Founded in 1906, the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) publishes standards that are used as the basis for national standards in over 100 nations around the world and are used in preparing specifications in international trade.

If elected President, Flood would represent the Commission with other international, regional, and national standards organizations. His overall responsibility would be to preside over Council, the Council Board, and the Executive Committee, to ensure that IEC strategies are consistent with business strategies and that the Commission would be capable to deal with challenges posed by new technologies in a rapidly changing, market-led, world economy.

A 1998 recipient of the Canadian Standards Association Award of Merit, Flood is retired but still actively represents the interests of the Canadian electroindustry. He serves as the vice president of International Standards for Electro Federation Canada and in 2001 he was elected President of CANENA. Flood is the President of the Canadian National Committee of IEC, the Canadian delegate to the IEC Standardization Management Board, a member of the IEC Asia Pacific Steering Group, and the IEC marketing committee.

"Because Canada is a relatively small but strong economy with an effective international standardization process," explains Flood, "we are well aware of the differences that often exist between the needs of the larger economies and those of the smaller and developing economies. Canada is well positioned to bridge those differences and to help improve the timeliness and acceptability of IEC products."

The Standards Council of Canada believes that a Tony Flood Presidency would have an important symbolic value, as the last three IEC Presidents have hailed from the United States (1996-1998), Switzerland (1999-2001), and Japan (2002-2005). Establishing a tradition of rotating the Presidency among the regions of the world would help to reinforce the IEC's image as a truly international body.

"Tony has demonstrated his ability to lead a group, whether it is large or small, technical or managerial, to consensus," says Peter Clark, executive director of the Standards Council of Canada, "especially when the starting positions are polarized. From a Canadian perspective, it's hard to face the prospect of his devoting even more time and energy to the global community instead of to Canada, but we feel that Tony can make a very positive difference to the continued success of IEC."

NEMA President Malcom O'Hagan says: "Tony Flood has the qualities and experience to be a great President of IEC. His career in industry gives him a full appreciation of the value of standards that serve the needs of the marketplace. Having been actively involved in all aspects of standards development at the national, regional, and international level, he understands the complexity of the process. Among his peers, Tony enjoys the greatest respect for his personable demeanor, his technical expertise, and his ability to forge consensus, which is so vital to the success of the IEC. The world standards community will be well served by the election of Tony as the next President of the IEC. He has NEMA's unqualified support."