Program 2021

Dr. Nick Vyas is a known practitioner in operations management and organizational excellence by applying Blended Quality Management, AI, ML, RPA, Blockchain, and Data Analytics. Vyas received his Doctor of Education from the University of Southern California, with his published dissertation on Conceptualization of Higher Education Excellence System (HEES): Use of Advanced Data Analytics and Blended Quality Management. A Subject Matter Expert (SME) in End-to-End Global Supply Chain Management, Dr. Vyas has led cultural and business transformation for fortune 100 companies. He implemented breakthrough process improvements for over 500 projects that have transformed businesses for clients in the field of health care, service, government, retail, and end-to-end supply chain, focusing on procurement, sourcing, IT, distribution, logistics, and transportation.

As the founding Executive Director of USC Marshall’s Center for Global Supply Chain Management (GSCM), MS in GSCM, and as an Associate Professor, educating the next generation of business leaders. Nick was recognized as a “Supply Chain Leader of the Year” for the APICS Excellence Awards and the Golden Apple Award for teaching excellence.  He is a fellow for the American Society for Quality (ASQ) and serves as a chair-elect for Lean Enterprise Division.

Dr. Nick Vyas is a known practitioner in operations management and organizational excellence by applying Blended Quality Management, AI, ML, RPA, Blockchain, and Data Analytics. Vyas received his Doctor of Education from the University of Southern California, with his published dissertation on Conceptualization of Higher Education Excellence System (HEES): Use of Advanced Data Analytics and Blended Quality Management. A Subject Matter Expert (SME) in End-to-End Global Supply Chain Management, Dr. Vyas has led cultural and business transformation for fortune 100 companies. He implemented breakthrough process improvements for over 500 projects that have transformed businesses for clients in the field of health care, service, government, retail, and end-to-end supply chain, focusing on procurement, sourcing, IT, distribution, logistics, and transportation.

As the founding Executive Director of USC Marshall’s Center for Global Supply Chain Management (GSCM), MS in GSCM, and as an Associate Professor, educating the next generation of business leaders. Nick was recognized as a “Supply Chain Leader of the Year” for the APICS Excellence Awards and the Golden Apple Award for teaching excellence.  He is a fellow for the American Society for Quality (ASQ) and serves as a chair-elect for Lean Enterprise Division.

A versatile Supply Chain Executive with over 16 years’ progressive experience managing international strategic projects and teams at Saint-Gobain. As a results oriented strategic thinker, Gonzalo currently holds the role of Director of Supply Chain at CertainTeed Insulation North America, managing 160 people and a budget of $60M, reporting to the Group’s General Manager and serving as a member of the Executive team. During his tenure at Saint-Gobain, he has lived and worked internationally in France, UK, Morocco, Spain and North America leading projects involving customer service, S&OP, process improvement and implementing SAP. He has a successful track record of leading complex mergers and acquisitions, managing world-class supply chain programs, and providing financial management. Fluent in three languages, English/Spanish/French, Gonzalo is a proven leader, with a demonstrated ability to manage people as well as processes.

In addition to supply chain, he has managed finance, Audit and IT projects across multinational boundaries. Representative accomplishments include:
• Defined a new Value Proposition and executed an improvement program leading to customer service improvement (CSI from 92% to 96%), $15M annual profit increase and 15 days of working inventory reduction.
• Successful implementation of a new S&OP process for tactical planning ensuring the alignment of Sales & Marketing, Planning, Production, WH and Transportation.
• With a specific focus on Customer Service streamlined communication between Supply Chain, Sales and the Customer. • Implemented cost improvement through product simplification, regional freight bidding, external warehousing and other outsourced services reductions. • Implemented of SAP ERP including APO and MRP as well as QlikView for reporting.
• Won Supply Chain Award for best 2019 Saint-Gobain’s worldwide business improver.
• Instrumental in improving CertainTeed’s IG operating profit from - $43M in 2017 to +$30M in 2019. He graduated from Universidad Autonoma de Madrid in Madrid Spain with the equivalent of a Master’s Degree in Business Administration.

Throughout his career, Gonzalo has been known for getting the job done and making things happen to the betterment of the companies he has served. As a strong team player and contributor, he gained a reputation for dependability and technical savvy, and for bringing extraordinary value to his positions.

Connie is the Vice President of Business Excellence for Greenfield Global, a leading producer and supplier of high-value, mission-critical raw materials, ingredients, and additives that are vital to businesses and integral to a lower-carbon economy. Connie is responsible for creating and implementing long-term integrated business improvement and technology projects. She leads multiple teams that will collectively and collaboratively deliver an enterprise-wide transformation program. This includes enterprise software selection projects, multi-year ERP and other technology implementations, foundational projects, business optimization, and continuous improvement projects. As Vice President of Business Excellence Connie is accountable for developing and leading a center of excellence to provide advanced leadership, training and support for optimizing the business, resolving complex business issues and driving continuous improvement/ learning across the organization. Connie is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Ottawa University. She has received a Black Belt certification in Lean.

Shauna Gamble joined Bombardier in 2017 as vice-president of Procurement of the Business Aircraft division. Soon thereafter, Shauna’s role was expanded to lead a newly-formed Aerospace Procurement and Supply Chain organization, responsible for commodity strategies, contract management, supplier relations, purchasing, logistics, and inventory management for both business and commercial aircraft at Bombardier. In 2020, Shauna was promoted to Chief Procurement Officer of Bombardier Aviation

Since joining Bombardier, Shauna has made it her mission to transform Procurement Aviation into a best-in-class organization. She initiated the Diamond Supplier Program to increase accountability across the supply chain and to raise the company’s profile. The Diamond Supplier Program recognizes outstanding supplier performance across Bombardier Aviation. Shauna also spearheaded the creation of a Procurement Academy at Bombardier, providing an opportunity for team members to improve their expertise at all levels.

A seasoned executive with excellent leadership, communication and negotiation skills, Shauna has more than 20 years of experience in global supply chain and operations. Prior to joining the organization, Shauna held senior leadership positions at Danby Appliances and Telecommunications equipment provider Ciena.

Shauna holds an Executive MBA and post-baccalaureate Diploma in Management from Athabasca University, and she completed a Senior Executive Program at the London Business School. Shauna Gamble is based at Bombardier Aviation headquarters in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Scott is a recognized leader in manufacturing industry. He is firmly focused on making organizations future fit and generating sustainable growth through the creation of a collaborative work culture which emphasizes building employee capabilities.

With the company moving towards end-to-end synchronization and connected ecosystems, he is also driving a “Digital First “mindset and is fully aware and supportive of the critical role change management has to play in managing the impact that digital brings.

In a career at PMI spanning 25 years, he has moved from commercial, to supply chain across 3 continents and now he is managing a network of  39 production facilities and leading the global “Manufacturing of the Future “ transformation—one of the biggest transformations of people, process, and products in PMI Manufacturing. Under his leadership, his team has increased overall productivity by >25%.

“Empower teams”, “Learn to unlearn”, and “Being Humble”, are his success mantras.

Outside of work he is a keen sports enthusiast- a football and cricket fan with a strong passion for motorsports especially love Formula One and V8 Supercars.

At Veryable, Rich leads market operations for the Southwest region and supports organizational development initiatives for the company. Prior to Veryable, Rich was a management consultant at Deloitte Consulting and Slalom Consulting where he led consulting engagements across a number of industries and functional areas focusing on strategic planning, operational improvement, customer engagement, and organizational development. Rich holds a bachelors degree from Vanderbilt University and a MBA from Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business.

Jim is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point where he had the honor of serving as Class President. He is a veteran of the US Army, serving on Active Duty for six years, including two tours in Iraq as a front-line Platoon Leader and later as a General’s Aide. Jim recently served as the VP of Retail for Goodwill Houston, directing a $95M budget, 1,800 Team Members, and over 100+ facilities. While there, he partnered with Veryable to significantly reduce labor costs and increase production and revenue post-Covid. Prior to moving to Houston, he served as the CEO of a smaller Goodwill operation in his childhood hometown of Youngstown, Ohio.

Maziar Adl is Co-founder and CTO of Gocious,  a product management platform for manufacturers that empowers better product innovation for industries that include auto/mobility, industrial equipment, and high tech, where he oversees end to end design, implementation, and development of products.

A strategic leader with a record for spearheading the successful design and rollout of medium to large scale technology roadmaps and transformation, Maziar has played a pivotal role in the creation of Gocious’ cloud-based product decision analytics platform since he co-founded the company in 2018. More recently, Maziar has spent time optimizing analytics within the Gocious platform and honing the company’s marketing and sales strategies.

For the vast majority of his career, Maziar has been dedicated to information management and finding ways to improve the long term performance of organizations and teams he comes across using better, accessible and timely information. Prior to Gocious, Maziar was SVP and CTO for UK&I Consumer Services at Experian, where he successfully executed one of the largest transformations in the company’s history to enable innovation in new markets and to speed up the product development process. Before Experian, Maziar spent time as a consultant for KPMG where he focused on e-commerce and internet based solutions and worked with a variety of Fortune 500 companies in manufacturing, hi-tech and retail. Prior, he also held roles at Mammut Group and Zinnote.

Maziar graduated from Sharif University of Technology, dubbed the MIT of Iran, with a bachelor’s in industrial engineering, and received a master’s in information and operations management from University of Southern California.

Maziar is a big believer in continuous learning and has always been keen on learning new aspects of business and technology. His mantra is that a great team is not one that knows everything on day one but one that can learn and adapt every day.

Maziar currently resides with his wife Soheila, son Aydeen and labradoodle Pasha in Trabuco Canyon, Orange County, California.

Sean MacCarthy is the Executive Director of Global Analytics and Store Segmentation for Claire’s Inc. Sean has worked in Retail, Operations, Supply Chain and B2B Analytics and Strategy for the last five years across the Home Appliance, Chain Drug Retailer and Fashion Accessories Industries with a focus on utilizing cross-functional data and insights to drive company strategies. He has been the “boots on the ground” cleansing the data and building the models, the leader in introducing emerging technologies and working with IT to implement them and the strategist who utilizes his team’s insights across their various functions to provide company direction. Prior to his corporate work, Sean was a Philosophy Professor whose area of concentration was epistemology.

He completed his Philosophy graduate work at Fordham University and his undergraduate work at Miami University (OH).

Sean resides in the Chicago, Illinois area with his wife and four children.

Michelle White, MBA is a ‘fixer’ creating art + science strategies empowering teams to deliver results and lead through change.

After spending more than a decade on business transformation projects, marketing, and product development for multimillion dollar brands, Michelle knows what truly drives change in organizations—and it’s not ignoring the amount or pace of change you know needs to happen.  It’s how well you prepare yourself, your teams and customers for the change ahead with a compelling story.

Cardinal Health, a Fortune 15 company, recruited Michelle 3 years ago. Since then, she has been the driving force behind several major changes for at-Home Solutions, a $2B+ business unit serving more than 3 million customers, 1400 payors, 12000 DMEs annually.

Michelle holds an MBA in Marketing and a BA in Fashion Merchandising from Kent State University.

Milson Gondim currently serves as Senior Vice President, Small Molecule Network - Elanco Manufacturing. Dr. Gondim has worked in various areas of leadership including biotechnology, consumer care, and small molecule. Strong focus on acquisition, integration, capacity modeling, improvement projects and strategic initiatives. Milson received his D.M.V. degree from the State University of Ceara, Brazil and Ph. D. in Immunology from the Ceara Federal University. Milson also received his MBA from the European Business School in Spain, and Project Management Master Degree from Dom Cabral University in Brazil.

Goffman has over 15 years of experience in the SaaS industry, taking products through the entire cycle from concept to delivery. Before joining Vanguard, Goffman contributed to several successful start-up exits and he was an innovation leader at IBM, overseeing delivery of IBM Watson projects for the public sector, including such domains as artificial intelligence, machine learning, predictive analytics, and advanced analytics.

Dr. Justin Goldston is a Professor of Project and Supply Chain Management at Penn State University. He is also an industry veteran where he has worked with organizations around the world such as Intel, Siemens, and Blue Buffalo on business performance improvement, organizational change, and enterprise-wide digital transformation initiatives. Dr. Goldston is the author of multiple peer-reviewed journal articles on supply chain management and innovative technologies, of Critical Success Factors in ERP Implementations, and is a five-time TEDx speaker where he discussed emerging technologies such as blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. Dr. Goldston has also led and assisted in the development of Supply Chain Management and Business Analytics programs at Georgetown University, Texas A&M University, North Carolina Wesleyan College, and has evaluated programs for the Department of Higher Education while serving on the Management Advisory Board at various higher education institutions.

Results-driven, strategic and conscious leader who develops and aligns key business initiatives with more than 25 years of experience in manufacturing, quality systems and executive roles, such as VP of Manufacturing at Primex Technologies.

Heinz holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, a certificate in project management from University of British Columbia and a master’s degree in organizational psychology from Adler University. He currently works as Organizational Psychology Consultant and Coach for Primex Technologies and Dignidad Migrante.

This summer, Heinz published the journal “People-centred manufacturing during a global pandemic: a story of success and resilience” by Henry Steward Publications.

A versatile Supply Chain Executive with over 16 years’ progressive experience managing international strategic projects and teams at Saint-Gobain. As a results oriented strategic thinker, Gonzalo currently holds the role of Director of Supply Chain at CertainTeed Insulation North America, managing 160 people and a budget of $60M, reporting to the Group’s General Manager and serving as a member of the Executive team. During his tenure at Saint-Gobain, he has lived and worked internationally in France, UK, Morocco, Spain and North America leading projects involving customer service, S&OP, process improvement and implementing SAP. He has a successful track record of leading complex mergers and acquisitions, managing world-class supply chain programs, and providing financial management. Fluent in three languages, English/Spanish/French, Gonzalo is a proven leader, with a demonstrated ability to manage people as well as processes.

In addition to supply chain, he has managed finance, Audit and IT projects across multinational boundaries. Representative accomplishments include:
• Defined a new Value Proposition and executed an improvement program leading to customer service improvement (CSI from 92% to 96%), $15M annual profit increase and 15 days of working inventory reduction.
• Successful implementation of a new S&OP process for tactical planning ensuring the alignment of Sales & Marketing, Planning, Production, WH and Transportation.
• With a specific focus on Customer Service streamlined communication between Supply Chain, Sales and the Customer. • Implemented cost improvement through product simplification, regional freight bidding, external warehousing and other outsourced services reductions. • Implemented of SAP ERP including APO and MRP as well as QlikView for reporting.
• Won Supply Chain Award for best 2019 Saint-Gobain’s worldwide business improver.
• Instrumental in improving CertainTeed’s IG operating profit from - $43M in 2017 to +$30M in 2019. He graduated from Universidad Autonoma de Madrid in Madrid Spain with the equivalent of a Master’s Degree in Business Administration.

Throughout his career, Gonzalo has been known for getting the job done and making things happen to the betterment of the companies he has served. As a strong team player and contributor, he gained a reputation for dependability and technical savvy, and for bringing extraordinary value to his positions.

Dale Tibodeau, D.Eng., P.E., is a Professor of Practice of Supply Chain Management in the Department of Information and Decisions Sciences at the C. T. Bauer College of Business. He also serves as Director of the Bauer Supply Chain Forum, which oversees collaboration and engagement activities for students, faculty and industry partners. He was awarded his Doctor of Engineering degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas (1994) is a registered Professional Engineer for the state of Texas and has also been awarded numerous supply chain related professional certifications.

Tibodeau has over three decades of experience in a number of engineering and operations related roles including strategic supply chain planning, supply chain logistics, procurement, material handling engineering, warehouse design, engineering management and program management. His professional career began at Texas Instruments, where he worked as a Site Engineer, and later as a Material Handling Engineering Consultant. He joined Compaq Computer Corporation in 1989 (which later became Hewlett-Packard) wherein his roles included Supervisor for Industrial Engineering and Material Handling Engineering (1989-1992) Senior Commodity Manager (1992-1996) Planning Manager (1996-1998) Business Planning and Supply Chain Initiatives Manager (1998-2002) and Business Engagement Manager for HP's Product Development and Information Technology (2003-2010).

Prior to joining Bauer in August 2012, Tibodeau was a Clinical Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University's Mays Business School (2010-2011) and Director of Industry Relations for the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department (2011-2012). He has also served as an industry mentor for graduating students an industry college recruiter and as an Invention to Product (I2P) panel judge for developing college technology entrepreneurs. Tibodeau was honored to serve as a guest lecturer and a featured speaker at various Texas A&M University venues (2006-2010) at University of Florida (1990) and at numerous safety seminars (2000-present).

Outside of his professional career in academia, Tibodeau is President, Chief Pilot and Chief Flight Instructor of Texas Air Adventures, a privately owned aviation services company founded in 2002.

Miguel has over 30 years of experience as a technical leader in industrial automation, electricity, manufacturing execution systems and related engineering activities in manufacturing. His comprehensive technical experience includes functional leadership and guidance, capital investment planning & execution, compliance, building engineering capabilities, operational support, develop and manage strong network of professional and knowledge partners and suppliers, standardization, continuous improvements, operational innovations and renovations, technology evaluation and deployment of IoT platforms and solutions for the manufacturing industry. Thus, enabling manufacturing facilities to achieve high performance targets, manufacturing flexibility, cost improvements, substantial energy consumption reductions and improve manufacturing performance. In his current role as Director of Technology Programs at CESMII (The Smart Manufacturing Institute), Miguel is leading the development and execution of a comprehensive strategic evaluation and implementation program with regards to technical investigation areas and test-beds in Smart Manufacturing, MES systems, and large scale deployment to radically improve the precision, performance, efficiency, energy productivity and growth of U.S. manufacturing. In addition, Miguel’s responsibilities include supporting outreach, training, certification, communications, workforce development and education to improve the precision, performance and efficiency of U.S. advanced manufacturing.

Joe Kenny is  Vice President of Global Customer Transformation at ServiceMax where he uses his years of service delivery experience working with prospects and existing customers to fully leverage the value of ServiceMax to their field service organizations. Joe brings over 30 years of leadership in operations, sales, product development, marketing, and field service.  Focused on delivering high impact and long-term customer success, Joe has managed and delivered onsite, offsite, and near site business support services to many Fortune 100 clients. Prior to ServiceMax, Joe was most recently with Canon-Enterprise serving as Operations Director. Prior to Canon-Enterprise, he held leadership positions at Loomis Armored, Pitney Bowes and Eastman Kodak.

Dr. Nick Vyas is a known practitioner in operations management and organizational excellence by applying Blended Quality Management, AI, ML, RPA, Blockchain, and Data Analytics. Vyas received his Doctor of Education from the University of Southern California, with his published dissertation on Conceptualization of Higher Education Excellence System (HEES): Use of Advanced Data Analytics and Blended Quality Management. A Subject Matter Expert (SME) in End-to-End Global Supply Chain Management, Dr. Vyas has led cultural and business transformation for fortune 100 companies. He implemented breakthrough process improvements for over 500 projects that have transformed businesses for clients in the field of health care, service, government, retail, and end-to-end supply chain, focusing on procurement, sourcing, IT, distribution, logistics, and transportation.

As the founding Executive Director of USC Marshall’s Center for Global Supply Chain Management (GSCM), MS in GSCM, and as an Associate Professor, educating the next generation of business leaders. Nick was recognized as a “Supply Chain Leader of the Year” for the APICS Excellence Awards and the Golden Apple Award for teaching excellence.  He is a fellow for the American Society for Quality (ASQ) and serves as a chair-elect for Lean Enterprise Division.

Rebecca is the Business Optimization Manager for Greenfield Global, a leading producer and supplier of high-value, mission-critical raw materials, ingredients, and additives that are vital to businesses and integral to a lower-carbon economy. 

Rebecca is responsible for optimizing technology processes across the enterprise using Lean, facilitation and agile project management tools . She leads a team of Business Lean Analysts and an OKR program coordinator that are responsible for collaboratively delivering business optimization projects to ease growth of speed at scale.  This includes ERP system improvements and support, RCA and Lean event facilitation and New Product Introduction facilitation. As the Business Optimization Manager Rebecca is accountable for delivering on business quarterly priorities as approved by the senior leadership team and an aligned OKR program.

Rebecca is a long time Greenfield employee who has worked in all areas of the business supporting end to end processes.  She has received a Green Belt certification in Lean, Certified RCA Facilitator, Certified Scrum Master and Certified Executive OKR WorkBoard Coach.

Samir is an experienced global leader with extensive experience within healthcare and FMCG industry to drive strategic transformation and execution through innovation mindset, proven ability to develop talent / capability and accelerate value creation.

Samir currently is Senior Director, Advanced Customer Collaboration and Capabilities within J&J’s Janssen/Pharma Supply Chain where he is accountable to build advanced capabilities and ecosystem with focus on Customer Value Chain, to fuel growth and drive collaboration with global priority markets and our strategic customers to drive competitive advantage, gather market intelligence and technology sensing to deploy key capabilities in support of Customer Promise across Janssen business. He leads J&J’s Global IoT enabled Track n Trace Program to enable Supply Chain Visibility to drive agility and resilience.

Prior to his current role, Samir has spent 12 years within our Medical Device Supply Chain across operations and strategic transformation leadership roles in increasing capacity across North America, LATAM and APAC regions. Samir has also spent his time as a Technology / Program Management Leader fueling growth at GE Industrial Systems and Guidant businesses outside of J&J. Samir began his career with Johnson & Johnson in as a Process Engineer within our Consumer business and progressed to lead Business Unit Operations.

Samir holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Production Engineering from Saurashtra University, India, and a Master of Science in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology. Samir has participated in several Johnson & Johnson leadership programs and is a certified GE Certified Master Black Belt with extensive experience in Process Excellence and Design for Reliability / Manufacturability.

Sydney Badger is a twelve-year fashion supply chain and retail veteran, having spent the bulk of her career between Amazon.com and Ralph Lauren. She lives between Shenzhen, China and Seattle, WA where she co-founded Public Habit in 2019. Public Habit is a fashion eCommerce business committed to making only what we sell in order to eliminate textile waste in the fashion industry. They are disrupting the fashion supply chain by flipping the traditional model, starting with customer demand and producing only what is needed. They ship straight from the source and deliver within 2-4 weeks.

Dr. Justin Goldston is a Professor of Project and Supply Chain Management at Penn State University. He is also an industry veteran where he has worked with organizations around the world such as Intel, Siemens, and Blue Buffalo on business performance improvement, organizational change, and enterprise-wide digital transformation initiatives. Dr. Goldston is the author of multiple peer-reviewed journal articles on supply chain management and innovative technologies, of Critical Success Factors in ERP Implementations, and is a five-time TEDx speaker where he discussed emerging technologies such as blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. Dr. Goldston has also led and assisted in the development of Supply Chain Management and Business Analytics programs at Georgetown University, Texas A&M University, North Carolina Wesleyan College, and has evaluated programs for the Department of Higher Education while serving on the Management Advisory Board at various higher education institutions.

Dr. Tom Butkiewicz is a Core Faculty-Research member in the PhD Management program at Walden University. Dr. Tom is the faculty advisor for The National Society of Leadership and Success and the PhD Management Fellowship program. He is a reviewer for the Academy of Management and the International Journal of Applied Management and Technology. Dr. Tom also serves as the vice president for the Walden University Virtual Fulbright Association Chapter. Dr. Tom worked 26 years as an operations manager in the automotive industry for Mitsubishi Motors. He proudly concluded 20 years of honorable service to our great country as a field operations Chief Warrant Officer (CWO-3) in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. Dr. Tom is a certified leadership speaker, coach, and trainer who serves individuals and organizations for sustainable competitive advantage outcomes. He pursues positive social change by supporting the Multiple Sclerosis Society through a fundraising commitment for 20 years. Dr. Tom's positive social change focus also is demonstrated by being a member of the strategic development committee for a new church building project in Southern California.

Shekar Natarajan is a highly regarded, transformative servant leader with a track-record of progressive, positive disruption and industry-standard-setting innovation. A Harvard Business School alum with an industrial engineering background, delivering operational impact through innovation and thoughtful change leadership at top Fortune 100 companies have proven to be the hallmark of Shekar’s ~20-year career.

With more than 100 patents and worldwide adoption of at least 10 industry-standard practices, Shekar’s pioneering vision has led to industry-agnostic recognition throughout his career – from winning the Institute of Industrial Engineering’s Medallion Award (2010) to Times Now’s Non-Resident Indian of the Year Award (2014) to Retail Innovation Group’s Innovator Award (2020).

Throughout his career, Shekar has created a now industry-standard last-mile beverage delivery system; he has re-engineered a grocery home delivery/ pick-up operating model, built and scaled grocery-shopping operations more than $9 billion in less than two years. Shekar's created and piloted a cutting-edge drone program within distribution centers to speed-up ecommerce fulfillment and has created an automated solution for an existing direct-store delivery system.

Well-respected not only within the industry, Shekar has authored three books translated in 11 languages and has been published or quoted in more than 75 thought-pieces across the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CNN, CNBC, Fox, Bloomberg and prominent logistics and supply chain management magazines; he continues to remain associated with the hottest Silicon Valley startups disrupting supply chain and logistics.

Jason graduated from the University of Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and from Auburn University with a master’s degree in Business Administration. Jason has over 20 years of experience in the meat industry, working in a variety of roles including maintenance, engineering, continuous improvement, and operations.

He is currently the Senior Director of Operations for Golden State Foods’ state of the art processing facility in Opelika, AL which produces over 25 million hamburgers each week for restaurants throughout the Southeast US.

Sam Russem has been developing, managing, and consulting for Smart Manufacturing systems for 12 years for Food and Beverage, Life Sciences, and Consumer Packaged Goods manufacturers. As Senior Director of Smart Manufacturing Solutions at Grantek, he is responsible for Grantek’s strategy to develop solutions that leverage the latest technology to solve real manufacturing challenges.  As the Chairman of the Americas Board for MESA International, he supports MESA to foster a community of experts providing knowledge and insight around Smart Manufacturing and Manufacturing IT to the industry at-large.

John Jackiw is a senior industry  business consultant at DASSAULT SYSTEMES. John has many years of manufacturing experience in a wide variety of industries. 

His background working with customers in manufacturing, management and identifying and linking metrics to business value by enabling automation intelligence.   He enjoys sharing best practices in creating useful and visible metrics, and better business analytics.  This is the foundation for making clients more responsive to change and in the end more successful.  John is an active member and contributor to (MESA) International. 

John has been published in Strategic Finance magazine, Blogs and is a key author of a manufacturing analytics published through MESA.org . 

As an automation and manufacturing information specialist he understands the chasm that exists between operations and the executives.  He successfully delivers projects to bridge operational change and decision support.

Geoff manages many different functions within the Operations and Supply Chain areas, including Production, Quality, Customer Order Fulfilment, Warehousing and Logistics, but most of his experience is in Sourcing, Purchasing, and Planning. Geoff has worked with suppliers and customers in high-tech manufacturing and electronics distribution for over 20 years in the Americas, Asia, and Europe, dealing with some of their most complicated global supply chain challenges.

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.

Julianne Youngblood is the Strategic Program Director for Global Supply Chain Quality & Reliability at Intel Corporation. In this role, she is responsible for leading strategic programs including automation, supplier quality and traceability initiatives.  Youngblood also plays a key role in corporate and divisional diversity and inclusion programs including inclusive language, understanding bias, and emotional intelligence.

Prior to this role, she was the Director of Strategic Programs in the Silicon Engineering Group, where she led the organization responsible for driving execution reviews of key programs, quality program management, and the learning & development activities.

Youngblood joined Intel in 1997 as a senior environmental engineer.  She has held numerous leadership positions including Senior Operations Program Manager for Supply Chain Transformation, Quality Director for Manufacturing and Validation Engineering, Director, Strategic Technical Programs for the Windows OS Division, and the Director of Global Business Operations for the Software & Services Group.  In addition, she previously spent 8 years in Corporate Quality Network as a Quality Systems Account Manager.

Youngblood has a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering, a master’s in organizational management, and completed her doctoral studies in Business Administration.  In addition, she is a Transformational Leadership Coach and Spot Coach Practitioner.

Mary E. Blair, Ph.D. joined Accuride Corporation in October 2011 as Senior Vice President, Supply Chain Management.  She is a member of the Company’s Executive Committee and reports directly to the Board and President/CEO. 

Blair is responsible for Accuride’s global activities in the areas of procurement and strategic sourcing, logistics, supplier quality and development, and packaging. 

An accomplished Supply Chain executive, Blair brings to her role more than 25 years of leadership experience in strategic procurement and supply chain on a global basis.  She has led transforming initiatives in the areas of procurement, logistics, and supplier quality, and has a strong track record of building winning teams.  She is based at the company’s headquarters in Evansville, Indiana.

Blair joined Accuride from Evansville, Ind.-based UCI International, a leading producer of filtration, engine management, fuel pump, and water pump systems for the transportation market.  There she served as Vice President since 2008 and led Supply Chain for the company’s four business units.  In that role, she led strategic supply base development, inventory reduction, logistic optimization, and supplier quality and development processes tailored to delivering savings combined with improved quality and delivery performance to meet corporate objectives.

Prior to UCI, she had served as Director, Global Sourcing for International Truck and Engine the operating company of Navistar International, a leading producer of heavy- and medium-duty trucks, severe service vehicles and engines.

Earlier in her career, she held leadership roles of increasing responsibility with the global supply chain organizations of General Motors North America Operations and Delphi Interior and Lighting Systems. 

Blair served on the Board of Directors the University of Evansville’s Institute for Global Enterprise and is a former board member of Junior Achievement of Southwestern Indiana.  She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Ferris State University and a Master of Science – Business degree from Central Michigan University.  She is also a PhD, accomplished through Capella University with a concentration in business and leadership.  Blair was recognized as a STEP (Science, Technology, Engineering and Production) Awardee.  She is further recognized as a Delta Mu Delta honor society member.

Mansi Raythatha currently serves as Product Manager, Keytruda at Merck and most recently co-led the company’s Manufacturing Leadership Development Program. The MLDP is Merck’s flagship talent development program, spanning five countries and 19 sites. In her role, Mansi led recruitment, onboarding, and development of early career employees, supporting over 100 program members across her time with the program. Mansi brings hands-on experience in operations, technical operations, supply chain and supplier management, and studied Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Throughout her roles, Mansi has focused on lean continuous improvement, driving new steps forward in DE&I, and leading the development of an innovative and fail-fast company culture.

Global Supply Chain & Manufacturing Leader, over 25 years of experience within the Energy industry, inspiring a strong culture of execution, driving Supply Chain optimization and Operational Excellence to improve business outcomes.

Victoria Bryazgina, Head of SCM Development at United Metallurgical Company (OMK) and TOP 100 (9/100) Women in Supply chain 2021, has 10 years of experience in Supply Chain Management.

Her background includes: SCM and logistics network development, development of SCM processes at large petrochemical and metallurgical enterprises, SCM strategy and cross-functional teams creation and management.

Her current SCM projects include: participation and implementation, including new facilities creation and implementation projects, supply chain design, supply chain optimization, individual business processes modelling, and the implementation of specialized planning and scheduling systems.

Julianne Youngblood is the Strategic Program Director for Global Supply Chain Quality & Reliability at Intel Corporation. In this role, she is responsible for leading strategic programs including automation, supplier quality and traceability initiatives.  Youngblood also plays a key role in corporate and divisional diversity and inclusion programs including inclusive language, understanding bias, and emotional intelligence.

Prior to this role, she was the Director of Strategic Programs in the Silicon Engineering Group, where she led the organization responsible for driving execution reviews of key programs, quality program management, and the learning & development activities.

Youngblood joined Intel in 1997 as a senior environmental engineer.  She has held numerous leadership positions including Senior Operations Program Manager for Supply Chain Transformation, Quality Director for Manufacturing and Validation Engineering, Director, Strategic Technical Programs for the Windows OS Division, and the Director of Global Business Operations for the Software & Services Group.  In addition, she previously spent 8 years in Corporate Quality Network as a Quality Systems Account Manager.

Youngblood has a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering, a master’s in organizational management, and completed her doctoral studies in Business Administration.  In addition, she is a Transformational Leadership Coach and Spot Coach Practitioner.

Dr. Justin Goldston is a Professor of Project and Supply Chain Management at Penn State University. He is also an industry veteran where he has worked with organizations around the world such as Intel, Siemens, and Blue Buffalo on business performance improvement, organizational change, and enterprise-wide digital transformation initiatives. Dr. Goldston is the author of multiple peer-reviewed journal articles on supply chain management and innovative technologies, of Critical Success Factors in ERP Implementations, and is a five-time TEDx speaker where he discussed emerging technologies such as blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. Dr. Goldston has also led and assisted in the development of Supply Chain Management and Business Analytics programs at Georgetown University, Texas A&M University, North Carolina Wesleyan College, and has evaluated programs for the Department of Higher Education while serving on the Management Advisory Board at various higher education institutions.

As Chief Scientist, Tom is the most senior engineer at Tandem Diabetes Care, and his charter includes both (a) innovating Tandem’s technology, processes, and products, and (b) mentoring Tandem’s next generation of engineers and engineering managers. Tom earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in engineering at UC Irvine, and has 34 years of experience developing (and helping others develop) real time embedded software for life critical mechanical systems for both the Aviation and Medical industries. After a decade as Tandem’s Senior Director of Software Engineering, Tom began a Ph.D. program in organizational leadership and expects to finish by Summer 2018.

Geoff manages many different functions within the Operations and Supply Chain areas, including Production, Quality, Customer Order Fulfilment, Warehousing and Logistics, but most of his experience is in Sourcing, Purchasing, and Planning. Geoff has worked with suppliers and customers in high-tech manufacturing and electronics distribution for over 20 years in the Americas, Asia, and Europe, dealing with some of their most complicated global supply chain challenges.

Salisu is a Procurement and Supply Chain leader and Blockchain technology adoption researcher and strategies with diverse experiences covering the defense, finance, oil and gas and technology within Africa, Middle East and the UK.

He’s currently a researcher at the University of Strathclyde working on the adoption of Blockchain technology in the oil and gas supply chain and a Commercial and Procurement Consultant with Evolve Commercial LTD UK.

Prior to that, Salisu has managed to greater heights the most ambitious Supply Chain firm in Nigeria (NatQuest Limited) both as Managing Partner and Global Supply chain consultant. NatQuest focuses on advisory, assurance and technology consulting around people, learning, supply chain and technology.

Salisu is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) UK and the Chartered Institute of Risk Management, member of Council of Supply Chain Management Professional (CSCMP) USA, Chartered Management Institute (CMI) UK and the International Society for Professional Innovation Management.

Salisu hold a BSc (Hons) Accounting, MSc  Procurement and Supply Chain from Aberdeen Business School, RGU, UK, SAP/TERP10 from University of Duisburg-Essen Germany and a PhD (in view) at the University of Strathclyde Glasgow UK.

Jerry Hamilton is a Procurement Engineer at Lockheed Martin. Jerry works with a team of engineers to employ the use of Lean Six Sigma and statistical tools/methods to production processes within the supply chain. He has worked in the semiconductor, transportation and aerospace industries and is certified through the American Society for Quality (ASQ) as a Six Sigma Master Black Belt. He holds a Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Houston and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from New Mexico State University.

Mary E. Blair, Ph.D. joined Accuride Corporation in October 2011 as Senior Vice President, Supply Chain Management.  She is a member of the Company’s Executive Committee and reports directly to the Board and President/CEO. 

Blair is responsible for Accuride’s global activities in the areas of procurement and strategic sourcing, logistics, supplier quality and development, and packaging. 

An accomplished Supply Chain executive, Blair brings to her role more than 25 years of leadership experience in strategic procurement and supply chain on a global basis.  She has led transforming initiatives in the areas of procurement, logistics, and supplier quality, and has a strong track record of building winning teams.  She is based at the company’s headquarters in Evansville, Indiana.

Blair joined Accuride from Evansville, Ind.-based UCI International, a leading producer of filtration, engine management, fuel pump, and water pump systems for the transportation market.  There she served as Vice President since 2008 and led Supply Chain for the company’s four business units.  In that role, she led strategic supply base development, inventory reduction, logistic optimization, and supplier quality and development processes tailored to delivering savings combined with improved quality and delivery performance to meet corporate objectives.

Prior to UCI, she had served as Director, Global Sourcing for International Truck and Engine the operating company of Navistar International, a leading producer of heavy- and medium-duty trucks, severe service vehicles and engines.

Earlier in her career, she held leadership roles of increasing responsibility with the global supply chain organizations of General Motors North America Operations and Delphi Interior and Lighting Systems. 

Blair served on the Board of Directors the University of Evansville’s Institute for Global Enterprise and is a former board member of Junior Achievement of Southwestern Indiana.  She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Ferris State University and a Master of Science – Business degree from Central Michigan University.  She is also a PhD, accomplished through Capella University with a concentration in business and leadership.  Blair was recognized as a STEP (Science, Technology, Engineering and Production) Awardee.  She is further recognized as a Delta Mu Delta honor society member.

Mansi Raythatha currently serves as Product Manager, Keytruda at Merck and most recently co-led the company’s Manufacturing Leadership Development Program. The MLDP is Merck’s flagship talent development program, spanning five countries and 19 sites. In her role, Mansi led recruitment, onboarding, and development of early career employees, supporting over 100 program members across her time with the program. Mansi brings hands-on experience in operations, technical operations, supply chain and supplier management, and studied Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Throughout her roles, Mansi has focused on lean continuous improvement, driving new steps forward in DE&I, and leading the development of an innovative and fail-fast company culture.

Bill has worked in the medical device industry for over thirty years in a variety of manufacturing, operations, and design roles. He holds several U.S. and International patents related to surgical implants and instruments, many of which have been successfully commercialized. His design activities range from direct product development and outside collaboration, to manufacturing process and equipment development. Bill is a board member of the Southern California Biomedical Council and Ventura County Workforce Development Board, and he advises academic programs at UC Riverside, Moorpark College, and the national Community College Consortium for Bioscience Credentials.

Connie is the Vice President of Business Excellence for Greenfield Global, a leading producer and supplier of high-value, mission-critical raw materials, ingredients, and additives that are vital to businesses and integral to a lower-carbon economy. Connie is responsible for creating and implementing long-term integrated business improvement and technology projects. She leads multiple teams that will collectively and collaboratively deliver an enterprise-wide transformation program. This includes enterprise software selection projects, multi-year ERP and other technology implementations, foundational projects, business optimization, and continuous improvement projects. As Vice President of Business Excellence Connie is accountable for developing and leading a center of excellence to provide advanced leadership, training and support for optimizing the business, resolving complex business issues and driving continuous improvement/ learning across the organization. Connie is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Ottawa University. She has received a Black Belt certification in Lean.

Ray Muscat is the Industry Director for the Tauber Institute for Global Operations at the University of Michigan.  In this role he brings a wealth of corporate experience from the Automotive, Defense Electronics, Aerospace and Office Furniture industries. His background includes engineering, manufacturing, program management, mergers and acquisitions, global manufacturing strategy development and execution, along with the implementation of the Toyota Production System/Lean Manufacturing principles.

Ray was a Senior Vice President at Herman Miller where he was responsible for engineering, new product development, operations management, corporate quality and led a core team that developed the Herman Miller Performance System, Herman Miller’s adaptation of the Toyota Production System worldwide.  He has also held various engineering and operations roles at Ball Aerospace and Technologies, Raytheon Company and Ford Motor Company.

Ray has a BSE in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the University of Rhode Island. He is a lecturer on the application of Lean principles at the University of Michigan, Michigan Lean Consortium, American Manufacturing Strategies Summit and for the employees of the City of Detroit, and the State of Michigan.  He is Principal of Muscat Consulting, LLC, specializing in lean manufacturing, engineering and operations consulting, and executive coaching.

With extensive and broad experience in leading companies to achieve success, Ken Guity has a passion to coach the leadership teams of companies to optimize business performance by deploying Lean strategies and engaging team members. It is Ken’s belief that the sustainable success of an organization can only be achieved by developing a culture of continuous improvement through sound leadership practices.

Ken Guity has a diverse experience leading businesses within several global, world-class organizations, holding positions such as President and CEO. Ken is recognized as a leader and change agent capable of energizing team members at all levels to achieve organizational objectives.

Due to his people-oriented focus and approach, he has had significant success in developing teams and has managed in a number of culturally diverse environments, including Japanese, Swedish, German, Mexican and American organizations. Ken’s scope of responsibility has included public and privately held businesses, ranging in size from $30 to $365 million in revenue and up to 3,000 team members.

Ken Guity is certified in Executive Lean Leadership. He has earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering in Industrial Engineering from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

Robin Stratthaus is a long-term employee at Pepperl+Fuchs, a privately held manufacturing company. After completing his studies in economics and engineering he began his career at the headquarters located in Germany. He gained some experience in the logistics department, before relocating to the United States as the project lead for the implementation of an ASRS (automated storage and retrieval system) for a new distribution center in Katy, Texas. By now, Robin is responsible for Supply Chain Management in the Americas and Europe for Pepperl+Fuchs. As part of this role he is responsible for implementing the S&OP and End-to-End planning practices, including a new planning software at the company.

Dr. Nourredine Boubekri is currently a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of North Texas. He received his Ph.D. in Industrial and Management Systems Engineering. He received both his Master and Bachelor of Science degrees in Manufacturing Engineering. His career started at the University of Miami. There he founded the University of Miami Industrial Assessment Center in the year 2000, which is currently still funded by DOE. His experience includes his roles as Department chair /Director of Research and Innovation /Director of UNT SACSCOC reaffirmation. He directed more than thirty-five Master and Ph.D. Students and published more than 100 technical articles and journal papers in the areas of Green Manufacturing, New Product/Process Development Management, Project Management and Quality Management. His research funding exceeds five million dollars in grants and contracts. He has been an invited/Keynote speaker at a number of international conferences and symposiums.

Dr. Tom Butkiewicz is a Core Faculty-Research member in the PhD Management program at Walden University. Dr. Tom is the faculty advisor for The National Society of Leadership and Success and the PhD Management Fellowship program. He is a reviewer for the Academy of Management and the International Journal of Applied Management and Technology. Dr. Tom also serves as the vice president for the Walden University Virtual Fulbright Association Chapter. Dr. Tom worked 26 years as an operations manager in the automotive industry for Mitsubishi Motors. He proudly concluded 20 years of honorable service to our great country as a field operations Chief Warrant Officer (CWO-3) in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. Dr. Tom is a certified leadership speaker, coach, and trainer who serves individuals and organizations for sustainable competitive advantage outcomes. He pursues positive social change by supporting the Multiple Sclerosis Society through a fundraising commitment for 20 years. Dr. Tom's positive social change focus also is demonstrated by being a member of the strategic development committee for a new church building project in Southern California.

Ken has over 32 years of Supply Chain Management experience and 28 years with Schneider Electric. He has a diverse background of executive level Supply Chain and Business leadership positions as well as global experience working across North American, China and Asia Pacific. Ken has proven to be a key leader in Schneider Electric’s award-winning Tailored Supply Chain Transformation.

He completed a 3-year assignment in China where he led the Supply Chain for the businesses of Engineered Equipment, Electronics, Industrial Automation, Power Systems, and Cooling. He also served as the personal coach for several of the future leaders for China’s Supply Chain operations. Effective November 2018 he returned to North America and is now leading the Supply Chain Operations for all North America businesses.

Ken holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Management from Wayne State Collage, and an Executive MBA from Xavier University in the United States.

Christopher has been employed by the Fortune 500 manufacturer, Stanley Black & Decker for over seven years, and is currently Director of IT/OT Resiliency & Support. In this role, he is responsible for deploying Level 2/3 system architectures and connecting all other level systems to level2/3, while supporting them. Additionally, he manages remediation with Edge components, and deploys servers and connectivity for all OT-Related systems, plus Level 1 support of all OT-Related SW applications. Christopher began his career as a machinist, and tool & die maker, working for over 20 years in engineering, before transitioning to 100% IT/OT roles. He worked with complex materials and processes to design tools, processes, machines and assembly for automotive, aircraft, visual identification systems, food industry and industrial manufacturing and distribution. Since then he has managed industrial systems in manufacturing and distribution to deploy, link and support applications for quality, maintenance, tooling, and equipment (QMS, QCS, TPM, OEE, MES).

Geoff manages many different functions within the Operations and Supply Chain areas, including Production, Quality, Customer Order Fulfilment, Warehousing and Logistics, but most of his experience is in Sourcing, Purchasing, and Planning. Geoff has worked with suppliers and customers in high-tech manufacturing and electronics distribution for over 20 years in the Americas, Asia, and Europe, dealing with some of their most complicated global supply chain challenges.