Biographical Sketches
Nominees for the TNI Board of Directors
Jump to candidates:
Aaren Alger
Justin Brown
Scot Cocanour
Keith Greenaway
Patsy Root
Jordan Adelson, Ph.D.
Brooke Connor
George E. Detsis
Aaren Alger
Chief
PA-DEP Laboratory Accreditation Program
Aaren Alger is the Chief of the Laboratory Accreditation Program of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and has been serving as the Chief of the Laboratory Accreditation Program since June of 2007. As Chief, she oversees the accreditation of environmental laboratories; regulation development, approval, and implementation; and the development and coordination of training for assessors and laboratories. Before being named Chief, Ms. Alger worked in the PA-DEP’s Laboratory Accreditation Program as an accreditation officer for six years where she evaluated and participated in the accreditation of laboratories performing chemical testing of inorganic non-metals, metals, and organics in drinking water, wastewater, and solids. Ms. Alger also worked as a chemist in the Automated Analysis and Biochemistry Section of the Bureau of Laboratories in the PA-DEP and a private commercial environmental laboratory performing various analyses on drinking water, wastewater, and solids. Ms. Alger has been an active member in NELAC/INELA/TNI since 2001 and is currently the PA-DEP’s representative to the NELAP Accreditation Council. In addition, she serves as a NELAP Evaluator and is the Chair of the NELAP Accreditation Council. Ms. Alger is a NELAP-approved assessor and a USEPA-approved drinking water certification officer.
Justin Brown
Director of Groundwater and Field Services
Environmental Monitoring and Technologies, Inc.
Morton Grove, Illinois
Mr. Brown has over 14 years’ experience in the environmental laboratory and field sampling/data collection industry. Mr. Brown manages the overall operational activities of the field services departments at EMT. His responsibilities include oversight of strategic planning, budgeting, business development, project management, operational management and field operations. Mr. Brown also serves as a technical advisor on many projects of varying size and scope and is responsible for health and safety within the laboratory and field services divisions. His expertise in the field sampling and measurement industry has lead him to participate in an advisory role to many regional and national organizations in the areas of soil and groundwater analysis as well as field sampling and data collection. Mr. Brown is the current chair of the TNI Field Activities Committee as well as a member of the TNI Proficiency Testing Executive Committee, TNI NEFAP Executive Committee and the TNI Consensus Standard Development Executive Committee.
Scot Cocanour
Founder and CEO
Promium
Bothell, Washington
Mr. Cocanour has enjoyed a 30 year career serving the environmental testing and monitoring community. He is an entrepreneur, former laboratory owner, and chemist. For the last 15 years, as co-founder and CEO, Mr. Cocanour has lead Promium, L.L.C., a leading provider of laboratory information management systems (LIMS). In this role, he regularly interacts with laboratory operators around the world. For the last 7 years, Mr. Cocanour has also been a Vistage Co-Chair for Vistage International, the world’s leading Chief Executive Organization that provides strategic and operational guidance to its members. Previously, Mr. Cocanour was the owner/operator of North Creek Analytical for 15 years. North Creek was the largest provider of environmental testing in the Northwest region. After the sale of North Creek, Mr. Cocanour became an Executive Vice President of TestAmerica. Through his work at Promium and North Creek Analytical, Mr. Cocanour has been directly involved in achieving and promoting NELAC standards. Mr. Cocanour is a graduate of Northern Arizona University with a B.S. in Applied Plant Science (Chemistry)/Botany).
Keith Greenaway
Vice-President
ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board
Alexandria, Virginia
Mr. Greenaway is currently responsible for all matters pertaining to policies, practices and attainment of operating goals including development and oversight of P&L, cash flow and forecasting, while reporting directly to the President/CEO. He is also in charge of selecting, developing and motivating necessary management talent in order to carry out the organization’s strategic direction. Mr. Greenaway has expertise in mergers and acquisitions and has negotiated policies that affect global trade with more than 60 different economies. He has worked in the accreditation industry for over a decade. He currently serves as the Vice Chair on the NEFAP Executive Committee, is a member of the Financial Oversight Committee for the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) Executive Committee, is a member of the Board of Director’s Public Policy Advisory Council for the American Society of Quality (ASQ), which advises the ASQ office of the CEO and the Board of Directors on matters of public policy and national/global debate on all matters related to the interests of ASQ. Mr. Greenaway has also served as Treasurer and as a member of the Inter-American Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC) Executive Committee.
Patsy Root
Regulatory Affairs Specialist
IDEXX Laboratories
Westbrook, Maine
Ms. Root is responsible for obtaining world-wide government approvals for IDEXX products, for determining the specific content requirement of submission documents and for ensuring internal product development and manufacturing teams provide necessary information. She is responsible for dissemination of regulatory information to various cross-functional teams within IDEXX; participate in New Product Development to assure products’ adherence to current international, regional or local rules and directives and follow any changes or revision to rules and regulations that may impact product line. She works with specific regulatory agencies (such as EPA, AFNOR (FR), DWI(UK), UBA(DE)) and associated Accreditation Bodies toward collective understanding of the needs of these agencies and how IDEXX products can fulfill those needs. Her activities include face-to-face meetings, discussion on rule changes and impact changes may have on both labs and manufacturers. Ms. Root has a BS and Ms in Biochemistry from the University of Maine, is a member of EPA’s environmental Laboratory Advisory Board, a committee member of the joint task group of Standard Methods for Part 9000, and a member of TNI’s Microbiology committee.
Jordan Adelson, Ph.D.
Chair
DoD Environmental Data Quality Workgroup
Goose Creek, SC
Dr. Adelson has a Ph.D. in environmental analytical chemistry, and currently serves as the Director of the Navy's Laboratory Quality and Accreditation Office and as the Chair of the DoD Environmental Data Quality Workgroup (EDQW). As Chair of the EDQW Dr. Adelson has oversight of the DoD Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (DoD ELAP). In addition to the DoD ELAP, the EDQW, which includes representatives from all of the DoD Components, develops and recommends DoD policy with respect to environmental sampling and testing operations. Its primary goals are to: promote the generation of environmental data of known and documented quality; develop and recommend DoD policy affecting environmental sampling and testing operations; facilitate a coordinated response to legislative and regulatory issues; and coordinate the exchange of technology and best management practices within DoD. Dr. Adelson has been with working with the Navy for over 10 years. Prior working with the Navy Dr. Adelson worked for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.
Brooke Connor
US Geological Survey, Branch of Quality Systems, Laboratory Evaluations
Ms. Connor has been the lead project manager for the USGS National Water Quality Laboratory Long-term Method Detection Level project, and has set policy, investigated alternate processes for setting MDLs, and led data collection and statistical analyses. She was a technical reviewer of the EPA FACA on the revised MDL approaches in 2009.
Ms. Connor has been very active on TNI’s Chemistry Expert Committee since its founding, and developed the PowerPoint presentations for the LOD/LOQ workshop at the TNI Forum in Chicago.
George E. Detsis
Manager, Analytical Services Program
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Health, Safety and Security
Washington, D.C.
Mr. Detsis has served the past twelve (12) years as the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE), Manager for the Analytical Services Program (ASP). The Program encompasses cost-effective consolidated audits of analytical environmental laboratories and commercial radiological/hazardous waste vendor facilities, quality assurance proficiency testing of domestic and international laboratories, and field environmental data sample collection strategies and training. All three ASP component elements are in support of DOE field missions and interests with focus on managing risk and liability reductions, ensuring defensible environmental data and proper waste disposition. Mr. Detsis has served as the DOE’s representative to The NELAC Institute (TNI) for the past seven (7) years (ex-officio member), has served on several of its committees and delivered various presentations. He has promoted the incorporation of federal policies and practices into national consensus standards. He is also a member of the Intergovernmental Data Quality Task Force working to improve the consistency and quality of field project plans. His public service career spans thirty-seven (37) years, beginning as a legislative assistant on Capitol Hill, and other federal positions with the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management. After three decades, he continues to be actively engaged in officiating men’s collegiate and high school basketball. He holds a B.S. in Natural Resource Management from the University of Maryland, and a M.S. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Washington (Seattle).