The board of directors met in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, April 22-23. Here is a summary of reports made and actions taken at those meetings.

By David Walsh

May 01, 2025

Board Actions

The board approved the following actions:

• The Minutes of the October 2024 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.

Global Business Development and Innovation

Brian Meincke, vice president of global business development and innovation strategy, presented on the continuing efforts of the department.

Objectives were presented for the U.S. Standardization Center of Excellence for Critical and Emerging Technologies (SCoE CET), a partnership between ASTM and the National Institute for Standards and Technology.

The SCoE’s goals include pre-standardization engagement, workforce capacity building, information sharing, and collaborative pilot programs.

Healthcare innovation efforts have continued with the formation of a steering committee to guide future activities such as workshops and road-mapping efforts.

ASTM’s 2026 Exo Games will build on the success of the 2024 event, with strategic marketing planned, as well as interim tutorials and workshops in 2025.

A standards acceleration initiative is planned in conjunction with the technical committee operations department, aiming to fund short-term strategic R&D initiatives and advance standards-development efforts.

Laboratory Services

Tim Brooke, ASTM vice president, laboratory services and certification, presented on the expansion of training efforts into the Middle East and Latin America.

Middle East
In the Middle East, training efforts will focus on partnering with industry leaders, and potential training sites include Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain.

Latin America
Partnerships with industry leaders are also important to efforts in Latin America, with Argentina and Brazil cited as potential locations.

Committee Operations

Dan Smith, vice president of technical committee operations, presented on Committee Week attendance and trends thus far in 2025, noting attendance in Toronto to this point was near previous years and in line with expectations.

Looking ahead, there is high demand for conference space at remaining 2025 Committee Weeks, with ASTM staff looking into member sponsorships.

Global Policy and Cooperation

Washington, DC Office
Jeff Grove, vice president of global policy, cooperation, and communications, presented on new developments in Washington impacting ASTM and its members.

In the first 100 days of the new administration, efforts have begun to shrink the federal workforce; reduce regulations; and more.

ASTM has seen a loss of some members from federal agencies. Grove also noted the adminitsration has challenged potential trade partners to address non-tariff barriers and accept U.S. standards and certification requirements.

ASTM staff will work with the administration and U.S. trade partners to share thoughts on how those countries can revise their standards policies to better align with U.S. policy and recognize international standards developed by U.S. domiciled standards-development organizations.

Brussels Office
European affairs director Sara Gobbi, in coordination with colleagues across the organization, is working to build on the outreach from the October 2024 board meeting in Brussels, developing relationships with stakeholders to share information about ASTM.

Gobbi recently arranged outreach meetings with European Union (EU) officials and advocacy groups for members of the committee on petroleum products, liquid fuels, and lubricants (D02).

Communications

Communications Director Dan Bergels presented about ongoing efforts in several areas:

Community Outreach
ASTM has donated to a variety of organizations thus far in 2025, in the areas of disaster relief, STEM projects, and other philanthropic efforts. Notable donations included Americares, in support of earthquake relief in Myanmar, and the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation, in support of wildfire relief in California.

Media Relations
ASTM worked with numerous news organizations in 2025 and was covered in various outlets as well. ASTM was mentioned in stories by the Wall Street Journal, CBS News, NBC News, the Boston Globe, and many others.

ASTM News Hub
ASTM’s new website, launched earlier in 2025, included a revamped News Hub. New functionality includes a “News” landing page, dynamic related content, a dedicated Podcast page with embedded Spotify player, and more. Content is now more easily shared across ASTM.org.

Podcast
“Standards Impact,” ASTM’s official podcast, has now surpassed 10,000 total downloads since launch. Topics such as drones, footwear, and baseball/softball have helped increase downloads significantly in 2025.

Digital Services

Howard Gilson, ASTM’s vice president, digital services, presented about continuing modernization efforts.

Efforts to modernize software platforms SpecBuilder, Compass, the public website, the organization-wide CMS system, and more are complete. Efforts to modernize membership committee services, reporting apps, Oracle, and more are currently in progress. Efforts to modernize publishing workflows and CCRL applications are planned for the future.

Membership modernization updates, including modifcations to balloting, document management, and more, are planned for 2026 and 2027.

Sales and Marketing

Stuart Ratcliffe, ASTM’s vice president, sales and marketing, presented on ASTM’s sales efforts, as well as strategic plans for content management.

The strategy behind a new platform for scholarly books and journals was discussed, with a launch date planned for late 2025.

Publications revenue growth of nearly 20% from 2020 to 2024 was cited, with thousands of new, smaller customers added. ●

Quick Facts

10,797

Total Downloads of ASTM’s “Standards Impact” podcast.

160,000+

Total social media followers of ASTM International across platforms.

$158,250

ASTM’s YTD Charitable Contributions

2026

Year of ASTM’s Next ExoGames Competition

For more information about those who serve on ASTM's Board of Directors, .