The board of directors met in-person October 16-18 in Washington, DC. Here is a summary of reports made and actions taken at those meetings.

By David Walsh

Oct 31, 2023

Board Actions
The board approved the following actions:

• The Minutes of the April 2023 board meeting
• The consolidated financial statements and report of the independent accountants, and the annual review of the finance and audit committee charter, as presented
• Appointment of the 2024 Finance and Audit Committee Chair Brian Shiels

Global Business Development and Innovation

Brian Meincke, ASTM’s vice president of business development, discussed the successful 2023 Exo Games, hosted by the ASTM International’s Exo Technology Center of Excellence (ET CoE) in August.

This first-ever, in-person event took place at the University of Central Lancashire, UK, and focused on developing greater student engagement in the exo technologies industry. The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) is being considered as a location for the 2024 installment of this annual event.

Other recent activities of the ET CoE include producing a bibliography for a comprehensive list of references focusing on exoskeletons and exo technology. And the creation of an exoskeleton device reporting form that can capture potential failure modes and failures of exoskeletons in an anonymous manner from ASTM members.

Additional developments include the development of a scope for the new subcommittee on distiller’s grains (E48.D0), part of the committee on bioenergy and industrial chemicals from biomass (E48). And contracting with a general carbon technical expert/consultant to evaluate ASTM’s decarbonization-related activities and recommend strategies to further current initiatives.

ASTM hosted the Fourth Annual ASTM Autonomy in Aviation Symposium in November in Santa Clara, CA in conjunction with the committee meetings on unmanned air systems (F38). This one-day symposium hosted 100+ attendees and featured three keynote speakers from sponsoring organizations, Wing, Wisk, and Daedalean.

Laboratory Services

Tim Brooke, ASTM vice president, laboratory services, provided updates in several key areas, including reference materials, ASTM Insight SQC platform, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and the Cement and Concrete Reference Laboratory.

Committee Operations

Dan Smith, ASTM vice president, technical committee operations, reported on updates to Regulations Governing ASTM Technical Committees, including an edit to reduce the recommended minimum notification time for virtual only meetings when a quorum is necessary; as well as a revision to regulations on frequency of review.

An update was provided on the proposed discharge of the committee on electronics (F01), and the vote to discharge passed.

An update from the Committee on Publications and the Dudley Award Task Group was provided with regard to recommendations for the 2023 winner of the Dudley Award.

Washington, DC Office

In support of ASTM’s mission and strategic objectives, the Washington, D.C. office engages in a number of activities involving Federal legislation and regulations, international trade issues, and corporate outreach to industry and trade associations.

In September, the DC Office recently attended an outreach day hosted by the American Trade Association of Cannabis and Hemp (ATACH) on Capitol Hill, in order to discuss standards developed by ASTM’s committee on cannabis (D37).

The DC Office also worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a meeting that covered the scope of approved standards and other issues relating to D37.

Also in September, the DC Office attended the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association’s (JPMA) inaugural meeting for the Baby Safety Caucus on Capitol Hill, in order to discuss stadards from the committee on consumer products (F15).

U.S. Federal Agencies

In August, Jeff Grove gave an invited presentation to members of the Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) tasked with advising on the National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology (NSSCET).

In July, the DC Office met with the executive director for trade agreements and senior lead on trade agreement compliance at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA).

At the invitation of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, ASTM spoke on a panel on remanufacturing at the good regulatory practices conference at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meetings in Seattle, WA. 

Organizational Outreach

Recent DC Office outreach has included participation in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s annual Global Aerospace Summit; a roundtable on UAS policy with the Department of Homeland Security; meetings on space communications standards; and discussions with companies trade associations regarding global collaborations to support standards development.

An informational meeting with the National Safety Council (NSC) covered common safety goals related to cannabis, exoskeletons, and workplace safety. 

The DC Office has been engaged in supporting ASTM’s fall committee weeks, which take place in Washington, DC. Staff also led engagement in ANSI’s October World Standards Day Celebration, as ASTM is the administering organization for 2023.

Brussels Office

Jeff Grove, vice president of global policy, cooperation and communications, traveled to Greece in February to represent ASTM at NATO’s Workshop on the Use of Civil Standards. Later that month, Brussels staff participated in a meeting of NATO’s Standardization Staff Group (NSSG) at NATO Headquarters to present on ASTM’s aviation portfolio.

Sara Gobbi, ASTM’s director of EU affairs, and Phil Kenul, unmanned aircraft systems committee chair (F38), engaged in policy and corporate outreach activities in Brussels regarding unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and advanced air mobility (AAM).

Kenul traveled to Amsterdam in March to represent ASTM at the Amsterdam Drones Week and at the EASA High Level Conference on Drones, while Craig Updyke, ASTM’s director, global policy and international trade, traveled to Brussels in March to represent ASTM at the joint American National Standards Institute (ANSI) - European Standards Organizations meeting. 

Global Cooperation

ASTM International has now partnered with 124 national and regional standardization bodies, who have cited over 9080 ASTM standards. A concerted effort has been made to connect virtually with MoU partners.

The following includes national and regional updates regarding capacity building, outreach, and cooperative agreements.

Procedural Training Sessions

A full slate of procedural training sessions, targeting our MoU partners and their stakeholders, has been scheduled for the fall. Training sessions will include the ASTM Lab Services Program; ASTM Insight SQC Software; MoU member onboarding and engagement.

Regional Environment and Sustainability Webinar Series

Global Cooperation is planning a regional (Southeast Asia/Asia-Pacific) technical webinar series on the environment and sustainability, aiming to increase awareness, understanding, and application of ASTM standards in this sector.

2023 Attached Staff Program and Standards Expert Program

The Global Cooperation team held the second in-person Standards Expert Program (SEP) since 2019 and the first (also in-person) Attached Staff Program (ASP) at ASTM Headquarters since 2020, both in early November. Participants represented the Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) and the Instituto Colombiano de Normas Técnicas y Certificación (ICONTEC). Two attached staff joined ASTM from the Japanese Standards Association (JSA).

2024 Standards Expert Program

The four 2024 MoU partners selected are the Côte d’Ivoire Normalisation (CODINORM); Enterprise Singapore (ESG); Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) from the United Arab Emirates; and the Instituto Nacional de Calidad (INACAL) from Perú.

Regional Updates

Africa
This year, staff managers of four committees held meetings with their counterparts at the African Organization for Standardization (ARSO). The goal is to establish a closer working relationship.

Mozambique
Maria Jiverage, manager, global cooperation, training, visited MoU partner Instituto Nacional de Normalização e Qualidade (INNOQ) in Maputo, Mozambique, where she presented information about the MoU program. She also met INNOQ director general Geraldo Albasini. 

Asia

Academic Outreach: International Student Chapter
Global Cooperation is exploring the potential to organize a student chapter in the Southeast Asia region. Teresa Cendrowska, VP, global cooperation; Elvin Chia, global policy consultant; and Travis Murdock, staff manager;  held discussions with the Central Philippine University’s (CPU) Packaging Engineering Department. 

Enterprise Singapore & Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore
There are ongoing discussions with Enterprise Singapore and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) on potential collaborations in the unmanned aircraft systems/advanced air mobility sector.

Japan
Teresa Cendrowska, Mohsen Seifi, VP, global advanced manufacturing programs; and Elvin Chia will met with the Japanese Standards Association (JSA Group) to discuss expanded collaboration. Cendrowska and Chia also met with numerous other organizations in Japan.

Korea
Aaron Prather, director of ASTM’s Robotics and Autonomous Systems Programs, presented remotely during the autonomous vehicles breakout session that took place as part of the August United States/Korea Standards Forum.

In September, Chia and Cendrowska met with the director and staff of the Korean Standards Association’s (KSA) Standards Policy Center.

Timor-Leste
With Timor-Leste slated to become the 11th member of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Teresa Cendrowska and Elvin Chia met with the president of Timor-Leste’s newly established national standards body, Institute Quality of Timor-Leste (IQTL).
Latin America and the Caribbean

Peru Office

In September, a webinar titled “Hemp as a Business Opportunity for the Construction Sector” was held with co-sponsorship from the Colombian Ministry of Commerce and the Colombian Chamber of Cement and Concrete (PROCEMCO).

In October, past board chair Cesar Constantino traveled to Chile for outreach visits, while Maria Isabel Barrios, ASTM’s South America consultant, and her team visited MoU partner Instituto Nacional de Normalización (INN) and others.

Central Asia

Kazakhstan
In July, Daniyar Yerzhanuly, technical specialist from MoU partner KazStandard, Kazakhstan, visited ASTM Headquarters as part of his U.S. tour.

Middle East

In November, Jim Olshefsky will attend GCC Standardization Organization (GSO’s) “Standards Gulf Forum 2023,” in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

ASTM has accepted an invitation to take part in the November Concrete Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as a strategic partner. The conference will feature Stephan Mansour of ASTM’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence as a speaker. 

Collaborative Partnerships
In July, ASTM was actively engaged in meetings with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), held in conjunction with the APEC SOM III session in Seattle, WA.

Alyson Fick (ASTM staff manager), Craig Updyke (ASTM’s director, global policy) and Teresa Cendrowska coordinated and conducted the first of two workshops for a self-funded APEC project.

Ten speakers from six economies addressed three themes:
Government and Industry Perspectives on Regulatory and Policy Best Practices for Addressing the Mitigation and Elimination of Plastics Pollution; Standards as a Resource to Aid Policy, Regulation, and Technology; and Plastics Mitigation and Pollution Elimination – Technology Options.

Information gained will assist with creating a toolkit for policy makers tasked with addressing plastic pollution and responding to the UNEA Treaty on Plastics’ call for domestic plans for plastic mitigation and elimination. The program results will also assist Committee D20 as it develops a road map to identify gaps where standards are needed.

As a guest member of APEC’s Subcommittee on Standards and Conformity, ASTM provided an update on activities related to the 21 APEC member economies located in Asia and North and South America, including 16 MoU partners. Attendance also afforded the opportunity to learn about planned or proposed projects, to hear the reports of other economies, and to provide comments.

Teresa Cendrowska attended and presented information about ASTM International during the Workshop on Reducing Lead in Drinking Water Through Standardization. She participated in the panel session with NSF International. As a result of a contact made during the program, followup conversations have taken place with World Vision, a large NGO working in over 100 nations.

In addition to attending the two-day Good Regulatory Practice Conference, Craig Updyke, Director – Global Policy and International Trade, presented as a panelist in the session on Regulatory Focus: Greening the Economy. The session considered alternative and non-regulatory approaches which policy makers may use to address increasingly transboundary, global environmental issues. The session focused on remanufacturing as a component of the circular economy.

ISO
Teresa Cendrowska and Elvin Chia attended the ISO Annual Meeting in Brisbane, Australia from September.

Petroleum Standards Harmonization in West Africa
In June, ASTM concluded a three-year joint project with the American Petroleum Institute on harmonizing petroleum test methods in West Africa with participation from eight focal points.

United Nations
Emmanuel Escoto, ASTMs manager, engagement, completed a comprehensive application for observer status within the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC). If successful, ASTM will be eligible to participate as an observer in the Conference of
Parties (COP) in 2024.

In July, Escoto and Cendrowska also met with the permanent representative of South Africa to the United Nations, Mrs. Mathu Joyini, and the deputy permanent representative of Vietnam to the United Nations, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Nguyen.

Communications

Public/Media Relations

To date, the department has issued 139 press releases, heavily targeting industry and trade press outlets. This total includes technical committee news, member awards, product news, and general ASTM announcements.

Media inquiries continue at a steady rate, and the department has also fielded higher-profile inquiries and coverage from NBC News, CNBC, ABC News, NPR, Consumer Reports, and others related to numerous standards-related news stories.

Internal Communications

The “In the Square” e-newsletter provides insight on key internal events for staff. The department is also responsible for a general “news” channel on Yammer, ASTM’s new internal social site.

Standards Impact Podcast
In April, ASTM launched the “Standards Impact” podcast, in which host Dave Walsh, editor-in-chief of Standardization News, discusses standards and society with industry leaders and market innovators. Four episodes have been published to date, covering the 125th Anniversary, carbon in concrete, sustainability/resilience, and PPE. The first season’s remaining episodes will cover advanced manufacturing and recycling.

Standardization News
125th anniversary coverage wrapped up in the second half of 2023, with the publication of the remaining 125th anniversary case studies. Among these installments were case studies on amusement rides and baby cribs. In the second half of 2023, SN print issues have covered standards for the nuclear industry, spaceports, and school safety/thwarting armed intruders.

Recent online features have covered standards for MRI safety and hunting treestands, as the staff continues to respond to the needs of ASTM’s committees.

ASTM’s social media followers continue to grow and now number over 130,000, expanding the reach of SN content and driving traffic to SN Online as well as ASTM’s main website.
Upcoming SN print issues will cover ESG investments, eVTOLs/air taxis, and 2024 ASTM Chair Bill Griese.

SmartBrief Newsletter
ASTM SmartBrief continues to be opened at a rate of ~20%, driving traffic and engagement with SN content, while generating a modest amount of advertising revenue.

Video
Global cooperation and other staff discuss everything from ASTM’s MoU Program, to WTO TBT, to a recent OECD report, in a new video that is embedded on the updated global cooperation website. Shorter videos will be also produced using content from the same video shoot and will to highlight ASTM’s global outreach.

Short videos from the “Why ASTM?” series continue to perform well, especially as Instagram reels. In total, there have been over 15,000 views of the “Why ASTM?” videos across ASTM’s social media channels.

Social Media
While the change from Twitter to X was disruptive, ASTM’s X followers have grown 2.4% YTD with impressions trending 15% higher in 2023. LinkedIn remains ASTM’s dominant social media platform, with over 79K followers. The engagement rate (likes, comments, and shares) remains high at 3.5%.

IT Operations

Rick Lindberg, ASTM’s vice president and chief technology officer, provided an update on 2023 accomplishments, which included the first phase modernizing membership tools via MyASTM tools; expanding capabilities of Compass Points; and working to prevent cyberattacks.

The Publishing Assistant App was launched to streamline the publication process for outside content. Numerous cybersecurity initiatives were undertaken, and the overall NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) Maturity Model score nearly doubled as a result.

Sales and Marketing

Stuart Radcliffe, ASTM’s vice president of sales and marketing, provided an update on sales and marketing.Sales overall are up a significant percentage over 2022, with YTD orders of the new Compass Points platform a highlight. Overall subscriptions to Compass are up over previous years as well. Marketing initiatives to promote these and other products, including ASTM’s new website IT infrastructure, are underway.

Auditing ASTM’s relationships with resellers and MoU partners is another ongoing initiative that will continue into 2024. ■

ASTM by the Numbers:

124
Memorandum of Understanding partners.

9,080 
Standards cited by MoU partners

4
Episodes of ASTM’s “Standards Impact” podcast published.

130,000+ 
Social media followers across platforms.