NATA CEO Jennifer Evans appointed chair of APAC

The Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (APAC) has appointed a new chair, the CEO of the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA), Jennifer Evans.

APAC is the world’s largest regional accreditation body helping to drive economic growth and trade among over 50 organisations, representative of countries including the US, China and India.

The organisation manages a mutual recognition arrangement (MRA) among accreditation bodies to facilitate test reports, inspection reports and certification with the Asia Pacific region and the other regions around the world.

“APAC has a significant role to play at the global level that is reflective of its geographic size and dollar value to global trade,” said Evans.

“I’m delighted to be elected Chair of APAC and to continue to advocate and promote the role and value of accreditation services to a very diverse range of stakeholders, industry bodies and consumers across one of the biggest regions.”

APAC has partnerships with regional and international bodies including the World Trade Organisation, the International Accreditation Forum and the International Organisation for Standardisation.

Evans has commenced her three-year term as APAC chair this week, as Singapore’s Chang Kwei Fern stepped down from the role.

APAC was established as a result of the amalgamation of the two former regional accreditation cooperations the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) and the Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC), on 1 January 2019.

Evans has held the role of NATA CEO for 11 years and is considered one of the longest-serving female CEOs. The Commonwealth Government has recognised NATA as the national authority for the accreditation of laboratories, inspection bodies and other services producing scientific and technical data, to ensure that they meet international standards for best practice.

The organisation has a wide range of testing facilities including pathology, civil construction and agriculture. The reliability of the testing facilities for COVID-19 PCR tests were NATA accredited for example.