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Stone Welcomes New Quality Assurance Manager Jenn Cypher

Mar 23, 2021

Stone's excited to welcome Jennifer Cypher as its newest Quality Assurance Manager!

Cypher joins Stone with 16 years of experience developing and maintaining rigorous quality assurance systems across a wide range of programs supporting engineering, manufacturing, biomedical and aerospace applications for industrial and government clients. While earning her degree in Environmental Science, Jenn worked for the State of Maine Board of Pesticides Control. At Stone, Jenn manages quality assurance services for US EPA-related environmental and agrochemical field studies and serves as the company's Health and Safety Officer. She works with Stone's employee-owners across all service lines to ensure all activities and products comply with Stone's stringent Quality Management Plan. Jenn is a certified AS9100 Lead Auditor and a member of the American Society for Quality and the Society for Quality Assurance.

"Stone's always demonstrated its commitment to quality by having an in-house quality assurance manager. Our quality ethic is maintained throughout every aspect of our organization’s functions and not just where a project QAPP or study protocol calls for an audit of procedures and data.," said John Hanzas, Stone's president and leader of the agrochemical fate and exposure service line. "Jenn has already demonstrated her ability to conduct thorough project audits, as well as improve our internal processes and procedures. All of which will result in higher quality services for our clients. We are very excited to have her on board!”

Cypher replaces Kim Watson, RQAP-GLP, who retired earlier this year after 20 years as Stone's Quality Assurance Manager and Health & Safety Officer. Over the course of her 40-year-long career, Kim managed all phases of production and laboratory procedures, quality assurance and control, and project management in a laboratory setting. While she may have ended her tenure at Stone, Kim intends to stay involved in the scientific and quality assurance communities. This month, she led a training for the National Alliance of Independent Crop Consultants and plans to continue to take an active role in the Society for Quality Assurance.

During her training, Cypher has worked closely with Watson, receiving training in Good Laboratory Practices as well as learning the procedures and principles of Stone's Quality Management System. Stone’s QMS provides the foundation for robust quality assurance across all the services that Stone provides, from federal regulatory and GLP programs, to a wide range of other environmental projects and services.

"Kim has been an outstanding mentor during this transition period," said Cypher. "While our time working together has been brief, I know the impact she's made on this company will be felt for years to come. I'm excited to assist Stone's service lines and our clients and partners in Vermont and across the country."

Cypher began her career as a configuration control manager and fabrication manager at Creare, LLC in Hanover, New Hampshire, where she managed a precision machine shop and engineering department. As the quality and continuous improvement manager at Concepts NREC in White River Junction, Vermont, she managed an AS9100-certified quality management system to ensure compliance to corporate, regulatory and contractual requirements, as well as led corrective/preventative action process and root cause analysis. She managed employee training and was responsible for preparing, revising, and distributing quality assurance documents including work instructions, forms, manuals, and test procedures.