Stan Jurga Jr., VP–product development for All-Star Sporting Goods, a brand specializing in baseball and softball protective hard goods has been appointed by the Sports & Fitness Association (SFIA) to fill the open sporting goods industry seat on the Board of Directors of the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE).

Jurga replaces former board member Shaun Gilday, previously the senior manager of innovation for Wilson Sporting Goods, who served on the Board for four years.

NOCSAE is responsible for setting standards for equipment in football, baseball, softball, equestrian (polo), lacrosse, field hockey, soccer and ice hockey. SFIA was instrumental in the organization's formation in 1970, and with that, fills two seats on the Board of Directors, currently at 19 members. Jurga joins Gregg Hartley, SFIA's lead consultant on standards, who currently serves as NOCSAE VP.

With one foot in the test lab and one foot on the field, Jurga splits time between developing new products with his design and engineering team, while also being the main point of contact with the professional athletes who choose to wear All-Star products.

He graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Sciences and was a staff researcher at the Harvard Robotics Lab. He then completed a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering at MIT. After managing a biotech startup, Mr. Jurga officially joined All-Star in 2005.

"Our responsibility as Board members with NOCSAE is to represent the licensee’s interest in the development, revision or implementation of standards to ensure they meet the highest thresholds of technical expertise and are equitable to licensees, says Tom Cove, SFIA president and CEO.

"Stan’s experience and expertise as an unparalleled engineer is key to ensuring standards are on target and appropriate, and he has a great rapport with the trendsetters in the industry; bringing innovative, real-play tested experience to the table."