Steve Kowkabany is a Florida native who graduated from UF in 1998 after completing his master’s degree in mechanical engineering while completing research in the CIMAR robotics program under Dr. Carl Crane.  After working in the power generation, pulp and paper, and photographic film manufacturing sectors, Steve found his way into the field of fire protection and process safety.  He founded his own fire protection consulting firm in 2005, which he sold to The Vertex Companies in 2022, a 700-person multi-disciplinary consultancy based out of Weymouth, Massachusetts.  Steve currently serves as the Executive Vice President of Fire Protection and Life Safety for Vertex where he leads a group of multi-disciplinary engineers and technicians in Jacksonville Beach, Florida and Gainesville.  Steve’s experience at UF prepared him well for a diverse and ever-evolving career that spanned the globe with extensive project work in Japan, Saudi Arabia, Brazil. and through the US mainland the Carribean.  In a volunteer capacity, Steve serves as the president of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers Florida Chapter, as an appointed board member of the Building Code Adjustment Board of Jacksonville and as a fire protection expert on the Existing Building Inspection Workgroup formed in response to the Surfside Building Collapse.  Outside of work, Steve enjoys traveling with his family and playing tennis.