ASTM International Announces Leadership Succession Plan

The future leadership of ASTM International was decided recently at the October meetings of the ASTM board of directors in Seoul, South Korea. A unanimous decision was announced to have Katharine E. Morgan, current ASTM vice president of technical committee operations, succeed ASTM president James A. Thomas.

“Having been informed by Jim Thomas of his intention to retire, the executive committee of the board set out on a search for candidates whose passion for ASTM would again result in excellent stewardship of the Society,” says Thomas A. Schwartz, 2014 chair of the ASTM board of directors. “Kathie is precisely that individual, with her instinctual knowledge of the workings of ASTM technical committees, the industry sectors they represent, as well as the global standardization landscape.”

Morgan came to ASTM in 1984 as a staff manager and soon assumed roles of increasing responsibility in standards development at ASTM, rising to her current post in 2007. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a master’s degree in business administration. She is a member of the American National Standards Institute’s Organizational Member Forum; the Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives; the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization; the Society for Standards Professionals; and the Standards Council of Canada’s Standards Development Organization Advisory Committee.

Morgan will assume the position of ASTM executive vice president on March 1, 2015, and she will work closely with Thomas during a time of transition up to his retirement on February 1, 2017.

“Since assuming the presidency in 1992, Jim Thomas’ leadership has had an enormous positive impact on ASTM and its stakeholders. Jim is a respected ambassador, advocate and a voice not only for ASTM, but also for strategic standardization as a whole. We wish Jim and Kathie well, and appreciate their deep dedication to the future of ASTM,” says Schwartz.