Torsten Pilz

Torsten Pilz is Senior Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer.

Torsten has broad responsibilities for the integrated supply chain, including procurement and driving improvements in plant efficiency and working capital while continuing to enhance quality and delivery.

Prior to Honeywell, Torsten served as Vice President, Supply Chain, for SpaceX, where he was responsible for planning, purchasing, material management and logistics. He built and developed a team that supported dozens of launches a year as well as the development and production of the Falcon and Falcon Heavy Rockets, the Dragon Spacecraft and the SpaceX’ satellite program. Prior to that, he served four years as Vice President, Worldwide Operations, at Amazon.

Before that, Torsten spent eight years at Henkel AG & Co. in a series of roles, culminating in his assignment as Senior Vice President, Global Operations, and Chief Executive Officer, Schwarzkopf & Henkel Production Europe GmbH. He also worked at Strategy& at PWC and Clariant AG.

Torsten earned B.S. and M.S. degrees, followed by a doctorate in chemical engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany.

Bart Talloen

Bart has a lot of drive, energy and passion for excellence in all he does. He thrives on big challenges and stretch targets.

He is workout & pushup fanatic, is a fan of running & cycling.

As an executive supply chain leader for 30 years, Bart has a proven track record of success across several key SC functions such as Planning, Engineering, Manufacturing Operations, and General E2E Supply Chain Mgt. in Asia, Europe, North America.

During his career in pharma, OTC, Consumer Goods & MedTech, Bart has managed large E2E supply networks, has acquired/divested businesses operations, lead strategy teams & led large scale transformation programs. He has successfully executed a Consent Decree & re-certified sites by FDA.
Bart is a leader focused on:

• Coaching & develop talent to reach their highest potential
• Putting the needs of J&J’s customers & employees first
• Leverage collaborations and learnings from others

Bart’s peers describe him as: “a dynamic leader with vision, can mobilise & guide others through transformations, and is result oriented, confident & resilient.”

In his current role as the Vice President Strategy, Innovation & Deployment Bart is responsible to develop & deploy J&J SC strategy across J&J businesses, through:

1) Activate leading edge customer strategic & innovation insights & foresight to fuel the SC strategy & turn in competitive advantage.
2) Leverage ext. eco-systems to develop new & innovative SC capabilities, driving growth and differentiating customer outcomes.
3) Drive E2E SC orchestration by leveraging advanced planning cap & evolving J&J operating system.
4) Develop & deploy culture, learning & leadership programs.
5) Provide centralized capabilities/ services for J&J SC eg. SC Risk Mgt., Strategic Partnership Mgt,OT systems

In addition to his current role, Bart also serves as the President of Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems , Inc. with responsibility for corporate leadership, P&L Management, Strategic Planning, SOX oversight and Corporate Governance.

Bart has a broad network across industry, consortia, academia, ext thought groups eg. WEF, Gartner.  He is a speaker in Manufacturing, Supply Chain and Innovation conferences.

He and his wife live in Skillman, New Jersey USA, and have two grown up sons.

Pam Heminger

Pam Heminger is a senior vice president of Caterpillar Inc. with responsibility for the Strategic Procurement & Planning Division. In this position, she is responsible for ensuring consistent, enterprise-wide procurement governance and standards; managing category and supplier strategies and a central information system; and overseeing key strategic supplier and category councils and the advancement of procurement talent, capabilities and technology.

Prior to joining Caterpillar in 2020, Pam held a series of roles with increasing responsibilities in procurement and business operations at Honda of America including vice president of Honda North America Purchasing. Before joining Honda of America, she held various supply chain and materials management roles with Lennox International.

In 2015, Automotive News selected Pam as one of “100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry,” a recognition awarded every 5 years.

Pam graduated from Bowling Green State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Procurement & Materials Management and Production & Operations Management. She received her MBA from Capital University in 1994. She serves on the Bowling Green State University College of Business Leadership Council and is a board member of the National Minority Supplier Development Council and Center for Procurement and Supply Management Leadership.

John Sampson

John Sampson is Senior Vice President, Operations, Manufacturing & Engineering for Dow. In this role, Sampson presides over the Operations Leadership Team (OLT) and is accountable for the global Operations organization consisting of more than 22,000 employees worldwide. He is a member of Dow’s Leadership Team (LT), responsible for executing the Company’s strategy in addition to the Operations Team (OT), accountable for the Company’s productivity and performance. John is a member of the North Star Team chartered to drive Dow’s Customer Experience and Employee Experience to advance the evolution of Dow’s operating model. In addition, John serves as the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sadara Chemical Company.

Sampson recently served as a corporate officer at Olin Corporation, with executive oversight for managing the M&E, Manufacturing Services, Safety/Health & Environmental and Technology Center of Olin’s Chemical businesses. Prior to joining Olin in 2015, Sampson had a long career with Dow, beginning in 1983 in Louisiana in Polymers Research & Development.

He moved into the Manufacturing organization in 1988 and throughout his Dow career, held a wide range of positions. He was a business manufacturing leader and led sites in the U.S. and Europe including Dow’s Rhine Center facility in Germany and France from 2004 2007. He served as the global business director for Chlor Alkali and in 2011, he was named Manufacturing vice president, Chemicals & Energy. He was later named vice president of Environment, Health & Safety Operations for Dow.

John previously served on the Board of Governors for Argonne National Laboratory, the Steering Committee and the Advisory Committee of the National Safety Council’s Campbell Institute, the Board of Directors for Ducks Unlimited and was Vice Chair of the Chlorine Institute. John currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Greater Midland Community Center and the Michigan Baseball Operations Board. John serves as executive sponsor of Dow’s Global Labor Relations Network and serves as executive sponsor of Dow’s Disability Employee Network (DEN), designed to
improve attraction, retention and advancement of employees with disabilities.

John holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Louisiana State University.

John is married and has one daughter. The family enjoys traveling and spending time with friends.

Daniel Myers

• Senior Fellow at Haslam School of Business, University of Tennessee
• Board Member for Two Companies
• Private Equity Senior Operating Executive for The Carlyle Group
• Retired EVP, Global Supply Chain, Mondelēz International
• Former EVP, Global Supply Chain, Kraft Foods
• Former Global VP, Product Supply, Procter & Gamble

Daniel Myers is currently a Senior Fellow at Haslam School of Business teaching as a guest lecturer for both graduate and under-graduate studies. He currently serves as a Senior Operating Executive for the Carlyle Group, one of the largest Global Private Equity firms and is on two company boards. He is the retired Executive Vice President of the Global Integrated Supply Chain of Mondelez International where he led the Procurement, Manufacturing, Engineering, and Customer Service & Logistics groups, which represent more than 70,000 of the company’s employees.  Daniel held the same position at Kraft Foods Inc., the predecessor to Mondelēz International, since he joined the company in September 2011.  The spin-off of the company’s North American grocery operations occurred in October of 2012.  Under his leadership, Mondelez funded a major reinvention of its worldwide supply chain delivering more than $3 billion in savings over 3 years. He has extensive experience in investor management including representing Mondelez in the investor presentations at CAGNY and Barclays.

Prior to Kraft Foods, Daniel worked for Procter & Gamble for 33 years, serving in roles across all areas of the Supply Chain. Most recently, he served as Vice President, Product Supply, where he led the supply chain function for P&G’s Global Hair Care business. He was also responsible for coordinating the company’s $28 Billion Beauty & Grooming business.  He had responsibility for P&G’s Customer Service and Logistics operations globally for four years and while in this role he led the integration of the operations of the Gillette company, a $56 Billion acquisition.

Daniel has strong experience launching new brands and building operations in emerging markets. He has over 25 years’ experience delivering winning innovation leading major global expansions. He has worked in 54 countries and lived outside the U.S. for more than 10 years. Daniel has mastery in the successful implementation of best practices including building High Performance Organizations and Lean Six Sigma. During his successful career, he has had responsibility for over 250 manufacturing plants and 400 warehouse and distribution centers.

Daniel received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and served on the Board of the Global Supply Chain Institute at the University of Tennessee for over 10 years.

Daniel and Karen, his wife of 40 years, are Christians who have led music and youth groups for 5 churches in three different countries over a period of 25 years. They have been active in mission work helping support and build schools or orphanages in Venezuela, Romania, Nigeria, Kenya, India and Myanmar.

Viju Menon

In his role, Viju is responsible for global operations, including manufacturing, direct procurement, regulatory affairs, quality assurance, sustainability, integrated business planning, logistics and advanced operations such as Additive Manufacturing technology development.

Education:
Viju earned his doctoral degree from the University of Pennsylvania and dual graduate degrees (MBA, S.M. in electrical engineering) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Leaders for Global Operations program. He also holds a graduate degree (M.S.E. in computer science engineering) from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Kerala, India.

Professional Experience:
Prior to joining Stryker in April 2018, Viju served as the chief supply chain officer and senior vice president at Verizon. Before his work at Verizon, Viju held key leadership roles at Intel Corporation in technology, supply chain and manufacturing operations.

Family:
Viju and his wife Anu live in New Jersey, and they have 3 children.

Natalie Wilkinson

Natalie Wilkinson is the Vice President Manufacturing Production Innovation Center (MPIC) and dual capped as General Manager of Strategic Business Management and Production Support Center for Toyota North America.  A graduate of Oakland City University with a Bachelor’s in Marketing, Natalie began in 2001 at Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Indiana.  She worked through different aspects of Production Control including parts ordering, logistics, packaging, supplier development and new model management before she moved to the manufacturing floor as the Sr. Manager of Body Weld Conveyance and then continuing to become the Sr. Manager of the East Body Weld production shop and body weld SOAR leader.  In 2017, she transferred from TMMI to TMNA to take on a newly developed position supporting the executive office in Plano and from there joined Corporate Strategy & Planning and then rotated back to Manufacturing SBM/NAPSC in 2020 and now into Production Engineering, June 2022.

During her time at Toyota, she has also started two main Business Partnering groups at TMMI, the Women’s Leadership Forum (WLF) and the African American Collaborative and led the development of Department Diversity Committees while being a member of the Diversity Advisory Council.  Also, an active participant in the regional WIIT group and supports the Annual Toyota Women’s conference.  Outside of Toyota, she has served as the Vice-Chair of the Girl Scouts of Southern Indiana Board of Directors where she has been a delegate at the National Council Meeting and became Chair of the Board in 2018.

In her spare time, Natalie and husband Greg enjoy attending the many functions of their two sons, Triston & Chase.   Triston is pursuing a career on the west coast as a personal trainer & Chase attends Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and plays football there.   Golf, sports, Steelers Football, musical events, and a large extended family keep them busy the rest of the time.

Tami Hedgren

Tami Hedgren is the Vice President, Manufacturing Lead, Large Tractors & Combines for Deere & Company. In this role, she is responsible for the overall strategic direction and leadership of the Large Tractors and Combines, including several global factories. Tami holds an Associate of Arts in Engineering Administration from the Morrison Institute of Technology, a Bachelor’s in Manufacturing Engineering Technology from Bradley University, and an MBA from Drake University. Tami joined Deere & Company as an Engineer and has held several positions of increasing responsibility in the areas of operations, engineering, supply management, and critical business planning.

During her time at Deere & Company, Tami served as global product line director for Seeding and Tillage, she was responsible for six factory locations. During this time, she led the team through a factory startup in Russia and the acquisition of a critical business. Prior to this role, Tami gained experience working in an international leadership position as the Director of Ibérica operations in Getafe, Spain, where she significantly improved safety of operations by instilling a cultural change, leaving a lasting legacy focused on employee well-being.

Within John Deere, Tami is a leader in the Women in Manufacturing employee resource group. Additionally, she mentors individuals on a regular basis, speaks at outreach events on behalf of Deere & Company, and volunteers at employee resource group events. Recently, Tami initiated a new moms group to help employees work through the transition of adding members to their households. In this role, she shares her passion and approach for being strategic about work and life outside of work. Outside of Deere & Company, Tami is a member of Society of Manufacturing Engineers and is on the Board of Directors for Women in Manufacturing. She is also actively involved with local organizations in her community.

In her spare time, Tami enjoys spending time with her husband Brian, who works as a construction engineer, and her three children, Bree, Eric & Austin. Tami and her family enjoy going on vacations, adventures, and volunteering together.

Rodrigo Lance

Rodrigo Lance is the Senior Vice President, Global Supply Chain. He is a member of Kellogg Company’s executive committee leadership team. Rodrigo’s prior roles including leading Kellogg’s supply chain teams in three of the company’s four regions: most recently in North America and in Europe and Latin America prior to that. He led the North America supply chain during the many challenges of the pandemic, and in Europe and Latin America, was instrumental in optimizing the supply chain organizations by ensuring a relentless focus on their missions to “buy, make and deliver” and enabling the regions’ business growth strategies. Rodrigo began his Kellogg Career in 1997 and served in various roles including Production Supervisor at the Queretaro, Mexico, plant. He also served as the Plant Manager in Guatemala; Linares, Mexico; and
Columbus, Georgia, U.S. and served as head of snacks engineering as well. Rodrigo holds a Master of Business Administration and Engineering from Tecnologico de Monterrey. Healso attended Michigan State University’s Kellogg Operations Management Program.

David Johnson

David Johnson is the SVP, Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management. Prior to this role he was Vice President, Production Engineering and New Model Quality, Nissan North America, Inc. where he was ensuring the highest level of quality possible at the maximum output in all of Nissan’s U.S. and Mexican manufacturing operations.

Previously at Nissan, Johnson was director, New Model and Central Engineering at Nissan Motor Company, UK.

Since joining Nissan in 2002, Johnson has held a number of roles of increasing importance throughout Nissan’s manufacturing operations.

Johnson was most recently appointed to the board of directors of the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce.

Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Tennessee Technological University, and an executive master’s degree in business from Vanderbilt University – Owen Graduate School of Management.

Vikram Agarwal

Vikram Agarwal brings over 35 years of international experience with global consumer goods companies.

In a distinguished career spanning 30 years with Unilever, he led transformational local, regional and global roles, the most recent being Executive Vice President of the Africa Supply Chain.

He was subsequently Chief Supply Chain Officer at Avon Products, playing an instrumental role in its successful turnaround. Until now he was leading business strategy for Dole Food & Beverages.

Additionally, he associated closely with leading PE Funds on M&A projects.

Vikram passionately believes that supply chains can play a pivotal role in generating business competitiveness to create value and drive growth. Besides being well-versed with most disciplines within the supply chain, he has a keen understanding of digitalization of Integrated Business Planning in large global supply chains and is an avid advocate of sustainability in operations.

Born in India and now a UK resident, he is a graduate in Mechanical Engineering from IIT in India, with a Certificate in Global Management from INSEAD.

Colin Miller

Colin Miller is sector vice president, Mission Assurance and Programs, for Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems, a premier provider of military aircraft, autonomous systems, aerospace structures and next-generation solutions.

In this role, Miller is responsible for compliance, independence and mission assurance of our systems across the total program life cycle, from design through fielded operations. He also has responsibility for the program management homeroom, supplier quality, and analytics and process excellence. Previously, Miller served as senior vice president, Innovation, Engineering & Flight for Gulfstream Aerospace after joining the organization in 2013 as an experimental test pilot. In this role, Miller was responsible for innovation strategy, research and development, new program initiation, engineering and product development, flight, lab and structural test, and worldwide Gulfstream flight operations. Miller served in the U.S. Air Force for 23 years as a test pilot, program manager and director of flight test operations, retiring at the rank of colonel. In his career has accumulated 4,000 flight hours in over 50 aircraft types. Miller is a distinguished graduate of the United States Air Force Test Pilot School and earned an engineering degree from Virginia Tech. He also has a master’s degree in organizational management from George Washington University, and master’s degrees from the University of Tennessee, Air University and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.

Northrop Grumman solves the toughest problems in space, aeronautics, defense and cyberspace to meet the ever-evolving needs of our customers worldwide. Our 90,000 employees define possible every day using science, technology and engineering to create and deliver advanced systems, products and services.

Sandra Wisniewski

Sandra Wisniewski is known for implementing a proven methodology to transform businesses.  Leveraging her intellectual curiosity, perseverance and deep analytical skill to quickly access, synthesize and simplify complex market and business challenges to actionable plans.  Using a collaborative, strengths-based approach to bridge the team’s historical knowledge while gaining alignment to a forward focused vision has enabled her to create clear and actionable strategic solutions while engaging and motivating the organization to deliver results.  She has a history of expecting and delivering excellence.  She has the aptitude to learn businesses, and markets and proven prowess for developing profitable growth across the value chain, specialty markets.  These markets included specialty chemical and pharmaceuticals, medical devices, integrated delivery systems, distribution and customer service industries is a testimony to her passion and aptitude to learn while delivering results.

Setting a vision, leading change, and delivering results.  Sandra has a demonstrated record of generating growth and creating sustainable outcomes utilizing a comprehensive skill set built from her diverse multi-functional background and world class multinational company experiences.  The diversity in her background includes, general management, sales leadership, U.S. and global marketing, operations, R&D, manufacturing, and global project management.

Creating a culture of excellence and high performance is one of her keys to successfully building and transforming teams to a high-performance organization.  Competitive sports have always been and continue to be an integral part of Sandra’s life and part of what has shaped her as a person and leader.  While there are many life skills one can take from sports the three that are part of her fiber are discipline, resiliency, and teamwork.  Every day you must have the discipline show up for practice, strive for excellence while planning to win.  To be a champion one must have the resiliency to continue improve even when the path forward is filled with challenges.  Whether competing as part of team, or as an individual the perseverance required to excel is knowing when to lead and when to be part of the team.

Todd Thorburn

Todd Thorburn is Mars Incorporated VP of Industrial Engineering, synchronizing across the Mars segments Capital Investment Strategy development, Operational Excellence Cost Performance, and key End to End Supply Chain initiatives.  Todd joined Mars in 1999 and has held positions of increasing scope and responsibility, including: Wrigley Global Industrial Engineering Director, Wrigley North American Supply VP and Mars Chocolate Global Industrial Engineering Director, prior to being promoted to his current position in 2019.

Todd holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering Degree from Queens University.

Todd and his wife have a daughter and reside in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Daryl Taylor

Daryl Taylor was promoted to Senior Vice President of Airbus Commercial Aircraft Operations in the U.S. in late 2022. In this role, he is responsible for the integration of Airbus’ operations organizations across the region. Daryl continues to serve as General Manager of Airbus’ U.S. Manufacturing Facility which is home to Final Assembly Lines of the A320/A321 and A220 aircraft. Taylor joined Airbus in August 2015 from GKN Aerospace where from 2013 he was Vice President and General Manager of two facilities: Precision Machining, Inc. in Wellington, Kansas and Bandy Aerospace, Inc. in Burbank, California. From 2010 to 2013, Taylor was General Manager of the Q400 Program at Bombardier Aerospace in Toronto, Canada. From 1997 to 2009 he held various roles at Hawker Beechcraft Corporation in Wichita, Kansas.

Bill Good

Bill Good began his career in manufacturing on an assembly line while working his way through college. His experience sparked his passion and interest in manufacturing as a career, and he set a goal to one day lead manufacturing for a large U.S. company. Over the course of Bill’s 35-year career, he has honed his knowledge of supply chain management through his various roles of increasing responsibility at Tri-Glass, Charbroil, Whirlpool, and now in his dream job as the Vice President of Manufacturing at GE Appliances, a Haier company.

Bill holds a BS in Operations Management from Auburn University and an MBA and a MS in Human Resources from Troy State University.

Bill is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt, with expertise in Theory of Constraints, HOSHIN Planning, and the Toyota Production System. He places a high value on employee engagement, building relationships, and leading transformational change.

Currently, Bill and his team are focusing on expanding plant capacity, increasing automation in the supply chain, and implementing new digital tools to create a Zero Distance approach with consumers.

Jimmy Blaser

James (Jimmy) Blaser is Vice President of Manufacturing for the Nestlé Meals Division headquartered in the Cleveland suburb of Solon, Ohio. Nestlé Meals brands include Stouffer’s, Lean Cuisine, Life Cuisine, Sweet Earth and Nestlé Professional. All Nestlé meals are produced in one of four manufacturing facilities and are supported by 3600+ employees. Jimmy was promoted to his current position in 2020. 

Jimmy joined Nestlé in 2002 as part of the Nestlé Operations Management Trainee (OMT) program at the Springville, Utah factory. He then progressed through roles of increasing responsibility within the Mt. Sterling, Kentucky and Gaffney, South Carolina factories.  

During that time, Jimmy was part of the successful integration of the Hot Pockets acquisition as well as integrations of new Information Management programs and Capital installations. His career spanning three different operating companies within Nestlé showcased the continuous improvement in each role driving results in safety, quality, and cost.  

In 2011, Jimmy was promoted to the role of Factory Manager for the Nestlé Professional factory in Trenton, Ontario, Canada. In this role, Jimmy led the installation of new technoglogies for Ready-to-Eat frozen sauces to deliver on new consumer demands. 

Jimmy relocated to Gaffney, SC in 2013 as Factory Manager, where he led projects including the integration of the Sweet Earth brand into the Meals factories, the launch of Total Performance Management (TPM), as well as a site expansion. While in that role, Jimmy also led a successful turnaround of Stouffer’s and Lean Cuisine, including the re-launch of Lean Cuisine and introduction of a new brand, Life Cuisine.   

During his tenure at Gaffney, the factory won multiple Best in the Nest Safety, Quality and Cost awards – which recognize the best Nestlé USA factory in those areas each year.  

Jimmy earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Managerial Economics from Southern Utah University.

Scott Harris

I have been working in manufacturing leadership positions for over 35 years.  Positions include my current position as plant manager at Masonite International.  Before that I was an operations manager for 4 years with Kimberly Clark diaper manufacturing.  Previous to that I worked cross border in Mexico for 18 years as a plant manager for MRG Inc. and TODCO, a division of Overhead Door.  I speak fluent Spanish and have dual citizenship in Mexico and the U.S.A.

I’m focused on team excellence to achieve maximum output while creating a positive work experience for all employees, especially as it applies to our current condition in manufacturing with many challenges to the direct labor work force and cultural challenges.

Creating a LEAN, SAFE culture and work environment is paramount to all areas of manufacturing.

Antonio Villagomez

Antonio Villagomez is Vice President of Supply Chain Engineering for Rich Products Corporation, responsible for design innovations and capital implementation across the company. Prior to joining Rich’s, he led the Sustainability innovation program for Walmart Inc., including selection and origination of renewable energy contracts, development of innovations in energy efficiency, electric vehicles deployment solutions, zero waste, commodity recycling, and reverse logistics programs at stores, clubs, and DC’s.  He also co-authored plans and developed a feasible conversion roadmap that enabled Walmart’s declaration as a Regenerative, Zero Emissions Company by 2040.

Previously Mr. Villagomez held multiple leadership positions at Procter & Gamble Co. in global supply chain and engineering functions, new technology platforms, product, process and packaging innovations, Factory 4.0 digital transformation, supply network design and optimization programs, including consolidations, implementation, and operational start-up of several greenfield manufacturing facilities across Latin America, Europe and North America. He also led M&A’s due diligences and successful operational integrations across Procter & Gamble’s global supply regions.

Mr. Villagomez holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Material Sciences from Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, and a Master of Business Administration in Finance and General Management from Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico. He also holds several certifications and diplomas in TPM/Integrated Work Systems, Project/Program Management, FDA GMP, Lean IPD and LEED Sustainability.

Rob Stewart

Rob Stewart is CEO of OpusWorks® by The Quality Group (TQG) and a thought leader for blended learning, continuous process improvement and process automation.

For over 30 years, Rob and his team have been enabling organizations to more rapidly and simply scale their Lean/Six Sigma/OPEX initiatives. The OpusWorks system prepares, propels, and praises people for deployment success via flexible and collaborative blended e-Learning, integrated with a project and activity tracking system.

OpusWorks proudly serves Fortune 1000 sized clients, government agencies, academic institutions, and healthcare providers including Cargill, Caterpillar, Cintas,  and the U.S. Air Force. OpusWorks customers experience personal attention, world-class tools, and amazing content as they accelerate speed to results.

Rob is passionate about the power of learning to transform lives.  He serves on several non-profit boards focused on prison inmate education and reentry. Rob began his career with IBM and he is a graduate of Emory University in Atlanta.

Craig Steele

Craig has over 25 years of sales experience. He currently serves as Area Vice President leading Anaplan’s industry focus in the Americas. His teams specialize in Life Sciences, Manufacturing, Automotive, Logistics and Transportation markets. Prior to Anaplan, Craig held similar leadership roles at ServiceNow and Salesforce. Craig lives in Medina, Minnesota with his “Familia of Steele”: 17 yr old son, Julio and wife Nikki. His Fun fact is that he is restoring his Mom’s 1st car, a 1961 Old Cutlass coupe!

Sharad Agarwal

Sharad Agarwal is the VP of S&OP which is part of the Supply Chain organization in Billerud North America. He has recently implemented a robust business management / S&OP process working with cross-functional participants using technology and tools.  This initiative has taken the business from a maturity level of 1 on the Gartner scale to a maturity level of 5 in less than 2 years. Sharad has a history of working with cross-functional teams to use data and analytics to deliver sustainable business solutions. His career background spans Strategy and Finance, business management, marketing, and operations. Sharad, born in Chicago, grew up in West Africa and came back to the US at the age of 17 to attend college. He has two girls that will both be in college this fall and as such has picked up hacking at golf as they become empty nesters.

Kelly Boyle

Kelly has been working in the Food Supply Chain industry for 25+ years. She worked at General Mills for her “first act” starting in the manufacturing for 10 years and then moving into cross functional assignments in Logistics and Global Sourcing at the corporate offices.  Kelly led the natural and organic supply chain during her last 5 years at General Mills.   Kelly’s “second act” has had her at Walmart for the last 7 years.  In her initial role, Kelly led the re-design of the fresh supply chain end to end, changing the way highly perishable food moves from field to shelf increasing shelf life for the customer.  Kelly moved into her current role 2 ½ years ago where she is working to ensure Walmart’s entire food supply chain continues to lead the industry.  Kelly has a wonderful husband Ray, of 31 years, and 3 fantastic GROWN AND OUT OF THE HOUSE 😊 kids; Sean (27) and Caitlin and Jack (25).

Brandy Hebert

Brandy Hebert is vice president of Global Engineering Excellence for Estee Lauder.   Brandy is responsible for Engineering excellence processes across the globe, owning engineering systems, managing standards, governing global capital processes, and developing manufacturing innovations.

Brandy has spent 25 years in various roles in Estee Lauder, Procter & Gamble, Accenture, and TDK where she had roles in Global Equipment platform management, Supply Chain Digital Program Management, Equipment Innovation planning, fill & assembly equipment development, manufacturing operations, and software development. She led teams to develop and deploy equipment, systems, digital and data analytics tools to all levels of the organization for rapid and informed decision making, supply chain planning, supply chain excellence, and manufacturing analysis.   Brandy has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of North Dakota.

Brandy and Justin, her husband of 17 years, have traveled the world, together moved 6 times to experience fulfilling career adventures, and currently reside on Long Island with their 3 biological and 2 foster children.

Lisa Finneran

Lisa Finneran is the Vice President of Engineering for General Dynamics Mission Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics.

Ms. Finneran leads engineering execution across 120 major national and international sites with more than 6,000 engineers who are creating products and technology for integration on combat vehicles, submarines, aircraft, satellites and unmanned platforms.

Previously, Ms. Finneran was the Vice President of Strategic Systems and provided strategic warfare system solutions to the U.S. Navy, U.K. Navy and the U.S. Air Force. Prior to joining GD Mission Systems, she held several leadership roles at the Software Productivity Consortium.

Ms. Finneran holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Virginia Tech. She is the chair of GD’s Engineering and Technology Council, an expert reviewer for IEEE Computer Software Technology Conference, a member of Virginia Tech’s National Capital Region Leadership Council, and a member of the Board of Regents for the Strategic Deterrent Coalition.

Laurent Lefouet

As the Chief Customer Officer at Aera Technology, Laurent Lefouet leads the company’s high-performing customer success initiatives and operations. A strategic, outcome-focused leader, Laurent puts customers at the center of the experience to deliver satisfaction, retention, and growth. He brings more than 25 years of experience in enterprise software and technology. Prior to Aera, Laurent served as the Managing Director for EMEA at Anaplan. Before Anaplan, he was the Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Large Enterprise Sales for SAP France. Laurent has also held international management roles at Business Objects Global and SAP EMEA and India.

Johan Beukema

Johan Beukema is Managing Partner of BCI Global, leading BCI’s Manufacturing Footprint and Location & Site Selection practice around the globe. In his 23+ year career in consultancy he has supported numerous companies around the globe in the optimization of their manufacturing footprints and finding the right location for new manufacturing plants. His experience covers The Americas, EMEA as well as Asia-Pacific including China. Johan works for companies in different industry verticals such as Industrial, High Tech, Pharma, Medical Technology, Food, Automotive and Chemicals. Themes that are central in many of his team’s current projects are reshoring, footprint decentralization, near-sourcing, de-risking of manufacturing and sourcing and sustainability. Companies on his track record are amongst others Donaldson, Starkey, Medtronic, Brown Forman, Amgen, Bio-Rad, ExxonMobil, AkzoNobel, Hilti, Bausch & Lomb, Novocure, Crocs, WL Gore, Edwards Lifesciences, Corning, Poly, Cisco, Abbott, and many others.

Mark Allan

Mark Allan is the Senior Director of Operational Excellence for Leonardo DRS Naval Electronics with 25 years of experience.  He has a passion for continuous improvement and strives to facilitate excellence from order to delivery in all areas of operations including, estimating, ERP systems, project management, supply chain, manufacturing, and engineering.  He has worked in defense and commercial industries both in general practice and consulting.  He has been in a range of positions from Industrial Engineer, Project Manager, ERP Director, Director Programs, Director Operations, and Director Operational Excellence.  Mark is a Professional Engineer registered in Ontario, Canada with a diploma in Engineering from the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, and a degree in Industrial Engineering from Dalhousie University in Halifax.  He completed his Project Management Professional Certification in 2006 and more recently Six Sigma Black Belt in 2022.

Jorge Vargas

Jorge Vargas is the Manager for the Manufacturing Innovation group at Nissan North America.

Jorge, father of two, is passionate about ways to improve processes and procedures so people enjoy their work and use their talent performing valuable activities. He is always looking for ways to use the most innovative tools to support Quality of Work and Improve the Competitiveness of products made at the Nissan plants.

He graduated from the Metropolitan Autonomous University in Mexico City with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Jorge served in a variety of positions at both Nissan North America and Nissan Mexicana throughout his career. After starting with Nissan Mexico in 1998, Jorge worked for the Alliance Purchasing Organization (Renault-Nissan), and in 2001 started the Alliance Supplier Improvement Program to deploy QCD improvement activities with the Nissan supplier base in Mexico, as well as supporting the kaizen groups in Brazil, Colombia and the United States. In 2006 moved to US to work for Nissan North America Supplier Improvement group, and in 2018 joined the Digital Acceleration group in US and Mexico to lead and support innovation activities at the seven manufacturing sites in NA.

Out of his job a Nissan, Jorge enjoys supporting the community coordinating and teaching ESL classes at a local church.

Ravi Nareppa

Ravi Nareppa is the Director of Industrial IOT Solutions Group at Panasonic. He is responsible for Product Development, Sales & Marketing of the Panasonic Logiscend IOT platform, which is an Industry 4.0 material flow solution for manufacturing.  Ravi was part of the Omni-ID IOT solutions group that was acquired by Panasonic in 2019.  He continues to work closely with manufacturing customers to learn and develop the solutions needed for improving production, processes and digitization in the capital goods manufacturing industries.  In the past seven years, Ravi has visited and continues to visit factories all over the world consulting to improve material and process workflows on the factory shop floor, delivering Industry 4.0 strategies to enable future smart factories.

Natalia Mendez

Natalia Méndez DeBriones, leads the medical devices manufacturing cluster for Philips. In her current role she is responsible for leading 13 manufacturing plants, located across the world.  She has been in Medical Devices manufacturing for the past 16 years and has experience in different roles:  Quality, Product Design, Plastic Molding & Extrusion, and is passionate about Lean, Six Sigma, and Continuous Improvement.

During her career, she has been able to transform and optimize manufacturing processes to better support customer needs and increase value brought to the company.  She enjoys working with interdisciplinary teams and finding new ways to achieve goals, while creating development opportunities for her team and others.

Through commitment, empowerment, and improving skills, not only for herself, but for her team, she has been able to triple productivity under high regulated environments, lead teams through challenging regulatory situations, and influence deep cultural shifts that have yielded on improved customer satisfaction and optimized cost of operations.  She has led her teams through Manufacturing Excellence Competitions, being awarded repeatedly on several categories in some of her factories.

Natalia is native from Costa Rica, where she lives with her husband. She loves art, reading, and cooking. She gets her energy from working with others and learning from different backgrounds.

John Dougherty

John Dougherty has been working with companies in the Industrial Manufacturing, High Tech, Aero Space and Defense, Retail, Wholesale Distribution, and Consumer Packaged Goods industries for the past 24 years with both Symix Software, Oracle, and NetSuite. John is currently Head of Manufacturing for the Americas with ServiceNow. A big part of his role is meeting with companies who are either on or just starting their digital transformation journey in manufacturing and supply chain. John has an experienced and a proven track record of helping companies become more efficient, reduce costs and improve quality. He lives in Pittsburgh PA when not traveling for ServiceNow.

Robert Rash

Robert Rash is the Manager of Manufacturing Systems Architecture responsible for global manufacturing and OT engagements. In this role, Robert provides solution consulting and OT security and visibility strategies to deliver the OTM solutions, enabling the IT/OT convergence to improve manufacturing resiliency. Robert has more than 20 years of OT industrial automation, and manufacturing experience. Before joining ServiceNow in 2022, Robert provided process improvement and OT security solutions to the manufacturing and utility industries

Griffith Maupin

Griffith earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and his MS in Engineering Management from Marquette University. He has spent most of his 32 years of manufacturing experience with Harley-Davidson Motor Company, along with working for Honda of America, Manufacturing and Allied Recreation Group (currently REV Recreation Group). During those years, he held positions as Engineering Coordinator, Senior Manufacturing Engineer, Program Lead, Project Engineer, Lean Production Systems Manager, and Director of Operations. Griffith previously served as the Technology Adoption Manager and Senior Services Manager of Productivity and Continuous Improvement for Purdue MEP.

Eduardo Fusaro

Professional with Mechanical Engineering degree and specializations on Quality & Productivity and Business Administration. Over than 18 year of experience in Aerospace Industry in several leadership positions. Responsible for developing and improving Manufacturing Processes in all manufacturing sites, including USA and Portugal, since Product development phases until serial production support. Responsibilities also includes company’s Industrial Architecture, searching for best cost benefit solutions and Machines and Equipment Maintenance. Passionate for Lean Manufacturing, Continuous Improvement and Digital Transformation.

Geoffrey Jackson

30+ years in manufacturing including aerospace and building materials. Worked my way up starting as a process engineer, through engineering management, operations management, plant manager, and director of various engineering teams. Today I am responsible for the OT group, Process Engineering group, and all of the data systems/ applications for the operations team.

Jalaja Repalle

Jalaja is an experienced strategist and has 20+ years of experience as a product & solutions leader. She has helped organizations accelerate growth by launching and scaling novel products and solutions & has advised Fortune 100 business executives, developing business and technology strategies, and spearheaded cross-functional teams and large multi-disciplinary transformation efforts.

Willem Sundblad

Willem Sundblad is the co-founder and CEO of Oden Technologies, a company empowering manufacturers to make more, waste less, and innovate faster through machine learning and applied analytics. He is a Forbes.com contributing writer and a recognized leading voice in manufacturing analytics. He is pioneering the use of real-time and predictive analytic tools that uncover untapped value. Sundblad aims to transform the manufacturing industry by digitizing, analyzing, and perfecting peak factory performance. In his spare time, he takes every chance he gets to enjoy the mountains, either skiing, hiking, or climbing.

Shane Yount

Shane A. Yount is a nationally recognized thought leader, author, and President of Competitive Solutions, Inc. (CSI), an international Business Transformation consulting firm which pioneered the acclaimed organizational development system known as Process Based Leadership®. Since 1991 he has led the offices of CSI in becoming one of the nation’s most recognized Business Transformation consulting firms, personally working with such organizations as The Department of Defense, 3M, Colgate Palmolive, Bristol Meyers Squibb, and many others.

Suresh C Rama, Ph.D., MBA

Suresh C. Rama is a Thought Leader in Smart Manufacturing and a Portfolio Development Executive who leads the application of Siemens’ Digital Manufacturing portfolio of solutions for automotive customers. He has over 30 years of Manufacturing and Automation experience with Automotive OEMs, Suppliers and Line Builders. He has held several executive and leadership positions in Engineering, Manufacturing Operations, Quality, R&D/Innovation, Industry 4.0 and Business Development as he progressed through several stages in his career. Currently, he uses his vast experience and deep understanding of the Automotive Bodyshop, Final Assembly and Powertrain and New Propulsion systems Manufacturing to help and guide various customers in their digitalization journey in Smart Manufacturing. Suresh has a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University and M.B.A. from the Broad School of Business in Michigan State University. Suresh resides with his family in the Metro Detroit area.

Michael Desabris

Michael has spent his career aligning solutions to customer’s business goals, analyzing business practices, leading workshops, developing business cases, operating models, and road maps to determine solutions for intricate business problems, and motivating my team to deliver the desired solution. He brings great expertise in the field of maintenance, reliability, facilities, and capital management with a point focus on developing and or optimizing Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), Integrated Work Managements (IWMS), Cloud, Mobile, Internet of Things (IOT), AI/ML Solutions. Hands on leadership roles include growing consulting practices for multiple “big 4” and boutique to enable digital transformation of the clients he serves. Michael has worked with Global 2000 companies including leading utilities, oil and gas, metals and mining, manufacturing, life sciences, financial services firms, real estate firms and federal, state and local governments and municipalities.

Phil McIntyre

Phil McIntyre’s career spans more than 34 years in manufacturing, supply chain, and business leadership. He’s well-accomplished and has worked with companies around the world in a multitude of industry verticals, contributing to organizations at all levels in Engagement Design and Leadership, Cost Management, Due Diligence, Leadership Coaching and Development, Performance Facilitation, and Project and Change Management.

Phil holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Clemson University and a Master of Business Administration from Wake Forest University.

Chris Poole

Chris Poole serves as the Director of Client Development for EMEA clients. Chris has a track record of delivering tailored, high-quality operational excellence programs. He’s an expert in all aspects of policy deployment, leadership development, organizational alignment, and focused problem-solving methodologies.

Chris holds a Bachelor of Science in Technology and Management Sciences from the University of Bradford and is a certified Change Management Practitioner, Master Black Belt, and TPM Instructor.

Shawn Smith

Shawn has worked for Milliken & Company for over 15 years. He started as a Product and Process Improvement Engineer in Milliken’s textile division. He has held many different positions within multiple Milliken manufacturing sites. After his role as a PPI Engineer he held many positions such as, Production Leader, MPS Specialist, Senior Production Leader, PPI Manager, and Supply Chain Leader. Shawn’s role as an MPS Specialist at our Columbus, NC site was instrumental in developing it into a model site for the company and helping the new PSbyM business create its initial education material.

Shawn joined Performance Solutions by Milliken (PSbyM) in 2011. As a practitioner he has led and developed systems within many industries including packaging, food & beverage, paper, and medical device manufacturing. Shawn is a Certified Six Sigma Green Belt.

Shawn holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from West Virginia University. He has a Six Sigma Green Belt from Milliken U. and holds certifications on level scheduling, consulting, and the Coaching Clinic©.

James Newman

James Newman is the Head of Product and Portfolio Marketing at Augury. He has 20+ years of experience across engineering, manufacturing, and technology adoption, James brings a customer-focused outlook to understanding how technology impacts organizational outcomes. James’ experience has spanned numerous industries, including energy, water, manufacturing, marine, mining; focused on understanding the real challenges within organizations and how digital solutions can augment and accelerate organizational and cultural transformation. James is a passionate evangelist for the power of transformation and has a passion for how digital adoption can improve worker’s lives while increasing value for the organizations they work for.

Nick Ott

Nick Ott is the Director of IT for Canfor Southern Pine. Nick has spent 15 of his 20 years in IT in the Wood Processing Industry. Throughout his IT career he has held positions responsible for System Development, Infrastructure Delivery, M&A, and Project Management.Nick has a Master’s Degree in Accounting and a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems from the University of South Alabama. He lives in Mobile, Alabama with his wife and three children.

Craig Melrose

Craig Melrose is the Executive Vice President of Digital Transformation Solutions at PTC. In this role, Craig works to build customer-facing, (operationally transformative) solutions that incorporate PTC’s industry-leading CAD, PLM, IoT, and AR technologies. His responsibilities include interacting directly with the customers to develop, scale, and roll out tailored industry 4.0 programs based on their unique operational excellence goals and needs.
Prior to joining PTC, Craig served as a Partner at McKinsey & Company for over 20 years, leading numerous operations and digital transformation initiatives, working directly with customers to understand their challenges, and identifying both tactical and strategic solutions globally and across dozens of industries. Throughout his career, he has helped companies dramatically enhance their factory automation strategies, including Toyota Motor Manufacturing, where he led the improvement of the Toyota Production System and Toyota’s operating performance through the introduction of new products across North America.

Morgan Malone

Morgan Malone is the Global Manufacturing Leader at EY, responsible for delivering world class manufacturing capabilities and results to our clients. Morgan has 20+ years experience across consulting and industry, with a specific focus on manufacturing and overall operational excellence.  Prior to EY, he served in a variety of manufacturing and production roles, including Vice President / Plant Manager, at a premium food and gift producer and retailer.  He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, Information & Operations Management from Texas A&M University.

“My passion is helping client leaders and operators drive a high reliability culture with people at the core, who are enabled and empowered to achieve a zero loss mindset and 100% total employee engagement.”

Kausik “KD” Dasgupta

As the Chief Technology Officer NA, Kausik “KD” Dasgupta brings 25+ years of experience in technical architecture, evangelism and professional services in the tech industry to FactoryEye by Magic Software. He joined the company in 2015 after serving as the Senior Director of Engineering for Cloud and Datacenter Automation at BMC Software. Previously, KD served in other engineering leadership roles at BMC and CMC.

Elito Siqueira

Zachary Janosky

Graduated from the US Naval Academy with a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering.

Served in the US Marine Corps as an utility/attack helicopter Pilot/Instructor for 12 years Active and 3 years Reserve.

Currently, I manage operations for a small industrial manufacturer that holds an expertise in manufacturing products for material flow and concrete consolidation.

Olawale Ojo

Wale is the Senior Global Lean Director at Griffith Foods, headquartered in Alsip IL. In this role he leads the development, implementation and sustainability of the global Lean program called the Griffith Production System. He is also responsible for the implementation and ongoing governance of the project-based continuous improvement program for the organization. Prior to joining Griffith Foods, Wale has worked in several manufacturing related positions in the food and beverage industry, medical device packaging industry, and oil refining. Wale holds a Masters degree in Industrial Technology and Operation from Illinois Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Technology from Southern Illinois University. Wale is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt from University of Illinois and a Certified Lean Manager from the Ohio State University.

Terri Ghio

Karpaga Sundari

Ryan Boynton

Eladio Silva

Patricia Markham

Brian Krinock

Brian Krinock is a senior vice-president at Toyota Motor North America. He oversees the manufacturing operations of eight vehicle production facilities in the USA, Canada and Mexico, as well as having responsibilities for the production engineering/planning/process/equipment projects in North America.

Prior to his current role, Brian served for five years as president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, Inc. (TMMC) after two years as vice president of manufacturing responsible for three separate vehicle manufacturing lines including Lexus.

Mr. Krinock held other positions within the Toyota organization including serving as the North American leader for the Toyota/Subaru manufacturing joint agreement in Lafayette, Indiana; general manager of Purchasing Division; and numerous positions within Production Engineering Division.

Before joining Toyota in 1991, Brian was with the Chrysler Corporation. He has two Bachelor of Science degrees from Michigan Technological University, in Houghton, Michigan, and a Master of Engineering from Oakland University, in Rochester, Michigan.

Chris Glover

Chris Glover is the new President and CEO at Volkswagen Chattanooga LLC, the company’s assembly plant in Tennessee. Glover assumed the role on January 1st and will lead the plant’s transformation and push towards electric mobility, starting with the localized production of the fully-electric Volkswagen ID.4 SUV in 2022. Glover was previously Executive Vice President and Member of the Board of Management at Volkswagen de México, responsible for Production and Logistics. He has served a career of more than 30 years at Volkswagen with leadership positions in several countries. Prior to Volkswagen de México, Glover served as Executive Director, Production Planning, at SAIC Volkswagen in China, and as Head of Division for Production Planning at Volkswagen of South Africa. Glover holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Cape Town, and a Business Management Diploma from Damelin College at Cape Town, South Africa.

Peter Gibbons

Peter Gibbons joined 3M in November 2021 as group president of Enterprise Operations, which brings together manufacturing, supply chain and customer operations, and is focused on optimizing the customer experience through end-to-end aligned and agile operations.

Prior to 3M, Peter served as chief executive officer of TireHub, a joint venture last mile distributor between Bridgestone and Goodyear. Possessing a wealth of experience in manufacturing and supply chain operations, Peter previously held senior-level executive positions at Mattel, Starbucks and ICI Paints North America. His growth mindset, inclusive leadership, and orientation toward developing talent and culture has helped him lead highly successful complex changes and significant transformation.

“I believe that building confidence and removing the fear of failure are key components of leadership,” says Peter. “People achieve great things when they are embraced and valued; when they are connected, not isolated; and when their intelligence and imagination are unleashed.”

Outside of work, Peter enjoys hiking, reading, and supporting the Glasgow Celtic soccer club and serves on the boards of CP Kelco and the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Physics from University of Edinburgh and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Strathclyde Business School in Glasgow, Scotland.

Vitor Gregorio

Vitor Gregorio is the President and CEO of Bosch Thermotechnology, the North America HVAC division for German multi-conglomerate Robert Bosch.

For more than 20 years, Vitor has been transforming the organization, making Bosch the leading brand in the HVAC industry in North America.

Under Vitor’s leadership, Bosch Thermotechnology North America today serves a large and diverse set of commercial and residential customers with state-of-art and high-end solutions for heating, coolling and hot-water in all 50 states and Canada.

In his current role as President and CEO, Vitor is credited with helping to define and execute on a groundbreaking restructuring and business turnaround, resulting in his division winning numerous awards and becoming the industry benchmark for customer centricity, innovation and high performance culture.

Recognized for his entreprenuerial spirit, passion and leadership, Vitor’s experience over the last two decades also includes leading growth and expansion for various Bosch divisions across five countries and three continents.

Vitor has a Bachelor degree from UBI in Portugal and MBA in Business Administration from IAE in Argentina and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. Originally from Portugal, Vitor lives in Boston, Massachusetts with his wife and two daughters. Passionate about living life to the fullest with his family, Vitor is an avid runner, cycilist and and a lover of turtle necks and sneakers…

In addition to his role as President and CEO, Vitor also serves as Chairman of the Board of FHP Manufacturing (a JointVenture of Bosch and Carrier) since 2016.

“ My goal is to inspire and to be inspired, to learn and to give back, to take change as an opportunity and to always becoming a better version of myself…”

Laura Phillips

Laura Phillips is the Senior Vice President for Customer and Business Development, Walmart Global Sourcing.

In this role, Laura works supports commercial strategy, customer engagement and business development initiatives within Global Sourcing across multiple categories and customers. Walmart’s Global Sourcing team develops end to end sourcing solutions across food, general merchandise and apparel and operates Sourcing hub offices in more than ten markets.

Laura has served in various executive leadership positions throughout her career at Walmart including leading Corporate Sustainability, merchandising teams, and participating in several transformation initiatives. Within her role in Sustainability, Laura was responsible for leading the development, cross-sectional coordination and implementation of key sustainability initiatives that focus on emissions avoidance, waste reduction, product sourcing and related programmatic areas. Her team developed and launched Project Gigaton, Walmart’s ambitious goal to work together with suppliers to reduce 1 billion metric tons of emissions by 2030.

Before being selected to lead the Walmart sustainability team in 2015, she spent more than 20 years with the retailer in a variety of other executive leadership positions that included advancing Walmart’s omnichannel enterprise initiatives and serving as a buyer, Divisional Merchandise Manager, and General Merchandise Manager across categories ranging from wireless services, to toys, to packaged food.

Laura earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Florida, as well as a Master of Business Administration from the University of Arkansas. She also is a graduate of the Global 2020 program at the Tuck Business School at Dartmouth College. She resides in Rogers, Arkansas with her husband, John, and their two children, Jack and Kate.

Stuart Countess

Stuart Countess is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Kia Georgia’s manufacturing facility in West Point, GA.  Countess is responsible for all operational facets of the four-model assembly plant that employs over 2,900 employees and produces a capacity of 340,000 vehicles annually.  A graduate of the University of Alabama in Electrical Engineering, Countess began his 30-year manufacturing career with Hughes Aircraft Corporation before moving into automotive at the Mercedes Benz assembly plant in Vance, AL.

In 2008, Countess was hired as the Sr. Manager for Kia Georgia’s General Assembly shop, where he was a key figure in developing and implementing The Kia Way and the Georgia Production System as core practices of the facility’s operational system.  Since his hiring, Countess has held positions as the company’s Director of Quality, Vice President of Quality and Chief Administrative Officer, and Chief Operating Officer before assuming his current role.

Martin Peryea

Jaunt Air Mobility is a transformative aerospace company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with design and manufacturing located in Montreal, Canada. Jaunt is building the next generation of eVTOL (electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing) air taxis for faster, quieter, and safer travel over urban areas, moving people and packages. Martin has 40+ years of experience designing, manufacturing, and commercializing aircraft. Before starting Jaunt Air Mobility in 2019, Mr. Peryea has held senior management positions at Triumph Aerospace Structures and Bell Helicopter. Under his leadership, he was responsible for multimillion-dollar aircraft programs. Martin has successfully managed over 800 employees, established performance goals, led cross-functional teams, implemented lean production and cost-control measures. He has aircraft design, analysis, development, test, and certification expertise. He has developed advanced aerospace systems in commercial and military aircraft and has extensive knowledge of rotorcraft aerodynamics, handling qualities, experimental rotorcraft, and wind tunnel testing and simulation. Mr. Peryea has certified more than four aircraft, including two from clean-sheet design through commercialization.

Jill Redmon

Jill Redmon is the Executive Vice President for Quality, Environmental, Health and Safety for Westinghouse Electric LLC. In this role, Jill has overall accountability for Quality, Nuclear Safety Culture, Industrial Safety, Employee Concerns Program, Human Performance, Supplier Quality, Continuous Improvement, as well as Regulatory Affairs, Environmental Affairs, Sustainability and Occupational Health.

Prior to her current roles, Jill has held senior leadership positions in Quality, Reliability and EHS in industrial organizations, regulated industries and the automotive sector. Having started her career as an engineer at Ford Motor Company, Jill went on to lead large-scale global quality and safety improvement programs for several large multinational companies, based both in the United States and in Europe, including Visteon, Borg Warner, Ecolab, Mann + Hummel and Lear Corporation.

Jill earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Lawrence Technological University and a Master of Science degree in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from the University of Michigan. She also has extensive experience in supplier management, product design and development, manufacturing engineering and business transformation. She resides in West Bloomfield, Michigan with her husband, Keith. She has two sons and two stepsons and is passionate about traveling around the world with her family.

Stephanie Pullings Hart

Ms. Hart is currently the Senior Vice President of Operations at Warby Parker. During her tenure, Warby Parker went public through a direct listing, opened a second optical lab, and has maintained exceptional quality and customer service as the company continues to inspire and impact the world with vision, purpose, and style.  Prior to joining Warby Parker, Ms. Hart was the Senior Vice Presidents of Global Operations at Beyond Meat, where she was part of the leadership team that took the company public in one of the best performing IPOs by a US company in almost two decades. Ms Hart has also held senior operating positions at Nestle and Jenny Craig.

Daniel Myers

• Senior Fellow at Haslam School of Business, University of Tennessee
• Board Member for Two Companies
• Private Equity Senior Operating Executive for The Carlyle Group
• Retired EVP, Global Supply Chain, Mondelēz International
• Former EVP, Global Supply Chain, Kraft Foods
• Former Global VP, Product Supply, Procter & Gamble

Daniel Myers is currently a Senior Fellow at Haslam School of Business teaching as a guest lecturer for both graduate and under-graduate studies. He currently serves as a Senior Operating Executive for the Carlyle Group, one of the largest Global Private Equity firms and is on two company boards. He is the retired Executive Vice President of the Global Integrated Supply Chain of Mondelez International where he led the Procurement, Manufacturing, Engineering, and Customer Service & Logistics groups, which represent more than 70,000 of the company’s employees.  Daniel held the same position at Kraft Foods Inc., the predecessor to Mondelēz International, since he joined the company in September 2011.  The spin-off of the company’s North American grocery operations occurred in October of 2012.  Under his leadership, Mondelez funded a major reinvention of its worldwide supply chain delivering more than $3 billion in savings over 3 years. He has extensive experience in investor management including representing Mondelez in the investor presentations at CAGNY and Barclays.

Prior to Kraft Foods, Daniel worked for Procter & Gamble for 33 years, serving in roles across all areas of the Supply Chain. Most recently, he served as Vice President, Product Supply, where he led the supply chain function for P&G’s Global Hair Care business. He was also responsible for coordinating the company’s $28 Billion Beauty & Grooming business.  He had responsibility for P&G’s Customer Service and Logistics operations globally for four years and while in this role he led the integration of the operations of the Gillette company, a $56 Billion acquisition.

Daniel has strong experience launching new brands and building operations in emerging markets. He has over 25 years’ experience delivering winning innovation leading major global expansions. He has worked in 54 countries and lived outside the U.S. for more than 10 years. Daniel has mastery in the successful implementation of best practices including building High Performance Organizations and Lean Six Sigma. During his successful career, he has had responsibility for over 250 manufacturing plants and 400 warehouse and distribution centers.

Daniel received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and served on the Board of the Global Supply Chain Institute at the University of Tennessee for over 10 years.

Daniel and Karen, his wife of 40 years, are Christians who have led music and youth groups for 5 churches in three different countries over a period of 25 years. They have been active in mission work helping support and build schools or orphanages in Venezuela, Romania, Nigeria, Kenya, India and Myanmar.

Nick Hoffman

Nick Hoffman is a singer-songwriter, fiddle player, producer, and television personality. He is also the host of the Outdoor Channel television series “Nick’s Wild Ride”, which airs on Outdoor Channel. He is also co-founder of the Elektra Records/Warner Music Nashville Recording Artists The Farm.

Shedrick Kynard

Shedrick Kynard is the Vice President at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International (MBUSI) in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for Body, Paint, and Assembly Operations responsible for planning, directing, and coordinating all plant operations in accordance with pre-established objectives at optimum cost with quality objectives.

Shedrick has worked in various production areas within MBUSI over the years. In 1997, he joined MBUSI as an Assembly Team Member producing the first generation M-Class.  He collaborated with the launch of the 2nd Assembly Hall and launch of the R-Class as well as the second generation M-Class in Plant Tuscaloosa. There he worked his way to Manager and then onto Senior Manager in 2008 and later moved back to the orginal Assembly Hall  where he steered the start of production of the C-Class for the United States.

Shedrick is from Birmingham, Alabama and attended Jacksonville State University.  He is a husband and father of 3 and very much enjoys spending time with his wife and childen at Sporting events – especially watching his daughter excel in Softball.

Bart Talloen

Bart has a lot of drive, energy and passion for excellence in all he does. He thrives on big challenges and stretch targets.

He is workout & pushup fanatic, is a fan of running & cycling.

As an executive supply chain leader for 30 years, Bart has a proven track record of success across several key SC functions such as Planning, Engineering, Manufacturing Operations, and General E2E Supply Chain Mgt. in Asia, Europe, North America.

During his career in pharma, OTC, consumer goods, Bart has managed large supply networks, has acquired/divested operations, built new plants/closure of plants. He has successfully executed a Consent Decree & re-certified plants by FDA and lead major large scale strategic programs.
Bart is a leader focused on:

• Coaching & develop talent to reach their highest potential
• Putting the needs of J&J’s customers & employees first
• Leverage collaborations and learnings from others

Bart’s peers describe him as: “a dynamic leader with vision, can mobilise & guide others through transformations, and is result oriented, confident & resilient.”

In his current role as the Vice President Strategy, Innovation & Deployment (and member of the J&J Supply Chain Leadership Team), Bart is responsible to develop & deploy J&J SC strategy across J&J businesses, through:

1. Activate leading edge customer strategic & innovation insights & foresight to fuel the SC strategy & turn in competitive advantage.
2. Leverage ext. eco-systems to develop new & innovative SC capabilities, driving growth and differentiating customer outcome.
3. Drive E2E SC orchestration by leveraging advanced planning cap & evolving J&J operating system.
4. Develop & deploy culture, train / learning & leadership programs.
5. Provide centralized capabilities / services for J&J SC eg. SCRM, Strat Partnership Mgt,OT systems

Bart has a broad network across industry, consortia, academia, ext thought groups eg. WEF, Gartner. He is a speaker in mfg., supply chain, innovation etc. conferences

He and his wife live in Skillman, New Jersey USA, and have two grown up sons.

Maciej Stawicki

Maciej Stawicki is the P&G Global Manufacturing Vice President. He owns the Integrated Work System capability building program for 113 manufacturing sites across the globe. Stawicki earned his MS in Mechanical Engineering from Warsaw Technical University and worked as Process Engineer in CNC Machine Tools Design Center before joining P&G in 1993. Since then he successfully performed several manufacturing roles in several countries including leading 3 plants in Saudi Arabia, Poland, and Germany. Prior to his current role, Stawicki led the Baby Care category Product Supply organization in India, Middle East, and Africa region.

Natalia Méndez

Natalia Méndez DeBriones, leads the medical devices manufacturing cluster for Philips. In her current role she is responsible for leading 13 manufacturing plants, located across the world.  She has been in Medical Devices manufacturing for the past 16 years and has experience in different roles:  Quality, Product Design, Plastic Molding & Extrusion, and is passionate about Lean, Six Sigma, and Continuous Improvement.

During her career, she has been able to transform and optimize manufacturing processes to better support customer needs and increase value brought to the company.  She enjoys working with interdisciplinary teams and finding new ways to achieve goals, while creating development opportunities for her team and others.

Through commitment, empowerment, and improving skills, not only for herself, but for her team, she has been able to triple productivity under high regulated environments, lead teams through challenging regulatory situations, and influence deep cultural shifts that have yielded on improved customer satisfaction and optimized cost of operations.  She has led her teams through Manufacturing Excellence Competitions, being awarded repeatedly on several categories in some of her factories.

Natalia is native from Costa Rica, where she lives with her husband. She loves art, reading, and cooking. She gets her energy from working with others and learning from different backgrounds.

Maithili Shenoy

Maithili Shenoy is the Vice President of Western Hemisphere Sourcing & Manufacturing for Target. In this role, she has leadership for Target’s Owned Brand Nearshore Sourcing across all categories.   Prior to Target, Maithili spent almost 2 decades at Nike in various planning & supply chain leadership roles including global leadership of Nike’s Supply Chain Sustainability, Direct to Consumer Supply Chain and Customer Operations functions, kick-starting Nike’s Replenishment business model, to heading up the Sales and Operations Planning and Demand Planning & Inventory Management functions for Nike’s Asia Pacific & Latin America region. Prior to Nike, Maithili was a management consultant for Accenture and Deloitte where she provided strategy, supply chain and retail consulting services to Fortune 500 companies. She holds a B.S. in Engineering – Operations Research from Columbia University and a Masters Degree in International Business from Sophia University in Tokyo.

Barb Callander

Ms Callander is Vice President, Operations Excellence, Six Sigma and Learning at Maple Leaf Foods (MLF) and a member of the MLF Senior Management Forum, focusing on continuous improvement and process optimization. With extensive experience in Operations, Labour Relations, Quality, Manufacturing Engineering, Program Management and Six Sigma – Lean Manufacturing, she is a leader in developing young women in non-traditional STEM roles. As a supporter of diversity and inclusion, she is past Chair of the GM of Canada Woman’s Advisory Council, current member of the MLF Diversity and Inclusion Council and an active mentor to women in the workforce.

John McGirr

John McGirr is vice president, Manufacturing, Corning Incorporated, effective June 2019. McGirr is responsible for global manufacturing performance, advancing cost leadership, deploying capabilities, and developing the next generation of leadership. He is also responsible for setting strategic priorities for corporate safety, advancing Performance Excellence, guiding the Quality function, and providing leadership for strategic corporate initiatives. McGirr chairs Corning’s Manufacturing Excellence Council, co-sponsors the Supply Chain Council, and participates on the Strategic Growth Council.

Prior to his current role, McGirr served as vice president, Global Manufacturing, Optical Connectivity Solutions, Corning Optical Communications from 2016 to May 2019. He was responsible for global manufacturing, engineering, and supply chain functions. From 2009 through 2015, he served as division vice president, Manufacturing and Supply Chain Operations, Corning Life Sciences. In this role, he oversaw manufacturing, engineering, supply chain, quality, and regulatory functions. He drove the strategy to achieve an advantaged cost, service, and quality position while supporting extensive growth through global M&A and capacity expansion.

Prior to Life Sciences, McGirr served as director of Corning Manufacturing Excellence, and was responsible for the ongoing advancement of manufacturing through deployment of the Achieving Manufacturing Excellence Model, Audit, and Training program. Previously, he was global support manager, Cable Operations, where he co-led the project team to move cable operations from Germany to Poland, while also supporting the cable operations in China. McGirr joined

Corning Cable Systems (formerly Siecor) in 1992 as a production supervisor in the telecommunications cable plant in Hickory, North Carolina. He then joined the Greenfield start-up team for a new cable plant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and held a variety of managerial positions in manufacturing and engineering, including plant manager.

Prior to joining Corning, McGirr served as a Submarine Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy, and a project engineer for Mobil Oil Company. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and is a board member of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).

Eric Crouthamel

Eric Crouthamel is Vice President Operations Transformation and Integration for MillerKnoll, which after merger is one of the largest and most influential modern design companies in the world.  In his new role, Eric is responsible for operations integration of the companies and leading synergy opportunities across the global manufacturing footprint.

Prior to this role, Eric served as Vice President Continuous Improvement at Knoll leading the charge on improvement opportunities and consolidation efforts across manufacturing and distribution.  He also served as Vice President Manufacturing over 2 manufacturing plants at Knoll.  Previous to his roles at MillerKnoll, Eric worked for a Danaher Company, Kollmorgen, where he held numerous positions in operations, quality, and lean roles in his 12 years there.  Regardless of the role held, Eric has a passion for driving improvement initiatives and leading change.  Eric has had the privilege of working directly with Shingijutsu USA, partnering with them on a number of kaizen workshops within the facilities he has led.

Eric has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State University.  He, his wife, and 2 children (7, 9) reside in Harleysville, PA.

Mike Carroll

Mike is a graduate of Ohio University with a degree in Engineering and an advanced education in Psychology. With dog-years of experience as an industry executive, Mike’s background includes Pulp & Paper – with Mead and Georgia-Pacific (GP), Robotics & Software as Deputy Chairman and CEO of UK based Shepard, LTD, and Construction and Building Products as co-owner of Atlanta based McTech Group, a company serving fortune 500 companies including Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, Kroger and others. In 2010, Mike left retirement to join GP as VP Innovation, where the MBM® philosophy and Mike’s mindset of innovation were in alignment.

In 2019, he was named Innovator of the Year by ASPI, the Association of Suppliers to the Paper Industry. He also received the 2020 Visionary of the Year award from Smart Industry Magazine. He is involved in numerous innovations and transformations across GP and Koch Industries and continues to be a frequently featured keynote speaker at industrial and manufacturing events around the world. He is recognized for his knowledge and experience in leadership, innovation, organizational transformation, and intellectual honesty.

Kulwant Sandhu

Kulwant Sandhu joined Outset as Vice President, Integrated Supply Chain in April 2018, she has 30 years of end to end domestic and international supply chain architecture and optimization experience in high growth environments. Prior to joining Outset, Kulwant was Director if Supply Chain at Abbott’s Heart Failure division where she led global teams in sourcing strategy, procurement, S&OP and logistics. Kulwant has led positions of increasing responsibility at companies including Thoratec, Luxim, Miasole, and Maxtor(Seagate), where she was responsible for strategic sourcing, COGS reduction and logistics and distribution simplification initiatives.

Ron Norris

Ron helps others transform the way work happens. He is a results-driven leader and a frequently requested speaker in forums around the world. He has vast experience in leading high-performance cross-functional (customer, product, operational) teams, organizational transformation, and applying technology to reduce variability and increase reliability.

He is recognized for his leadership strength, opportunity-focused innovation, and his talent in translating difficult concepts into easy-to-understand pathways.

Before joining Georgia-Pacific, Ron spent what seems like a lifetime establishing a proven track record of innovation, change management, and creating new processes and new products with some of the largest companies in the USA.

Debra Poppas

Debbie Poppas was named PACCAR Vice President – Global Quality & Industrialization beginning September 2021.

Prior to her current role, Ms. Poppas held positions as the Vice President Global Quality for PACCAR, Senior Vice President of Global Engineering, Quality and IT at Remy International, and Vice President of Global Engineering and Innovation at Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies. She also held positions of increasing responsibility at Delphi Delco Electronics, including General Director of Global Engineering, Quality and Program Management.

Ms Poppas holds a BME, Electrical Engineering from Kettering University and a Master of Science, Electrical Engineering from Purdue University. Ms. Poppas has extensive experience in structured problem solving, Six Sigma program implementation, global capability development, as well as over 35 years of business experience in product and manufacturing engineering, product validation, program management, quality operations, and business process transformation.

Angela Reamer

Angela Reamer is the Vice President of Manufacturing at Monin Americas.  With a continuous improvement mindset, she leads the manufacturing, maintenance and engineering teams while also being highly involved in safety and quality.  During her 17 years in manufacturing at major food and beverage companies, she has held leadership positions in production, continuous improvement (TPM/WCM), maintenance, engineering and quality, giving her a well-rounded knowledge and experience base.  She has a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Management (emphasis Industrial Engineering) from Missouri University of Science and Technology and is currently pursuing her Master’s in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from University of Kentucky.

Sergio Loureiro

Sergio is VP, Core Operations, Microsoft CO+I, driving global growth of the Azure Cloud. He oversees global End-to-End Data Center Delivery, EH&S, Physical Security, Governance, Risk Management, Resilience, Business Continuity, Assurance, Compliance, Learning & Development, Sustainability and Community Development. Prior, Sergio was VP, Operations, Carrier Global Corporation, leading Global Operations, responsible for Global Supply Chain, Logistics, Manufacturing operations, Quality, EH&S, and Product Safety to improve operational efficiency across the entire footprint. Sergio was VP Global Supply Chain, VP Manufacturing Operations & Assembly, VP Capacity and Materials Planning, VP Supplier Quality and VP Strategic Sourcing at Raytheon Technologies – Pratt & Whitney, where he assured quality, delivery, capacity expansion and cost performance and secured more than $21 billion in supplier contracts.

John Haselrig

John Haselrig is currently VP of Specialties Operations at Glanbia Foods. His previous roles include VP of Operations and Development at Meijer Foods, Regional VP of Mid-West operations in The Coca- Cola Company, Plant Manager in Diamond Crystal Inc, Multiple leadership roles on the local and regional level across Operations and Supply Chain at The Frito-Lay company and 10 Years as an Officer in the US Army where he qualified and served as an Airborne Ranger. During his career he has been responsible for multiple sites with end to end focus from procurement to the consumer shelf. He also has significant international operational experience with areas of responsibility in Asia, Latin America and Europe over the course of his career.

Will Wootton

Experience from several different fields; Oil and gas, manufacturing, health care, pharma, education. Practitioner of Operational Excellence, Problem Solving, Organizational Transformation, and Personal Development. Love challenging the status quo, helping teams and individuals to grow, and connecting purpose to improving lives.

Thomas Ford

Thomas Ford has 19 years of experience with PACCAR and is currently the Peterbilt Training Manager. He previously worked as a Material Handler, Design Engineer, Liaison Engineer, Liaison Engineering Manager, and Manufacturing Engineering Manager. Thomas holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering Technology and an MBA in Administrative Management from the University of North Texas and is a Professional Engineer. He also serves on the University of North Texas Mechanical Engineering Advisory Board and the North Central Texas College Industrial Technology Advisory Board. He represents Peterbilt on the National Association of Manufacturing Leadership Council.

Tammy Golden

Tamberlin Golden is the General Motors Executive Director, Workforce Strategy, Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, as of May 2021.

Tamberlin leads the strategy to increase the overall agility of the global workforce by enabling skills-based pathways of entry and career development. She is spearheading the development of an ecosystem of key external and internal partnerships to ensure the workforce is inclusive of all backgrounds. Tamberlin’s experience in lean manufacturing, negotiations, procurement, and contract strategies, change leadership and her strong track record of employee engagement will be instrumental as we build these partnerships.

Over the years, Tamberlin has demonstrated commitment to diversity leadership. In October 2020. She was awarded the nationally adjudicated, prestigious Women of Color in Technology STEM Conference Diversity Leadership Award. Tamberlin is the current president of the General Motors African Ancestry Network (GMAAN) and the former president of GM WOMEN. During her tenure as president, the GM WOMEN organization was rebranded and restructured for greater reach and relevance. She also championed global alignment of GM WOMEN while establishing a clear path of communication to senior leadership.

Tamberlin has depth of experience in manufacturing, program launches and leading teams. She has served in positions of increasing responsibility including serving as Plant Director at Flint Engine Operations and Warren Transmission Operations with budget responsibility in excess of $100M prior to the current appointment. She has cross functional leadership experience in HR, Labor Relations, Quality, Vehicle Assembly, Global Propulsion Systems and Global Facilities, Procurement & Contracts. Her experience spans multiple manufacturing locations and headquarters assignments. Tamberlin holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from Wayne State University.

Tamberlin uses her platform to inspire and mentor all ages. She is passionate about creating exposure opportunities for underrepresented communities and growing their minds around their potential for future success. Serving as the Executive Chair for UNCF on behalf of General Motors, she led the team to raise more than $750K to support funding scholarships for deserving students. She is on the Scholarship Board for Women of Tomorrow providing pathways to college education for at-risk teens. She serves on the Services to Youth Trend for the Oakland County (MI) Links. She has people and community at the center of her being, but her highest priority is being wife to Florida, a mother to Brandon and Toya and a grandmother to Nova in Troy, MI.

“It’s not about how long you live, but how well you do it.” – Martin Luther King

Gustavo Lage

Gustavo Lage is the Senior Director of Operational Excellence, Process and Leadership Excellence for Medtronic Inc.

In this role, Gustavo provides leadership and strategic direction to Capture, design and standardize the “one best way” (1BW) methodology steps and tools that establish the holistic operational excellence program Medtronic Performance System and translate the Process Excellence 1BW into training content that enables the organization to achieve in practice the common language, common process by aligning leadership behaviors to the desired OPEX culture

Gus has over 20 years of experience in OpEx and manufacturing management. He is a proven leader with exceptional business acumen and leadership skills demonstrated in large manufacturing settings in the automotive, medical, advanced manufacturing, aerospace, and defense industries.

Before joining Medtronic in 2019, Gus served as Vice President of Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement for Novanta, where he led the creation and set the direction of the company’s operating system through the implementation of existing continuous improvement methodologies and the development of Novanta-specific principles and processes. He also was responsible for leading the operational excellence activities and synergies for the United Technologies – Rockwell Collins acquisition, and the incorporation of both business systems. The acquisition is the largest in the history of aerospace and defense industries (30bn USD) incorporating over 50 manufacturing facilities worldwide and 16000 operations related personnel.

Gus has master’s degrees in Science and Analytics from Villanova University and Business Administration from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Systems Engineering from Monterrey Institute of Technology. He is also a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt.

Gus and his family reside in Littleton, Massachusetts.

Brent Roach

Brent Roach is a native of Arkansas and has lived in NWA for 25 years.  He started his business career as an industrial supply salesman.  From there he became a trainer / performance consultant for Dale Carnegie Training in NWA and continued to build his skills in effective communication, people skills, leadership, and public speaking.  Upon leaving the training industry he started his project management career with the largest North American, aluminum wheel supplier in the US.  He joined Tyson Foods in 2013 as a margin manager in the pizza toppings division.  In December of 2014 he joined the Continuous Improvement team as a facilitator and coach.  His years of experience in sales, leadership training, and project management are all qualities that have helped him become the leader he is today.  Most recently he began a new role as the Poultry Program Manager.  In this role he works with executive level sponsored initiatives that impact bottom line performance.

Brent has been married for 26 years to his wife Julie.  They have three children Sally (22), Clayton (20), and Emma (17).  He is very active in his kid’s activities, an elder at his church, and enjoys all things outdoors.

He received his business degree from Harding University and has been a certified Dale Carnegie Trainer for more than 18 years.  He is a certified trainer for Achieve Global and he received his Green Belt and Black Belt certification from Tyson Foods.

Over the  years I’ve been surrounded by leaders who demonstrated a servant heart style and helped me grow into the leader I am today.  Whether official or unofficial, I feel like I’ve been mentored by men and women that saw more in me at the time and this allowed me to now want to do the same for others.

Fun fact about me is that I really do enjoy helping others grow in their ability  to express their ideas, opinions, and goals.  Public speaking / effective communication is a skill that assists leaders excel in their professional lives and live a more impactful personal life.

Satish Seshayya

Satish Seshayya has been the IT Business Applications Leader for Engineering, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Human Capital Management at Lennox International since January 2017. He is responsible for driving technology innovation in areas such as Industry 4.0, AR/VR, BOTS, and AI/ML applied in these functions.

He began his career in management and technology consulting with KPMG Peat Marwick LLP 26 years ago. During his time with KPMG, he served in IT leadership roles for some of the world’s most recognizable brands. A seasoned executive in supply chain, retail, and manufacturing technology, he has held management positions at Brinks, Dr Pepper Snapple, Fossil, Apple, and Levi Strauss. He led business transformation programs at all these companies during his career and has worked in positions of global responsibility.

Satish has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a master’s degree in Industrial Production Engineering.

Adrienne Golding

For over 16 years, Adrienne has worked with one of Canada’s leading Food Manufacturing companies, Maple Leaf Foods, in various roles, primarily within the Pork Complex of the organization.  As a Director of Six Sigma and Operational Excellence, one of her key roles is to engage the organization towards operational maturity while generating engagement in Continuous Improvement.  The COVID pandemic created unique situations where rigor, data analytics, and strict attention to bottom line results were necessary to ensure safe and continued operations within all locations. Adrienne currently works with an exceptional team to continue to find ways to standardize processes and reduce waste throughout the organization while moving the needle towards Excellence.

Zhaleh Naghibzadeh

Zhaleh Naghibzadeh, Senior Director of EHS Systems and Processes for PepsiCo North Americas Beverages, is a seasoned EHS professional with over 20 years of experience in manufacturing settings including food/beverages, utility, chemicals, and electronics assembly.  She has been working at PepsiCo for 15 years and is responsible for audit programs, systems, and EHS programs to support the North American business.  Zhaleh is also a licensed Professional Engineer and has a Masters in Environmental Management.  Her passion in the EHS space is integrating EHS processes into the business to drive accountability and ownership.

Martin Venegas

I am an endless learner with 15-years of experience in global food & beverages companies, helping Supply Chain, Manufacturing & Engineering teams to unleash people potential for value creation. I believe in a people-first culture to provide a safe environment to learn and develop.

Liana Pop

Liana Pop is a Business Transformation Director at Reynolds Consumer Products. In her current role, Liana is partnering cross-functionally to design, test and implement strategic initiatives for the company. Additionally, Liana is leading the program governance process, reporting and analysis for the company’s portfolio of cost savings and growth/innovation programs. Liana is passionate about process improvement and is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. Her diverse experience in Program Design, Process Improvement, Operations, Retail, Sales, and Master Data has helped her successfully drive initiatives across multiple industries – Telecommunications, Drug Store Channel and CPG-, and across multiple business functions. Being part of collaborative program teams and working to achieve challenging business objectives is what makes Liana enjoy her role the most.

Stephen Graham

Stephen Graham is considered by many to be a Renaissance Man – he’s travelled the world, he’s a great story teller, he’s a trained Engineer, and he knows how to put people at ease and bring out the best in them.

He also happens to be a world class business Executive who runs a very large global organization for Energy giant, Baker Hughes.  His professional bona fides are: He leads Baker Hughes’s Oilfield Services (OFS) Manufacturing Center of Excellence, establishing the governance related to OFS and leading innovation through manufacturing and Supply Chain activities.

Stephen joined Baker in 1992 and has spent most of his career in Supply Chain, managing teams across multiple functions, leading plants around the world and recently created and drove the strategy and execution of the global supply chain to a clear #1 position in the market.

Christina Hudson

Director, QHSES Excellence
5 years with TechnipFMC
25 years experience
ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt, Business Process Management Certification Boston College University, Master Black Belt from Cameron | Schlumberger
Experience: Business Excellence, Pulse Impact Quality, Quality, HSE, Finance, Accounting, Lean Six Sigma, Mergers & Acquisition, Divestitures, Operations Excellence, Project Management, Process Development and Improvement, Facilitation, Training & Development — —
Previous Senior Leadership positions:
Vice President, Subsea Quality for Global Business Unit;
Vice President, QHSES for North America Regional Business Unit;
Director of Quality for North America Manufacturing

Jackie Perez

Jackie Perez is a Plant Manager responsible for the production of active vehicle safety systems within the commercial vehicle industry at Bendix, located in Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico. The campus near the Texas border combines three production facilities, a distribution center and employs slightly over 2,000 team members. Jackie has worked in the manufacturing industry for the past 19 years and is a firm believer in the development of team members as the key to long-term success. She has successfully managed to grow both her career and family by focusing on what is important to her and prioritizing accordingly.

Jackie holds a B.B.A. in Accounting from St. Mary’s University and a M.S. in Accounting from New England College. In addition, Jackie is a graduate of the University of Michigan’s Strategic Leaders Program.

Doug Saunders

Douglas has been at Flexco for 4 years. He is responsible for the roles of Director of Manufacturing Operations North America. Prior to Flexco, he worked at Flexco GR and Clipper Belt Lacer. He earned his Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.), Strategic Business Management at Davenport University.

Thomas Schoen

Tom is currently Director of Process Excellence at Clarios. He has 27 years of manufacturing leadership experience in the US Region in the areas of Operational and Process Excellence, Continuous Improvement, Engineering and Quality. Tom has obtained a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign and an MBA from DePaul University. Tom lives in the Chicago area with his wife and two daughters.

Olawale Ojo

Wale is the Senior Global Lean Director at Griffith Foods, headquartered in Alsip IL. In this role he leads the development, implementation and sustainability of the global Lean program called the Griffith Production System. He is also responsible for the implementation and ongoing governance of the project-based continuous improvement program for the organization. Prior to joining Griffith Foods, Wale has worked in several manufacturing related positions in the food and beverage industry, medical device packaging industry, and oil refining. Wale holds a Masters degree in Industrial Technology and Operation from Illinois Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Technology from Southern Illinois University.

Morgan Malone

Morgan Malone is the Global Manufacturing Leader at EY, responsible for delivering world class manufacturing capabilities and results to our clients. Morgan has 20+ years experience across consulting and industry, with a specific focus on manufacturing and overall operational excellence.  Prior to EY, he served in a variety of manufacturing and production roles, including Vice President / Plant Manager, at a premium food and gift producer and retailer.  He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, Information & Operations Management from Texas A&M University.

“My passion is helping client leaders and operators drive a high reliability culture with people at the core, who are enabled and empowered to achieve a zero loss mindset and 100% total employee engagement.”

Paul Damaren

Paul Damaren is an Executive Partner with ReposiTrak, a global software company. Paul has worked as an Executive in the Management Systems and Food Safety Certification space for 17 years and has over 35 years’ experience in the hospitality, service, and retail agri-food sectors. Paul is currently a Strategic Advisor for the Crisis Ready Institute, an Advisory Council Member with The George Washington University, School of Business for their Digital Marketing Certificate Program, and he also maintains an Executive Partner & CCO position with StepUp Solution Services, a global consulting and advisory firm. Before working in the Certification industry, Paul was a professional Chef and consultant for 20+ years.

Paul Boris

Starting his career in operations and engineering at companies including GM, Paul recognized the opportunities to drive performance with advanced manufacturing IT solutions. Ever since, he has been a leading voice for emerging technologies like the pioneering manufacturing intelligence platform, Lighthammer, then as GVP of Enterprise Operations Management Solutions at SAP, and then back on the client side as CIO of Advanced Manufacturing Strategy at GE, where he worked closely with senior executives and operational teams to deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in sustainable performance improvements. Just prior to joining Praemo, Paul was COO of smart glasses manufacturer, Vuzix.

Willem Sundblad

Willem Sundblad is the co-founder and CEO of Oden Technologies, a company empowering manufacturers to make more, waste less, and innovate faster through machine learning and applied analytics. He is a Forbes.com contributing writer and a recognized leading voice in manufacturing analytics. He is pioneering the use of real-time and predictive analytic tools that uncover untapped value. Sundblad aims to transform the manufacturing industry by digitizing, analyzing, and perfecting peak factory performance. In his spare time, he takes every chance he gets to enjoy the mountains, either skiing, hiking, or climbing.

Christina Pierce

Christina currently heads the sales operations for Panasonic’s Industrial IoT Solutions group leading a technical sales team developing Industry 4.0 material flow solutions for the manufacturing industry.

Prior to joining Panasonic, Christina spent 22 years at Xerox Corporation.  While at Xerox she held a number of roles in product development, manufacturing & supply chain and business operations.  Christina led the manufacturing start-up of several new cutting-edge production printing machines and then went on to manage the manufacturing operations for Xerox’s flagship iGen family of products.

Outside of work, Christina is active in her community having previously served as Club Co-Coordinator of Victor Central School’s FIRST LEGO League Club, and as the President of the Monroe County Women’s Alliance.  She is currently on the leadership team of the New York Chapter of Women in Manufacturing and on the Rochester Institute of Technology Alumni Association Board of Directors.

Shane Yount

Shane A. Yount is a nationally recognized thought leader, author, and President of Competitive Solutions, Inc. (CSI), an international Business Transformation consulting firm which pioneered the acclaimed organizational development system known as Process Based Leadership®. Since 1991 he has led the offices of CSI in becoming one of the nation’s most recognized Business Transformation consulting firms, personally working with such organizations as The Department of Defense, 3M, Colgate Palmolive, Bristol Meyers Squibb, and many others.

Matt Delaney

David Meek

David joined IBM in 2002 and has 30 years of experience deploying supply chain, analytic, IoT and AI solutions to a variety of manufacturers in automotive, electronics, chemicals, agribusiness, consumer products and both upstream and downstream oil & gas companies.

In the last five years, David has driven the use of AI in the manufacturing environment and helped shape IBM’s offerings and solutions for Industry 4.0, IoT and cognitive.

David is an is an industry veteran with broad consulting experience, delivering Industry 4.0 strategy and deploying IBM’s artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions to improve business results from manufacturing processes.

Mike Lackey

Mike Lackey joined SAP in 2008 through the acquisition of Visiprise and is the Global Head of Solution Management, Digital Manufacturing. With previous roles at Visiprise, NetVendor and Teradyne Manufacturing Software Group, Mr. Lackey has a unique set of knowledge that covers both manufacturing software and design collaboration along with over 30 years of experience in the manufacturing sector. Early in his career, he started as a manufacturing engineer with DCA/Attachmate, which provided him with invaluable first-hand knowledge and understanding of how SAP customers can use SAP’s Digital Manufacturing Solution Portfolio to improve their global operations. Mr. Lackey earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and an MA in Business Administration from Mercer University with dual concentrations in International Business and Marketing.

Shawn Smith

Shawn is the Business Leader for North America. Shawn has held multiple positions in his 17 years with Milliken. His roles as Process Improvement Engineer, Operations Leader, Supply Chain Leader and Senior Practitioner have prepared him for his current role as the Business Leader for North America with Performance Solutions.

Donavan Hornsby

Donavan Hornsby has dedicated the past 20 years of his career to the advancement of Environment, Social & Governance (ESG) principles and best practices in industry. Donavan serves as Chief Market Strategy Officer at Benchmark Digital Partners LLC and the Benchmark ESG™ | Gensuite® digital solution. Donavan provides strategic direction for global business/market development and product leadership & innovation for the organization. In addition to organizational leadership responsibilities, Donavan is an active thought leader and member of cross-industry efforts to advance and promote the impact of and best practices within ESG.

James Newman

James Newman is Director of Market Strategy at Augury. With over 20 years of experience across engineering, manufacturing, and technology adoption, James brings a customer-focused outlook to understanding how technology impacts organizational outcomes. James’ experience has spanned numerous industries, including energy, water, manufacturing, marine and mining; focused on understanding the real challenges within organizations and how digital solutions can augment and accelerate organizational and cultural transformation. James is a passionate evangelist for the power of transformation and has presented at events globally on how digital adoption can improve worker’s lives while increasing value for the organizations they work for.

Fabien Duboeuf

Leveraging his scientific background, his career started as a research scientist working on bacteria and enzymes in France, England and in the US. He learned to gather insights, design experiments to find creative solutions.

Later as an entrepreneur, he learned that empathy and a customer centric approach lead to successful business outcomes.

In his corporate career, he combined his scientific approach with customer skills at Elsevier, Autodesk, and Siemens guiding his customers through their digital  transformation to lead disruption in their industry. Odds are he has been engaged with your company in the past, including Google where he now works!

Michael Hart

Michael Hart is a senior director of product for manufacturing and industrial IoT at Plex Systems. In this role, he designs and builds cloud solutions exclusively for the manufacturing industry. Mike also leads IoT (Internet of Things) product innovation, helping global manufacturers leverage the latest connected technologies to achieve more efficient, agile, and automated operations. Mike has over 20 years of experience in the cloud software industry.

Brian Krinock

Brian Krinock is senior vice president, Vehicle Plants, for Toyota Motor North America (TMNA). TMNA supports Toyota’s engineering and manufacturing operations in North America. In his current role, Krinock is responsible for Toyota’s seven vehicle assembly plants.

Prior to his current role, Krinock served for five years as president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, Inc. (TMMC). TMMC assembles the Corolla, RAV4 and Lexus RX350 and Lexus RX450h vehicles. He also served as vice president of manufacturing at TMMC, responsible for overseeing all vehicle manufacturing operations, as well as production control.

Previsiously, Krinock’s roles with the organization included serving as the North American leader for the Toyota/Subaru manufacturing joint agreement in Lafayette, Indiana; general manager of Purchasing Division; and numerous positions within Production Engineering Division.

Before joining Toyota in 1991, Krinock was with the Chrysler Corporation. He has two Bachelor of Science degrees from Michigan Technological University, in Houghton, Michigan, and a Master of Engineering from Oakland University, in Rochester, Michigan.

Jami Dunbar

Jami Dunbar is Senior Vice President of Under Armour’s Global Product Supply. With 25 years’ experience in apparel and footwear, her key focus is conceiving, testing and developing future processes for design, manufacturing and virtualization of apparel and footwear. Jami is a strong believer that with vision and compassionate leadership we can utilize the resources at hand to develop revolutionary solutions that better our everyday lives.

Jami has also served as Vice President of Apparel for Lighthouse, Under Armour’s advanced manufacturing innovation hub. She joined Under Armour in August 2012 and has been grateful to lead a team in the creation of award-winning and patented designs.

Prior to Under Armour, Jami served as Vice President of Technical Design at Abercrombie & Fitch and previously held positions at Hollister, Nordstrom and Abercrombie Kids.

Jami believes that expanding her knowledge and educating others is key to evolving the industry’s thought process. She maintains active involvement with students in Apparel and Textiles and serve on multiple academic Advisory Boards. She received a Bachelor of Science in Apparel and Textiles from Kansas State University, holds several certifications and continues to search for opportunities to learn about technologies that are shaping the way we will live our future lives.

Dave Warrick

As GM of Global Supply Chain for Microsoft, Dave manages the order to cash cycle, Channel Operations Planning  and Distribution & Logistics for all Microsoft physical products worldwide including Xbox, Surface, Accessories and Surface Hub.  He also manages all aspects of Channel Management, Software Manufacturing, and numerous other functions as the customer facing part of the Manufacturing and Supply Chain organization. Dave and his team are responsible for all products in all channels including Retail, Commercial, Operator, and Direct to Consumer through Microsoft Online and Brick and Mortar stores.

Dave joined Microsoft in 1999 working through various roles in Supply Chain and product release. Prior to Microsoft, Dave held roles with Andersen Consulting and Coca-Cola and worked as a Project Engineer on the new Hong Kong Airport. Dave holds a B.Eng (Hons) in Manufacturing Engineering and is a C.Eng (Chartered Engineer) with the IET (Institute of Engineering and Technology – Manufacturing Division).

In his spare time, Dave enjoys spending time with his family, and never-ending physical therapy.

Ana Lopez

An industrial engineer with over 26 years of experience. Ana is currently responsible for the North America Foods and Refreshments Supply Chain. She is responsible for planning,  manufacturing, engineering, and strategic planning for a wide array of brands including B&J, Talenti, Knorr, Magnum, and Lipton.

During her 27 tenure at Johnson and Johnson, her responsibilities included the manufacturing operations of the Cardiovascular and Specialty Solutions (CSS) Group within the J&J Medical Devices Supply Chain, consisting of over 10 plants and more than 5,700 employees all over the world. Previously, she served as the Vice President of Strategy and Deployment for the Global Surgery (GS) Supply Chain group, where she was responsible for the development and deployment of initiatives to ensure that GS manufacturing goals and objectives were achieved, and that their alignment with the Global Supply Chain was met.

As the site leader of Neutrogena’s Los Angeles, California plant, Ana was responsible for all procurement, engineering and manufacturing. She was responsible for a 28.5% improvement in all service levels from 2010 to 2011, and coordinated the implementation of major quality improvement initiatives, and the site’s master plan.

Ana holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from Universidad Iberoamericana, an MS in Industrial Engineering from Universidad de las Americas, and an MBA in Healthcare Management from Regis University. She is a triathlete and a mother of three.

Mitra Kashanchi

Mitra Kashanchi is the Vice President of Chevron Chemicals, a position she has held since October 2020.

Ms. Kashanchi began her career with Chevron 29 years ago.  Previously, she served as Salt Lake Refinery General Manager, Refinery Business Manager for the Richmond Refinery Hydro Processing Business Unit. In 2012, she was the Operations Manager at the Chevron refinery in Burnaby, British Columbia.  From 1991 to 2012, she worked at the El Segundo Refinery in various roles, including as Operations Section Head.  As Section Head of the Refinery Systems Divisions, she was responsible for three cogeneration units, the water treatment unit, blending, and shipping and wharf operations.

Mitra earned a bachelor’s degree in Applied Chemistry from Iran National University.  She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and a master’s degree in Physical Chemistry, both from California State University, Long Beach.

Mitra has two daughters. One graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles and now works in the field of Human resources Los Angeles Area. The other is currently studying for her Ph.D in Chemistry and Materials Science at the University of California, Los Angeles.  Her husband of 32 years, Ryan, is with Remax Premier-Realty.

Elizabeth Baker

Newly appointed as Head of Integrated Supply Chain Strategy, Transformation and Process, Elizabeth Baker leads the global transformation of Integrated Supply Chain and Order to Cash processes at Philips. She is responsible for developing the ISC strategy, transformation roadmap and new process capabilities to deliver improved supply chain outcomes and customer experience.

Elizabeth’s previous role as  Head of Manufacturing Medical Devices, she led a global transformation of medical devices manufacturing at Philips, bringing customer focus, operational excellence, standard ways of working and a digital approach to $5 Billion in sales revenue. She is responsible for day to day execution and delivery to customers, development of new manufacturing capabilities and the overall manufacturing strategy for medical devices.

As a decisive business, technical and engineering executive, Elizabeth has a consistent history of partnering with C-level executives to successfully lead organizations and drive enterprise-wide initiatives and transformations to take Fortune 500 to the next evolution of profitability, growth, efficiency and organizational effectiveness. She excels in high technology industries where complex problem-solving capabilities are required to gain a competitive edge.

Ms. Baker rose through systems engineering, quality and manufacturing, demand and supply planning transformations, shared services operations and strategy management positions in multiple corporations such as IBM ultimately leading to her current role as Senior Vice President at Philips.

Elizabeth earned her BS in Engineering from Michigan State University. Professionally, Ms. Baker is a past member of the Society of Women Engineers, and a former Advisory Board Member for the Center for Research, Regional Education and Outreach for the State University of New York.

Active in the community, Elizabeth is a member and on the Board of Directors for ChildFind of America.

Philips is a leading health technology company focused on improving people’s health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care.

Bart Talloen

Bart has a lot of drive, energy and passion for excellence in all he does. He thrives on big challenges and stretch targets.

He is workout & pushup fanatic, is a fan of running & cycling.

As an executive supply chain leader for 30 years, Bart has a proven track record of success across several key SC functions such as Planning, Engineering, Manufacturing Operations, and General E2E Supply Chain Mgt. in Asia, Europe, North America.

During his career in pharma, OTC, consumer goods, Bart has managed large supply networks, has acquired/divested operations, built new plants/closure of plants. He has successfully executed a Consent Decree & re-certified plants by FDA and lead major large scale strategic programs.
Bart is a leader focused on:

• Coaching & develop talent to reach their highest potential
• Putting the needs of J&J’s customers & employees first
• Leverage collaborations and learnings from others

Bart’s peers describe him as: “a dynamic leader with vision, can mobilise & guide others through transformations, and is result oriented, confident & resilient.”

In his current role as the Vice President Strategy, Innovation & Deployment (and member of the J&J Supply Chain Leadership Team), Bart is responsible to develop & deploy J&J SC strategy across J&J businesses, through:

1. Activate leading edge customer strategic & innovation insights & foresight to fuel the SC strategy & turn in competitive advantage.
2. Leverage ext. eco-systems to develop new & innovative SC capabilities, driving growth and differentiating customer outcome.
3. Drive E2E SC orchestration by leveraging advanced planning cap & evolving J&J operating system.
4. Develop & deploy culture, train / learning & leadership programs.
5. Provide centralized capabilities / services for J&J SC eg. SCRM, Strat Partnership Mgt,OT systems

Bart has a broad network across industry, consortia, academia, ext thought groups eg. WEF, Gartner. He is a speaker in mfg., supply chain, innovation etc. conferences

He and his wife live in Skillman, New Jersey USA, and have two grown up sons.

Daniel Myers

• Senior Fellow at Haslam School of Business, University of Tennessee
• Board Member for Two Companies
• Private Equity Senior Operating Executive for The Carlyle Group
• Retired EVP, Global Supply Chain, Mondelēz International
• Former EVP, Global Supply Chain, Kraft Foods
• Former Global VP, Product Supply, Procter & Gamble

Daniel Myers is currently a Senior Fellow at Haslam School of Business teaching as a guest lecturer for both graduate and under-graduate studies. He currently serves as a Senior Operating Executive for the Carlyle Group, one of the largest Global Private Equity firms and is on two company boards. He is the retired Executive Vice President of the Global Integrated Supply Chain of Mondelez International where he led the Procurement, Manufacturing, Engineering, and Customer Service & Logistics groups, which represent more than 70,000 of the company’s employees.  Daniel held the same position at Kraft Foods Inc., the predecessor to Mondelēz International, since he joined the company in September 2011.  The spin-off of the company’s North American grocery operations occurred in October of 2012.  Under his leadership, Mondelez funded a major reinvention of its worldwide supply chain delivering more than $3 billion in savings over 3 years. He has extensive experience in investor management including representing Mondelez in the investor presentations at CAGNY and Barclays.

Prior to Kraft Foods, Daniel worked for Procter & Gamble for 33 years, serving in roles across all areas of the Supply Chain. Most recently, he served as Vice President, Product Supply, where he led the supply chain function for P&G’s Global Hair Care business. He was also responsible for coordinating the company’s $28 Billion Beauty & Grooming business.  He had responsibility for P&G’s Customer Service and Logistics operations globally for four years and while in this role he led the integration of the operations of the Gillette company, a $56 Billion acquisition.

Daniel has strong experience launching new brands and building operations in emerging markets. He has over 25 years’ experience delivering winning innovation leading major global expansions. He has worked in 54 countries and lived outside the U.S. for more than 10 years. Daniel has mastery in the successful implementation of best practices including building High Performance Organizations and Lean Six Sigma. During his successful career, he has had responsibility for over 250 manufacturing plants and 400 warehouse and distribution centers.

Daniel received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and served on the Board of the Global Supply Chain Institute at the University of Tennessee for over 10 years.

Daniel and Karen, his wife of 40 years, are Christians who have led music and youth groups for 5 churches in three different countries over a period of 25 years. They have been active in mission work helping support and build schools or orphanages in Venezuela, Romania, Nigeria, Kenya, India and Myanmar.

Lance Kearbey

Lance Kearbey is the Chief Operations Officer for Electrolux Major Appliances. In this role, he is responsible for Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Quality, Purchasing, Digital Solutions and Project Management

Lance began his business career with Electrolux in 1993 as an Industrial Engineer and held various management roles thru 2000. He rejoined Electrolux nine years later after holding a lead project manager and general manager roles with Valeo Electrical Systems, Victory Packaging and ReadyOne Industries. Returning as Director of Quality and Manufacturing, Lance’s Electrolux career has included numerous roles as plant manager as well as campus general manager to increasing responsibility as Director of Operations for Refrigeration and Fabric Care in North America, and Senior Vice President of Operations, Manufacturing Engineering and Supply Chain.

Lance earned an Associate’s Degree in Computer Aided Design and Drafting from the John A. Logan Community College in Cartersville, Illinois. He went on to earn a B.S. in Industrial Technology at Southern Illinois University, as well as an MBA from the University of Phoenix.

Bill Good

As Vice President, Supply Chain Network at GE Appliances, a Haier company, Bill Good is responsible for managing all GEA factories and leading the entire Supply Chain network through its Lean transformation. Under Bill’s leadership, his team has developed GEA factories into world class industry leaders in operational excellence, differentiated quality, advanced manufacturing and expertise, and technical and operational talent development.

Bill joined GE Appliances from Whirlpool where, over the course of eight years, he held positions of increasing scope and responsibility, including: Director of Assembly Operations at both the Findlay and Clyde Divisions; Director of Lean Operations across North America Manufacturing; Director of Support Operations at the Findlay Division; and Plant Manager at the Greenville Division. Bill’s career began with Diversified Products in 1988 before moving to Tri-Glas in 1994 as the Division Manager responsible for the manufacture of automotive components for Ford, Chrysler, GM, Kenworth, and Peterbilt. After moving to Char-Broil, he served multiple roles over the next 10 years to include serving as the Vice President of Operations.

Prior to his promotion to VP, Bill led the Decatur Plant through a revitalization of our product lines, including a $120 million investment to our equipment and machinery, including a redesign of our products.

Bill holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Operations Management from Auburn University, and an MBA and a master’s in Human Resources from Troy State University.

Bill and his wife have two children and reside in Louisville, Kentucky.

Allison Grealis

Allison Grealis is founder and president of the Women in Manufacturing® Association (WiM), a national trade association focused on supporting, promoting and inspiring women in the manufacturing sector. She also is president of the WiM Education Foundation, the 501(c)(3) arm of WiM, which provides effective and affordable educational opportunities for women in manufacturing.

From 2001 until March 2020, Grealis also served as vice president of association services for the Precision Metalforming Association.

Grealis is a frequent speaker at industry events and is regularly featured on industry podcasts and in the media. She was recognized as one of 2018 Crain’s Cleveland Business’ Women of Note, which celebrates women for their outstanding leadership in the community.

Grealis earned her Bachelor of Arts in English with a certificate in Women’s Studies from Ohio University and a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Akron.

Rebecca Liebert

Rebecca Liebert is executive vice president, PPG. She joined the company in June 2018 and leads PPG’s global industrial and automotive OEM coatings businesses, including the company’s mobility initiatives. She also oversees the company’s Asia Pacific region and has functional responsibility for global procurement and industrial segment manufacturing, which includes resin production.

In her most recent role with Honeywell UOP, Liebert served as president and chief executive officer. Honeywell UOP is a leading international supplier and technology licensor for the petroleum refining, gas processing, petrochemical production and major manufacturing industries. During her career with Honeywell, she had also served as senior vice president and general manager, catalyst absorbents and specialties, UOP; senior vice president and general manager, gas processing and hydrogen; and vice president and general manager, electronics materials. Prior to joining Honeywell, Liebert served as president, Reynolds Food packaging, Alcoa KAMA.

Liebert began her career as a Six Sigma Top Gun development engineer with Nova Chemicals. She held positions of increasing responsibility at Nova Chemicals, including global business development leader/sales and distribution manager; commercial leader, styrenic polymers; and then business director, solid polystyrene and high-performance polystyrene.

Liebert currently serves on the board of directors for Corteva Agriscience.

Liebert earned a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Kentucky; a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University; and a master of business administration (MBA) degree from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

David Johnson

David Johnson is vice president, Production Engineering and New Model Quality, Nissan North America, Inc. He was appointed to this position in April 2017. In this role, Johnson is responsible for ensuring the highest level of quality possible at the maximum output in all of Nissan’s U.S. and Mexican manufacturing operations.

Previously at Nissan, Johnson was director, New Model and Central Engineering at Nissan Motor Company, UK.

Since joining Nissan in 2002, Johnson has held a number of roles of increasing importance throughout Nissan’s manufacturing operations.

Johnson was most recently appointed to the board of directors of the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce.

Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Tennessee Technological University, and an executive master’s degree in business from Vanderbilt University – Owen Graduate School of Management.

Peter Evans

Peter Evans was born in 1955. He joined LEGO in February 2016.

The early part of his career was in Finance in various industries, including Defence, Financial Services and Telecommunications.  Peter worked for GE Capital throughout the 90’s including spells in Manchester, Brussels, Shannon (Eire) and Connecticut in various Quality Leadership roles.

From 2000 to 2013 he worked in Telecoms in the UK, first with Vodafone, then Cable & Wireless, before finally leading Operational Excellence for Virgin Media.

From 2013 to 2015 Peter led Process Excellence in Northern Europe for Maersk Line, based in Copenhagen.

Since February 2016 Peter has been Director of LCI (LEGO Continuous Improvement) at LEGO with specific responsibility for Business Service Operations and is actively involved in establishing a Global Business Services Organisation for Finance, HR and other services.

Peter is a Six Sigma MBB, a Lean Practitioner and has a deep and lasting interest in Change Management and the psychology of Change.

Peter Lives in Newtown, Wales, UK with his wife Amanda, Dogs Harvey and Maisie and various other pets and pests.

Alessio Preti

Alessio Preti joined Philip Morris Italy in 2008 in Supply Chain and Warehousing. His varied career has taken him through different roles in Manufacturing, from Line Lead till Manufacturing Manager for the smoke-free product platforms. In 2018, Alessio moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, as the Leader of Global Operations Programs and he is currently leading the Digital Transformation journey for Global Manufacturing.

Prior to joining PMI, Alessio spent 5 years in the automotive industry, in Engineering and Industrialization areas, managing a variety of strategic projects for Ferrari Auto S.p.A. Alessio holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Bologna, Italy and a TPM Coach qualification from Japanese Institute of Planned Maintenance.

Darren Sekiguchi

Darren Sekiguchi is Vice President and Program Manager, F-35 Lightning II Program Production Business Unit, at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company. In this capacity, he is responsible for strategy, planning, proposal efforts, and delivery of F-35 Lightning II aircraft production and mission critical equipment to support customer contracts. Key responsibilities include Joint Program Office customer and key stakeholder interface, overall program management, and integration across the Lockheed Martin functions of Program Management, Finance & Business Management, Engineering, Supply Chain, Production Operations, and Quality across the three F-35 aircraft variants and mission critical equipment for U.S. military services, international partner nations, and foreign military sales customers.

Mr. Sekiguchi has held various leadership positions across Supply Chain, Program Management, Quality, and Production Operations/Manufacturing across the Commercial and Defense Aerospace and Defense services industries. Prior to joining Lockheed Martin, Mr. Sekiguchi had responsibility for global supply chain operations and aggregation for metallic and composite raw materials, electrical, standards, and secondary aircraft structure at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Previously, Mr. Sekiguchi lead the Supply Chain and Production Control organizations for the 787 Program in Charleston, South Carolina; served as Japan production operations leader, residing in Nagoya, Japan with responsibility for supply chain oversight and production operations; and was also Director & Program Manager, Unmanned Systems, responsible for overall program leadership of the growing unmanned systems services business working with DoD and commercial customers to define, deploy, and execute intelligence and data gathering and delivery services in Boeing Defense & Space.

Mr. Sekiguchi is the Lockheed Martin Executive Co-Chair of the Professional Asian American Network (PAAN – Lockheed Martin’s Asian American Business Resource Group), Aeronautics PAAN Executive Sponsor, and an active member with PRIDE (Lockheed Martin’s LGBTQ business resource group).

Mr. Sekiguchi graduated from Gonzaga University with both an undergraduate degree in International Business and a Master in Business
Administration in Finance. Darren and his husband David, live in Dallas, Texas and enjoy cycling, traveling, and exploring the world’s beaches in addition to a personal passion for aviation, aerospace and the magic of flight.

John McGirr

Karen Norheim

Karen Norheim serves as President and COO of American Crane & Equipment Corporation and is passionate about all things manufacturing. Karen’s company’s journey to their mantra – Grit Matters: Perseverance, Heart & Integrity has been the reboot of their vision, mission and values. She is a true spokesperson for the great jobs and quality of life that the industry can provide, and is also a dynamic force when it comes to the immense technology and digital innovations occurring in manufacturing at a rapid rate.

Erin Sharp

Erin Sharp recently retired as Group VP, Manufacturing and Enterprise Sourcing from The Kroger Co. Erin was responsible for The Kroger Company’s network of 33 manufacturing sites across the US. These include dairies, bakeries, beverage plants and other food product plants. Erin also led Krogers Enterprise Sourcing Team which consolidated all procurement across the enterprise including non-manufactured Corporate Brands items, and all indirect spend. Prior to The Kroger Company Erin worked at Sara Lee, SuperValu/Albertsons, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream and Frito Lay in Manufacturing and Finance roles. Erin graduated from Western University with a BSC, Biology and Chemistry and from The University of Texas at Arlington – College of Business with a MBA in Accounting.

Srinath Sriram

Srinath has over 9 years of experience leading Operations teams through lean transformation journeys and deploying lean tools to deliver strong results. In his current role at Fortive, Srinath is responsible for deploying FBS (Fortive Business Systems) tools at newly acquired Operating Companies, and coaching leaders through ambiguous and complex problems. Prior to this role, he spent over 8 years at Danaher and Fortive, taking on roles of increasing responsibility, the latest being Director of Operations and Site Leader at Qualitrol. His successes include leading a newly acquired business through lean transformation, scaling operations quickly, and achieving significant +QDIP and gross margin improvements year over year. He has a deep passion for all things lean, behavior science, and business systems. Srinath has an MS in Industrial Engineering from RIT, where he graduated as a valedictorian and assisted in the Toyota production systems lab. He also holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering.

Johan De Langhe

Johan De Langhe is Global Continuous Improvement Champion at Barry Callebaut. He has 30 years experience in operations, supply chain, and total quality management which includes his time at Puratos, Deloitte, and Genencor International (now DuPont). Johan holds a Master’s Degree in Bio Engineering from Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

Jocelyn Brulé

Jocelyn has an engineering background and worked in many areas of Pratt & Whitney. He also holds a Master in Management of Technology and a degree in computer science. In the past few years, he led the collaboration and productivity department at Pratt & Whitney Canada, where his team deployed a very robust SharePoint landscape within an export-controlled context. In addition to export compliance and records management, his team has been delivering over 50 productivity improvement projects every year.

Peter Evans

Peter Evans was born in 1955. He joined LEGO in February 2016.

The early part of his career was in Finance in various industries, including Defence, Financial Services and Telecommunications.  Peter worked for GE Capital throughout the 90’s including spells in Manchester, Brussels, Shannon (Eire) and Connecticut in various Quality Leadership roles.

From 2000 to 2013 he worked in Telecoms in the UK, first with Vodafone, then Cable & Wireless, before finally leading Operational Excellence for Virgin Media.

From 2013 to 2015 Peter led Process Excellence in Northern Europe for Maersk Line, based in Copenhagen.

Since February 2016 Peter has been Director of LCI (LEGO Continuous Improvement) at LEGO with specific responsibility for Business Service Operations and is actively involved in establishing a Global Business Services Organisation for Finance, HR and other services.

Peter is a Six Sigma MBB, a Lean Practitioner and has a deep and lasting interest in Change Management and the psychology of Change.

Peter Lives in Newtown, Wales, UK with his wife Amanda, Dogs Harvey and Maisie and various other pets and pests.

Gary Johnson

Gary Johnson is Chief Manufacturing and Labor Affairs Officer, effective October 1, 2018. In this role, Johnson is responsible for overseeing the global operations of every Ford assembly, stamping and powertrain plant around the world. In addition, he leads the company’s worldwide engineering support for stamping, vehicle and powertrain manufacturing, as well as Ford’s Material Planning & Logistics, Ford Production System, Manufacturing Business Office and Labor Affairs organizations.

Previously, Johnson served as vice president of North America Manufacturing, a role he held since January 1, 2016 and was responsible for Ford’s North America manufacturing footprint – the company’s largest in the world with more than 30 manufacturing plants.

Prior to leading Ford’s manufacturing in North America, Johnson served as vice president of Manufacturing Operations for Asia Pacific since January 2010. In that position, he oversaw a host of new vehicle and engine launches as well as the construction of ten new plants in the region – seven in China, two in India and one in Thailand – the company’s largest expansion in 50 years.

Johnson has worked in manufacturing and quality for more than 30 years in increasing levels of responsibility at various locations, and is a leader in lean manufacturing. Among his assignments in North America, he served as director of manufacturing for engine operations and director of vehicle operations for quality.

Born in 1964, he holds a bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University.

Bart Talloen

As an executive supply chain leader for more than 25 years, Bart has a proven track record of success across several key SC functions such as Planning, Engineering, Technology Transfers, Project Management, Continuous Improvement, Mfg Operations, and General SC Management in Asia, Europe, and North America.

During his career in pharma, OTC, consumer goods, and logistics/ material handling, Bart has managed large supply networks, has acquired and divested operations, build new plants but also has overseen the closure of plants, and has developed and executed a three-year Consent Decree Work Plan including the successful re-certification of three US OTC manufacturing plants by FDA.

In his current role as Vice President, Product Supply Strategy & Deployment, Bart is responsible for developing and deploying advanced processes & capabilities, agile OT systems and disruptive technologies to improve the end-to-end Supply Chain performance.

Bart is also responsible for the J&J Supply Chain Academy to provide enterprise-wide subject matter learning & development programs and build future leadership capabilities for the end-to-end Supply Chain organization.

He and his wife live in Skillman, NJ and have two sons in college.

Amy Meyer

Amy M. Meyer is Vice President, Technical Services for Kohler Co. In this role, Amy is responsible for the management of all aspects of Global Procurement; Aviation and Business Travel; Architecture and Interior Design; Construction Engineering and Management; Facilities, Maintenance and Grounds; Machine Build and Process Automation; Global EHS; Energy Management; and Kohler Operating Systems.

In February 2009, Amy joined Kohler Co. as Vice President-Engineering, Kohler Engines, where she was responsible for global engineering and the execution of product innovation for Kohler Engines. In January 2014, Amy was promoted to Vice President, Kohler Operating Systems, where she was responsible for company-wide supply chain and manufacturing Centers of Excellence along with three service-based, global organizations: the Chemical and Metallurgical Laboratory, the Machine Build and Process Automation Team and the India Technical Center.

Passionate about the personal development of her associates, Amy lives by the motto of “hire great people and enable them to do great work” by providing clear goals and authority, giving direct and honest feedback on both strengths and weaknesses, and celebrating personal growth through successful results and challenging setbacks.

Amy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in applied Mathematics from Michigan Technological University. Additionally, she has completed a Master of Science degree in Computational Mathematics from Michigan State University and a Master of Science degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Case Western Reserve University.

Sergio Huerga

Sergio Huerga has successfully led transformational changes in supply chain, increased profitability and operational efficiency, and increased productivity at leading global organizations such as Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods and L’Oreal.

Currently, he is leading manufacturing transformation initiatives at L’Oreal North Americas. His team works with internal and external partners to design flexible equipment capable of adapting to frequent product changes. They also leverage LEAN and industry 4.0 methodology to bring ‘Connected Lines’ and ‘Connected Operators’ visions to life. The combination of these initiatives is increasing the company’s agility to embrace consumer-centricity.

Prior to his current role, Sergio built more than 20 years of experience in international roles. He led manufacturing, engineering, maintenance, operational excellence and other operations functions. Sergio began his career as IT manager with P&G, in Argentina.

Sergio holds a BS degree from the Universidad de Rosario (Argentina) in Electronics Engineering and an Executive Coach for Leadership certification from the Universidad Adolfo Ibanez (Chile).

Sergio, his wife and two children reside in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

Gerald Johnson

Gerald Johnson was named executive vice president, Global Manufacturing effective April 1, 2019. In this role, he leads GM’s global manufacturing operations, manufacturing engineering and labor relations organizations, and is a member of the GM Senior Leadership Team.

Previously Johnson served as GM vice president of North America Manufacturing and Labor Relations, a position he held since August 2017.

Before that he served as vice president of Operational Excellence, where he worked to develop and execute an enterprise-wide cultural transformation with a focus on process discipline, continuous improvement and waste elimination. Under Johnson’s leadership, a team of Lean Six Sigma experts developed a training initiative and coached employees in projects that improved the company’s operations efficiency.

Johnson started at General Motors in 1980 at the Fisher Body Plant in Euclid, Ohio. His career includes a long list of manufacturing and quality roles both in North America and abroad. Throughout his career, he has served as a mentor to many young professionals as well as played an active role in community organizations, and is currently on the Kettering University Board of Trustees.

Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial administration from Kettering University and a master’s degree in manufacturing operations from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ronda Wright

Ronda Wright has been interested in solving problems and understanding how things worked since she was a child. Naturally inquisitive, it was not uncommon for her to take apart every watch that her parents gave her to understand how the watch worked. Over time, she also developed a passion for helping people and trying to make processes simpler and repeatable. Respected as a credible voice in manufacturing and operations, Ronda has earned a seat at the table in strategic decision making, determining policy, and establishing governance boundaries.

Currently, as Director of Process Improvement for Coca-Cola North America, Ronda develops strategy for the division’s maintenance excellence journey. She also leads several nationwide initiatives that drive site efficiencies, productivity, and reduce overall costs. Ronda is also involved in developing the roadmap for digitization capability for the Coca-Cola North American sites.

Previously, Ronda held several leadership roles at General Mills, Inc including Zero Loss Culture leader where she developed the strategy for Autonomous Maintenance implementation for the North American region. She also held several operational leadership roles at multiple General Mills plants and was the appointed leader of the African American affinity network for Supply Chain. Prior to General Mills, Ronda also made key contributions at Anheuser Busch, Inc – she held several operational leadership roles, trained and taught peers at other sites, and became a system expert on waste management tracking.

Ronda holds an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and a BS in Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. She is Six Sigma Black Belt Certified through the American Society for Quality. Ronda previously served on the Board of Directors for the Hannibal Regional Healthcare System. She enjoys traveling, wine tasting, and watching college football.

Allison Grealis

Allison Grealis is founder and president of Women in Manufacturing (WiM), a national trade association focused on supporting, promoting and inspiring women in the manufacturing sector. She is also the vice president of association services of the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA), a full-service trade association representing the metalforming industry.

Since joining PMA in 2001, Grealis has held a variety of positions that included district, committee and division management; affinity partner relations; sponsorship sales; new product and service development; and member services.

She earned her Bachelor of Arts in English with a certificate in Women’s Studies from Ohio University and a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Akron.

Grealis serves as a member of the Community Advisory Board and Outreach Committee of the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women of Case Western Reserve University. She previously served as a board member for the Greater Cleveland Society of Association Executives and Our Lady of the Elms High School.

Grealis was recognized as one of 2018 Crain’s Cleveland Business’ Women of Note. Honorees are celebrated for their outstanding leadership in the community.

Daniel Myers

• Senior Fellow at Haslam School of Business, University of Tennessee
• Board Member for Two Companies
• Private Equity Senior Operating Executive for The Carlyle Group
• Retired EVP, Global Supply Chain, Mondelēz International
• Former EVP, Global Supply Chain, Kraft Foods
• Former Global VP, Product Supply, Procter & Gamble

Daniel Myers is currently a Senior Fellow at Haslam School of Business teaching as a guest lecturer for both graduate and under-graduate studies. He currently serves as a Senior Operating Executive for the Carlyle Group, one of the largest Global Private Equity firms and is on two company boards. He is the retired Executive Vice President of the Global Integrated Supply Chain of Mondelez International where he led the Procurement, Manufacturing, Engineering, and Customer Service & Logistics groups, which represent more than 70,000 of the company’s employees.  Daniel held the same position at Kraft Foods Inc., the predecessor to Mondelēz International, since he joined the company in September 2011.  The spin-off of the company’s North American grocery operations occurred in October of 2012.  Under his leadership, Mondelez funded a major reinvention of its worldwide supply chain delivering more than $3 billion in savings over 3 years. He has extensive experience in investor management including representing Mondelez in the investor presentations at CAGNY and Barclays.

Prior to Kraft Foods, Daniel worked for Procter & Gamble for 33 years, serving in roles across all areas of the Supply Chain. Most recently, he served as Vice President, Product Supply, where he led the supply chain function for P&G’s Global Hair Care business. He was also responsible for coordinating the company’s $28 Billion Beauty & Grooming business.  He had responsibility for P&G’s Customer Service and Logistics operations globally for four years and while in this role he led the integration of the operations of the Gillette company, a $56 Billion acquisition.

Daniel has strong experience launching new brands and building operations in emerging markets. He has over 25 years’ experience delivering winning innovation leading major global expansions. He has worked in 54 countries and lived outside the U.S. for more than 10 years. Daniel has mastery in the successful implementation of best practices including building High Performance Organizations and Lean Six Sigma. During his successful career, he has had responsibility for over 250 manufacturing plants and 400 warehouse and distribution centers.

Daniel received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and served on the Board of the Global Supply Chain Institute at the University of Tennessee for over 10 years.

Daniel and Karen, his wife of 40 years, are Christians who have led music and youth groups for 5 churches in three different countries over a period of 25 years. They have been active in mission work helping support and build schools or orphanages in Venezuela, Romania, Nigeria, Kenya, India and Myanmar.

Ramesh Chikkala

Ramesh Chikkala is an independent board members and corporate advisor with 25 years of retail and five years of manufacturing experience in senior management and C-Suite roles. For the past 11 years Ramesh held positions of increasing responsibility at Walmart, eventually becoming SVP International Supply Chain (Omnichannel) and Food Manufacturing where he led a $120-billion international business organization. Prior to this position, Ramesh was also Walmart’s SVP, Information Technology overseeing the technology supporting a $500-billion business across all segments of US, Sam’s, International, eCommerce, and Corporate.

After retiring from full-time work at Walmart, Ramesh Chikkala is now a board member and Adjunct Faculty at UNC, Charlotte, as well as an advisor to AT Kearney for their Operations and Consumer Industry & Retail Practice and an advisor/consultant to Walmart/Flipkart.

Ramesh Chikkala has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Osmania University in Andhra Pradesh, India, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Mumbai in Maharashtra, India, and a Master of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Ohio University, in Athens, Ohio.

Tim Jamison

Tim Jamison is the Worldwide Production Excellence Leader for Cargill’s Global Operations. In his role, Tim is responsible for operational excellence and continuous improvement practices at over 1400 operating facilities in 70 countries and spanning 155,000 employees. His responsibilities include improving operational efficiency and reducing manufacturing cost while maintaining world class safety, sustainability and customer service standards. Tim joined Cargill in 2015 in their Food Ingredients & Bio-Industrial enterprise before moving to the Global Operations role.

Tim has over 20 years of expertise building and managing international operational excellence and continuous improvement programs. Before joining Cargill, Tim served as the Director of Voyager Plant Optimization for AB-InBev’s North American breweries, malt processing and can manufacturing facilities. Previous to AB-InBev, Tim spent 8 years defining and implementing the Lean and Six Sigma applications for surface and underground mining operations in the United States and Australia for Peabody Energy. Tim began his continuous improvement career working with Ford Motor Company implementing the Ford Production System at their Kansas City Assembly Plant.

Tim has a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration and a Masters Degree in Operations Management, both from Regis University in Denver, Colorado. He holds a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt certification. Tim also proudly served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve.

Rebecca Teeters

Rebecca Powers Teeters, holds a PH.D., in Chemistry from the University of Missouri-Columbia and brings 20 plus years of dedication, commitment and leadership to 3M.  She has served in a variety of roles of increasing responsibility over the course her career including SS Black Belt, Plant Manager, and Manufacturing and Supply Chain Director for several businesses.  She now serves as the Global Enterprise Operations Director for Strategy and Execution.

As Enterprise Operations Director, Rebecca is the chief designer and champion of the 3M Execution System (3MEx) and is working with all business groups, and more than 200 facilities around the globe, to drive operational excellence and rearchitect end-to-end value streams. She is leading the strategic design for Enterprise Operations as well as serving as the operations leader in the corporation’s operating model transformation.

Chad Toney

Chad Toney is the Executive Director, Advanced Engineering at GE Appliances, a Haier company.  He started working for Maytag, who was then purchased by Whirlpool, where Chad held roles of increasing responsibility such as Lean Manager, Materials Manager, Assembly Manager, Business Unit Manager, 3^rd shift Manager, and Senior Operations Manager within three different plants.

Chad then joined GE Appliances, where he was the Assembly Operations Leader for laundry operations, and then Plant Leader for the Decatur, AL top freezer refrigeration facility and then Dishwasher Plant Leader in Louisville, KY.

In Chad’s latest role he is responsible for the Advanced Manufacturing Engineering organization, Central Materials, and the infrastructure for Appliance Park in Louisville, KY. Chad’s career interests include team building, lean, supply chain initiatives, and people/automation integration.

Doug Bayer

Doug Bayer is the Global Manufacturing Associate Director at the Procter & Gamble Company. Doug’s key responsibilities include institutionalizing operational excellence in manufacturing and across the supply chain, leading the digital transformation in Manufacturing as well as developing and implementing P&G’s Manufacturing of the Future program.

In his 28 years with Procter & Gamble, Doug has held numerous leadership roles across the supply chain including manufacturing and logistics operations in Canada, supply network design and integration of a joint venture, and leading global supply network operations for a $7.5B business.

Doug holds an MBA from McMaster University and a BASc. In Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toronto. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with his wife and four children. Doug has a passion for ice hockey and enjoys outdoor adventures.

Daniel Alderete

Daniel Alderete joined Sanofi Pasteur’s Switwater Site in Pennsylvana in November 2017 as Manufacturing Excellence Senior Director. He leads a 37-member team to ensure the improvement of industrial performance including the Master Data Management and Systems’ support at site level. He implements defined training programs including IA Lean initiatives, Sanofi Quality, HSE, and technical standards throughout Swiftwater’s workforce. Prior to his work at Swiftwater, Daniel spent ten years at Sanofi Pasteur facilities in Argentina in senior leadership roles, and another fourteen years working for other companies in the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient manufacturing space. Daniel speaks Spanish, English, and French, and holds degrees from Universidad de Buenos Aires, Universidad Católica, Universidad Austral, and the Project Management Institute.

Debbie Poppas

Debbie Poppas was named PACCAR Vice President – Global Quality beginning January 2016.

Prior to her current role, Ms. Poppas held positions as the Senior Vice President of Global Engineering, Quality and IT at Remy International, and Vice President of Global Engineering and Innovation at Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies. She also held positions of increasing responsibility at Delphi Delco Electronics, including General Director of Global Engineering, Quality and Program Management.

Ms Poppas holds a BME, Electrical Engineering from Kettering University and a Master of Science, Electrical Engineering from Purdue University. Ms. Poppas has extensive experience in structured problem solving, Six Sigma program implementation, global capability development, as well as over 35 years of business experience in product and manufacturing engineering, product validation, program management, quality operations, and business process transformation.

Tamberlin Golden

Tamberlin Golden is the Plant Director, Flint Engine Operations for General Motors. She is responsible for leading and inspiring the team to drive and deliver positive business performance through exceptional execution of the lean principles impacting safety, quality and cost.

Tamberlin is a very focused and results oriented manufacturing professional that has a depth of knowledge in large vehicle assembly plants and has held leadership positions with critical programs in GM such as the crossovers, full size pickups and small cars. She has held positions in manufacturing staff, global facilities, manufacturing operations, quality, labor relations and human resources. Tamberlin has proven leadership in leading teams to achieve effective business performance.

Tamberlin began her career with General Motors in 1985 and graduated from Wayne State University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. She devotes time to mentoring and various charitable activities. She’s on the leadership boards for GM WOMEN, General Motors African Ancestry Network and GM Women In Manufacturing. Her highest priority is being wife, a mother and grandmother.

Manny Pineiro

Manuel (Manny) Pineiro is Vice President, LATAM Supply Chain Strategy, leading the development and deployment of the SC Transformational agenda. LATAM serves 34 developing and emerging markets with more than 70,000 of the company’s associates which represent almost $8 billion in revenue.

Manny held a similar position for the South American, Caribbean and Central America Foods division (SACCAF) where his strategies delivered more than $300 million in Move productivity, 6 day reduction in DII and a 7 point improvement in service across the region resulting in $130 million of revenue growth. He sees supply chain as an untapped competitive advantage that can transform many businesses.

Prior to his 19 years at PepsiCo, Manny worked for Procter & Gamble for 15 years, serving in roles across all areas of the supply chain which included manufacturing, logistics, planning, commercialization, engineering and IT. He feels honored to have served in the United States Air Force prior to joining Procter & Gamble where teamwork, collaboration and common goals were keys to survival. Manny sees a similar need in today’s world environment which is referred to as “VUCA” (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous).

Manny has solid experience inspiring collaborative multi-disciplined/functional teams to perform while transforming the organization across many facets of the business. He has a strong belief that strategy can only be as great as the ability to land it where the work is accomplished. He is fascinated with different cultures and has worked in 26 countries. He attributes much of this professional and personal growth to these experiences which require a unique ability to bring diverse people together in the transformational process. He has integrated best practices like Lean Six Sigma, S&OP, HPO and others across many supply chain operations.

Manny earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Technology from Southern Illinois University and holds MBA’s from Golden Gate and the Jack Welch Management Institute. He views his 37 year marriage with Lori, along with daughter Noelle and sons Manuel and Dominic as his mission in life, while enjoying cycling and most outdoor activities.

Steven Hoink

30 years practical experience in manufacturing and supply chain operations for PepsiCo with experience in every aspect of value chain execution… sales, merchandizing, all aspects of manufacturing operations, sales operations, and go-to-market. Currently, the Digital Strategy Lead for PepsiCo, Latin America. In previous role led Global Supply Chain Planning for PepsiCo.

Aidan Trindle

Aidan is Vice-President of Global Manufacturing Operations in Dell, based in Ireland, with responsibility for supporting the Storage & Solutions portfolio of products. Aidan leads a diverse and talented global team, spanning the spectrum of manufacturing, from engineering, operations, quality management, production planning, customer operations and system/tools.

Aidan is also involved with multiple external boards in Ireland:  Industry Advisory Board for the Cork Education & Training Board, the Irish Manufacturers Association (IBEC) and the Industry Steering Group for the Discrete Manufacturing Centre (Enterprise Ireland & IDA).

A Computer Studies undergraduate from University College Cork (UCC), he holds a master’s degree in Supply Chain Management, as well as Higher Diplomas in Quality, Finance and Data Business from the University of Limerick, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and UCC, respectively.

Donzel Leggett

Donzel A. Leggett is Vice President, Global Manufacturing Excellence, Global Platforms and ASLA Supply Chain, for General Mills, Inc. Leggett reports to John Church, Executive Vice President, Supply Chain.

Donzel joined General Mills in 1996 as a Plant Operations Manager for Big G Cereal, West Chicago. In 1998 he transferred to Minneapolis as a Manufacturing Manager for Big G Cereal and a year later became the Plant Manager at the St. Charles Food Service Plant. In 2002 Donzel relocated back to Minneapolis as Special Packaging Director, Display/Merch Packaging and in 2004 became USRO Temperature Channel Director in Supply Chain Logistics. Donzel then became Manufacturing Project Director in Big G Cereal in 2005, and in 2006 he was promoted to Operations Director for the Snacks Division. Leggett was promoted in 2008 to VP, Manufacturing – Temperature Channel, USRO. Immediately prior to his current role, Donzel spent the last five years as VP, International Supply Chain.

Prior to joining General Mills, Donzel spent almost four years with the Quaker Oats Company where he was an Industrial Engineer, Process Improvement Engineer and Cereal Processing Department Manager.

He is a member of both the Football Leadership Council and the Athletics Advisory Board at Purdue University as well as the Purdue Intelligent Manufacturing Advisory Board, a member of the Equity Advisory Council at Eastern Carver County MN Schools and a member of the Board of Directors for Twin Cities Rise (vice-chair), Launch Ministries and Pathways to Hope Africa.

Originally from Key West, Florida, Donzel holds both Bachelor and Master of Science Degrees in Industrial Technology from Purdue University where he was an Academic All-America and three-time Academic All-Big Ten football player. He also holds an MBA from Nova Southeastern University. He and his wife Tracy (also a Purdue Graduate), reside in Chaska, MN and have four children, Donnie 26, Sierra 25, Joanell 22, and Gianna 18.

Temeca Mitchell

Temeca has been with Molson Coors Beverage Company for 4 years, holding several Supply Chain leadership roles. She is currently the Plant Manager at Molson Coors bottle manufacturing joint venture facility with Owens Illinois/O-I (Rocky Mountain Bottle Company) based out of Colorado. This plant produces in upwards of 1 billion glass bottles annually for Molson Coors breweries across North America. In addition, she holds a position as Employee Resource Group Site Coordinator for the Molson Coors Golden facilities.

Prior to working for Molson Coors, Temeca worked for General Motors Corporation, Coca Cola North America and PepsiCo, acquiring over 20+ years cross functional leadership experience, which also included obtaining Six Sigma Green Belt and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) certifications. Additional experience outside of the manufacturing industry included a VP of Supply Chain role for a healthcare network. Throughout those years of experience, continued remaining an active advocate of employee affinity resource groups by leading/participating in many forums and capacity.

She earned her Bachelor’s in Business Administration from the University of Missouri – Kansas City, and Masters in Management from Indiana Wesleyan University. Temeca is married with 3 kids and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.

Massimo Andolina

Massimo Andolina joined Philip Morris in Lausanne in 2008 as Director, Operations Planning. He became Vice President, Operations of the Latin America & Canada Region in 2011 and moved to oversee our European Union Region’s operations two years later. In 2016 Massimo was appointed Vice President, PMI Business Transformation and in January 2018, he became Senior Vice President, Operations.

Prior to joining PMI, Massimo held a variety of international positions in strategic marketing and general management for Tetra Pak International and in operations for R.J. Reynolds International. Massimo holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Palermo, Italy and an MBA from IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Tony Snyder

Tony Snyder joined the tobacco industry in 1992 and his varied career has taken him around the world with roles in tobacco procurement, factory management and R&D in three continents, including 12 years leading global product development at PMI. Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, with satellite teams covering the whole world, his organization is responsible for product commercialization, portfolio management, printing, converting, product & process improvement, and innovation pipeline.

The business transformation driving a Smoke-Free Future has enhanced the need for speed to market, agility and scale, areas where digital printing has the potential to make a real contribution. With a dedicated team working on digital solutions, PMI’s first hybrid digital presses are in commercial production for folding box board packaging.

Eric Norris

Eric Norris is the Global Continuous Improvement Leader for the DuPont Corporation.  In his role, Eric is leading Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement across the DuPont enterprise focusing on sustainability and profitable growth. His responsibilities include global productivity and performance, digital-lean productivity and business critical capacity release initiatives.

Eric joined DuPont in 1989 and has progressed in operational experiences through leadership roles in Safety, Manufacturing, Maintenance, Quality, Supply Chain, Plant Start-up and Continuous Improvement.

Eric graduated from Pennsylvania State University with Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering.  He is holds certifications as a Lean Six Sigma Champion and Certified Supply Chain Professional.

Amy Zaban

Amy Zaban is a lean coach for Bunge, NA a global agribusiness and food company. She is responsible for leading Lean and Six Sigma programs for both commercial and industrial divisions. Bunge is rolling out their Bunge Production System, and Amy is focused on building the Leadership and Engagement strategy, training and implementation for North America.

Amy joined Bunge in January 2018 as Regional Continuous Improvement Leader. Prior to Bunge, Amy worked for Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK), consumer healthcare division for 4 years, where she acquired a respect for the challenges and rewards that coaching brings to a Lean Implementation.  Before GSK, Amy was employed at Philips Lighting Electrons for 8 years where she held numerous Regional and Plant roles in Production, New Product Introduction, Program Management, and Lean Sigma Implementation.

Amy holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Purdue University, a Master of Science Degree from Eastern Kentucky University, a Marketing Certification from Northwestern University, a Black Belt Certification, and is currently working on her Professional Coaching Certification.

Hector Geist

Highly experienced and proven operations executive with an exceptional record of performance and continual career progression with two industry leaders over a 20-year career.

Ability to optimize team performance through empowering leadership and smart application of lean manufacturing practices.

Ability to use international business perspective and multi-language and culture strengths to produce high levels of productivity, morale and profitability.

Degree in Industrial Technology from Southern Illinois University and a Master’s degree in Manufacturing Systems Management from Southern Methodist University.

Member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME)

Tim Blubaugh

Tim is currently the Director of Operational Excellence at United States Gypsum Company, where he leads the Continuous Improvement, Reliability, Quality, and the Enterprise Project Management Office and reports to the Chief Technology Officer.    This role serves 45 operations between the US and Canada.

USG’s Continuous Improvement Program has been recognized internationally by the Lean and Six Sigma Conference for both Deployment of the Year and Project of the Year.  Tim leads the Lean Six Sigma deployment in manufacturing and corporate office as well as the Lean Management deployment.  His experience includes certification as a Black Belt and Master Black Belt, as well as Deployment Leader.  The Quality role involves interface between sales, manufacturing, and customers in managing product warranty and customer relationships.  The reliability role interfaces with manufacturing reliability professionals in the execution of our reliability performance model.  The project management office serves many different functional groups at the corporate office in the execution of key strategic projects.

Tim continues to serve USG over the last 24 years, 11 of which have been closely involved in process improvement leadership.  Before that, Tim has worked in operations management roles within manufacturing in paper, Sheetrock, and ready mix.  Before his time with USG, Tim served in the US Army Engineer Branch after graduating from the University of Dayton with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Paul Boris

Boris is the CRO and a Board Member of Praemo, a technology company delivering AI for industrial operations. He also serves as a Board Member and Advisor to startups in the advanced robotics, machine learning and the AI space. Paul is often asked to speak on the topics of IIoT, Industry X.0 trends and technologies, as well as digital transformation and organization leadership.

Jordan Workman

Jordan Workman, Global Director of Client Development for Performance Solutions by Milliken, leads a team focused on partnerships and strategy within the manufacturing and supply chain functions of multi-national clients. Clients served span a variety of industries, including agri-business, pulp & paper, packaging, medical, pharma, chemical, food and beverage, mining and specialty plastics.

Prior to joining Performance Solutions, Jordan was employed by Owens Corning where he last served as Marketing Director for a global business unit responsible for creating and executing the go-to-market strategy that aligned commercial, supply chain, and operational capabilities. He also served as Business Development Leader for greater China based in Shanghai. He brings a wealth of knowledge on how to bridge cross-cultural differences and drive performance in the journey to business excellence.

John Barcus

John Barcus is Vice President responsible for the Oracle Global Manufacturing Industries. The Manufacturing Industries Solutions Group works globally with customers, partners, and within Oracle to refine industry strategy and build industry solutions that support the Industrial Manufacturing, Automotive, and High Tech industries.

John has been with Oracle for over 20 years, 8 of which were in consulting working with customers to manage large global ERP and advanced planning projects. John brings to companies a strong manufacturing, supply chain, and industry background. His implementation and business experiences help customers to use technology to solve business issues, gain competitive advantage, and to adapt to the rapidly evolving needs of the digital age. John has been a frequent speaker at industry events.

Prior to coming to Oracle, John worked within the industrial manufacturing, aerospace, and high tech industries in a variety of roles including; Sales, Materials Manager, Purchasing Manager, Manufacturing Manager, and Inventory & Control Manager. He has an MBA from Pepperdine University, and an Operations Management Degree from Cal State Fullerton.

Alastair Orchard

After nearly two decades of industrial experience as a manufacturer and vendor, Alastair was a founder member of the Digital Enterprise organization when Siemens went public with its digitalization portfolio in 2014. Living in Italy he now plays the role of digital evangelist and works with the world’s largest manufacturers as they adopt digital technologies – transforming their business models and value chains.

Mike Lackey

Mike Lackey joined SAP in 2008 through the acquisition of Visiprise and is the Global Head of Solution Management, Digital Manufacturing.  With previous roles at Visiprise, NetVendor and Teradyne Manufacturing Software Group, Mr. Lackey has a unique set of knowledge that covers both manufacturing software and design collaboration along with over 30 years of experience in the manufacturing sector.  Early in his career, he started as a manufacturing engineer with DCA/Attachmate, which provided him with invaluable first-hand knowledge and understanding of how SAP customers can use SAP’s Digital Manufacturing Solution Portfolio to improve their global operations. Mr. Lackey earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and an MA in Business Administration from Mercer University with dual concentrations in International Business and Marketing.

Katy George

Katy George is a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, and leads the Operations Practice, which includes the firm’s services in manufacturing and supply chain. Katy’s 23 years of client service have focused on operational performance improvement, operations strategy linked to business strategy, and operating model design. Currently, Katy works with clients on advanced technology development and adoption, the future of manufacturing, and the future of work. Katy leads McKinsey’s collaboration with the World Economic Forum on “Factories of the Future,” and was recently named to the Board of Directors for MxD, the Digital Manufacturing Institute.

Artem Kroupenev

Artem is VP Strategy at Augury, where he oversees Augury’s AI-based machine health, performance, and digital transformation solutions. He has over a decade of experience in technology, product, innovation, and business development, and has co-founded technology companies in Israel, New York, and West Africa. Artem holds an MA from IDC Herzliya in Israel.

Shay Scott

Shay Scott, Ph.D. is Executive Director of the Global Supply Chain Institute (GSCI) at The University of Tennessee (UT). Ranked as a top program globally, UT’s GSCI exists to shape and influence the practice of SCM by serving as a global hub for leading companies, researchers, practitioners and students. He also serves as Professor of Practice focusing in the areas of supply chain strategy and international business. Scott is coauthor of Leveraging SCM to Drive Organizational Success (2018) and holds a US patent for innovative supply chain processes developed and implemented globally.

David Jimenez

As Managing Director for the CPG industry, David leads the design of solutions and services globally, as well as the delivery of all Softtek projects oriented to CPG. His team develops the digital capabilities necessary to efficiently manage complex supply chains and strengthen personalized connections with increasingly demanding customers.

David has great insight into the factors impacting the CPG sector today and has intimate knowledge of the solutions that have worked for leading companies.

Beni Lopez

Beni Lopez currently holds a dual role as Managing Director for Softtek’s Industrial vertical and overall US market. Prior to Softtek’s vertical restructuring, Beni held the role of Chief Globalization Officer, where he directed and coordinated the firm’s global accounts strategy.

Beni has played a central role in defining and executing Softtek’s technology developments, in addition to the firm’s globalization and growth strategies. He is experienced in leading innovative new offerings, directing globalization efforts, and establishing long lasting partnerships with Softtek’s largest clients. Furthermore, Beni mentored the concept of Neashore™ services, pioneered by Softtek in 1997, expanding Softtek’s frontiers first to the US market, and later globally.

Shane Yount

Shane A. Yount is a nationally recognized thought leader, author, and President of Competitive Solutions, Inc., an international Business Transformation consulting firm which pioneered the acclaimed organizational development system known as Process Based Leadership® – A business transformation methodology designed to create a sustainable culture of clarity, connectivity, and consistency through the use of Non-Negotiable Business Processes.

Shane began his career with Perdue Farms, Inc.  Having performed such roles as Front Line Supervisor, Site Operations Manager, Quality Manager, Director of Human Resources, and Corporate Continuous Improvement Champion, Shane brings extensive experience in every aspect of organizational dynamics.  His “Real World” process driven approach to creating and sustaining high performance has led leaders across the world to embrace the Process Based Leadership® methodology as a core operating system in driving organizational focus, urgency, and accountability.

Since 1991 he has led the offices of Competitive Solutions, Inc. (CSI), personally working with such organizations as Michelin, Genentech, Pfizer, Lockheed Martin, the Department of Defense, and many others. His three books, “Buried Alive: Digging out of the Management Dumpster,” “Leaving Your Leadership Legacy” and “Leading Your Business Forward: Aligning Goals, People, and Systems for Sustainable Success” are required reading in many organizations.

Mark Stroll

Sight Machine is the Manufacturing Productivity Platform, making manufacturing stronger, sustainable and resilient.

Mark is the Senior Vice President of Sales at Sight Machine, with responsibilities that include sales strategy and go-to-market execution with strategic partner Microsoft and key accounts.

He is an accomplished Sales Executive and recognized growth and turn-around expert with proven leadership, motivational, and business execution in both Fortune 100 software and B2B startup ventures. Mark’s creative and results-oriented drive have helped him successfully transform sales organizations from product centric focused to high performing solution and cross-pillar customer focused organizations.

Jon Sobel

Jon has served on the management teams of several companies in pioneering industries, including Tesla Motors, SourceForge, and in its early years, Yahoo! Jon holds an BA from Princeton, a JD from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from Wharton.

Joe Gerstl