ISO Council Confirms ANSI's Lane Hallenbeck as ISO CASCO Chair

Lane Hallenbeck, vice president for accreditation services at the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), was confirmed as chair of International Organization for Standardization's (ISO) Conformity Assessment Committee (CASCO) on September 24th during the ISO 34th General Assembly in New Delhi, India. Commencing January 1st, 2012, Mr. Hallenbeck will succeed Olivier Peyrat, CEO of AFNOR - the French member body to ISO, for an initial two-year term.

With 70 participating national member bodies and 42 observer members, CASCO is one of the largest committees in ISO. Its mission is to develop harmonized and internationally accepted policy on conformity assessment, liaise with industry sectors and intergovernmental agencies with regard to conformity assessment activities, and promote the use of the CASCO toolbox internationally to facilitate global trade.

As chair, Mr. Hallenbeck will be responsible for guiding the strategic direction of the committee and achieving the committee's main objectives. He will also serve as convenor of the Coordination Policy Committee (CPC), the Strategic Alliance and Regulator Group (STAR) and chair of the annual CASCO plenary. Together with the ISO Secretary-General and CASCO secretary, Mr. Hallenbeck will be a member of the IAF (International Accreditation Forum) - ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) - ISO Joint Working Group.

"On behalf of the U.S. conformity assessment community, ANSI congratulates Lane on this prestigious appointment," said S. Joe Bhatia, ANSI president and CEO. "We look forward to the many excellent contributions he will make to further conformity assessment activities in the international arena."

In his role at ANSI, Mr. Hallenbeck has primary responsibility for the direction and development of ANSI's accreditation programs. These include the accreditation of standards development organizations and the approval of American National Standards, accreditation of conformity assessment bodies that certify products, personnel, and those that validate and verify greenhouse gas attestations. He is also an ex-officio Board Member of the affiliate ANSI-ASQ (American Society for Quality) National Accreditation Board - ANAB and ACLASS accreditation programs.

Mr. Hallenbeck joined ANSI in November 2000 with many years of technical leadership experience in service and manufacturing organizations spanning the telecommunications, aerospace, semiconductor, software, defense, automotive, and construction sectors. Prior to joining ANSI, he was the vice president of the management systems registrar affiliate of the American Bureau of Shipping, and Program Manager for the TRW Space and Electronics Group.

As a founding member of the Independent Association of Accredited Registrars (IAAR), Mr. Hallenbeck held the position of president from 1997 to 1999. He was a Board Member of ANAB's precursor - the Registrar Accreditation Board (RAB), a senior member of ASQ, and certified as a quality systems lead auditor. Mr. Hallenbeck is also on the Executive Committee of the Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC), and leads ANSI's commitment as an MLA Signatory in the IAF.

Mr. Hallenbeck holds an M.S. in technology management from Pepperdine University and a B.A. in life sciences from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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CASCO's main objectives are to:

• Study means of assessing the conformity of products, processes, services, and management systems to appropriate standards or other technical specifications;

• Prepare standards and guides relating to the practice of testing, inspection, and certification of products, processes, and services, and to the assessment of management systems, testing laboratories, inspection, certification, and accreditation bodies, and their operation and acceptance; and

• Promote mutual recognition and acceptance of national and regional conformity assessment systems, and the appropriate use of International Standards for testing, inspection, certification, assessment, and related purposes.