CPSC’s longtime Deputy Director of Compliance & Field Operations, Marc Schoem, is now leading the agency’s Office of Education, Global Outreach, and Small Business Ombudsman. Marc began a detail as the Director of the office this week. This office spearheads CPSC’s efforts to carry out education and outreach activities for domestic and international stakeholders and form safety-related partnerships with public and private entities.

For those who know or have worked with Marc during his 37 year career at CPSC, it comes as no surprise that he would assume a position that essentially serves as one of the major ambassadors of the agency. Marc has regularly interacted with both regulators and stakeholders in the US and abroad throughout his career and is very well known in the product safety community. In addition to his role at CPSC, Marc serves as a Board member of the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization (commonly referred to as ICPHSO) and has been a staple for the agency at ICPHSO conferences and workshops for years.

Of course, for many CPSC stakeholders who regularly work with Marc on compliance issues and recalls, this is cause for some concern, because Marc will now be leading the agency’s outreach efforts instead. He probably will still consult on compliance issues as needed but will also immediately hit the ground running in his new position with the upcoming North America Consumer Product Safety Summit in Ottawa on September 9th and the CPSC Safety Academy in Seattle on September 18th. In October, the agency will participate in the 5th US-China Consumer Product Safety Summit in Beijing.

Dean Woodard, the original Director of the Office of Global Outreach, will temporarily move to the Office of the Executive Director to assist in the development of agency’s ITDS/RAM initiative. The ITDS/RAM project is a major agency initiative, so it’s not surprising that Dean would be asked to help put some extra muscle behind the agency’s efforts in this area.

These types of temporary assignments are referred to as “details” within the federal government and usually last about 120 days. They can be extended to last up to 240 days.