Biographical Sketches

Nominees for the TNI Board of Directors

Jump to candidates:
Joseph F. Aiello
Aaren Alger
Judith A. Duncan
John E. "Jack" Farrell III
Scott Siders
David N. Speis
Susan Wyatt


Joseph F. Aiello
Manager, Office of Quality Assurance
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

Joseph Aiello has been a leader in the environmental industry for the past 37 years where he has worked for environmental consulting firms, NOAA and state government.  His experience has included technical, regulatory and management activities.  He has a Bachelor's degree in environmental science/marine biology and an MBA.  Mr. Aiello has a wide range of experiences including over  21 years as the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Quality Assurance Officer which includes as one of his responsibilities management of the State’s Environmental Laboratory Certification Programs.  He has also been responsible for developing environmental impact statements for off shore power plants, for developing the State of New Jersey's surface water quality monitoring and assessment programs, and for planning and coordinating the building of New Jersey's Environmental Testing Laboratory.  Mr. Aiello was also a member of the EPA/State Focus Group for Developing a National Accreditation Program, a member of the NELAC Board of Directors, the first Chair of the NELAC Accrediting Authority Committee and founder of New Jersey’s Environmental Laboratory Advisory Committee.  He is currently a member of the NELAP Accreditation Council and for the past 6 years he has been a member of TNI’s Board of Directors.   Mr. Aiello serves as Chair of the TNI Laboratory Accreditation Body Expert Committee and is a member of TNI’s Consensus Standard Development Board, Finance Committee and Conference Planning Committee.

Aaren Alger
Chief, PADEP Laboratory Accreditation Program
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Aaren Alger is the Chief of the Laboratory Accreditation Program of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and has been serving as the Chief of the Laboratory Accreditation Program since June of 2007.  As Chief, she oversees the accreditation of environmental laboratories; regulation development, approval, and implementation; and the development and coordination of training for assessors and laboratories.  Before being named Chief, Ms. Alger worked in the PA-DEP’s Laboratory Accreditation Program as an accreditation officer for six years where she evaluated and participated in the accreditation of laboratories performing chemical testing of inorganic non-metals, metals, and organics in drinking water, wastewater, and solids.  Ms. Alger also worked as a chemist in the Automated Analysis and Biochemistry Section of the Bureau of Laboratories in the PA-DEP and a private commercial environmental laboratory performing various analyses on drinking water, wastewater, and solids.  Ms. Alger has been an active member in NELAC/INELA/TNI since 2001 and is currently the PA-DEP’s representative to the NELAP Accreditation Council.  In addition, she serves as a NELAP Evaluator.  Ms. Alger is a NELAP-approved assessor and a USEPA-approved drinking water certification officer. 

Judith A. Duncan
Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (retired)
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Ms. Duncan is a recognized leader in the environmental laboratory accreditation movement since its beginning as NELAC.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences and worked in environmental regulatory programs in Oklahoma for 37 years prior to retirement in 2011.  She began her career as a coordinator of wastewater and public water programs and managed the State Environmental Laboratory for 30 years.  Under her leadership the laboratory accreditation program for drinking water was developed when Oklahoma became the first state in the nation to receive delegation of the Safe Drinking Water Act.  The laboratory accreditation program was expanded to include wastewater and hazardous waste in 1993.  At the time of retirement she served as the Director of DEQ’s Customer Services Division which includes the state laboratory and laboratory accreditation programs as well as other multi-media customer assistance programs of the agency.  Ms. Duncan was a member of the NELAC Board before becoming its Chair.  She served as NELAC Chair during the three year transition from NELAC to The NELAC Institute and was the first Chair of TNI Board.  She currently Chairs the Advocacy and Nomination Committees and was the leader of the Accreditation Body Task Force which recently completed its report to the TNI Board.   

John E. "Jack" Farrell III
Senior Environmental Analyst and President
Analytical Excellence, Inc.
Altamonte Springs, Florida

Mr. Farrell is a recognized leader in the Environmental Testing and Measurement Industry; having earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biological Sciences and  a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. He has over 30 years of experience in laboratory operations, quality assurance and assessing laboratories for compliance with regulations and accreditation standards. Mr. Farrell is Senior Environmental Analyst and President of Analytical Excellence, Inc. (AEX), an independent, strictly confidential consulting and education firm specializing in environmental laboratory operations, quality systems, data integrity, and matters concerning the generation of analytical data to support effective compliance decision-making and aspects of litigation.  Mr. Farrell is active in a number of Industry activities and professional associations. He is a past Director of the International Association of Environmental Testing Laboratories (IAETL), past chair of IAETL’s committee on National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation, member of the  ACIL’s Environmental Sciences Section executive committee, a distinguished member of Who’s Who Worldwide, a member of ASQC, an ACS member, and a past member of the editorial advisory board of Environmental Laboratory Washington Report. Mr. Farrell has been involved in national accreditation activities since 1984 and an active participant in NELAC since its inception. He was a member of the NELAC Accrediting Authority committee for 5 years, is currently a member of TNI’s Technical Assistance Committee, chairs the TNI Assessment Forum and is a current TNI Director.  Mr. Farrell was appointed to the Environmental Laboratory Advisory Board (ELAB), a federal advisory committee to the USEPA, in 2008 representing The NELAC Institute. Mr. Farrell is a NATA trained ISO9000 series lead assessor, A2LA trained environmental lead assessor, trained and qualified NELAC laboratory assessor, an instructor for the pilot NELAC basic assessor training course and an trained as an affiliate instructor for the Institute for Global Ethics. 

Scott Siders
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Springfield, Illinois

Scott D. Siders has 30 years experience in the environmental field, both in the private sector (as a Chemist, Project Manager and Quality Assurance Manager) and with the USEPA and Illinois EPA. Scott currently is a Laboratory Accreditation Officer for the Division of Laboratories (DOL), Illinois EPA and has performed approximately 140 NELAP (ISO 17025 based) on-site assessments. Prior to serving as a Laboratory Accreditation Officer, he was the DOL’s Divisional Quality Assurance Officer for thirteen years. Scott has a B.A. Degree in Chemistry and Biology. Scott has been directly involved with the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (NELAP) since 1995, serving as the Chair of the NELAC Quality Systems Committee and the Performance-Based Measurement Systems (PBMS) Subcommittee. Additionally, Scott was elected a member of the NELAC Board of Directors and was directly involved in NELAC’s transition to TNI. Since 2006, Scott has been the Illinois EPA’s representative on TNI NELAP Accreditation Council. Scott has been trained as a NELAP Accreditation Body (AB) evaluator and has participated in NELAP AB evaluations. Scott has been invited to speak numerous times at the national and state level on topics ranging from Preparing for a NELAP/ISO 17025 Audit, Performing Internal Audits, Data Integrity and many other topics. He has extensive experience and knowledge of environmental testing laboratories and regulatory programs.

David N. Speis
President of Environmental Services Division
QC Laboratories
Southampton, Pennsylvania

Mr. Speis oversees day to day operations of the Southampton, PA facility and satellite operations in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.  Includes responsibility for all functions supporting laboratory operations for the Environmental Services Division.  Previously he served as Vice President and Laboratory Director for Accutest Laboratory where he managed the analytical and technical operations of the Accutest New Jersey facility. His experience in environmental chemistry includes eleven (11) years with USEPA Region II as a bench chemist conducting the analysis of organic pollutants using sophisticated instrumentation.  He has extensive senior staff and management experience in commercial environmental laboratories including technical operations, quality assurance, business development, and facility general management.  Mr. Speis served on the Editorial Advisory Board of Environmental Testing and Analysis and on the board of the International Association of Environmental Testing Laboratories (IAETL). He assisted in developing the initial framework for National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation while a member of the IAETL board.  He served as the secretary of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Environmental Laboratory Advisory Committee and as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute for National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation.  He is currently Treasurer of the Board of Directors of TNI, a member of the Executive Committee for ACIL’s Environmental Sciences Section and a member of the USEPA’s Environmental Laboratory Advisory Board (ELAB – a Federal advisory committee).  He has published numerous articles on various topics in environmental chemistry and business management of commercial laboratory operations and is a frequent presenter at national conferences and forums.

Susan Wyatt
Minnesota Department of Health
St. Paul, Minnesota

Susan holds a B.S. degree with a major in chemistry. She has twenty years of experience in the environmental testing industry.  She has worked in three state public health laboratories (Florida, Minnesota and Ohio), serving as chemist, quality assurance officer and laboratory certification officer prior to accepting her current position as the Manager of the Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program in the State of Minnesota (MN-ELAP). Susan successfully incorporated the NELAP standards into the Minnesota Rules, a process requiring cooperation with all types of stakeholder groups, a knowledge of rulemaking processes, and communication skills sufficient to provide expert testimony before the state legislature. Susan established the MN-ELAP advisory committee to involve stakeholders in the regulatory process. In 2009, she formed the Small Laboratory Workgroup to specifically address implementation issues relating to the national standards. In addition to her supervisory role, Susan is an active member of several local and national organizations. She was the former chair of the Accreditation Process committee under NELAC and INELA and participated on the Accreditation Standards Special Review Committee for the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference (NELAC). Currently, Susan is a member of the Advocacy and Policy Committees through TNI and serves as Minnesota’s representative on the NELAP Accreditation Council. Susan is also a member of the Water Environment Federation and the American Society for Quality. Through the Minnesota Wastewater Operators Association, Susan assists the Education Committee in selecting and coordinating semi-annual training events for accredited laboratories.