JANAAC CEO Reappointed to CO-CHAIR ILAC-IAF Committee

Chief Executive Officer at the Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC), Sharonmae Shirley, has been re-elected to serve as Co-Chair of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation – International Accreditation Forum (ILAC-IAF) Joint Development Support Committee (JDSC) for an additional three years.

This follows the recent ending of her five-year tenure in the position.

The JDSC serves an important committee in progressing the work of ILAC-IAF, which are global networks of laboratory accreditation bodies and organisations involved in conformity assessment activities.

It is responsible for representing the interests of developing countries, providing a forum for States to present their interests and to work with ILAC and IAF on practical ways of addressing those needs.

Ms. Shirley, who shared details of her reappointment during a recent JIS Think Tank, said that “being in this industry for me is a calling. I have had the privilege since 2018 to be co-chair of this committee and it has been an amazing journey”.

“This is something I don’t take lightly because when we have almost 600 delegates affirming you in a position, it means that you would have been doing some amount of work in the past for them to affirm you in the role,” she said.

She noted that the position provides an opportunity and a platform for her to continue to champion the rights of developing States.

Ms. Shirley told JIS News that there has been discussion as to whether JDSC should continue in its role but noted that “I was able to articulate the needs of developing countries and developing economies and the work that is required, so that at the end of the day, everyone agreed that this is an important committee and it should remain”.

During her tenure from 2018 to 2023, the committee was able to craft special funding policy guidelines that helped developing countries with new accreditation bodies to build out their programmes.

She pointed out, further, that during the COVID-19 pandemic when most entities had to close their doors, the committee had to pivot and create opportunities for experience to be shared among the developed and developing countries.

“Through this, we were able to safeguard the quality of the work that not just the developed countries were producing but the developing countries were able to learn and to build their systems, and I hope to continue to do just that,” Ms. Shirley she told JIS News.