Keynotes thought-leader
Mike Abrashoff
author of ‘It’s Your Ship’
At the age of 36, Mike Abrashoff was selected to become Commander of U.S.S. Benfold, at the time he was the most junior commanding officer in the Pacific Fleet. The challenges were staggering with exceptionally low morale and unacceptably high turnover.
The solution was a system of beliefs that Mike calls GrassRoots Leadership. A process of replacing command and control with commitment and cohesion, by engaging the hearts, minds, and loyalties of workers – a belief that Mike achieves with conviction and humility. “The most important thing that a captain can do is to see the ship through the eyes of the crew.” This meant interviewing every single person on his ship, from the most senior officer to the lowest recruit. It was an experience that began to generate invaluable ideas, often from unexpected sources.
GrassRoots leadership is a principle that empowers every individual to share the responsibility of achieving excellence. “It’s your ship,” Mike was known to say. To this day, his former sailors still remind him of it.
By every measure, these principles were able to achieve breakthrough results. Personnel turnover decreased to an unprecedented 1%. The rate of military promotions tripled, and operating expenses were slashed by 25%. The U.S.S. Benfold became regarded as the finest ship in the Pacific Fleet, winning the prestigious Spokane Trophy for having the highest degree of combat readiness.
Bill Kimbrell
Blue Ocean Strategy Expert Practitioner
Blue Ocean Strategy Network
Businessman, writer, motivational speaker, business advisor, seminar leader and facilitator Bill Kimbrell moved to Kentucky in 1966 to start his own business. From a very meager beginning, he built his surgical equipment enterprise into a thriving, multimillion-dollar corporation. During his career, he was appointed Ethics Chairman for the entire United States for his professional organization, a position he held for over twelve years. Long an advocate for integrity and ethical leadership, Mr. Kimbrell conducted ethics seminars across the country, which resulted in the first certified Code of Ethics in the medical device industry.
Most recently Mr. Kimbrell has returned from “the Harvard of Europe,” Insead University in Fontainebleau, France. There, he was one of a small percentage of over 800 consultants from all over the world to be qualified in Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Maket he Competition Irrelevant. Authored by two world renowned professors at Insead and published by the Harvard Business School Press, Blue Ocean Strategy was the best selling business book of the year in 2005 and continues to set records globally, having been translated into 41 foreign languages.
Day 1: 19th January 2009
Christopher Cool
VP Sector Quality Systems & Safety
Northrop Grumman Corporation Intergated Systems
Christopher Cool is acting Sector Vice President Quality Systems and Safety, and Vice President Quality Systems and Safety for the Western Region of Northrop Grumman’s Integrated Systems sector. His current responsibilities include Quality, Affordability and Continuous Improvement, Planning & Scheduling, Safety Assurance, Knowledge Management and Integration. His charter is to enable the sector to become a quality focused, process based culture by integrating quality, systems engineering, value stream management and risk management into a single integration capability. He also represents the company externally on quality, continuous improvement and integration activities. For the past four years, Mr. Cool has been serving the sector, both ISER and then ISWR regions and Joint Strike Fighter IPT in various capabilities in affordability, quality, integration and knowledge management. Prior to 2004 he was Vice President – Manufacturing Quality and Lean for the Integrated Systems Sector. In addition, he is a founding member and past chair of the corporate Competitive Excellence council and the Corporate Quality council and represents Northrop Grumman’s Integrated Systems sector on both today.
Prior to joining Northrop Grumman, Mr. Cool worked for Rockwell International as a B-1B industrial engineering manager in Columbus, Ohio and Palmdale, California. Before that he was at Boeing Commercial Aircraft as an industrial engineer on the 747 and 767 in Everett, Washington.
Warner Williams
VP North America Exploration and Production Company
Chevron
Paul G. Kuchuris Jr
President & Chief Executive Officer
The Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence
The Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence is a nonprofit organization that works with Illinois manufacturers, schools, health care providers, government agencies and service organizations to achieve high levels of performance in order to be more competitive in the global economy. The Foundation provides education and training programs geared towards continuous improvement, as well as an awards program to help Illinois organizations distinguish themselves. The program is modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
Paul Kuchuris currently is Chairman of the Board of Directors for The Alliance for Performance Excellence (a national Baldrige state program organization), DuPage County Workforce Investment Board’s Workforce Systems Committee, the Benedictine University’s Business Management Institute Advisory Board and the Career Advancement Network Advisory Board.
John Murphy
Assistant Vice President
CSX Transportation
Greg Stevens
President
Winnovations Inc.
Denise Reading
President
Global Corporate College
John Rodgers
Managing Director
Six Sigma Academy
Mike Adams
VP Quality
Allegheny Energy, Inc
Mike is vice president of quality for Allegheny Energy, Inc. a $3 billion electric utility with approximately 1.6 million customers in the Northeast United States. He joined Allegheny as a member of a turnaround executive team in 2004 to transform a challenged company to a high performance organization. Working directly for the Chairman & CEO and as a partner with the executive team, Mike shares responsibility for business results through developing, deploying, and co-leading quality practices, technical applications, and skills commensurate with high performers.
Mike owns Allegheny Energy’s customer satisfaction strategy and shares responsibility in delivering predictable business results reflected in the company’s balance scorecard. He is responsible in developing capabilities of the company’s leadership and employees-at-large in general management, business planning, problem solving, statistical applications, and the overall practical application of quality tenets and Six Sigma.
Past positions include Board director for the Baldrige Foundation, examiner for the Baldrige National Quality Award, judge for of the USA Today/ RIT Quality Cup, and immediate past chair of the Juran Medal for Distinguished Leadership.
- Karl Luce, Solutions Specialist, Oracle
- Denise Reading, President, Global Corporate College
- Tom Fazekas, MBB, Global Corporate College
- Kimberly Watson Hemphill, Senior Executive, Accenture
- Sarah Snyder, MBB, Novaces LLC
- Dave Lubowe, Partner Global & Americas Operations Strategy Leader, IBM Global Business Services
- Mary Federico, Vice President, Rath & Strong
- Bryan Carey, Senior Vice President of Strategic Consulting for Conversion Services International & Managing Director, DeLeeuw Associates
- Greg Stevens, President, Winnovations Inc.
- John Rodgers, Managing Director, Six Sigma Academy
- Rob Stewart, President, The Quality Group
Jim Spicer
President
SimplexGrinnell
Jim Spicer is president of SimplexGrinnell, the centerpiece of Tyco’s World Wide Fire Protection Services group of businesses. SimplexGrinnell is a leading provider of fire detection and alarm, fire sprinkler, fire suppression, and integrated security systems and services in North America.
Spicer has had a long, successful career with Simplex and SimplexGrinnell, occupying corporate marketing, sales management and senior leadership positions. He was named president of the company in October 2007. Prior to that, he had most recently served as vice president of business operations, working to streamline business operations, accelerate organic growth and drive SimplexGrinnell’s key business strategies.
During his 18 years with the company, Spicer has also held critical field management roles, including several regional management positions and vice president of north central operations. In 2006, Spicer earned the prestigious Tyco Chairman’s Award from chairman and CEO Ed Breen for his outstanding career and impressive array of accomplishments with Tyco.
José G. Ramírez
Ph.D, Industrial Statistician
W.L. Gore and Associates
José G. Ramírez, Ph.D. is an industrial statistician at W.L. Gore and Associates, makers of Gore-Tex® and other innovative products, where he is responsible for promoting business intelligence through innovative analytical applications. He works closely with associates to help them "make sense of data," and through collaborative education, helps promote statistical thinking and JMP usage. He has been using JMP and SAS for more than 15 years as a catalyst to turn data into knowledge. He received a degree in mathematics from Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela, and an MS in applied statistics and a PhD in statistics both from the University Wisconsin-Madison. He was one of the founding members of the Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement at the University Wisconsin-Madison. In 1998 (SUGI 23) he won the best contributed statistics paper, and in 2002 he was awarded the SAS User Feedback Award. He is currently writing a JMP book with his wife, Brenda Ramírez, Analyzing and Interpreting Continuous Data Using JMP: A Step-by-Step Guide.
Mike Abrashoff
author of ‘It’s Your Ship’
Len Cooper
Senior Vice President Supply Chain
Halliburton
Tony Martino
VP Business Operation & Chief Privacy Officer
Xerox Canada
Tony Martino is the vice president of business operations and chief privacy officer for Xerox Canada. In this role, he is responsible for providing leadership to the customer order fulfillment and support processes and programs, including customer administration, integrated supply chain management, customer satisfaction and privacy. In addition he has responsibility for strategies, deployment and implementation of Xerox Canada’s Lean Six Sigma program.
Prior to this assignment Martino was the vice president of human resources, communications and corporate affairs, a position which he held for 4 years. In that role he provided leadership to the people processes at Xerox Canada including overseeing all strategies, policies and practices related to human resources management, employee relations, industrial relations, education and training, internal communications, organization design and development.
Martino has also been the vice president of client operations, responsible for Xerox Canada’s outsourced services business. Martino joined Xerox Canada in 1979 and has held a number of positions in both operations and staff. During his tenure at Xerox he has also held a number of senior positions in marketing, administration, business operations, finance and human resources.
Martino is a member of the Board of Governors of the National Quality Institute of Canada, a board member of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, and also on the board of Skills for Change.
Bruce Rideout
VP Business Performance Improvement
Constellation Energy
Ann Saunders
Vice President of Process Excellence, Biomedical Services
American Red Cross
Jennifer Ralston
Director of Process Improvement, MBB, Biomedical Services
American Red Cross
Tiran Dagan
Director, Engagement Leader Strategic Initiatives & Analysis
NBC Universal
Tiran Dagan is a Director for NBC Universal's East Coast Strategic Initiatives & Analysis (SIA), NBC’s internal consulting arm, engaged by business leaders to drive down costs, reduce cycle time and waste and support strategic vision for enterprise operations & growth. Tiran leads teams of 2-11 process analysts through Lean Action Workouts utilizing Lean, Six Sigma and CAP tools & techniques. These initiatives take place in digital strategy, supply chain, marketing, sales and other process areas as needed.
Tiran is a Certified Agile PM Scrum Master and a Six Sigma Master Black Belt with over 20 years experience in IT, financial services, health care & entertainment working for Fortune 500 firms such as Wachovia, Capital One and T. Rowe Price prior to joining GE/NBC Universal.
Pam Cagle
Sr Director Global Continuous Improvement
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Pam Cagle is the Sr. Director of Global Continuous Improvement, and is a Black Belt at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. She joined the Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Continuous Improvement team in 2003. Prior to joining Wal-Mart, her last position at a wholly owned General Electric subsidiary was Six Sigma Leader where she was responsible for leading the management team through Green Belt training, mentoring the Green Belt projects and preparing them for their certification exams.
Previous to entering the world of Lean Six Sigma, Pam held the positions of Director of Quality and Training and Director of GE Medical Call Center. Pam successfully completed the four week General Electric training and certification program plus receiving Black Belt certification from Six Sigma Academy. She was the Six Sigma Zealot award winner for GE Appliances in 2002. She also had a long career with Hallmark Cards, Inc., leaving that company as a Regional Sales Trainer for ten southeast states.
George Turner
VP Lean Six Sigma
RockTenn
George Turner has served as Vice President, Six Sigma with RockTenn since 2005. George joined RockTenn in 1994 as a project manager for the Paperboard Division. In 1998, George became a production manager at RockTenn’s Macon, Georgia Converting plant and in 1999 he further advanced to plant manager of the converting plant in Columbus, Indiana. George was selected to be a Six Sigma Full Time Black Belt in 2003 and was promoted to Master Black Belt in 2004. Prior to joining the company, George was a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy. George holds a BS in Computer Science from the U.S. Naval Academy and has an MBA from Charleston Southern University.
Chip Handley
VP, Lean Six Sigma Deployment Champion
Ring Power Corporation
Mr. Chip Handley is currently Vice President, Lean Six Sigma Deployment Champion for Ring Power Corporation, the authorized Caterpillar dealer for northern and central Florida. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary with a degree in Economics. Chip was commissioned as an officer in the US Army, serving tours in Oklahoma, Alabama and South Korea. He joined Ring Power Corporation in 1989 and pursued a career in sales management. In 2004, Chip was selected as a Black Belt when Ring Power initially deployed 6 Sigma. After completing Master Black Belt training in 2005 he was promoted to Vice President & Deployment Champion.
Chip and his team began integrating Lean methodology in 2007 and have been working closely with Caterpillar to maximize the potential of the supply chain to provide customer value.
Matt Parkey
Director Operational Excellence
Coca Cola
Julie Brignac
Group Vice President Procurement, Lean Six Sigma & Quality
Brambles Inc
Julie Brignac’s experience in excess of 20 years began at DuPont, where for nearly ten years she assumed increasing responsibilities in Supply Chain Operations and Project Management at key operational sites. Her highly successful commercial and operational experience in globally matrixed organizations have focused in Procurement, Manufacturing Operations, Finance and Quality.
Over the next ten years, Julie’s leadership included roles in the areas of Quality and Six Sigma, Supply Chain Management, and Strategic Sourcing with a specific focus on international outsourcing. She has held senior management and executive positions at Honeywell and Newell Rubbermaid’s Sanford Brands, and was the Six Sigma deployment leader for the businesses of Brambles Limited, CHEP Equipment Pooling Systems and Recall Information Management Systems.
Julie now is the chief Procurement leader and top executive for LeanSigma for Brambles Limited, a $4.5 billion company headquartered in Sydney, Australia.
John Pieno
Chairman
Florida Sterling Council
John Pieno was appointed by Governor Lawton Chiles to lead the State Department of Administration in 1991, then responsible for the pay, benefits, and administrative procedures for the 140,000-person state work force. As a management professional and agency head, his responsibility was to modernize state government’s management system to private sector standards in the areas of leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, information and analysis, human resources, and process management.
His commitment to continuous improvement led to the creation of the Florida Quality Initiative. This evolved into the Florida Sterling Council, of which John Pieno is the current Chairman. The Florida Sterling Council is a not-for-profit public/private partnership promoting organizational performance excellence in all types and sizes of organizations throughout the state of Florida. The Florida Sterling Council administers the Governor’s Sterling Award, a statewide quality award based on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Now in its 16th year, the Governor’s Sterling Award has become the national standard for recognizing and promoting adherence to quality principles in the manufacturing, service, public, health care, and education sectors.
John is a nationally-acknowledged expert in the principles of organizational performance excellence embedded in the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria and the Florida Sterling Criteria. His experience in performance excellence includes implementation and assessment of processes in many organizations in the private, government, education, and health care sectors. He has extensive experience as a master trainer and conducts training on the Baldrige/Sterling Criteria, the Balanced Scorecard, and Organizational-Specific Assessment Training. In addition, John meets regularly with leadership teams from all business sectors to promote performance excellence.
Tim L. Taylor
Principal Project Manager, Rockwell Collins
Inc. (Commercial Systems – Product Assurance)
Tim L. Taylor is a Principal Project Manager – with the Commercial Systems Division of Rockwell Collins Inc. Tim has been with Rockwell for 10 years and is responsible for implementing effective process & product quality improvement systems, tools, methods, and training, which includes Lean and Six-Sigma. His most recent team defined, managed, and facilitated business performance improvement methods throughout Rockwell Collins to ensure bottom-line results and that customer quality requirements are integrated into the business processes. He has 28 years of Quality, Manufacturing, and business experience in aerospace, military, automotive, and commercial industries, with expertise in Lean, Six Sigma, Advanced Quality, and Business performance Improvement.
Ellen Trager
CIO & VP Lean Six Sigma
GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies
Ellen Trager joined GE in 1992 as a member of the Information Management Leadership Program (IMLP) at GE Capital. After completing the IMLP program, Ellen’s leadership developed through a number of roles with increasing responsibility across GE Capital, GE Investments, ABC, Inc. and NBC. In 2002, Ellen joined GE Aviation as Manager of Commercial & Military Systems, delivering IT solutions that provided $13M in business productivity and supporting 70 global applications. In this role, she was also responsible for leading the IMLP Program. She became a Master Black Belt at GE Aviation in 2004. There she developed Aviation’s use of Lean for transactional processes in finance, engineering and services. In May 2006, Ellen assumed the role of Lean Six Sigma Leader for GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies and in February 2007 her role expanded to include CIO responsibilities.
Kenneth J. Michaels
SVP Global Business Process Management
The McGraw-Hill Companies
Ken J. Michaels is senior vice president of Global Business Process Management for The McGraw-Hill Companies. Reporting to the Chairman, he is responsible for establishing global enterprise-wide process operations that help the corporation better serve its customers and markets in a timely and efficient manner. This includes matching company resources with growth opportunities, structuring Lean Six Sigma Deployment Programs, and working with business segment presidents and other senior leaders to orchestrate corporate initiatives and global work teams. He formerly served as SVP, Enterprise Business Solutions, responsible for Global Resource Management initiatives, including developing new approaches to markets and how the company organizes work. Before joining the company in 1997, he also worked in the United States, Europe and Asia in various finance and general management leadership roles for General Electric for 12 years where he was trained in Lean Six Sigma. Ken earned a bachelor’s degree in Management and English from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, an MBA from Western New England College, and is a graduate of GE’s Financial Management Program.
Kurt Swogger
Former Vice President Ventures & New Business Development
Dow Chemical
- John Rogers, Managing Director, Six Sigma Academy
- Aroon Tungare, PhD, Senior Director, Cognitive & Sensing Solutions Research Motorola Labs
- JD Sicilia, Director DoD Lean Six Sigma Program Officer, OSUSD Business Transformation Office
- Dick Scott, Executive Director, Sigma Breakthrough Technologies Inc.
- Tom England, Global Director of Six Sigma, Tyco Electronics
- Pam Guler, M.H.A., Director of Customer Strategies & Performance Improvement, Six Sigma Master Black Belt, BayCare Health System / Morton Plant Mease Health Care
- Bill Sedey, M.H.A., Six Sigma Black Belt, BayCare Health System / Morton Plant Mease Health Care
- Lori Smithson, M.Ed., Six Sigma Black Belt, BayCare Health System / Morton Plant Mease Health Care
- Kurt Swogger, Former Vice President Ventures & New Business Development, Dow Chemical
- David Hampton, VP, Rath & Strong
Alex Garcia
Master Black Belt
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Alex Garcia is a Master Black Belt with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. He holds process improvement certifications as a Six Sigma Black Belt and Master Black Belt. He joined Wal-Mart in 2007 becoming a founding member of the Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Global Continuous Improvement team. As a project leader and mentor, Alex has been involved in projects throughout Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and last year his financial savings accounted for over $24 million. Prior to joining Wal-Mart, Alex led successful launches of new vehicles for General Motors as well as launching a new product line for more efficient air conditioners with United Technologies Corporation.
Beth Mcgrath
Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense
Office Under Secretary of Defense
Ms. Elizabeth (Beth) McGrath currently serves as the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Business Transformation). Ms. McGrath executes the Department’s primary governance body for business transformation, the Defense Business Systems Management Committee (DBSMC), is responsible for implementing DoD’s Continuous Process Improvement/Lean Six Sigma efforts, and is co-leading, with the Director of National Intelligence, an initiative to reform the government-wide security clearance process. Additionally, Ms. McGrath was instrumental in the establishment of the Defense Business Transformation Agency (BTA) on October 7, 2005. Her responsibilities require integration and coordination with the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Principal Staff Assistant (PSA) organizations as well as other inter-governmental agencies, such as the Office of Management and Budget and the General Accountability Office. She ensures that all business transformation requirements are aligned to PSA goals and objectives, thereby maximizing USD(AT&L), USD(P&R), and USD(C) capabilities.
Bill Kimbrell
Blue Ocean Strategy Expert Practitioner
Blue Ocean Strategy Network
Rod Hill
MBB
JEA
Rod Hill is the Six Sigma Master Black Belt for JEA. Beginning work in manufacturing in 1970 as a Machine Operator, his career encompasses most disciplines of competitive enterprises. Prior to joining JEA in 2000, Rod worked for five manufacturing companies and two education and counselling firms. His experience-rich background supports all strategic development and organizational design. This background has also prepared him to provide educational opportunities that are practical, dynamic and applicable for immediate results. He has a practical hands-on approach to solving problems faced by businesses. Somewhat of a raconteur, his unique blend of classroom and business experience allows the use of easily understood anecdotal explanations to achieve clarity of understanding quickly and easily.
During his career, Rod has served on the board of both the Industrial Crescent and the Gold Coast Chapters of APICS. He was an active member of the Purchasing Manager's Association of the Carolinas and Virginia. Rod was involved with Region XI of APICS and is a past board member of the Atlantic Coast Symposium.
Adam Bryan
MD
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation
Most recently, Adam Bryan led DTCC’s enterprise-wide strategy across all business lines to enhance customer service. His efforts have played a key role in DTCC’s world-class customer satisfaction survey score of 91% last year. Bryan joined DTCC’s management team in January 2007 as managing director for Customer Satisfaction and Service.
Prior to that, he served, from 2000, as president and CEO of Omgeo, a global joint venture between DTCC and Thomson Reuters. Omgeo serves over 6,000 investment managers and broker/dealer clients in 45 countries, providing automated and standardized post-trade services for matching and trade allocations, confirmations and settlement instructions. Prior to Omgeo, Bryan was COO at the Investment Management group of Thomson Financial. He also served as COO of Thomson Financial ESG, based in Boston, and as managing director for ESG in Asia. Earlier, Bryan held the position of managing director, Asia-Pacific, for Thomson Financial Publishing Group, helping to establish Thomson Financial’s publishing business in the region. He was also the CFO for Thomson Financial’s operations in Asia.
Tina Huesing
Corporate MBB, Director Six Sigma
Motorola EMEA
Kim J. Huntley
Director
Defense Energy Support Center
Kim J. Huntley is director of the Defense Energy Support Center located at the Defense Logistics Agency Headquarters, Fort Belvoir, Va. As director, he is responsible for providing the Department of Defense and other government agencies with comprehensive energy solutions and ensuring continuous energy support to America’s warfighters worldwide. DESC’s mission specializes in contracting support and management of all petroleum-based fuels, additives and other energy products and services including jet fuels, distillates, missile fuels, chemicals, gases, gasoline, diesel fuels, heating fuels, natural gas, coal and electricity. DESC also manages utilities privatization and other installation energy conservation efforts.
Assigned as the director of Logistics, Plans and Operations for DLA-Europe in 1995. In 1997, he became the deputy commander of DLA-Europe. Returning to DLA headquarters in January 2001, he assumed the duties as chief, Director’s Staff Group. In November 2003, Mr. Huntley transferred to J-4 to be the staff director, Customer Support Office, where he was responsible for the J-4 Service Teams, National and Customer Account Managers, Customer Support Representatives, International Programs, and Homeland Security/Non-DoD Programs.
Following his appointment to the Senior Executive Service in 2006, Mr. Huntley accepted the position as executive director, Customer Operations and Readiness (J-31) for the DLA. Prior to his current assignment, Mr. Huntley was the deputy commander for the Defense Supply Center Richmond, Va., a field activity of the DLA and the primary source of supply for nearly 1.2 million repair parts and operating supply items including military-unique items supporting over 1,3000 major weapons systems.
Christopher Kopka
Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Christopher Kopka serves as the Chief Compliance Officer for Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. As the CCO, Chris manages compliance and regulatory risk on an enterprise level across the subsidiaries and affiliates of Thrivent Financial. Immediately prior to joining Thrivent Financial, Mr. Kopka served as the Vice President, Deputy General Counsel - Compliance for Jackson National Life Insurance Company. Mr. Kopka graduated from the University of Michigan (B.A. History, with honors, 1990) and University of Minnesota Law School (J.D., magna cum laude, 1998). He is a frequent author and speaker on topics related to the financial services industry.
Brenton Harder
SVP Operations
Prudential
Brent Harder has been a leader in business performance management for the past twenty years. He leveraged ten years of leadership and systems training as a Marine Corps F/A-18 fighter pilot to join General Electric in 1995 as one of their first Six Sigma Black Belts. Since that time, Brent has served in significant global leadership roles in IT, Operations, and Quality at GE, HSBC, and Fidelity Investments. He is currently Senior Vice President of Operations at Prudential Retirement based in Hartford, CT.
Jim Harris
Manager, Enterprise Business Process Services
SunTrust Banks
James Harris is a Vice President and Consulting Manager within the Enterprise Business Process Services group at SunTrust Bank. Prior to joining SunTrust, Jim spent 20 years in various industries as a systems engineer, consultant, and project manager. This experience includes prior positions with companies such as EDS, Accenture, and The Home Depot.
Jim’s diverse background includes expertise in areas such as business application development and delivery, quality improvement programs, and process redesign. Jim holds a BBA in MIS from the University of Georgia. In addition, Jim is certified by the Project Management Institute as a Project Management Professional. He is also certified in Six Sigma improvement methodologies as well as lean production
George Wyeth
Director, Policy and Program Change Division
Environment Protection Agency (EPA)
George Wyeth is Director of the Policy and Program Change Division in the EPA’s National Center for Environmental Innovation. His division develops, tests and promotes innovative environmental strategies for government and business. He has been with EPA since 1989. Through EPA’s Lean and Environment Initiative, he and his staff assist businesses that are interested in finding the environmental benefits inherent in Lean, with tools, networking and other resources.
Greg Hayes
Master Black Belt
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Greg Hayes is a Master Black Belt with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. He holds process improvement certifications as a Lean Sensei and Six Sigma Master Black Belt. He started his career with Wal-Mart in 2003. From 2006 - Present he has been a founding member of the Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Global Continuous Improvement team. As a project leader and mentor, Greg has been involved in projects throughout Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and last year his financial savings accounted for over $78 million. Prior to joining Wal-Mart, Greg owned an electronics design and consulting company specializing in programming logic controllers used in industrial applications.
Mark Fendley
Continuous Improvement Manager
BMW
- Bryce Currie, VP Global Quality, Program Management & Business Excellence, TRW Automotive
- Jason Gerros, Director Six Sigma, MBB, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation
- Denise Reading, President, Global Corporate College
- Alan Davies, Global Lean Six Sigma Leader, Supply Chain, Black & Decker
- David Rowland, Director, Milliken Performance System
Chip Handley
VP, Lean Six Sigma Deployment Champion
Ring Power Corporation
Hank Sanftleben
Technical Fellow, Master Black Belt Candidate, Electronics Material Commodities Manager, Delphi Electronics Group & Electronics and Safety
Delphi Corporation
Hank Sanftleben is a Technical Fellow, Six Sigma Master Black Belt Candidate and, Electronic Materials Commodity Manager for Delphi Electronics and Safety & Delphi Electronic Group.
Sanftleben’s team is responsible for material development, material specification, material qualification, material sourcing, material quality, material testing and production support for Delphi Electronics and Safety globally & Delphi Electronic Group. He has over 24 years of electronic materials application experience and his specialties are LSS, DFSS, raw materials transactional business processes, electronic materials, electronic assembly methods, materials and/or process interactions, and failure analysis. He also has 12 patents covering electronic materials, and electronic devices. Hank has degrees in Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Kris Stark
Master Black Belt, Business Process Excellence Manager, Delphi Electronics Group
Delphi Corporation
Kris Stark is the Business Process Excellence Manager for Delphi Electronics Group and has been in this position since September, 2007.
Before being named to her current position, Stark held several positions within Delphi Electronics Group including Quality Metrics Manager, Quality Science Manager, and Continuous Improvement / Lean Manager. Following several assignments as a college graduate-in-training, she progressed through various design, manufacturing, and statistical engineering assignments in Delco Remy Division of General Motors. In 1999, she transferred to Delphi Electronics Group (formerly Delco Electronics Division of General Motors) and was promoted to the Manager of the Applied Statistics Group. After obtaining Master Black Belt and DfSS Black Belt certifications, Stark became the Business Process Excellence Manager in Program Management responsible for teaching and applying Lean Six Sigma techniques to both transactional and technical product and process development. Areas of focus include Product Design, Manufacturing, Production Control & Logistics, Finance, Human Resources, Program Management, and Customer Satisfaction.
Rod Hill
MBB
JEA
- Jane Long, Director Finance BPM & Black Belt, Whirlpool Corporation
- Chris Rocke, Director Finance BPM, Whirlpool Corporation
- Joe Ficalora, Executive Vice President, Sigma Breakthrough Technologies Inc.
