ACGIH 2022 Election Results

09/29/2022

Cincinnati, Ohio – September 29, 2022 – ACGIH is pleased to announce new members for its Board of Directors and 2023 Nominating Committee.

ACGIH’s membership elected three (3) members to serve as Directors on the Board of Directors, each for a 3 year term. They are:

Jack Caravanos. Dr. Jack Caravanos is a Clinical Professor of Global and Environmental Health at NYU’s College of Global Public Health. Prior to NYU, he worked at Hunter College of the City University of New York for 40+ years helping to develop a well-established and successful Industrial Hygiene and Environmental Health program. He guided the Hunter program through three ABET IH accreditation cycles and numerous NIOSH ERC renewals. At New York University, he is helping to develop a global EH/OH program that will take advantage of the universities network of global campuses.

In addition to his academic work Dr. Caravanos prides himself on being a practicing field-based EOHS professional. Since 2005, he has assisted the international non-profit, Pure Earth, with its Toxic Site Inventory Program and has travelled to over 20 countries assisting partners in both the private and governmental sectors in sampling and assessing environmental and occupational health threats from hazardous waste sites and operations. Dr. Caravanos has conducted dozens of environmental and industrial hygiene health assessments of e-waste sites, backyard smelters, gold mining sites and tanneries. He has taken thousands of soil and air samples from urban areas, waste sites, and industrial parks throughout South America, Africa and Southeast Asia. He even cut his way through jungles in the Peruvian Amazon looking for workers using mercury to amalgamate gold. But most importantly, and as a result of his training and experience, he is able to bridge the gap between environmental health and industrial hygiene; usually helping communities realize and address the link between workplace hazards and personal health.

Finally, Dr. Caravanos has published numerous articles covering an array of hazards in a variety of settings. However, he may be best known for his book Quantitative Industrial Hygiene: A Formula Workbook, which is part of the ACGIH Signature Publication Series. This publication has helped many people on their way to certification.

“Having been a member of ACGIH since 1990 and caring deeply for its mission, I wholeheartedly accept and support the 2021-2024 Strategic Plan adopted last year and believe we need to continue to gauge our impact on worker health and adjust accordingly. For example, as someone who does substantial work in other countries, I have seen, firsthand, the importance and impact of that “little” TLVs and BEIs book at all levels of government and community. It is the “go to” source of guidance for both worker and environmental health hazards and I continuously reference the importance of not just the resources of ACGIH, but also the need to maintain a professional community of industrial hygienists worldwide. With globalization and shifting markets worldwide, it seems this is more necessary than ever.

I will work hard and collaboratively with members of the Board and the leadership to uphold and elevate the 85 year legacy of quality that ACGIH has achieved.”

Neil J. Zimmerman, PhD, PE, CIH, FAIHA. Dr. Neil J. Zimmerman is a Professor Emeritus of Industrial Hygiene, retired after a 32 year career (1981-2013) as a professor, researcher and educator in the Industrial Hygiene Program of the School of Health Sciences, Purdue University. His interests and experience include a wide range of topics related to the broad area of Industrial Hygiene: exposure assessment and sampling strategy issues, ventilation and personal protective equipment control issues, and indoor air quality issues. He has provided consulting services to insurance companies, real estate/property management companies, government agencies and a variety of industries. He has lectured or spoken in conferences in China, South Korea, Costa Rica, Singapore, Italy and Canada, as well as in the US.

Dr. Zimmerman is a member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association’s Academic Accreditation Panel, which is responsible for ABET accreditation of university IH programs and is a past Chair. He has served as an ABET program evaluator and as a Commissioner representing AIHA on the ABET Applied and Natural Science Accreditation Commission (ANSAC). He has been a member of the Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin Local Sections of AIHA, and is a Past President of the Indiana section. He served as a Councilor on the Academy of Industrial Hygiene Council (2000-2003) and as a Director on the AIHA Board of Directors (2005-08). He is an AIHA Fellow and Cummings Award winner. He has been a member of ACGIH for 41 years and is currently an active member of the ACGIH Industrial Ventilation Committee, involved in the review of and major revisions for the General Exhaust Ventilation chapter in the upcoming 31^st edition of the ACGIH Industrial Ventilation Manual of Recommendation Practice for Design, the “bible” of industrial ventilation. He was also an active participant in the development of ACGIH’s recently released “Ventilation for COVID-19” white papers and assisted in the review of the joint ACGIH/ASHRAE COVID-19 white paper.

Dr. Zimmerman holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University (1971), and Master of Science in Environmental Engineering (1976) and PhD in Air and Industrial Hygiene (1980) from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is certified in the comprehensive practice of industrial hygiene (CIH) by the Board for Global EHS Credentialing (American Board of Industrial Hygiene) and is a Registered Professional Engineer (PE) in Illinois.

“I am deeply honored to have been nominated for election to the ACGIH Board of Directors. The ACGIH, since its inception, has been at the forefront of providing an extensive industrial hygiene body of knowledge to the occupational health and safety field, for students, practicing professionals, industry and government, and is highly respected throughout the world. If I have the privilege of being elected to the Board, I will help to maintain and increase the pre-eminence of the ACGIH now and into the future.”

Catherine A. Hovde, CIH, CSP. Cathy Hovde is a Certified Industrial Hygienist with over 15 years of professional EHS experience in the industrial and warehousing sectors. She is currently the Global Sr. Manager for Industrial Hygiene at Amazon. Her IH responsibilities include over 1.5 million workers around the world delivering customer orders from thousands of locations and covering millions of miles on the road and in the air. One of her key achievements was supporting the technical health and safety response to COVID-19 globally. She previously held roles with increasing responsibilities at Caterpillar, Inc ending as the Corporate Health and Safety Manager. Prior to that, she served as the industrial hygienist at 3M’s tape manufacturing site in Hutchinson, MN.

Her co-authored article “Effects of voltage and wire feed speed on weld fume characteristics.” is published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene.

Cathy earned her Master of Science in Environmental Health Science from the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota and her Bachelors of Art in Biology and Religion from St. Olaf College. She previously served on the AIHA Board of Directors, AIHA Upper Midwest Section local section board, and as Trustee for the American Industrial Hygiene Foundation. She was awarded the ACGIH Bloomfield Award and AIHA Kusnetz Award in 2014, and the AIHA President’s Award as part of the Back to Work Safely team in 2021. She is a graduate of the AIHA Future Leaders Institute. Cathy was honored by the National Safety Council in the 2021 Class of Rising Stars for her leadership.

“I am truly honored to be considered to serve on the Board of ACGIH. I have relied on ACGIH’s technical publications throughout my career to conduct exposure assessments and develop control strategies. Working in a global capacity, I reference the TLVs and their documentation as the gold standard for exposure assessment. It would be a privilege to use my experience and passion to ensure these resources are accurate and up to date to protect workers where ever they may around the world.”

The 2023 ACGIH Nominating Committee includes three elected members who will serve a one-year term. They are:

Michael Grant, ScD. Michael Grant, ScD, CIH, is an Industrial Hygienist in the Division of Field Studies and Engineering, Hazard Evaluations and Technical Assistance Branch at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). He earned his Doctor of Science degree in Environmental Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (focused on designing, implementing, and evaluating interventions in the commercial construction and healthcare industries), Master of Science degree in Environmental Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (focused on Industrial Hygiene), and Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst (focused on Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry and Public Health).

Since joining NIOSH in 2016, he has conducted a wide variety of complex and impactful scientific evaluations for the Health Hazard Evaluation (HHE) program. These evaluations spanned topics from metals exposures for ship maintenance workers to microbial and chemical exposures in cannabis cultivation and processing to musculoskeletal disorders and infectious disease spread in meatpacking facilities. Dr. Grant has also participated in research efforts as the lead exposure assessor for a project to better understand exposures to peracetic acid in a variety of industries (e.g., healthcare, biopharma, and meat and poultry processing). Other research has focused on ergonomics interventions for front line food service workers. He has also volunteered numerous times to serve in emergency response roles for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). His deployments have included performing healthcare infrastructure assessments after hurricanes and numerous efforts supporting the CDC COVID-19 emergency response. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Grant has served in many roles including providing health and safety support to airport screening stations, developing guidance and factsheets for a variety of industries, and leading an Epi Aid at a large pork processing facility. He also served in several emergency response leadership roles supporting CDC/NIOSH remote and field pandemic response efforts, having a nation-wide impact. As an early-career professional working with NIOSH, Dr. Grant brings a unique perspective to the table.

“Working for NIOSH and the HHE program has allowed me to fully appreciate the complex interplay of government, industry, and research and how important those components are to move the profession forward. My recent experiences as the 2021 Bloomfield award winner have reinvigorated my passion for the importance of ACGIH to our field and reinforced my desire to serve on the ACGIH Nominating Committee. If elected, I will draw on my NIOSH field and research experience and my early-career perspective to help support and define the future of ACGIH as a vital organization for advancing worker health and safety.”

Cristina St. Pierre. Cristina St. Pierre is the Provincial Hygienist at the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development in Ontario, Canada. As the Provincial authority on professional hygiene, she leads the group of occupational hygienists within the Ministry responsible for the enforcement of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and its regulations. She participates in the development, implementation and evaluation of policies, legislation, and standards. She represents the Ministry in consultations with other ministries, industry stakeholders, agencies, and other levels of government in matters related to occupational hygiene. She also serves as the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) Coordinator on behalf of Health Canada, responsible for the enforcement of the federal Hazardous Products Act and Regulations.

Prior to joining the Ministry, Cristina was an Occupational Hygienist with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and provided expert advice in the adjudication of claims for occupational disease. She also has experience in private consulting and performing occupational hygiene surveys and laboratory analysis. She started her career in the nuclear industry where she was involved in the assessment and remediation of contaminated sites and ensured compliance with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

She completed a Master of Engineering degree in Occupational Hygiene at the University of Toronto. She has been a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) for over 20 years.

Cristina is fervent proponent of worker health and safety and the prevention of occupational illnesses. She works to incorporate into legislation the Threshold Limit Values published by the ACGIH to ensure the protection of workers. She supports the ACGIH’s mission of advancing occupational and environmental health and would like to contribute in the best manner deemed by the committee.

Bernard Fontaine, Jr., CIH, CSP, FAIHA. Bernie Fontaine has 45 years professional and business experience in regulatory compliance, insurance, national defense, environmental services, and consulting. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Laboratory Science from Northeastern University and completed his clinical internship at Brigham Hospital for Women in Boston. Beginning his career as co-op student, he progressed to a Senior Industrial Hygienist (IH) with federal OSHA in Region I and Region VI while investigating manufacturing and construction complaints. Bernie received a Master of Science degree in Industrial Hygiene from the University of Oklahoma School of Public Health. He was hired by the U.S. Navy as a Regional Industrial Hygienist to provide support to submarine, ship, and air command operations in the Northeast and supported their occupational safety programs across all 174 naval installations worldwide. He later moved to NJ and became the Health and Safety Supervisor for International Technology Corporation. He supported marine tank cleaning operations at petroleum refineries and environmental remediation projects involving drum and contaminated soil removal at a farm site and industrial properties undergoing redevelopment. Bernie provided regional field support for emergency response of spills and releases from commercial aircraft, road transportation, and marine vessels coming to port as well as 40-hour HAZWOPER training to public and federal agencies. After several years, he became the Corporate IH Manager for Atlantic Mutual Cos. He developed occupational health profiles of their business operations, constructed a corporate-wide IH program to support loss control staff and aided underwriters to improve their book of business while expanding into new markets.

After several years, Bernie selected key team members and was named as the Managing Partner of The Windsor Consulting Group, Inc. He became a Certified Industrial Hygienist (1988) and a Certified Safety Professional (1990). As a 40-year member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), he became an AIHA Distinguished Lecturer and a AIHA Fellow. In 2016, he became President of the NJ section of AIHA and Board of Directors member of Workplace Health Without Borders (WHWB) – US Branch. In 2020, as a member of the AIHA Board of Directors, he served on internal and external task forces and committees. Bernie was a past member of both the ACGIH TLV Chemical Substance and Institute of Noise Control Engineer (INCE) Committees.

Bernie is a frequent lecturer at AIHA local sections and annual AIHce EXPs and collaborates with various national and international societies, organizations and associations on the future direction of industrial hygiene and occupational health. Bernie volunteered as a mentor with WHWB and AIHA. Bernie was awarded the 2021 AIHA President’s Award and 2021 AIHA Social Responsibility Award for work with his colleagues on the AIHA Back to Work Safety guidance documents for businesses not covered by other organizations. In 2022, the AIHA Leadership and Management Committee awarded Bernie the Birkner Leadership Award, which is given annually to individuals exemplifying extraordinary leadership and management

In 2021, Bernie and his team of volunteers completed an AIHA Content Portfolio Advisory Group (CPAG) project to identify known occupational health hazards associated with work tasks in 26 different Standard Industrial Classifications (SIC) markets covered by state and federal OSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Health Hazard Evaluations (HEE). The compiled tables designed to help teach students, early career professionals, and OEHS professionals transitioning either into a new industry or job about potential occupational health hazards. The information can be used to conduct a retrospective analysis of the industry as new technology and information evolves. Bernie also developed a WHWB digital presentation of the global work tasks performed in both developed and developing countries to better understand the current occupational health exposures, controls and resources needed to protect workers worldwide. This information is being shared with various global occupational health and safety resources on LinkedIn and Facebook. Bernie is a frequent contributor to LinkedIn groups and he has published numerous articles in various peer-reviewed journals and magazines.