Marc Schoem to lead ICPHSO
The International Consumer Product Health & Safety Organization (ICPHSO) announced that Marc Schoem, currently with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), will be taking the reins as Executive Director of ICPHSO on October 15, 2015. The position has been unfilled since the founding Executive Director Ross Koeser retired in February of this year. Schoem will retire from CPSC in early October.
Founded in 1993, ICPHSO (pronounced IC – FAH – SO) is the only organization which attracts a global membership of consumer product health and safety professionals, all of whom come together to exchange ideas, share information, and address health and safety concerns affecting all consumers. ICPHSO members represent U.S. and global government agencies, manufacturers, importers, retailers, trade associations, certification/testing laboratories, law firms, academia, standards development organizations, media, and consumer advocacy groups.
Al Kaufman, current ICPHSO president, stated, “I know I speak for the entire ICPHSO board of directors when I say that we are very excited to have Marc on board. Having someone of Marc’s caliber, with the vast experience he brings to this role, serving as Executive Director will enable ICPHSO to grow and prosper, furthering our mission of providing a neutral forum where product safety practitioners from many organizations can come together to advance the art and science of protecting consumers.”
Schoem brings 40+ years of experience at CPSC to IPCHSO, working directly with many of the members and stakeholders in the product safety arena. His current position is Deputy Director, Office of Compliance and Field Operations, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Since joining the Commission in 1974, Mr. Schoem has served in a number of positions in its Bureau of Information and Education, Office of Education, Global Outreach and Small Business Ombudsman and the Office of Compliance and Field Operations.
“I am looking forward to this unique opportunity to lead ICPHSO,” stated Schoem. “ICPHSO is an organization that exists to bring together consumers, members of industry, global government regulators and other key players in the consumer product safety field to discuss and exchange ideas to improve consumer product safety throughout the world. This is a natural extension of the role I have played at CPSC for the last 40 years. My hope is to build ICPHSO into an even stronger and more vibrant organization that can help stakeholders address emerging safety issues and further the dialogue between all parties involved with consumer product safety in a non-partisan and inclusive approach.”
Schoem will make his first appearance as executive director of ICPHSO at the organization’s International Symposium in Billund, Denmark on October 20-21, 2015.
