Keith E. Pardoe, DSC, DSI, FDAI, DAHC, CDC, CDT

Founder & President 

Keith's career in the swinging door industry spans more than 38 years. He spent 8 years working in distribution, before starting his first consulting company in 1993. He joined the staff of the Door and Hardware Institute (DHI) in 1996, where he was the Director of Education & Certification; a position he held for most of his time at DHI. He retired from DHI in 2014 and started Pardoe Consulting, LLC. In 2017, Keith founded Door Safety, LLC, to provide training and information to end users regarding inspecting and maintaining swinging egress and fire doors.

Keith has been a Principal member of NFPA's Fire Door and Window (FDW-AAA) technical committee since 2004 of which he is the current Chair. He is also a Principal member of NFPA's Fire Protection Features  technical committee (BLD-FIR/NFPA 5000 and SAF-FIR/NFPA 101). He is also a member of the American Society for Health Care Engineering's ASHE Faculty team. He continues to be an instructor for DHI Canada.

Keith's advice to Young Professionals:

"Take the time to learn everything you can about egress and fire doors, especially the provisions and requirements of the building, fire, and life safety codes—past and present—and the standards that affect them. Remember, fire doors have one job, preventing a fire from spreading! Egress doors must allow us to evacuate safely under fire and other panic-inducing conditions. Accordingly, our codes (past and present) require egress and fire doors to be kept in a Constant State of Readiness. Mastering the codes and standards affecting egress and fire doors will help you have a long and rewarding career. What we do matters.

The tradition of giving back to our industry began under the American Society of Architectural Hardware Consultants (ASAHC) in 1940; the current generation teaching future generations. My hope is that you will join us and help us carry on in the tradition of the ASAHC."