George Fechtmann

Global Principal Engineer for Plastics
Underwriters Laboratories Inc.

George Fechtmann is Underwriters Laboratories Inc.'s (UL's) Global Principal Engineer for Plastics, based in UL's Melville, New York, office.  He is responsible for standardization activities related to the UL Plastics Recognition program, and also provides technical assistance to engineers at UL who handle certification projects for plastics.  For a number of years, he also was a principal member of UL's Global Review Team, which assists manufacturers with RoHS compliance.

Mr. Fechtmann began his career at UL in 1974 after graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in Brooklyn, New York. He later earned his Masters of Business Administration from Adelphi University, Garden City, New York. He's been a Licensed Professional Engineer in the state of New York since 1979.

The first project Mr. Fechtmann worked on after joining UL was the listing for the first video game, Pong, which was the precursor to the now-massive video game industry.  Today, he is a leading expert in his field and is very active in the professional community, generously sharing his knowledge to advance public safety.

Mr. Fechtmann is Chairman of the American Society for Testing and Materials' Committee D9 on Declarable Substances in Materials, the Technical Advisor for the United States National Committee of the International Electrotechnical Commission Technical Committee 89 on fire hazard testing, a technical expert for the United States on the IEC's Technical Committee 15 on insulating materials and Technical Committee 61 on household appliances, and the Program Manager and Convenor of IEC Technical Committee 89's Working Group 10 on Fire Safety Engineering.  He is a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers, the Society of Plastics Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.

Mr. Fechtmann serves as a mentor to UL staff and customers with his Plastics and RSCS expertise, and has been instrumental in the development of standards and programs that have helped establish UL's global leadership in the component plastics arena.  He led the team that created UL's online iQ for Plastics database and obtained industry funding to support that work.  He developed the original UL Plastics Seminar and presented it globally, both to UL staff and to customers.

Mr. Fechtmann has conducted training programs for UL RSCS staff in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, China, Japan and Korea. He has also provided technical training for the U.S. Department of Commerce and Consumer Product Safety Commission.  He has prepared and presented numerous technical papers at industry conferences all over the world, and has worked closely with our customers on plastics-related issues over the years, helping such industry leaders as GE Plastics, DuPont, BASF, Bayer, LG, Sony, Matsushita, Leviton, IBM and HP, to name just a few.

Over his 34-year career, Mr. Fechtmann's energy and leadership have been an invaluable asset to UL.