ATP Welcomes New Board Chair in 2016

Andre Allen, a Vice President at General Dynamics Information Technology will take up the reigns of leadership at the Association of Test Publishers as Board Chair in 2016. Allen,  who worked for a founding member of the Association of Test Publishers has what he called a "twofold agenda" for his tenure as Chair.

"First I am interested in establishing a voice for ATP on the data privacy issue, this is a global issue and is congruent to testing because, simply put, (our industry) handles so much data," Allen remarked. His vision is to create ATP working groups around this issue in order to fully analyze industry impact and develop position papers relevant for the testing and assessment industry.

Allen's second goal is what he termed as a "back to basics" message for ATP and its members.  Allen referenced early leaders of founding organizations, such as the late Steve Coffman, a past Chair of ATP, as well as current CEO Dr. William G. Harris -- "these guys founded this Association to protect an industry and its up to us (as members) to stand up for what we do.  We can't please everybody," Allen stated,"but we can come together in defense of testing which is what ATP was, and still is, about."

Allen, who holds a BS in Information Technology with a concentration in project management, and an MBA with a concentration in information technology management, brings more than 23 years of experience in the test publishing industry. He began his career in the test publishing industry in 1989 with Reid Psychological Systems, an ATP founding member company. Over the past 23 years, Allen's track record is that of creating secure, stable and scalable architectures for the timely delivery and accurate scoring of assessments.  In 1996, Allen helped Reid Psychological Systems to become one of the first organizations to administer pre-employment screening assessments via the Internet.  In 2002, he assisted NCS/Pearson's Reid London House in the creation and delivery of the assessment technologies for the largescale workforce mobilization effort with the Transportation Security Administration.  Allen has been a pioneer in overseeing global R&D projects that advance the field of human capital risk management with tools that strengthen business ethics, employee integrity, and overall corporate performance.

He will begin his role as Chair of the ATP Board of Directors in January 2016.