OWM Welcomes New Weights and Measures Coordinators, John McGuire and Loren Minnich

NIST OWM is pleased to announce the addition of two new Weights and Measures Coordinators, John McGuire and Loren Minnich, to our staff. Both John and Loren bring extensive expertise with the interpretation and application of NIST Handbooks 44, 130, and 133. They have also served in numerous leadership roles within their state weights and measures programs, regional weights and measures associations, and the National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM) participating on and chairing various standing committees, task groups, and subcommittees. Please help us welcome John and Loren as they transition into their new roles as NIST technical experts and their continued support of the U.S weights and measures system.

John McGuire

John has over three decades of dedicated and expansive experience in Weights and Measures in the State of New Jersey. He started his career testing and inspecting large capacity devices, performed field testing and inspecting of commercial weighing and measuring devices, and has worked as a state metrologist. For the last seventeen years John has been the Enforcement Supervisor overseeing all aspects of New Jersey Weights and Measures.

During his tenure, John has been instrumental in ensuring staff properly apply legal metrology laws, regulations, standards and test procedures as requirements of NIST Handbooks 130, 133 and 44. in conjunction with creating policy, procedures, protocols and guidelines to meet organizational goals in the area of legal metrology. He has structured training programs, spearheaded enforcement and compliance initiatives, built control procedures for evidence management and has been sought as an expert/technical witness. John has been an active member of the NCWM in providing input and participating in the standards development process and the development of model laws and regulations as found in NIST Handbook 44, 130, and 133 and other documentary standards.

Additionally, John has conducted various educational seminars, championed uniformity in the use of technology, has provided technical assistance to and liaised with government and industry representatives and associations, owner/operators of weighing and measuring devices, inspectors, service personnel and the general public.

Loren Minnich

Loren is a graduate of Kansas State University earning a Bachelor of Science in Milling Science and Management in 1998.  After graduating he worked in the private sector in a variety of industries and was a small business owner.

He joined the Kansas Department of Agriculture, Division of Weights and Measures, as an Inspector in 2006, inspecting scales and conducting price verification and package inspections. In 2014, he became the Market Equity Protection Program supervisor for the Kansas Department of Agriculture, Division of Weights and Measures. In this position he was responsible for training new employees, providing continued professional development to inspection staff, and developing continuing education materials for service agents licensed in the state. As a member of the Central Weights and Measures Association Loren served on the Specification & Tolerances Committee from 2013-2017, ending his term as Chairman, and was a member of the Nominating Committee from 2018-2019. He joined the National Conference on Weights & Measures in 2015. He has been a member of the National Type Evaluation Program Belt Conveyor/Weighing Sector and Grain Analyzer Sector since 2017, served as a Presiding Officer in 2018, as the Chairman of the Point-of-Sale Tare Task Group from 2018 to 2019, as a member of the Specification & Tolerances Committee from 2018-2020 serving as Chair from 2019 to 2020, and was elected to the Board of Directors, serving from 2020 to 2023.