Russell B. Leavitt, CFPS, SET

Executive Chairman & Board Member
 Telgian Holdings, Inc.

Russell Leavitt’s Telgian roots can be traced to the genesis of the company. In 1990, he co-founded Fire Design Group, which merged with Tomes, Van Rickley and Associates (TVA) in 1991. He subsequently served in numerous executive positions including TVA Fire and Life Safety President, Managing Member of Fire Materials Group, LLC, and CEO of Telgian. Today, Leavitt serves as the Executive Chairman for Telgian Holdings, Inc., as well as the Chairman of Telgian Fire Safety and Telgian Engineering & Consulting.

Leavitt is active in numerous trade and professional associations and holds several leadership positions. He served for twelve years on the Board of Directors of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) including the role of chair from 2022-2024 and currently sits on the board for NFPA Global Solutions. He serves on the Board of Governors for the National Institute for the Certification in Engineering Technologies (NICET) holding the position of Chair Elect, several national committees for the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) national, as well as on the board of the AFSA Florida Chapter. Leavitt is active in the NFPA standards making process having served as the Chair of the NFPA 13 Technical Committee for Fire Sprinkler System Discharge Criteria and continues to serve as a committee member. He also sits on the technical committees for NFPA 13 Installation, System Commissioning and Integrated Testing (NFPA 3 and 4), along with NFPA 909 (Code for the Protection of Cultural Resource Properties) and NFPA 914 (Code for the Protection of Historic Structures).

Throughout his career, he has authored numerous articles and training guides, including the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) Beginning Inspector Training Program and the AFSA Online Hydraulics Training Program.  In addition, he is a major contributor to several NFPA Handbooks and served as the subject matter expert for numerous NFPA live and online training programs. He also contributes recurring columns for industry periodicals including Sprinkler Age and Fire Protection Contractor magazine.

Leavitt shares his more than 45 years of experience in the fire protection industry by conducting training presentations for many professional and industry organizations including the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE), NFPA, and AFSA. 

In 2013, he received the AFSA Henry S. Parmelee Award for dedication to the professional advancement of the fire sprinkler industry and improvement of fire safety through automatic sprinklers. He is also the recipient of the NFPA Standards Council Special Achievement Award in 2018 for his leadership of the task group which completely reorganized NFPA 13 for the 2019 edition. In recognition for his contributions to the industry, he was honored by Fire Sprinkler Contractor magazine as their 2025 person of the year.

 Leavitt is a Level IV NICET certified technician and Certified Fire Protection Specialist who holds fire protection contracting licenses in multiple states. He is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.