Dominic Sims, CEO, International Code Council (Code Council), has been selected by the U.S. Celebration of World Standards Day Planning Committee as the recipient of the prestigious Ronald H. Brown Standards Leadership Award. Members of the U.S. standards and conformity assessment community will honor Sims during the U.S. Celebration of World Standards Day (WSD) on Thursday, November 14, 2024, in Washington, D.C.
Named for the late U.S. Secretary of Commerce, the Ronald H. Brown Award honors demonstrated leadership in promoting the important role of standardization in eliminating global barriers to trade.
Sims is recognized for his accomplishments and service in improving the nation’s built environment, promoting building safety through codes and standards, and advancing the use of safety standards to enhance U.S. global competitiveness and eliminate global barriers to trade.
Over the course of his career, he has helped to advance programs and activities that support standards community efforts to raise awareness of the importance of global standardization to the world economy and to promote its role in helping to meet the needs of industry, government, and consumers worldwide. He is also noted as a supporter of and advocate for the guidance provided by the United States Standards Strategy, U.S. Conformity Assessment Principles, and OMB Circular A-119.
As the CEO of the Code Council since 2012, Sims has led a number of initiatives to attract young professionals into the building and safety codes and standards community, including through Safety 2.0, several scholarship programs that support code professionals, as well as a program that supports the integration of lessons about codes and standards with vocational schools. The Code Council has also launched donations of materials to universities and high schools teaching standardization, and Sims’ senior staff have collaborated with universities in the development of courses on the U.S standardization system.
Active in the building safety field since 1983, Sims’ career spans both public- and private-sector experience. He has served as Councilman and vice mayor of the town of Jupiter, Florida, and executive director of the Palm Beach County Planning, Zoning and Building Department. He has also served on various White House panels, including Judge Alice Hill’s summit on resilient building codes, and on federal agency panels covering issues ranging from seismic safety, water quality, manufactured housing, energy, and resilience, to sustainability, fire, and life safety.
Prior to his work with the Code Council, Sims was CEO of the Southern Building Code Congress International (SBCCI). There, he guided SBCCI’s consolidation between regional organizations that ultimately formed the Code Council in 2003. He also served on the boards of SBCCI and the National Institute of Building Sciences. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH), a consumer advocate group that focuses on strengthening homes and safeguarding families from natural and manmade disasters, as well as on the board of the International Building Quality Center. He also participates in the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) National Policy Advisory Group (NPAG).
About World Standards Day
Celebrated annually, World Standards Day pays tribute to the thousands of volunteers around the world who participate in standardization activities, and helps to raise awareness of the role that standards play in addressing national and global priorities. The event has been held since 1970 and is recognized in nations around the globe.
The U.S. Celebration of World Standards Day is an annual event that honors the U.S. standards and conformity assessment community and recognizes its efforts to promote American competitiveness in a global marketplace, safeguard the environment, and improve the quality of life for workers and consumers around the world. U.S. activities are organized annually by a planning committee consisting of representatives from across the standards and conformity assessment community. The National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) is serving as the administrating organization in 2024.
WSD 2024 Theme: Shared Vision for a Better World: Standards for the Changing Climate
The 2024 U.S. Celebration of World Standards Day theme, Shared Vision for a Better World: Standards for the Changing Climate, recognizes how collaboration is the key to achieving shared goals. The U.S. standardization system has the greatest impact when all stakeholders work together. Particularly, as our climate continues to change, the standards community and the whole of the built environment must be resilient and ready to face the challenges ahead.
More information about the U.S. Celebration of World Standards Day is available at www.wsd-us.org.
