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Traffic Safety Expert, Former GHSA Chair Dr. Darrin Grondel joins Responsibility.org Team

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

April 9, 2020

 Contact:

Sam Nathews

(202) 355-1927

 Traffic Safety Expert, Former GHSA Chair Dr. Darrin Grondel joins

Responsibility.org Team

Arlington, Va.—Responsibility.org is proud to announce that Dr. Darrin Grondel has joined Responsibility.org as vice president of traffic safety and government relations. He brings nearly 30 years of traffic safety and law enforcement experience and leadership at the state and national levels. Additionally, he is a national expert on drug-impaired driving and multi-substance impaired driving.

“Responsibility.org is thrilled to welcome Darrin to our team,” said Chris Swonger, president and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) and Responsibility.org. “His unparalleled knowledge combined with his decades of experience, education, and leadership ensures that Responsibility.org will continue in its leadership role in efforts to eliminate impaired driving.”

Dr. Grondel’s career began when he joined the Washington State Patrol as a trooper in 1992, where was promoted to sergeant, lieutenant and ultimately captain before retiring in 2017.

During his time as captain, Governor Christine Gregoire appointed Dr. Grondel as director of the Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC) in 2012. He was reappointed by Governor Inslee in 2013.

Under his leadership, the WTSC led the passage of multiple traffic safety laws including impaired driving policies and distracted driving laws that resulted in improved enforcement and effectiveness. Dr. Grondel also directed Washington’s efforts to measure the effect of marijuana legalization on impaired driving. The data, programs, public education, research and policies he implemented to prevent drug-impaired driving and multi-substance impaired driving have provided a national model to address these emerging issues.

As director of the WTSC, Dr. Grondel served as chair of the Washington Impaired Driving Advisory Council, the Traffic Records Committee, the Tribal Traffic Safety Advisory Board, and the Washington State Autonomous Vehicle Work Group.

At the national level, Dr. Grondel served on the executive committee of the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) Board of Directors, first as secretary and then as its chairman. He also serves on the Drug Evaluation and Classification Technical Advisory Panel, the Highway Safety Committee for the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the National Sheriffs’ Association’s Traffic Safety Committee. Dr. Grondel has contributed to numerous national projects related to drug-impaired driving, autonomous vehicles, and national strategic efforts to reduce traffic fatalities to zero.

Dr. Grondel has a doctorate of organizational leadership from Brandman University, a master of public administration from The Evergreen State College and a bachelor of political science from Brigham Young University. He lives outside of Seattle with his wife and children.

For more information, please visit www.responsibility.org.

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About Responsibility.org

The Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility (Responsibility.org) is a national not-for-profit that aims to eliminate drunk driving and work with others to end all impaired driving, eliminate underage drinking, and empowers adults to make a lifetime of responsible alcohol choices as part of a balanced lifestyle. Responsibility.org is funded by the following distillers: Bacardi U.S.A., Inc.; Beam Suntory Inc.; Brown-Forman; DIAGEO; Edrington, Mast-Jägermeister US, Inc.; Moët Hennessy USA; and Pernod Ricard USA. For over 27 years, Responsibility.org has transformed countless lives through programs that bring individuals, families, and communities together to inspire a lifetime of responsible alcohol choices. To learn more, please visit Responsibility.org.