American Cleaning Institute Makes Key Appointments

American Cleaning Institute (ACI): made several personnel moves. ACI welcomed James Kim, PhD, DABT, MHS, a toxicologist with extensive scientific and research experience in the public, private and academic sectors, as associate vice president, science and regulatory affairs. He most recently served as toxicologist with the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), Statistical and Science Policy Branch. OMB is part of the Executive Office of the President. Kim worked at OIRA since December 2012, where he provided toxicology and risk assessment expertise during interagency reviews of significant federal regulatory actions, data collections, and influential and scientifically-significant documents and guidance produced by federal agencies.

Prior to his government service, Kim worked for scientific and research organizations, including International Life Sciences Institute’s Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI), where he served as senior scientific program manager, and TetraTech Sciences, where he worked as toxicologist and program director.

The author or co-author of more than 30 published, peer-reviewed research articles, Kim received his PhD in toxicological sciences from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health Sciences. He also received his Master of Health Sciences in Immunology and a BA in biology while studying at Johns Hopkins.

In other personnel moves, ACI named veteran meeting planner Merla Zollinger as the association’s new senior director, convention and meetings. Zollinger comes to ACI from American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, where she spent 27 years, most recently as senior manager, convention services.

ACI also announced the promotions of Melissa Grande to director, sustainability; and Shawnté Furbush-Jones to senior program coordinator. Since joining ACI in 2012, Grande has worked to develop and advance ACI’s Sustainability Metrics Program, Charter for Sustainable Cleaning and other initiatives that showcase the cleaning product supply chain’s leadership in operating sustainably. Furbush-Jones has been part of the ACI team since 2009, serving as an invaluable resource in support of ACI’s education, outreach, membership and meetings functions.