(Washington, DC): John (Jay) Pendergrass, Vice President of Programs & Publications at the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), was recognized at the American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI’s) 2017 Leadership and Service Awards on October 18, 2017. The Awards recognize those who have made significant contributions to national and international standardization activities as well as having demonstrated ongoing commitments to their industry, their nation, and the enhancement of the global voluntary consensus standards system. In total, ANSI honored 22 individuals at the awards ceremony, which was held at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC, in conjunction with World Standards Week 2017.
Pendergrass received the Gerald H. Ritterbusch Conformity Assessment Medal, which honors distinguished service in promoting the understanding and application of conformity assessment methods as a means of providing confidence in standards compliance for the marketplace.
“All of us at ELI are very proud of Jay,” said ELI President Scott Fulton. “ANSI’s recognition of his work underscores Jay’s commitment and dedication to transparency and good governance with regard to protecting the environment.”
Pendergrass has b
een a member of several oversight boards associated with ANSI conformity assessment over the years, beginning in 1997 with the ANSI-American Society for Quality (ASQ) National Accreditation Board (ANAB) Environmental Management Systems Council (ISO 14001). He just completed a three-year term as Chair of the ANSI Greenhouse Gas Validation/Verification Accreditation Committee (2014-2017), and he is the Chair of the Nominating Committee for the ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board Accreditation Council. Pendergrass previously served as Chair of the ANSI-ANAB Energy Accreditation Committee between 2012-2016.
ANSI oversees the creation, promulgation and use of thousands of norms and guidelines that directly impact businesses in nearly every sector: from acoustical devices to construction equipment, from dairy and livestock production to energy distribution, and many more. ANSI is also actively engaged in accreditation - assessing the competence of organizations determining conformance to standards.
This is the first time that two Ritterbusch Medals were awarded in the same year, reflecting the critical contributions of conformity assessment professionals in the U.S. standardization system: William S. Hurst, Chief, Technical Research Branch, Laboratory Division, Office of Engineering & Technology, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), also received the Ritterbusch Medal.