A2LA Today l September 2016 l Number 132
By Kelsey Roberts, A2LA Marketing Coordinator
A2LA is pleased to announce the selection of Lonnie Spires as its next Chief Executive Officer. Spires succeeds Peter Unger, who served as A2LA’s President and CEO for twenty years and continues to support the Association in his position as President Emeritus. Spires brings to the position over a decade of executive leadership experience across the testing and measurement community.
“I have been a customer and advocate of A2LA for nearly 20 years,” says Spires. “It is a great honor and privilege to be entrusted with the leadership of A2LA. My goal, first and foremost, is to carry on the rich history of the Association – being a world leader in accreditation.”
Spires served for the past five years as President and CEO of Trescal, Inc., a global calibration services provider. During his tenure, Spires oversaw Trescal’s expansion from five locations to twelve across the United States, and revenue growth from $24 million to over $45 million. Mr. Spires has also been involved with NCSLI in a variety of capacities, most recently serving as the President of the Board of Directors since 2005. Noteworthy achievements during his affiliation with NCSLI include significant improvement in financial performance, establishment of positive brand reputation globally and reduction of operations costs by 30%.
Spires’s experience also includes a position as Managing Director of Dynamic Technology Inc. and General Manager of Comtel Electronics. Under his supervision, Comtel Electronics became one of the first calibration laboratories to achieve accreditation to ISO Guide 25, the precursor to ISO/IEC 17025.
“The appointment of Lonnie Spires as A2LA’s CEO is the culmination of an exhaustive search and vetting process led by the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors and an outside search firm,” said Robert Whitehead, A2LA Board Chair. “Mr. Spires embodies all the qualities we were looking for, blending technical knowledge with a formal and practical business management background. On behalf of the Board, I’d like to welcome Lonnie and express our gratitude to Peter Unger for his transition assistance and for paving the way for A2LA’s very bright future.”
Welcome to the A2LA family, Lonnie!
“Lonnie comes with an excellent business as well as technical background in A2LA’s leading field of calibration laboratory accreditation. I have full confidence that he will lead A2LA in maintaining its reputation as one of the premier providers of accreditation worldwide.” ~Peter Unger, A2LA President Emeritus