John van der Puil Member of Merit Risk Management and Engineering Department

On the recommendation of the Board of the Risk Management and Engineering Section, the Main Board of the Royal Institute of Engineers has appointed mr. ing. John van der Puil as Member of Merit of the Division of Risk Management and Engineering for his outstanding services to this division and to KIVI in general.

John van der Puil was secretary of the Risk Management and Engineering Section from 17-01-2014 to 28-01-2016 and board member from 28-01-2016 to the present. He is a member of the programme committee from 26-04-2017 to the present and member/archivist from 09-09-2021 to the present.

John has been involved from the very beginning in the set-up and (re)direction of the KIVI Department of Risk Management and Technology (KIVI-RBT), which was established in 2013. Of all the board members, he is the most active and the most productive. As the oldest board member, it is precisely he who has the most eye for innovation and rejuvenation of KIVI-RBT.

Thanks to John's never-ending enthusiasm, the still young KIVI-RBT is getting through a difficult period of inactivity and administrative perils, and a chapter will be closed in 2021 with the appointment of a new, strongly rejuvenated board. The department's working group structure has been abandoned and replaced by a dynamic programme committee that now has ten active members from a wide variety of backgrounds.

KIVI-RBT owes much thanks to John van der Puil individually. For years, he performed various functions within our board in his inimitable way. As secretary, he punctually and excellently took care of the reporting of board and department meetings and as leader of the Analysis and Development working group, later as portfolio holder of Analysis and Development, he led many a KIVI-RBT symposium.

Finally, it should be noted that during the corona-lockdown periods, John always managed to approach, interest and activate people to contribute to KIVI-RBT with calm, friendly perseverance. It is no exaggeration to report, that John almost single-handedly got the department through this period.