Aaron McCoy has been selected to serve as the next Director of Chemical Safety and Chemical Hygiene Officer for FP&M Environment, Health & Safety (EH&S), effective Sept. 6, following the retirement of Jeff Zebrowski earlier in the year.
The decision was made by former EH&S Assistant Vice Chancellor Chris Strang prior to his last day on Aug. 21.
“Prior to his retirement, Chris shared that Aaron’s experience, steady judgment, and trusted leadership make him ideal to drive our campus chemical safety initiatives forward,” said FP&M Deputy Associate Vice Chancellor Margaret Tennessen. “I deeply value Chris’ insight, and I am confident that Aaron will continue to build upon the great Chemical Safety program that EH&S has established.”
As Director, Aaron will lead the Office of Chemical Safety and act as the university’s Chemical Hygiene Officer. Aaron has served as Assistant Chemical Hygiene Officer for the past five years, having worked with the Chemical Safety Office since 2016.
EH&S Interim Co-Executive Directors Jesse Decker and Joel Malak noted that Aaron’s 10 years of experience within EH&S have prepared him exceptionally well to step into this leadership position.
“Aaron brings a strong, insightful understanding of current campus-wide challenges, paired with proactive plans to address them alongside our campus partners,” Joel and Jesse said. “Leading an experienced team that prides itself on creative problem-solving, he is exceptionally well-suited to drive lasting, positive impact.”
Prior to joining EH&S, Aaron had a seven-year career with UW-Madison’s Department of Chemistry, where he served in multiple research and lecturing positions. Aaron received his bachelor’s in chemistry from UW-LaCrosse and his master’s and PhD in organic chemistry from UW-Madison.
“I am very excited to take on this new role,” Aaron said. We have a highly experienced and collaborative team in Chemical Safety. It’s important to all of us that we do more than just identify problems. We actively work with our campus partners to create solutions. This approach is key to building the strong relationships that ensure the safe use of chemicals across our campus.”
Jesse and Joel also expressed their gratitude — on behalf of the entire EH&S team — to Todd Yankee, who served as interim Director of Chemical Safety following Jeff’s retirement.
“Todd’s leadership over the past several months ensured Chemical Safety’s vital work progressed without interruption,” Jesse and Joel said. “He remains a cornerstone of the department’s leadership team as he resumes his critical role as Manager of Chemical Safety and Associate Chemical Hygiene Officer.”
Looking ahead, Aaron is eager to leverage data to strengthen lab safety culture across campus. A major priority will be maximizing the potential of ChemManager+, the university’s chemical inventory and management tool.
“ChemManager+ has been a highly successful project, but we are really just beginning to see some of the benefits from the wealth of data available in the platform,” Aaron said. “I want to really dig into the data to help prioritize our resources, proactively identify safety and compliance needs, and provide our researchers with targeted tools to help improve lab safety and assist their research interests.”