards

About IOMA: The Trade Association of Companies
IOMA is the worldwide trade association of companies in the industrial and medical gas business. IOMA's role is to bring top-management oversight by prioritizing the work between and among the technical bodies to achieve harmonization of safety standards, as well as global documents. IOMA, through its Global Committee, coordinates the standards development activities of the following regional associations:

• Compressed Gas Association (CGA) - United States and Canada
• European Industrial Gases Association (EIGA) - Europe
• Asia Industrial Gases Association (AIGA) - Asia
• Japan Industrial & Medical Gases Association (JIMGA) - Japan