Dale Cyr
Inteleos
ACAS Session: 1.4 AI’s Impact on Conformity Assessment
Dale serves as CEO and Executive Director of Inteleos, where he oversees healthcare certification programs with over 150,000 certificants in over 100 countries. With over 25 years’ of executive experience, he has pioneered initiatives that expand access to high-quality healthcare certifications worldwide.
Dale shares his expertise in business and certification through lectures and workshops around the world and is presently sits on the Board of Directors and is Chair of the Finance Committee for the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). and the Association of Talent Development (ATD) Credentialing Institute. He also is a co-inventor of a patent for a new type of test question and measurement.
Dale has his MBA in finance from the Albers School of Business and Economics, Seattle, WA, and has completed the Social Finance program from Oxford University, Oxford, UK and earned the Digital Transformation certificate from the Harvard Business School. Dale holds the Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).
Laurie E. Locascio, PH.D. NAE
American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
ACAS Session: 2.1 - Welcome Back to Day 2 - ANSI, the Standards Community, and the Conformity Assessment Community
Dr. Laurie E. Locascio began her tenure as president and chief executive officer of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in January 2025.
She previously served as Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) following confirmation by the U.S. Senate in April 2022. In this capacity, Locascio oversaw NIST in its mission to promote U.S. innovation and competitiveness through measurement science, standards, and technology, including NIST’s implementation of the U.S. Government National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology (USG NSSCET) and implementation of the CHIPS for America program at the Department of Commerce.
Prior to her appointment as NIST director, Locascio was vice president for research at the University of Maryland College Park and University of Maryland Baltimore, also serving as a professor of bioengineering. Before that, Locascio had a stellar career at NIST, rising from a research biomedical engineer to lead the agency’s Material Measurement Laboratory and finally acting as associate director for laboratory programs and principal deputy director.
Locascio is a fellow of the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Inventors, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
She earned a B.S. in chemistry from James Madison University, an M.S. in bioengineering from the University of Utah, and a Ph.D. in toxicology from the University of Maryland Baltimore.
Marcus Long
IIOA (Independent International Organisation for Assurance)
ACAS Session: 1.5 - Effectiveness of Accreditation Today and Tomorrow - What's Working, Improvements Needed, What Should the Future look like?
Marcus is Chief Exectuive of IIOA (Independent International Organisation for Assurance) since 2011, a trade association of global assurance bodies who offer a range of conformity assessment-based services.
In addition, Marcus is on the IAF (International Accreditation Forum) and the Joint IAF/ILAC Executive Committees in his role of Joint Chair of the Joint (IAF/ILAC) Working Group Communications.
Prior to joining IIOA Marcus was Head of External Affairs at UK national standard body BSI. Before BSI Marcus worked in the rail, telecoms, retail and automotive sectors for BT, Marks & Spencer, Next and Land Rover in customer service and procurement roles.
Marcus has an MBA from the University of Stirling and a BSc in Economics.
Warren Merkel
ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB)
1.3 The Interface of Conformity Assessment in the Global Economy and 2.5 – Looking Back and Looking Ahead
Warren Merkel serves as Vice President, Policy for the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB), where he leads ANAB’s public and international policy efforts. His responsibilities include engaging with stakeholders at the Federal, state and local levels and coordinating ANAB’s activities in international accreditation cooperations. Warren and his team also leverage ANAB’s global engagement to support customers that operate in multiple markets.
Mr. Merkel serves as Vice-Chair of the Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC) and Convenor of the ISO/CASCO Technical Interface Group. Previously, Mr. Merkel led the Standards Services group in the Standards Coordination Office of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Mr. Merkel also co-convened the working groups that revised ISO/IEC 17025:2017, General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories and ISO/IEC 17060:2022, Conformity assessment—Code of good practice. Earlier in his NIST tenure, Mr. Merkel was Chief of the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP).
Allyn Shultis
GRMA Allyn
ACAS session: 1.5 - Effectiveness of Accreditation Today and Tomorrow - What's Working, Improvements Needed, What Should the Future look like?
As the Executive Director of the GRMA Allyn is charged with providing organizational leadership and management over the GRMA’s Programs. He also serves as an ex-officio member of all GRMA committees.
Previously, Allyn was the GRMA Board Treasurer and Technical Committee Co-Chair and was a featured representative among industry stakeholders which successfully helped launch the development process of the NSF/ANSI 455 Standards which worked to harmonized quality system requirements and best practices across various categories.
Allyn has decades of experience within Drug, Cosmetics, Medical Devices, and Consumer Product categories and has previously held a number of Quality, Operations, and Technical roles with Global responsibilities for First Quality, Covidien, and Tyco Healthcare.
Jennifer Stradtman
Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR)
Jennifer Stradtman is senior director responsible for the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade and the USMCA Technical Barriers to Trade Chapter for the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and is in her 14th year at USTR. Previously, she spent a decade working on standards and technical barriers to trade at the International Trade Administration, primarily doing APEC projects and some WTO work. She began her career in Washington, DC at the American Council of Independent Laboratories as a staff director. Ms. Stradtman has her MA in Geography from the University at Buffalo, and her BA in political science from SUNY Fredonia.
