DNV today announces the opening of its new Chicago office to support the growth of its certification and risk management businesses in North America.

HOUSTON and CHICAGO, Jan. 26, 2009 – DNV today announces the opening of its new Chicago office to support the growth of its certification and risk management businesses in North America.

According to Richard Stolk, president of DNV Certification US, DNV’s services are in growing demand across a number of industries driven by compliance mandates and the intensifying pressure that all businesses feel to distinguish themselves on the basis of quality.

“We are extremely well known internationally as a leader in management system certifications,” says Mr. Stolk. “Our services are extremely diverse, touching upon hot-button issues such as climate change, food safety, healthcare quality, supply chain management and mass transportation. All of these areas are deeply affected by their ability to manage risk while improving the quality of very complex products and services. More of them are turning to DNV as a partner to achieve those goals.”

The new Chicago office will immediately become the center of DNV’s US food safety team, led by veteran food safety expert Kathy Wybourn, and also serve as base camp for all our other services under the account management of Gary King.

Ms. Wybourn has 25+ years experience in deploying quality-control and safety auditing services to organizations in virtually every segment of the US food industry. In just a few short months, she has helped DNV develop one of the most comprehensive suites of food safety solution services using local resources in the United States.

“Chicago is geographically a springboard to reaching the entire US market, but it is also the center of many important food companies with whom we do business,” says Ms. Wybourn, Director of Food Safety Solutions for DNV.

DNV is now well-positioned to offer certification, training and advisory services for the GFSI – the Global Food Safety Initiative - benchmark standards to US food producers, suppliers and retailers. The three main GFSI standards used in the US are BRC, IFS and SQF. Each of the food safety standards offers a slightly different approach to auditing and quality control.

“The big question right now is which of the standards is most suitable for individual food companies, based on their business model and the types of customers they serve,” says Ms. Wybourn. “Ever since Wal-Mart mandated compliance with GFSI by the end of 2009, we’ve been getting a lot of questions about the differences between the standards and how to engage the right one.”

In a just-published article in Food Quality magazine, Ms. Wybourn and her colleague Andrea Niemann-Haberhausen outline the major features of BRC, IFS and SQF audit programs. The article which is viewable at www.dnv.us/certification/food_beverage (under downloads), illustrates the kind of evaluation process DNV uses with food companies to pinpoint the most effective food safety program.

The DNV Chicago office is located at:

DNV
10760 West 143rd Street, Suite 65
Orland Park, IL 60462
Phone: 708-590-6289

Date: 26 January 2009