At the National Burglar and Fire Alarm Association (NBFAA) Strategic Summit, board members voted to propose a name change. The motion was approved with 31 in favor, one opposed and one abstention. The name, “Electronic Life Safety and Systems Association” (ELSSA), is up for vote to the general membership and results will be announced at NBFAA’s spring conference in Las Vegas in April.
The name change has been in transition for several years, according to Merlin Guilbeau, executive director of NBFAA, Irving, Texas, who said that board members knew a name change was inevitable. In 2000, the association moved to change its logo to the acronym NBFAA, while adding the tagline, “Electronic Life Safety, Security and Systems Professionals.” In 2003, the association conducted a membership survey as part of a strategic planning process and, building off of this, ultimately decided to recommend the name change to its general membership.