Board of Directors

Ivan Hankins

Chairman

Iowa Department Of Agriculture, Weights and Measures

Ivan Hankins is the current NCWM Chairman and serves on the NTEP Committee.

Hankins served 6 years of active duty with the Marine Corps in a position that would later lead him to a position with the State of Iowa as a Fuel Specialist. Semper Fi!

Ivan joined Iowa’s Weights and Measures Bureau in 1986 as an Lp inspector. Over his 36 years with the department, he has held every position offered by the Bureau. In 1993, he became active with the Central Weights and Measures Association (CWMA). Since joining, Hankins has served multiple times on all CWMA standing committees and appointed CWMA Chairman from 2011-2012.

In 2008, Ivan attended his first NCWM meeting. He served as a member on the Specifications and Tolerances (S&T) Committee, later as S&T Committee Chair. Later, Hankins accepted a position on the NCWM Board of Directors as its Central Region Representative. Hankins also serves on the Cannabis Task Group, NTEP Grain Analyzer Sector and has the honorary position as NCWM's Poet Laureate.

Ivan's Motto: “That Equity May Prevail. One must keep this at the forefront, and believe it, because it’s so easy to get discouraged and quit."

Mahesh Albuquerque

Chairman-Elect

Colorado Division of oil and pubic safety

Mahesh Albuquerque is the current NCWM Chairman-Elect and serves on the NTEP Committee.

Albuquerque's service to NCWM includes membership on the Specifications and Tolerances (S&T) Committee from 2012-2016, later as S&T Committee Chair from 2015-2016.

He served as Chair of the Natural Gas Steering Committee and also served on the NIST U.S. National Working Group for Development of Hydrogen Measurement Standards.

Albuquerque joined the State of Colorado Division of Oil and Public Safety in 1999 and has served as its Director since 2008. The Division of Oil and Public Safety, administers laws and regulations aimed at ensuring environmental protection, weights and measures and public safety.

On the Western Weights and Measures Association (WWMA), Albuquerque is an active member, the current Secretary/Treasurer, and appointed WWMA President from 2014-2015. Beginning in 2009, heserved on the WWMA S&T Committee, later serving as WWMA S&T Committee Chair in 2012. Mahesh works closely with the USEPA on petroleum storage tank programs, and is an active member of ASTM International.

Hal Prince

Immediate Past Chairman

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

Hal Prince is NCWM's Immediate Past Chairman and serves on the NTEP Committee as Chair.

Prince began his weights and measures career with the Maine Department of Agriculture as an inspector in 1990 and remained with the department for twenty years. During that time, he fulfilled the roles of Inspector, Analyst/Trainer, Program Manager and Director of the Division of Quality Assurance and Regulations where he received the Governor’s Safety Award and Employee of the Year. Prince attended the NIST Basic Metrology training in 1997 for mass, volume and length after which he assisted in the Maine Metrology Lab.

Hal has worked in private business, local government and state and federal regulatory enforcement. Serving on many food safety, fertilizer and dairy boards and committees as well as being the liaison to several legislative committees. Upon his retirement from Maine, Prince received a rarely awarded Legislative Proclamation for his service, signed by numerous Senators and Representatives with whom he had worked.

After relocating to Florida in 2012, he accepted a position with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services where he briefly worked in several field inspector positions, as an Administrator and, since 2016, Bureau Chief of the Bureau of Standards.

Over his thirty plus years in weights and measures, his association with the NCWM began as a Sergeant-at-Arms in Portland, Maine in 1995, Hal has served on the Awards Committee, FALS Committee, MPFS Task Group, Nominating Committee, PALS Committee, Laws and Regulations Committee and the Skimmer Task Group.

Since moving to Florida in 2012, Prince has been an active member of the Southern Weights and Measures Association (SWMA) where he served on and chaired the Laws and Regulations Committee and served as the SWMA’s president in 2017-2018.

Craig VanBuren

Treasurer

Michigan Department of Agriculture

Craig VanBuren is NCWM's Treasurer. VanBuren served as NCWM Chairman and NTEP Chair.

Craig attended Michigan Technological University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. VanBuren started his career in the automotive industry; first designing chassis for motor homes and later designing parts for a Tier 1 supplier to Ford Motor Company. VanBuren began work for the State of Michigan as a field Metrologist in 2000. He later transferred into the laboratory after training at NIST in basic, intermediate, and advanced mass calibrations. VanBuren became the Metrology Lab manager in 2003 and served in that role until 2010 when he became the Director of the Consumer Protection Section. The Section administers the State’s Metrology Lab, Motor Fuels Quality Program and the Weights and Measures Program.

VanBuren has been active in the Central Weights and Measures Association (CWMA) serving currently as a member on the Executive Committee, VanBuren is currently serving as Chair for the Nominating Committee for NCWM, as well as member of the Laws and Regulations Committee.

Vacant

Active Membership - Western Region Representative

Gene Robertson

Active Membership - Southern Region Representative

Mississippi Department of Agriculture

Gene Robertson serves as the Southern Regional Representative of the NCWM Board of Directors. He also serves as NCWM's Chaplain.

Gene has been an active member in the Southeastern Weights and Measures Association (SWMA) for several years. He served on the Laws and Regulations, Professional Development, and Executive committees. Robertson was also a past SWMA President.

Robertson earned a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Business at the Mississippi State University. From 1982 to 1993 he worked as a Catfish Farm Manager and Cotton Gin Manager. From 1993 to 2003, he was an Aquaculture Specialist/Market Specialist for the Mississippi Department of Agriculture where he is currently employed. Gene’s current responsibilities include Deputy Bureau Director of Regulatory Services, Grain Warehouse/Dealer Licensing, Aquaculture Coordinator, Egg Marketing Board Member, Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Representative.

In addition to NCWM and SWMA, Gene is professionally involved with the Association of Grain Regulatory Officials, Mississippi Aquatic Invasive Species Council, and National Association of State Aquaculture Coordinators.

During his spare time, Gene enjoys hunting, traveling and spending time with his grandchildren.

Marc Paquette

Active Membership - Northeastern Region Representative

Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets

Marc Paquette serves as the Northeastern Regional Representative of the NCWM Board of Directors.

Paquette earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Lyndon State College, Lyndonville, VT. He began his career with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets in 1989 as an inspector for the Consumer Protection Section.

Paquette served as lead inspector for Weights & Measures devices including large capacity scales and vehicle tank meters. In 2010 he attended the NIST Basic Metrology training for mass, volume and length and became the Agency of Agriculture Weights and Measures Specialist/Metrologist, establishing two new metrology labs in an eight-year period. Paquette currently serves as the Weights & Measures Section Chief and Metrologist.

Paquette served the NCWM as Sergeant-at-Arms at the National Meeting in both 1999 and 2008 Burlington, Vermont. He has served on the NCWM Professional Development Committee (PDC) 2018 -2020 and served as the National Chair of the committee in 2020. He has also served on the NCWM Nominating Committee. Paquette is an active member of the Northeastern Weights and Measures Association (NEWMA) serving on the PDC since 2012, PDC chair 2017 to present, and NEWMA Chairperson in 2016.

Loren Minnich

Active Membership - Central Region Representative

Kansas Department of Agriculture, Division of Weights and Measures, MEPP

Loren Minnich serves as the Central Regional Representative of the NCWM Board of Directors.

Loren is a graduate of Kansas State University earning a Bachelor of Science in Milling Science and Management in 1998. After graduating he worked in the private sector in a variety of industries and was a small business owner.

He joined the Kansas Department of Agriculture, Division of Weights and Measures, as an Inspector in 2006, inspecting scales and conducting price verification and package inspections. In 2014, he became the Market Equity Protection Program supervisor for the Kansas Department of Agriculture, Division of Weights and Measures. As a member of the Central Weights and Measures Association Minnich served on the S&T Committee from 2013-2017, ending his term as Chairman, and was a member of the Nominating Committee from 2018-2019. He joined NCWM in 2015 and served as a Presiding Officer in 2018, as the Chairman of the Point-of-Sale Tare Task Group from 2018 to 2019, and as a member of the S&T Committee from 2018-2020 serving as Chair from 2019 to 2020.

Rebecca Richardson

At-Large

MARC-IV Consulting

Rebecca Richardson serves as an At-Large member of the NCWM Board of Directors.

Rebecca is Regulatory and Legislative Specialist and Fuel Quality Manager at MARC-IV Consulting where she provides biodiesel technical support, guidance, training and education to fuel quality regulators and others in the diesel and biodiesel industry. She holds a Bachelor of Science and Masters of Education from the University of Illinois. Richardson has been the meeting and education planner for the American Oil Chemists Society, Director of Education for the Society of Animal Science, and Director of Operations and Policy for the Illinois Soybean Association.

Rebecca's service to NCWM includes: National Biodiesel Board representative to NCWM, Associate Membership Committee, Assistant Secretary to the Fuels and Lubricants Subcommittee, Renewable Diesel Labeling Work Group, Handbook 130 Engine Fuels and Automotive Lubricants Work Group, and on the Laws and Regulations Committee for the CWMA, NEWMA, and WWMA regions.

At the 2017 NCWM Annual Meeting, Rebecca was awarded the Outstanding Contributions Award in recognition of her services to NCWM.

Dr. Matthew Curran

At-Large

Florida Department of Agriculture and consumer services

Dr. Curran earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Mississippi State University and his Doctorate in Inorganic Chemistry from Florida State University.

During his 23 years of public service, he has been fortunate to have had the opportunity to contribute to many roles protecting Florida’s environment as well as serving its industries and consumers.

In early 2005, he moved into the weights and measures field when he was appointed Chief of Petroleum Inspection for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS). That role morphed into the Chief of Standards role where he also represented FDACS nationally as the Weights and Measures Director of Florida.

Since joining the National Conference on Weights and Measures in 2005, Dr. Curran has served on the following committees:

NCWM Specifications and Tolerances Committee from 2013 – 2017 (Chairman in 2017)
NCWM Fuels and Lubricants Subcommittee 2021 – 2017 (Chairman 2014 – 2017)
NCWM Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Subcommittee (2017)
NCWM Charter Team (2018)
NCWM Cannabis Task Group (2021 to present)

Dr. Curran’s career advancements have led him to also serve in roles with FDACS as the Assistant Director of Consumer Services, the Assistant Director of Food Safety, and most recently as the Director of Food Safety.

Chris Guay

Associate Membership Representative

CGGT

Christopher Guay serves as the Associate Membership Representative on the NCWM Board of Directors as well as a current member of the Association Membership Committee. He is also a member of the Finance Committee and is current Chair of the Packaging and Labeling Subcommittee.

Guay retired from a career as a Regulatory Fellow in North American Technical External Relations at The Procter & Gamble Company and was responsible for P&G’s Proposition 65 compliance procedures and influence programs since 1996. In these roles, he had to develop programs focused on ensuring products are complaint with Prop 65 requirements, systems to educate and train employees and managers about Prop 65 and approaches for commenting on proposed regulations and chemical listings. Chris has degrees in chemical engineering, management and finance.