Jan 10, 2013

Mary C. McKiel, Ph.D., standards executive with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington, D.C., has been elected as the 2013 ASTM International chairman of the board of directors.

At EPA, McKiel directs the agency’s implementation of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act and OMB Circular A-119, Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards and in Conformity Assessment Activities. She establishes standards-related policies for the agency and aids EPA offices in using voluntary standards and participating in standards developing organizations such as ASTM International. She has been instrumental in assisting EPA offices in using ASTM and other voluntary consensus standards both in rule-making actions as well as in voluntary programs. McKiel also represents the agency in various domestic and international standards arenas in both the public and private sectors including the Pacifica Area Standards Congress and the United Nations Work Group on Regulatory Practices in Standards.

McKiel participates and contributes to government-wide standards and conformity assessment policies along with other federal regulatory, science and technical, consumer and trade agencies. She represents EPA in the Interagency Committee on Standards Policy chaired by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. EPA has honored her with bronze, silver and gold medals for her standards work.

Prior to working at EPA, McKiel was director of quality standards at what was then the Federal Supply Service of the General Services Administration, and for her first five years of public service was an analytical chemist with the then National Archives and Records Services, where she conducted and published original research leading to the production and preservation of archival quality documents. While at the National Archives, McKiel was a member of ASTM Committee D06 on Paper and Paper Products.

McKiel has worked on various ASTM committees for more than 20 years and currently serves on Committees E50 on Environmental Assessment, Risk Management and Corrective Action and E60 on Sustainability. She served three years on the ASTM International board of directors prior to being elected as vice chairman of the board.

In addition, McKiel is a former vice chairman of the board of the American National Standards Institute, a position she held for eight years. She currently chairs the ANSI ISO Council as well as the Government Member Forum and is an ex-officio member of the ANSI board of directors. She served as vice chair to the U.S. Technical Advisory Group during the development of the ISO 14000 series of standards on environmental management.  In 2008, she was awarded the ANSI George S. Wham Leadership Medal for her contributions to standardization. She is also the recipient of the 2010 Leo B. Moore medal from the Standards Engineering Society for achievement, service and contributions in the field of standardization. For more than 10 years McKiel has been a member of both the Management Systems Advisory Council and the Environment and Public Health Council of Underwriters Laboratories Inc.

McKiel has written about the federal use of nongovernment standards for a wide variety of governmental and private sector publications worldwide and has delivered presentations in person and via television to both national and international audiences.

Click here to read a full interview with Mary from the latest ASTM Standardization News.

Click here to see the full list of the 2013 ASTM board of directors.

ASTM PR Contact: Erin Brennan, Phone: 610-832-9602; ebrennan@astm.org

Release #9262