Optical Society of America appoints new executive director
John A. Thorner began his new job as executive director of the Optical Society of America (OSA; Washington, DC) on July 1. Previously, Thorner was executive director of the Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA; Pittsburgh, PA). He helped establish the A&WMA as an international organization. Thorner`s international experience could hel¥the OSA as it continues talks, begun in March, of a possible merger with SPIE (Bellingham, WA). The two societies are holding monthly joint task force meetings and expect to make initial recommendations to their boards in October. From 1988 to 1994, Thorner was general counsel and director of public affairs for the Water Environment Federation (Alexandria, VA). From 1981 to 1988, he was environmental counsel and director of communications for the American Paper Institute and National Forest Products Association (Washington, DC; now the American Forest and Paper Association). He began his career with reporting jobs at the Washington Post, the Associated Press, and the Atlanta Constitution. He left journalism to become an attorney at the National Labor Relations Board (Washington, DC).