August W. Schaefer

Senior Vice President - Public Safety Officer
Underwriters Laboratories Inc.

Gus Schaefer is UL's Public Safety Officer.  In this capacity, he works to expand UL's Public Safety Mission on a global scale.  He acts as UL's Public Safety guardian, ambassador and advocate both inside and outside of the company, and represents UL on major safety initiatives, working closely with UL's Commercial, Operations, Regulatory Affairs, Consumer Affairs, Washington D.C. Office, and the staff of the CTO Group.  He is also currently responsible for UL's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, Corporate Giving activities and UL's annual giving campaign.

Mr. Schaefer began his career at UL in 1973 at the Melville, New York office, as a member of the Follow-Up Services (FUS) Department.  In the course of his assignment to FUS, he was responsible for the development of a number of innovative "second generation" FUS inspection programs, during which he worked closely with the UL staff and Industry members.  He also participated in the launch of UL's QRS Management System Registration business.  Mr. Schaefer eventually rose to the position of Chief Engineer - Follow-Up Services, with responsibility for UL's Global FUS activities.

During the mid-nineties, Mr. Schaefer was asked to manage UL's QRS business, during which he led a major customer service function.  Under his leadership, the group achieved significant improvements in the performance of the business.

In May 1998, Mr. Schaefer was assigned to the role of Director, Asian Operations, and in this position, worked to coalesce UL's resources in Asia into a regionally coordinated team.  Under his direction, the Asian Operation launched a significant expansion of UL's on-the-ground presence in Asia by adding staff and adding and expanding facilities.  He and his team in Asia pioneered the development of UL's first formalized capacity planning efforts, which allowed growth in the Region to be managed in a logical and methodical manner.

In late 2001, Mr. Schaefer was assigned full responsibility for UL's U.S. and Canadian Operations, remaining in this role until June 2004.  During this assignment, Mr. Schaefer and his team worked to synchronize the Region with UL's ongoing business transformation activities, and eventually prepared the way for the introduction of the new Operating Model.  After a brief assignment to oversee UL's Global FUS and Administrative Services Operations, Mr. Schaefer was assigned to his current position of Public Safety Officer in January 2005.

Mr. Schaefer has always been recognized as a team builder, and particularly effective as a collaborative leader, serving to inspire others to outstanding performance and commitment.  His record of accomplishments gives evidence of his ability to convert grand ideas into reality though systematic implementation.