Max Lakkonen has 25 years of experience in senior engineering roles across both academia and the private sector. He holds a Master’s degree (M.Sc.) in Mechanical Engineering and a Scandinavian postgraduate degree (Lic.Tech.) in Automation Engineering.

For the past 20 years, Max has been exclusively involved in the fire protection industry and has served as one of the two Managing Directors of IFAB since 2015. Throughout his career, he has published more than 100 papers on tunnel fire protection, covering topics such as ventilation, fixed firefighting systems (FFFS), and structural safety. 

Max is a member of several technical committees, including NFPA 502, NFPA 130, and NFPA 750, and actively participates in other tunnel safety groups like ITA-COSUF (AG3). He also serves as the President of the International Water Mist Association (IWMA) Scientific Committee.

At IFAB, Max is responsible for tunnel, rail, and metro fire protection, as well as CFD simulations, and serves as the primary contact for the company's international activities.

Rajko Rothe has been working as an expert for fire protection for more than 23 years and has been one of two managing directors of IFAB since 2013. He holds a university degree in marine engineering. Rajko Rothe is primarily involved in consulting and verification in preventive fire protection. His expertise is based, among other things, on a history of over 20 years in real fire tests. As a certified expert in fire protection, he prepares fire protection concepts, fire protection certificates and fire protection reports of all kinds. Rajko Rothe was and is involved in current research activities and has published various papers.

Rajko Rothe holds a teaching qualification in advanced fire fighting according to STCW and works as a fire cause investigator for the Federal Maritime Accident Investigation Bureau. Furthermore, he is responsible for fire protection consulting at IFAB and is the contact person for fire protection verification projects.

SENIOR TESTING & CONSULTANCY MANAGER

CERTIFIED SPECIALIST PLANNER FIRE PROTECTION

RAIL, QUALITY MANAGEMENT AND ACCREDITATION

Babett Peters has worked in various positions in the fire protection industry for over 13 years. She has been employed as an expert and test engineer at IFAB GmbH since 2013. She holds a degree in chemistry (Dipl.-Chem.) and a Master's degree in environmental technologies (M.Sc.). Babett Peters was instrumental in IFAB's successful approval as an accredited testing laboratory for conducting fire tests as proof of efficacy for water-based firefighting systems.

She is also responsible for the development of new measurement methods for fire testing at IFAB. In addition, she works at IFAB as a quality manager and expert in fire protection.