Biography

Anu George is Chief Quality and Transformation Officer for Morningstar. She is responsible for providing strategic direction to Morningstar’s operational excellence & continuous improvement initiatives. She works at the intersection of operational excellence, human behavior & technology. Anu is an avid reader, and has an eclectic choice of the books she reads. She enjoys learning and experimenting with new thoughts in the world of change management, organizational behavior, operational excellence, LEAN & Agile.

Anu has more than 20 years of experience in operations management and Lean Six Sigma. Before joining Morningstar in 2010, she had worked for Unilever and GE. She is a frequent speaker on topics including business process excellence and leadership.

Anu holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and accounting and a master’s degree in business administration, with a specialization in marketing, from the University of Mumbai. 

Biography

Brou Gautier serves as the Director of Continuous Process Improvement and Innovation (CPI2) and lead strategist for USAF Operational Excellence supporting the Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force, Management and Deputy Chief Management Officer. In this capacity, MAJCOM/NAF commanders, CIOs, CTOs, Senior Executive Service members and government leaders rely on his counsel and leadership on lean policy and business strategies. 

Mr. Gautier is a Master Black Belt and private sector business owner with extensive experience in government and public sectors as both a leader and on-the-ground change agent. He developed tactics, techniques and procedures to improve command effectiveness, readiness & efficiency across a spectrum ranging from maximizing contract ROI and authoring enterprise IT architecture analysis to developing PMO governance support, business cases and root cause mitigation strategies for complex problems. He has presented leader and organization business transformation and deployment strategies for IQPC’s PEX LSS Summit, Shingo International, and multiple DoD CPI Symposia.

Mr. Gautier received a B.Sc. from the US Air Force Academy, a Master of Air Mobility degree from the Air Force Institute of Technology, and an MBA from Auburn University. 

Biography

Saul J. Berman, Ph.D. is Chief Strategist, Partner & Vice President of Digital Strategy for IBM Services.  Dr. Berman has more than 25 years of consulting experience advising senior management of large corporate and start-up organizations. He has directed engagements addressing issues of strategy, organization, and operations.

His clients have included most of the major global media companies as well as internet companies, telecommunication companies, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers and automotive companies. He is a frequent speaker to industry and strategic planning organizations such as the World Economic Forum, MIPCOM, Consumer Electronics Association, McGraw Hill Media Summit, the National Association of Broadcasters, Online Publishers Association and Digital Hollywood. 

Biography

Jennifer Ford, Director of Product Effectiveness at Veteran's Health Administration, possesses nearly two decades of health care experience. Ms. Ford optimizes health care investments by producing evidenced-based assessments to maximize the intended value for America's largest integrated health care system, providing care at 1,255 health care facilities and serving 9 million enrolled Veterans each year.

Enhancing health care performance through a whole systems approach entails the expertise to improve patient care delivery and experience for the demonstration of positive patient outcomes while remaining cost effective. Ms. Ford deploys proven methodologies tailored to the health care industry to extract and maximize value throughout the health care continuum. She specializes in high reliability organizations, access to care, whole health and health IT programs which supports the mission of VA's healthcare model. Director Ford ensures that health care organizations learn and adopt the products and programs in which they invest to achieve the expected valuation, while maintaining a culture of quality improvement and patient safety.

Jennifer Ford is a published author and a frequent speaker at national and international conferences. Ms. Ford is a frequent contributor to congressional inquiries and data requests. In addition to her work at VHA, she is an adjunct professor at both Georgetown University and George Washington University. Director Ford is a graduate of American University and holds an MBA from George Mason University. Jennifer Ford has earned a Project Management Professional (PMP) designation and is a Whole Health Coach.

Biography

William J. Maples, M.D. - Dr. Maples is the founder, president, and chief executive officer of the Institute for Healthcare Excellence, a national organization supporting care redesign and cultural transformation in delivery systems across the United States. 

Dr. Maples earned his undergraduate, Masters in Oncology, and medical degrees at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He completed his residency and fellowship in Medical Oncology at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. Dr. Maples practiced Medical Oncology for 25 years at Mayo Clinic and helped lead the Mayo Clinic quality, safety, and experience journey.

He then served as Senior Vice President and Chief Quality Officer at Mission Health in Asheville, North Carolina where he helped Mission Health navigate cultural transformation and become a leading healthcare organization recognized for its impeccable quality and safety. Dr. Maples more recently served as Chief Medical Officer of Professional Research Consultants, Inc. Dr. Maples is an Associate Professor Emeritus of Oncology at the Mayo College of Medicine and a Clinical Professor at Brooks College of Health at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

Biography

Dr. Karen Tilstra, Ph.D., believes everyone is creative with leadership potential. She thinks the world would be happier if everyone embraced this truth. Until that happens, she wants to help anyone who’s interested develop their inner wellspring of creativity.

Karen co-founded the award-winning AdventHealth Innovation Lab (priorly knows as FHIL), co-created the Orlando Magic’s Innovation Lab, and helped launch the San Diego State U Idea Lab. She co-designed one of the nation’s first undergraduate degrees in Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship at Rollins College.

Karen has designed innovation labs and developed design thinking teams at Santa Clara University, Pioneers International Institute, Seminole County Health Department, and Orange County. Over the last ten years, Karen and her team have facilitated over 610 Design Thinking projects for healthcare, government, universities, and Fortune 100 companies. Karen and her team have earned three innovation awards.

Karen has presented both nationally and internationally and has taught at the university level in both the US and Asia. She currently serves as an adjunct professor at AdventHealth University, and a visiting professor for Rollins College.

Karen holds a Ph.D. in Innovation and is a licensed Educational Psychologist. She holds an MA in Counseling Psychology and a BS in Journalism. She currently serves as the Executive Fellow for Innovation at the University of Santa Clara.

Biography

Andy Tilstra, co-founder of Creativity Effect, is by nature is a collaborator, innovator, who’s always up for a ’safe' risk. Andy has five years experience facilitating design thinking projects in healthcare, government and universities. Andy also has extensive experience in launching and leading innovation projects for the AdventHealth Innovation Lab.  

Andy is the co-author of the Orchard Model of Innovation and is currently rolling it out for both government and university sectors. Andy earned a master’s degree in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago graduating in 2019, with his thesis focusing on power dynamics of public space in downtown Chicago. Currently Andy is an adjunct professor at AdventHealth University, and is co-writing a design thinking curriculum with Dr. Karen for Rollins College Currently Andy co-hosts a podcasts. 

Biography

Jennifer is a fierce advocate for connecting things, concepts and people, seen and unseen, that positively move the patient experience forward. Before joining The Institute for Healthcare Excellence in 2016,  her obsession with the voice of the patient and family helped several health systems in Minnesota achieve and sustain remarkable patient experience performance. Jennifer also worked to help organizations generate revenue, inspire engagement and drive positivechange.

Jennifer, often described as a social chemist, believes that kindness and thoughtfulness is a key ingredient for creating meaningful relationships while still being focused on generating growth and loyalty for the organization. Her ability to lead, inspire, manage and mentor employees, providers and community made her a perfect fit for Chief Experience Officer at the Institute for Healthcare Excellence.   While Jennifer takes great pride in her work, her true north remains her family, friends and relationships she develops. A graduate of the College of St. Benedict, she holds a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies/Communications.

Biography

Rameshwar is the Head of Digital Automation @ Avaya. He is an International speaker and blogger on Digital Transformation, Enterprise Architecture & Automation.

He has partnered with the likes of CTO.Academy to Launch the next Generation Enterprise podcast to groom future leaders. He runs the 3^rd largest Automation meetup group in the U.S.A known as DFWRPA which runs on the 2^nd  Wednesday of every month and covers a wide range of topics dealing from Quantum to Cybersecurity .

He is an advisor at various startup’s focused on Blockchain & E-Sports

Biography

Dr. Marlene Kolodziej is a recognized leader in the development and implementation of customer-focused transformative technology and support solutions, with over three decades of experience in end-user, infrastructure, network, data center, programming/development, and applications experience. Formerly the Assistant Vice President of End User Services for Northwell Health, Marlene has recently taken over as Vece President Cetralized Services for Ricoh USA.

Dr. Kolodziej has broad industry experience, including chemical, publishing, finance, data retention and storage, and healthcare, with a focus on leading and directing global technology and business teams to implement innovative client support solutions that increase standardization, strengthen the organization, and decrease maintenance costs. She has provided strategic worldwide client support services, call center, operations, disaster recovery, and infrastructure management, with a focus on driving operational excellence to ensure that service levels and performance are met or exceeded.

Dr. Kolodziej holds a Bachelor’s degree in Information Sciences, and has both her Masters and her Doctorate in Business Administration.

Biography

Travis is an expert in change management, organizational effectiveness, and business transformation. With +10 years of experience helping Fortune 100 companies from varying industries and across the globe go through large, strategic organizational changes, Travis brings this expertise to Google's customers and partners as the Americas Change and Culture Lead. Travis holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology with an emphasis in consumer behavior, business management, and neuropsychology and a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in management, organizational behavior and theory, and accounting. Travis' education is also comprised of several notable experiences including time studying neuropsychology and neuroscience at Harvard University and performing neurology research on cognitive functioning at Aalborg University in Aalborg, Denmark.

Biography

In my career, I've been a methodology consultant, an application architect, an IT
researcher, and a founder and CEO of two IT organizations, OT Consulting and Cognitive
Technology. I’ve spent a significant part of my life in the Business Process Management, Application Lifecycle Management & Enterprise Application Architecture arenas. Recently I’ve been serving as CEO in OT Consulting, and since 2013 I've been dedicated to the Startup of Cognitive Technology, house of the myInvenio product. In this role, I’ve met engaging research challenges like Process Intelligence, Process Mining, Automated Business Process Discovery, Social Network Analysis, and Advanced Analytics. I am passionate about my family, my company, friends, sailing, and skiing.

Biography

Cliff Tironi is Executive Vice President - Strategic Accounts. Thinaer is an IoT platform that integrates actionable data from highly-calibrated sensors and real-time employee and client feedback to give their clients unparalleled insight into their operations, predictive analytics to see the future, and consultative business process redesign to get improved results. (https://thinaer.io/)

Prior to working with Thinaer, Cliff was the Manager of Performance Analytics at the Fox School of Business at Temple University.  At Fox, Cliff was the chief architect and co-creator of RoadMap™, a Microsoft-supported tool for students to visualize their progress on competencies across courses. 

Cliff understands the challenges of harnessing never-ending data—and the need to leverage it in imaginative yet impactful ways.  He regularly conducts data visualizations workshops to business professionals across all industries, coaching others to embrace a humanized mindset as a means to making data more relatable and, most importantly, actionable. 

Fluent in Spanish, Cliff earned his M.B.A. from Arcadia University and his B.S. in Marketing from Siena College. 

Biography

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

Since 1991 he has led the offices of CSI in becoming one of the nation’s most recognized Business Transformation consulting firms, personally working with such organizations as Michelin, Genentech, Pfizer, Lockheed Martin, the Department of Defense, and many others.

Biography

Adam Lawrence is the Managing Partner of Process Improvement Partners, LLC. Adam has 30+ years of experience in process improvement activities, targeted at manufacturing and business processes. Having facilitated 250+ Kaizen events in multiple industries around the world, Adam aligns with leadership, engages teams, and creates sustainable results. 

Adam has mastered the use of many different process improvement methodologies over his career, allowing him to identify the best strategy for each organization’s goals and objectives. Adam develops sessions that are fun, engaging, and laser-focused on helping teams win.

Married to his wonderful wife for over 28 years, Peggy, together they have one son (who is also the business’s IT department). Growing up in the Washington DC area, Adam received his BS in Industrial Engineering from Virginia Tech and is mostly a self-taught Lean practitioner, with certifications from the University of Michigan. He enjoys time with family and friends, loud music, traveling, the many great clients he has worked with (his extended family), and his many business adventures.

Biography

For two decades, Hao has led digital transformation initiatives for IBM, Unilever, GE, Ford, GM & collaborated with IDEO & the Aspen Institute to drive social innovations.

Also, he’s successfully started two non-profits that partner with the education systems in the United States and China to nurture the next generation of innovators. Lastly, to strengthen his physical, mental & spiritual self, Hao recently completed a US Navy Seals training program.

Biography

Dr. Abramov has an internal drive to improve things around him. Throughout his career, he has developed and implemented processes to improve organizations and operations and their effectiveness by leading significant changes.

Dr. Abramov joined Adama in 2012 as Executive VP for Global Operations. ADAMA Agricultural Solutions Ltd. is one of the world's leading crop protection companies, with a revenue of ~4 B$.

A large part of Eli’s role at Adama has been to deliver on the company purpose of "Creating Simplicity in Agriculture” through operations. 

During the 6 years, under Eli’s leadership as an Executive VP for Global Operations, Adama has become the best in class within its Industry on all aspects of Supply Chain and Inventory management. In addition, the Operations team have managed to drastically reduce the cost of goods which reflects in huge improvement on all aspects of the business performances.

Before Joining Adama, from 2009 to 2012, Dr. Abramov has served as CEO of Baran Group, the largest and leading Engineering and project management Group in Israel. The Group serves many different industries (Chemical and Petrochemical, Energy, Water, Infrastructures, Telecom and more). 

Dr. Abramov holds a Ph.D. (Summa cum Laude) in Materials Science and Engineering, 

Ben- Gurion University of the Negev.

Eli is also a member of the Executive Board of the Israeli Manufacturing Association and serves as the Head of the biggest Union within the association responsible for the Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Industries

On a more personal note, Eli is a strong proponent of giving back to the community, and serves as Chairman of the Executive Committee for the Sami Shamoon College for Engineering.

Biography

Brian Kedzior gets inspired by change (it’s strange … he knows this) and his current mission is to make business more HUMAN.

As Senior Director of Organizational Development at Walgreens, Brian and his team worked directly with leaders at America’s largest retail pharmacy to develop the critical business capabilities they need to achieve their goals and inspire people to achieve more than they ever thought was possible.

Brian’s career has spanned public relations, insurance, financial services and even time as a consultant. He speaks at events across North America on leadership and transformation, and is a certified, trained ninja (ok, that last part is made up).    

Biography

Dr. Keith A. Clinkscale is a recognized Lean Six Sigma Black Belt & Operational Excellence Executive known for establishing best-in-class strategic performance management programs. Keith Clinkscale demonstrates a combination of broad industry experiences, performance management acumen and a history of results-oriented management consulting to drive significant improvement and cost savings. As a seasoned Industry Executive and Management Consultant, Keith built a reputation of excellence in all areas of operations.

His skillset includes over 30 years of Executive Coaching, Training and Content Design, Process Improvement, Benchmarking, Total Quality Management, Balanced Scorecards, Business Process Re-engineering, Strategic Planning, and High Performance Teams. Keith’s experience and sensitivity to customer concerns has always enabled him to provide a high level of service, whether in industry or as a consultant. Keith has headed the Performance Management Office at Palm Tran. Keith’s team provided executive coaching, goal and target setting through benchmarking, established and reported balanced scorecards, developed department scorecards and held department directors accountable for addressing deficiencies. Dr. Clinkscale has been the champion of Performance Reporting, Management and Improvement at Palm Tran.

Keith has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Boston University and a PH.D in Strategic Leadership from Concordia College & University. He is now the Director of Strategic Planning and Performance Management for Palm Beach County and supervises all activities related to the long-term strategic plan of Palm Beach County as well as the strategic planning of over 30 county departments. Keith is responsible for assisting the Board of County Commissioners (BCC), Executive Team, Department Directors, and staff with the development of long-term goals, objectives, strategies, and actions.

Biography

For nearly 25 years, Rob and his team have been helping organizations “get people on the same page” for deploying Lean, Six Sigma, Operational Excellence, and Project Management.  OpusWorks has pioneered the wise, and customized, application of advanced blended learning and execution technologies so customers can accelerate skill-building, propel culture change, and increase ROI.

Rob began his career with IBM and he is a graduate of Emory University in Atlanta.

Biography

Each day, Steve looks forward to meeting new people, new challenges, learning, and opportunities to bring business performance, competitiveness and growth to new levels. Steve is the Vice President of Operational Excellence for Greene Group Industries, a privately-held major supplier to leading industrial manufacturers, with locations across the USA.

Reporting to the President, Steve works across the company’s business units and functional areas driving organizational alignment and fostering a customer focused culture to support the goal of continuously improving competitive advantage. Prior to the Greene Group, Steve spent 20 plus years working internationally, gaining experience and expertise across industries and disciplines.

He has worked seven years in management consulting, seven years in operational leadership roles, five years running a high-tech start-up, and served four years in the United States Air Force, where he was awarded the Air Force Achievement Medal.

A firm believer in understanding fundamentals, Steve strives to make sure that all team members understand what constitutes the foundation of their organization’s competitive advantage and how each person’s role strengthens that foundation. He is focused on providing the leadership, strategies, and development needed to help enable individuals to more productively contribute to the organization’s success.

Biography

Marcus has been working at Klöckner since February 2019. The Digital Transformation Department is a Shared Service Center and offers Solutions and Servicesfor Logistics, Operations, eCommerce, CRM, Procurement and Process Management.

Main business fields are optimization of Logistiscs and Operations, strengthen Digitalization and drive process automatization within the value chain. Marcus holds a Diploma in Business Adminsitration from the Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt.

Before he joined Klöckner he was Managing Director for eCommerce Solutions at FIEGE Logistics and the Westphalia Datalab in Müster. Marcus started his career after University at Arvato AG in the CRM Solutions Unit. Main interests of Marcus are Photography, Sketching, Cross-Fit, Arts and Architecture.

Biography

Andrae Kirkland is an ASQ Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt who has led transformative initiatives for NASA, Nike, and Anheuser-Busch InBev. In his current role as a Sr. Program Manager at Twitter, Andrae pairs his continuous improvement expertise with next-level technologies to develop innovative solutions to combat some of the most pressing challenges that exist today - content integrity and data protection.

Biography

Michael Muilenburg is the Director of Operational Technology at 3M in the Engineering, Materials, and Process Technology Organization.

• During his 35+ year career at 3M, he has worked in manufacturing
  operations, process development, product development, Lean Six Sigma
  and supply chain. 
• He holds a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the University
  of Nebraska-Lincoln and masters degrees in Manufacturing Engineering
  from Northwestern University, and Polymer Engineering from Stevens Institute
  of Technology. He has also completed a masters certificate from the Shingo
  Institute at the Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University.
• Outside of his operational excellence career, He is an avid musician who
  plays guitar, bass, mandolin, bouzouki and other instruments. He is the
  sole proprietor of Sheridan Avenue Music, a recording studio and music
  lesson business.

• Contact: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmuilenburg/
  email: AlchemyMN@gmail.com phone:612.209.1468

Biography

Oliver Maeckel is Partner / Vice President at Siemens Advanta Consulting. He has been with Siemens AG since 1997. The focus of his current work is, in particular, the digitization of project business processes and the optimization of the development and delivery of "first-of-its-kind" large-scale projects. Over the last years, he and his team were able to decrease risks and to speed up project business processes in the pre-sale, sales and execution phase using digital technology.

Biography

José Pires serves as the Global Excellence & Innovation (E&I) Leader for Andeavor Corporation, where he oversees the global identification, prioritization and execution of mission critical business improvements and innovations that add value to the company, business partners and external clients in multiple markets.

Prior to his current role, Pires held Excellence and Innovation leadership positions in large, global companies in the electronics (Sony), semiconductor (Cymer-ASML), food (Nestlé) and infrastructure (Black & Veatch) industries. Throughout his career, Pires developed and refined E&I as an award winning program for innovation, leadership development, strategy execution and value creation globally.

Pires is an advisory board leader and keynote speaker for several global conferences on innovation, operational excellence, leadership development, strategy execution, business transformation, customer engagement and growth acceleration.

He holds a Bachelor in Engineering Physics from the University of Kansas and a Master in Business Administration focused in Investment Banking and Entrepreneurship from the University of San Diego.

Biography

Tony is a Senior Operations Executive with over 2 decades of experience guiding global growth and transformation initiatives, realizing game-changing process improvements, cost efficiencies, and securing a meaningful competitive edge within the Healthcare, Pharmaceutical and High-Tech industries. He is currently President, Director, Board of Directors of the Association of Business Process Management Professionals and Partner, Omicron Partners, a strategy and operations advisory firm.

Biography

Philip has 20+ years of experience in consulting, and currently leads IBM’s Digital Strategy practice in North America. His primary focus is on large digital transformation programs using existing, new, and emerging technologies to develop and deliver strategies that accelerate revenue growth and value capture.

Philip has served clients across a range of industries –Retail, Consumer Products, Tech/Telco, Travel, B2B Distribution, Financial Services. He has also advised institutional investors on investment strategies related to digital shifts.

Biography

As president and founding partner of AdaptOne, John is responsible for executing the company’s strategic solution direction while staying true to its mission of being the most adaptable enterprises supplier centric procurement platform in the marketplace. 

His passion for technology as an enabling force behind mission-critical business process optimization spans his entire 25+ year career. Growing up in a military family he cultured at an early age that flexibility, humility and passion were characteristics that would drive his inspiration .  After receiving a degree in Computer Engineering from Auburn University, he quickly joined GTE focused on the design of command and control systems for the U.S. Air Force. 

As his passion for applying leading-edge technologies to transform business outcomes flourished, John began consulting with leading Fortune 500 companies across various industries including telecommunications, government, IT and transportation.  For over a decade, he’s led many transformation initiatives that sought the use of nimble technologies and best practice business process optimization to develop solutions that provide organizations with enterprise transparency and competitive differentiation.

Biography

James Feldman is a globally recognized business advisor, mentor, innovation Sherpa, author, speaker, and serial entrepreneur, who has guided hundreds of companies and thousands of individuals around the world towards optimum performance levels. He advises companies on building strong customer-concentric, innovative organizations that deliver transformational growth to achieve goals, overcome challenges, and think ‘inside the box’ to solve problems.

The robust result of his real-world information is that attendees become more enlightened to influence their behavior and competitive differentiation. He delivers a strong, entertaining, thought-provoking presentation that will demonstrate 'shifts’ based on a series of interrelated actions with a focus on obsessive intimacy and attendee engagement.

James delivers proven real-world strategies that target and transform challenges into opportunities! It’s about how to think, not what to think. Leveraging extensive experience developing and implementing effective strategies to drive business improvements for both non-and for-profit organizations, h

Utilizing licensed movie and television scenes attendees will be simultaneously entertained and educated.

His presentation is applicable to brand development, hospitality innovation, business transformation, leadership development, creative problem solving, new business development, B2B/B2C marketing, innovative problem solving and strategic planning.

Throughout his executive career, he founded several performance improvement companies. He has been responsible for facilitating Toyota’s launch of new products, spearheading the introduction of breakfast at McDonald’s, raising $450M for the Y-ME Breast Cancer Organization, and improving Hewlett-Packards go-to-market strategies. James’ clients have included leading organizations such as AT&T, Carnival Cruise Lines, Apple, Verizon, US Department of Defense, Hyatt, Walt Disney, Ritz Carlton, Microsoft, MGM Casinos and Resorts, MGM, Walt Disney, American Dairy Association, Cremation Association of N.A. Ford, the March of Dimes, and the American Dental Association.

A highly respected Thought Leader he is the author of several books. They include "D-A-T-I-N-G Your Customer®," "Shift Happens!®",  “Thriving on Change in Organizations” and “Celebrate Customer Service – Insider Secrets,” and has written for publications including Adweek, Advertising Age, Investors Business Daily, and Business Travel News. Named one of the Most Innovative People in the 21st Century by Incentive Magazine.

James has earned more professional certifications than almost any other speaker including Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), Certified Incentive and Travel Expert (CITE), Certified Professional of Incentive Marketing (CPIM), Certified Performance Technologist (CPT), Master Incentive Professional (MIP), Platform Certified Speaker (PCS), Certified Underwater Photography Instructor, Private Pilot, and Artisan Chocolatier.