ANN ARBOR, MI — The American National Standards Institute elected Kevan Lawlor, president and chief executive officer of global public health organization NSF International, as chair of its board of directors.

ANSI is a non-profit membership association that brings together organizations from both the private and public sectors dedicated to furthering U.S. and international voluntary consensus standards and conformity assessments.

Lawlor begins his term as chair this month. He is qualified for this role as NSF has a 70-year legacy of developing ANSI standards and offering conformity assessment services for the construction, food, water, health sciences and consumer goods industries to minimize adverse health effects and protect the environment. He most recently served as the vice chair of ANSI’s board and has also chaired its audit committee.

“We are absolutely delighted Kevan has been elected to lead the ANSI board,” said ANSI President and CEO Joe Bhatia. “As the leader of one of the most widely-respected standards development organizations, his breadth and wealth of experience continues to provide us with strong strategic and practical support as we continue to promote and facilitate voluntary consensus standards in the U.S."

“ANSI’s role in supporting the global competitiveness of U.S. business by supporting the integrity of the standardization system and responding to critical domestic and international priorities is very complementary with NSF International’s global public health and safety mission,” said Lawlor. “I’m honored to be elected chair and look forward to continuing my service with the organization.”

Lawlor’s 30 years of leadership experience at NSF include the roles of chief financial officer, senior vice president of food safety and president of NSF International Strategic Registrations.

Under Lawlor’s guidance, NSF has expanded into new regions, entered new markets and offered additional services to become a global organization in the standards development, testing, certification, auditing, training and consulting sectors. Today, more than 5,500 industry, academic and regulatory experts serve on NSF International standards and protocol development committees.

Lawlor previously served at the University of Michigan as a member of the dean’s advisory board at the School of Public Health and on the external advisory council for the Center for Global Health. He is past chair of the board of directors of Food Gatherers and also served on the Cleary University board of trustees.

For more information, visit here.