THE Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ) is now on the hunt for a new executive director to replace Hopeton Heron whose term of office ends on March 1.

Heron, an engineer, had served as a deputy director general of the Office of Utilities Regulation before he was appointed to head the BSJ effective March 1, 2019, on a two-year contract.

He also had stints at Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica, National Environmental and Planning Agency and Jamaica Public Service Company, before joining BSJ.

Yesterday, Heron told the Jamaica Observer that he was ready to “ride off into the sunset”, after what he described as a very good two years at the BSJ.

“It was a very productive period. The BSJ is a very important organisation and we stepped up our cooperation with the Customs Department to ensure that products conformed to local and international standards,” said Heron.

He noted that the BSJ has completed the upgrading of two of its testing labs while three others have been gutted and are being rebuilt.

“We have worked at creating a brand new bureau which is geared at providing even better service to Jamaica,” added Heron, who had previously declared that the 50-year-old BSJ has been maturing, having gained solid experience while recognising that, “there are many more opportunities for advancing as we grow older by keeping up with the advancement in technology”.

The Standards Council of the BSJ, which is conducting the search for Heron’s replacement, has indicated that the person should have at postgraduate degree in a management discipline or equivalent, and a BSc in chemistry, biochemistry, engineering or equivalent.

The deadline for applications for the top job at BSJ is this Friday, February 5.