The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has signed an agreement to acquire full interests in the ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board, LLC (ANAB). The move strengthens ANSI’s and ANAB’s abilities to provide third-party accreditation services for diverse global markets.
Since 2005, ANAB has been equally owned by ANSI and the American Society for Quality. The purchase will see ANAB become a wholly-owned subsidiary of ANSI, registered as a separate legal entity, and renamed the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB).
In the near term, the two brands will continue business as usual. ANSI will further bolster independence and impartiality of its accreditation programs for conformity assessment bodies by integrating them with ANAB’s portfolio of services.
ANSI’s accreditation of standards developers and U.S. Technical Advisory Groups to international technical committees will remain separately and internally operated by ANSI. Lane Hallenbeck, ANSI vice president of accreditation services, will continue to lead ANSI’s accreditation programs and will become the executive director of ANAB. Keith Greenaway will continue as chief operating officer of ANAB.
“Both organizations already have a strong market presence, and now being united as the ANSI National Accreditation Board will bring an even higher level of recognition, confidence, and trust in the value of accreditation,” ANSI president and CEO Joe Bhatia said. “ANSI, ANAB, and ASQ’s respective customers and stakeholders all stand to benefit from this transition.”
Hallenbeck added that ANSI’s priority is to keep ANAB intact and to enhance—not disrupt—both our partnerships with clients and scheme owners, as well as teamwork amongst staff and assessors, while sustaining business development for the benefit of all.
“We further this commitment not just in ANSI Acquires Full Equity of ANAB, Enhancing Accreditation Services Portfolio across Global Market accordance with standards requirements, but also towards satisfying all direct customers and promoting confidence for other indirect stakeholders in the global supply chain,” Hallenbeck said.
ANSI is looking to continue the trajectory of its accreditation services offerings, while strengthening impartiality by moving all accreditation of conformity assessment bodies into ANAB under the auspices of ANSI ownership, which will optimize and meld services for shared customers and will strengthen brand recognition for entities earning ANAB accreditation.
“ANSI and ANAB are committed to continually improving the high level of service our customers expect, and we will persist serving them in the same manner as today,” Greenaway said. “Our goal is to minimize changes, avoid disruptions, and achieve all the efficiencies and economies of scale that this unification allows.”
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