ASTM International has honored Catherine (Kitty) H. Pilarz, director of Mattel worldwide product safety for Fisher-Price in East Aurora, N.Y., with a 2006 Award of Merit and accompanying title of fellow. Committee F15 on Consumer Products cited Pilarz for her commitment to safer products, especially for children, through standards development, and for her leadership, professionalism, and expertise. The award is the highest ASTM International award for individual contributions to standards activities.

A member of the ASTM International Board of Directors, Pilarz chairs Committee F15, a group of more than 800 professionals from industry, government, and academia who work on 40 technical subcommittees. She also leads the F15 group on play yards. As F15 chair, she has been instrumental in advancing Committee F15's standards work and in facilitating the communications among F15 subcommittees, and she serves as liaison to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Juvenile Product Manufacturers' Association (JPMA). Pilarz has contributed to the work of numerous specifications for children's products.

At Fisher-Price, which designs, manufactures and markets toys and family products sold in more than 150 nations around the world, in a position she has held since 2001, Pilarz is responsible for the safety of the Mattel and Fisher-Price product lines, assuring that all products conform to corporate safety requirements. She is chair of the Fisher-Price Safety Committee, which audits new products to assure safety and conformity to standards and provides technical direction for product development related to safety issues. And, Pilarz develops safety standards and policy for her firm.

In 1980, Pilarz graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering and, that same year, started working for Fisher-Price as an engineer-in-training. While a project engineer in international operations and conducting analysis and planning, in 1983, she received her M.B.A. from Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y. She additionally held positions as a manufacturing engineer and a quality control engineer before becoming manager, product safety and reliability, in 1987.

Pilarz is vice chair of the JPMA Certification Committee, which oversees the JPMA certification program, a mechanism whereby independent laboratory testing validates a baby and toddler product manufacturer's certification of compliance with ASTM International safety standards. In addition, Pilarz is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Society for Quality Control. Through ASQC, she has earned the designations of certified reliability engineer (1993) and certified quality engineer (1986). She works on a number of committees responsible for juvenile product safety standards for the American National Standards Institute and Underwriters Laboratories.

Pilarz has served as symposium chair for the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization, and as president and board member of that group, which works to promote product safety through education and communication. She also received a 40 Under 40 Award in 1998 from Business First Magazine.

Release #7394