Oct 02, 2014

 

 

Seoul will be the site of the 2014 fall meeting of the ASTM International board of directors. The ASTM board meetings, as well as other events, will take place on Oct. 19-22, 2014.


The 25-member ASTM International board of directors comprises industry, academia and government executives engaged in standards activities from leading global companies such as Dow Corning and Armstrong World Industries, as well as regulatory personnel from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Research Council of Canada. International participation on the ASTM board spans Europe, the Middle East, the Americas and Asia. 

South Korea is represented on the ASTM board with ASTM director Kaphong Choi, Ph.D., president of Korea Testing Certification (KTC), an organization dedicated to enhancing safety and quality of electric and electronic products.  Dr. Choi, a former chairman and CEO of the Korean Standards Association (KSA) and administrator at Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS), is currently serving a three-year term on the ASTM board of directors.

ASTM International and South Korea have a strong partnership. ASTM signed a Memorandum of Understanding with KATS in 2006. Holding the ASTM board meeting in Seoul enables ASTM to connect with its members residing in South Korea as well as with representatives of the industry sectors using ASTM standards in South Korea. 

In addition to the formal board sessions, which begin on Oct. 20, ASTM board members and staff will meet with the leadership of trade associations and corporations from the various industry sectors in which ASTM standards are globally influential: metals, consumer products, chemicals, building construction, manufacturing and more. To date, some 20 separate outreach visits are scheduled with representatives from industry and government, as well as with non-governmental organizations. 

The slate of events will take place on Tuesday, October 21:

CEO Breakfast Meeting
The day will begin with ASTM’s invitation to participate in the KSA Breakfast Meeting where KSA brings together the CEOs of enterprises of all sizes, as well as the heads of state-owned companies for structured presentations and networking opportunities. ASTM will be featured at this monthly event, a tradition KSA began in 1988. Some 300 individuals are expected to be in attendance at the 318th monthly KSA Breakfast Meeting in October.

Standards and Medical Device Regulation Roundtable
An industry leaders’ roundtable event on the Importance of International Standardization to Medical Devices will be held the morning of Oct. 21. The roundtable will provide a high-level overview of the processes and benefits of using private sector standards for medical device regulation from the point of view of regulators and manufacturers.   

Industry Workshop
A half-day industry workshop on Tuesday afternoon has been arranged in cooperation with KATS, KSA, the Korea Testing and Research Institute (KTR), Korea Testing Certification (KTC) and Korea Conformity Laboratories (KCL). An introductory session, which begins at 14:00 in the Lotte Hotel, will be followed by two breakout sessions where executives from Korea, Europe and the United States will discuss regulation and standards related to the environment and sustainable building construction. The workshop will conclude with a question and answer session — an opportunity for high-level discussions with an audience of more than100 attendees.

ASTM Branding Initiative
While the ASTM board of directors and senior staff are in South Korea, ASTM will take the opportunity to launch a new brand identity. The brand initiative builds on ASTM’s widely recognized brand while reflecting the expanded range of the services that ASTM has to offer today’s global market.  A visual representation of this evolution will be revealed through a modified logo, a new tagline and a new corporate video. Seoul, a technologically progressive city with a rich long history, is a fitting setting for ASTM to unveil the new brand. 

Seoul joins other world-class cities as a destination for the ASTM board. Past meeting locations include Beijing, Berlin, Chicago, London, Mexico City, New York City, Stockholm, Tokyo, Toronto, and Washington, D.C. 

For more information on the ASTM board of directors meeting in Seoul, South Korea, contact Jim Olshefsky, ASTM International (phone: +1 610/832-9714; jolshefsky@astm.org).

ASTM PR Contact: Barbara Schindler, Phone: 610-832-9603; bschindl@astm.org

Release #9683