Paul Simpson took to LinkedIn early today to announce to his nearly 4,000 followers that he was stepping down from the role as Chair of ISO TC 176 SC 2, the committee responsible for ISO 9001, ISO 9004, and other supporting quality management standards.

Paul was originally nominated for the role by BSI in mid-2018, replacing Nigel Croft when his term ended, and was slated to stay in the role until the end of 2024.  Prior to his nomination, Simpson had been a technical expert for ISO on standards development, including for ISO 9001, since 2007, listing his time with BSI as beginning July of 2007 through the present and serving on QS / 1, HS /1, and CAS / 1 during his tenure.  He was and, presumably, is the current director of the consulting firm s2a2s in the UK, although the blog has not been updated much since the time in which there was still a need to defend risks and opportunities in ISO 9001:2015 following its publication, and he is the co-author of Implementing ISO 9001:2015, with Jan Gillett and Susannah Clarke.  His appointment had largely been celebrated by experts at Elsmar Cove, where he was a contributor for some 20 years, at the time and he has largely been considered as being successful in the role, barring the normal unwarranted vitriol that is posted in Oxebridge.

In his LinkedIn post to his followers, he commented that the decision to leave the role early was personal and was not related to his experience in the role, and that he’s enjoyed working with the other SC 2 members during his time with the committee.  He also noted that BSI would be identifying a replacement in the near future and that Sam Somerville, the UK Head of Delegation, has volunteered to fill the role in an interim capacity from the point of the TC 176 plenary session until a new Chair is nominated by SC 2.  The news was met by several comments suggesting the move is a loss for TC 176 but respecting his decision to move on, Sam Somerville among them.

Sam also serves on QS / 1, having worked with BSI for three years, as well as sharing a similar consulting background, working in quality management for the better part of the last 20 years, according to her LinkedIn profile, currently offering quality management and auditing services through Jigsaw Quality Management & Audit Solutions, where she has been a consultant for the last seven years.  While she remains humble in her comments and expresses fear in the challenges ahead as she follows in Simpson’s footsteps, even in an interim capacity, we’re sure that SC 2 is in good hands and we’ll be following the story to see who the committee nominates as their next permanent Chair.