Helga Alexander joins IAS as manager of calibration laboratory accreditations

 
 
The International Accreditation Service (IAS) is pleased to welcome Helga Alexander as the new Manager of the IAS Calibration Laboratory Accreditation Program. In her new role, Alexander will be responsible for assessments, maintenance, renewals and other activities related to calibration laboratories pursuing IAS accreditation to ISO/IEC Standard 17025. This accreditation demonstrates to the marketplace and to regulators that calibration laboratories have met the industry recognized requirements for measurement traceability, have demonstrated their technical measurement capabilities, and have undergone a program of periodic monitoring by IAS.

Before coming to IAS, Alexander managed the ISO 9001 Quality Management System for Southern Research's Division of Engineering and Division of Energy and Environment in Birmingham, Ala. She was responsible for leading scope expansions of Southern Research's quality management system and preparing the organization for implementation of additional standards, such as AS9100 and ISO 17025.

Alexander also served 10 years as Metrology Manager of Keithley Instruments, a manufacturer of precision electronic test and measurement equipment. In this capacity, she led the Keithley Primary Lab and German Service Center to their successful ISO 17025 accreditation, as well as fulfilling a worldwide corporate metrology function. In addition to her metrology duties, she spent her last 2 years with Keithley as Manager of the Keithley Service (Repair and Calibration) Department.

Alexander was also employed at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Glenn Research Center, designing and testing optical diagnostics instrumentation in support of microgravity research on NASA's International Space Station. Her original involvement with NASA started at Marshall Space Flight Center, where she ran the Microgravity Division's microprobe and scanning electron microscope. During her tenure there, she also had the opportunity to be involved in three space missions, supporting microgravity crystal growth experiments on the USMP-2 and USMP-4 missions, and working as the assistant to the Mission Scientist for the USML-2 mission.

Throughout her career, Alexander has been active with the National Conference of Standards Laboratories International (NCSLI), serving on various committees and receiving the 2013 Section Coordinator of the Year award for leading NCSLI's Northern Ohio Section. She is also a member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ). Helga received a B.S. in physics from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and an M.S. in physics from Cleveland State University.