The Advisory Committee offers advice and support, providing constructive challenge to the Board and complementing Board skills. All Advisory Committee members have knowledge and experience of IH/OH work globally and a demonstrable interest in the objectives and work of OHTA. The Advisory Committee is jointly chaired by Michael Connor and Dr Albert Tien.
Mr Michael Connor CIH
Co-ChairMichael Connor is a certified industrial hygienist and a certified safety professional with more than 38 years of professional experience in industrial manufacturing, research facilities, government agencies, and construction. He has provided consulting services in issues such as asbestos, lead, mold, indoor air quality, confined spaces, exposure evaluations, health and safety program development and implementation, employee training in English and Spanish, and litigation related services on asbestos, silica, mold, noise, nuisance dust and solvent exposure cases. Michael holds a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Reading (UK), and an MPH from the University of California at Berkeley. Michael has been involved with OHTA since 2015 as lead editor of the W501 Measurement of Hazardous Materials manual. He has co-chaired the Advisory Committee since 2019.
Dr Albert J. Tien
Co-ChairDr. Albert J. Tien has over 30 years of experience within the USA and internationally dealing with Sustainable Development and Business Risk Management. Presently he is Managing Partner of the international consultancy, 2TSustainAbility, President Emeritus for the non-profit Workplace Health Without Borders-US, and a Rotarian. He has studied environmental and occupational health issues ranging from the source and spread of Yersinia enterocolitica and related species as a causative agent of gastroenteritis; Indoor Air Quality issues caused by adhesives, paints and fungi; monitored the long-term effects of exposure to Portland cement dust on a cohort of 4000 cement workers across Europe and Turkey; and identified/evaluated new technologies to treat hazardous or infectious wastes. Additionally, Dr. Tien provides EHS and Sustainable Development services for large corporations as well Developmental Financial institutions and Commercial Signatory Banks to the Equator Principles. He has served on Industry taskforces and NGO advisory committees/Boards for occupational health and safety. He has helped develop and teach courses in Global Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene. Dr. Tien holds a BS in Biological Chemistry from Tulane University, MS in Life Sciences from New Mexico Highlands University, PhD in Environmental Microbiology/Biotechnology from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich. His Post-doctoral studies were with the Oakridge Institute for Science and Engineering, and Business studies at St. Gallen University and the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Mr Mark Katchen CIH, FAIHA
Founder and Managing Principal at The Phylmar Group, Inc., Mr Katchen has more than 35 years of experience in industrial hygiene, environmental and occupational health, toxicology, risk communication, and international business management. He is Chair of the OHTA Scholarships Committee, Chair of the Joint Industrial Hygiene Ethics Education Committee, Past Chair of the AIHA International Affairs Committee and has extensive international experience.
Mr Maharshi Mehta CIH, CSP, FAIHA
Maharshi has 30+ years of experience in industrial hygiene conducting industrial hygiene, safety assessments and EHS audits at 300+ workplaces in 30+ countries. He started India’s 1st Master in Industrial Hygiene Program and also the Central Industrial Hygiene Association (CIHA, India). Maharshi has conducted more than 100 training programs and webinars on industrial hygiene, process safety, laboratory safety and other related subjects. He has a Master’s degree in Occupational Safety from the University of Cincinnati. Maharshi is the recipient of two President’s awards from AIHA.
Dr Deborah Nelson CIH, FAIHA
eborah Imel Nelson, Ph.D., CIH, FAIHA, is currently leading the AIHA Grand Challenges for Worker Health, Safety, and Well-Being project. Dr. Nelson has served as a US Department of Labor – OSHA industrial hygienist and as a professor of environmental science at the University of Oklahoma. For two years she was an Occupational Health Scientist with the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, where she conducted exposure assessments for the Global Burden of Occupational Injury and Illness, World Health Report 2002. In 2017 she retired as the Safety and Occupational Health Manager for the US Department of Agriculture, Veterinary Services. She volunteers for several organizations in addition to OHTA, including the AIHA Rocky Mountain Local Section and the AIHA Total Exposure Health / Total Worker Health® Advisory Group. Dr. Nelson was the 2007 recipient of AIHA’s Smyth Award. She is an AIHA Fellow and served as AIHA President (2017 – 2018).
Ms Lydia Renton CIH, ROH, FAIHA
Lydia Renton is Director, Occupational Hygiene, Safety and Security with BluMetric Environmental Inc., an engineering and consulting firm headquartered in Ottawa, Canada. She brings career experience from Nortel, and federal and provincial governments. Her work experience is mostly Canadian, but also U.S.A., central Asia, Europe and Africa. Lydia was awarded the Hugh Nelson Award of Excellence from the OHAO (2008), and is a recognized Cyanide Code auditor for the International Cyanide Management Code for gold and silver mining operations.
Lydia served on the Board of Directors of the Ontario WHSA (Workplace Health and Safety Agency) 2000-2002 as an Order in Council appointment. She has volunteered on boards and was the President of the Canadian Registration Board of Occupational Hygienists (CRBOH), Past Chair of the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH) Board of Directors and past Chair of the AIHA Fellows SIG. She is currently on the international Board of Directors for Workplace Health Without Borders (WHWB), Chair of the AIHA International Affairs Committee (IAC), and previously served on the OHTA Qualifications Committee (2009-2013). Lydia is co-Chief Oral Examiner for CRBOH, and an AIHA Distinguished Lecturer.
Dr Jas Singh CIH (CEO, JAS International LLC)
Dr Jaswant (Jas) Singh has practised Occupational Hygiene for the past five decades, 43 of those years as a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) by the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH). For the past 15 years, he has focused mainly on International OH issues providing consulting services in dozens of Asian and Middle Eastern countries in addition to his assignments in the USA.
Dr Singh has served as a director of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) and ABIH, and as president of the Academy of Industrial Hygiene. His current focus is on teaching Industrial Hygiene in the Middle East and African countries.
Mr Alex TSE Chun Kuen CIH, RPH
Mr TSE is the Programme Director for the Open University of Hong Kong. He is a member of the RPH Registration and Examination Board and Honorary Advisor of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (Hong Kong Branch). He was a former chair of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (Hong Kong Branch). He has more than 20 years of solid experience in occupational hygiene, occupational safety and environmental protection in higher education institutes.
Dr Kelly Johnstone COH
Kelly is a Certified Occupational Hygienist (COH) with the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists (AIOH) and a Fellow and Certified Chartered Generalist Occupational Health and Safety Professional with the Australian Institute of Health and Safety (AIHS) (ChOHSP). She has more than 25 years of professional and academic experience having worked as a consultant in a range of sectors including oil and gas, construction, manufacturing, education, and ports. Kelly is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Science, The University of Queensland (UQ) and is the academic program lead for the Master of Occupational Hygiene. She plays an active role within both the AIOH and the AIHS, including being a member of the Australian OHS Education Accreditation Board, and a past Chair and long-term member of the AIOH Professional Development and Education Committee. Kelly has a Bachelor of Applied Science (OHS) with Honours, a Master of Science (Occupational Hygiene Practice), and a PhD. She has previously worked on applied and academic projects in pesticide exposure, indoor air quality, waste anaesthetic gas exposures, thermal risk assessment, dust exposure characterisation, and a range of OHS related projects, including health and safety professional practice, musculoskeletal risk factors in mobile phone use, and return on investment for OHS initiatives.
Mr Eduardo Shaw CIH, CSP
Eduardo Shaw, CIH, CSP, holds a B.S. in Industrial Safety from Northern Illinois University and an M.S. in Industrial Hygiene from Texas A&M University. Mr. Shaw is a Certified Industrial Hygienist since 2005 and a Certified Safety Professional since 2017 and has more than 25 years of experience in the petrochemicals, construction, maritime and telecommunications sectors in organizations such as ExxonMobil, the Panama Canal Authority, and Ericsson. Mr. Shaw has presented in more that 30 conferences, seminars, and lectures in eleven countries throughout the American continent, and is a published author of articles in trade magazines and chapters of textbooks.
Mr Jake Ward MBA, MPH, CIH, CSP
Jake Ward has over 25 years of experience as an EHS professional and is currently a Principal Industrial Hygienist in the Global Industrial Hygiene group at Amazon. Jake completed his pre-professional biology/chemistry studies at Indiana University. He followed undergraduate work with a Master of Public Health (Environmental Health/Industrial Hygiene) and a Master of Business Administration in International Business, both at the University of South Carolina. He is a Certified Industrial Hygienist and Certified Safety Professional and has worked for OSHA and in the petrochemical, steel, and rail industries. He serves on the AIHA International Affairs Committee, Emerging Economies Microgrants Advisory Group, OHTA Board of Directors, and WHWB-US Board of Directors and is a member of WHWB. He speaks some Portuguese and has basic knowledge of German and Spanish.
After starting his career with OSHA and working the World Trade Center Ground Zero disaster cleanup, he worked in the petrochemical industry at IMTT in New York harbor as Manager of Occupational Health. After returning to Charlotte, he joined Gerdau in 2003 and progressed through several positions including site-level Health & Safety Manager, SAP Implementation Team Leader in São Paulo, Brazil, and Corporate Manager, Health & Safety. Jake was promoted to Director of Environmental, Health, and Safety Americas at Vossloh in May 2015, where his team focused on proactive efforts and increased compliance rates, reduced accident rates, and lowered worker’s compensation dollars in all BUs. He serves on a non-profit board, is a volunteer for trade organization committees, speaks some Portuguese, and has basic knowledge of German and Spanish.
Specialties: EHS Systems, Multi-site Project Management, Strategic Planning, Quality Tools, Ergonomics, Employee Health, Budgeting.
The Awards & Qualifications Committee provides a formal communication channel for providing advice and comment to the OHTA Board on all issues relating to awards and qualifications. OHTA member associations that have National Accreditation Recognition (NAR) representation are invited to name a representative.
The committee is chaired by Lynn O'Donnell, USA.
Ms Lynn O’Donnell CIH, FAIHA
Lynn O’Donnell received degrees in Nursing, Industrial Hygiene and Management from the University of Virginia, University of Michigan and Aquinas College. From 1977–1990, she worked for the Michigan Department of Public Health, Division of Occupational Health in the areas of compliance, consulting, training and education and health standards promulgation. O’Donnell was certified by ABIH in Comprehensive Practice in 1981 and also received the Bloomfield award from ACGIH that year. She is a Fellow Member of AIHA, served as ABIH Director 1983-1989; Academy Councilor 1986-1988; AIHA Director 1989-1992 and Executive Director of the American Board of Industrial Hygiene from January 1991-June 2014. In 2010, O’Donnell received the AIHA Alice Hamilton Award and was the recipient of the first ABIH Lynn C. O’Donnell Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. She received the ACGIH Meritorious Achievement Award in 2019. O’Donnell is Chair of the OHTA Awards & Qualifications Committee.
The Communications Team is responsible for the OHTA Global Link e-bulletin. This monthly newsletter was created to profile efforts and successes, increase communication and networking among associations in OHTA member countries, and enhance engagement with OHTA volunteers and stakeholders. It also serves to promote global recognition of the OHTA training modules, increase participation in the courses and identify opportunities to leverage learnings.
The News Team is led by Deborah Dietrich.
Ms Debbie Dietrich CIH
Debbie Dietrich, CIH, served as Vice President and Corporate Industrial Hygienist for 35 years at SKC Inc. before her retirement in 2020. During her tenure, she provided training events globally on all aspects of air sampling both on-site and remotely for events sponsored by SKC or occupational hygiene associations. She also provided on-line technical support and prepared technical publications and training tools for use by hygienists around the world.
