Program 2019

Ed Magee brings over 25 years of diverse work and life experience to his current role as Senior Vice President of Operations at Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC),one of the world’s leading musical instrument manufacturers, marketers and distributors, transforming music history since 1946.Having spent a decade at Harley-Davidson, Magee knew what it felt like to be at a company with an incredibly passionate consumer base and a true sense of purpose, and was immediately drawn to Fender knowing the opportunity to once again be at a company with immense passion, purpose, history and further potential. Magee’s passion for manufacturing, learning and process improvement is clear in his experience and vision. As the SVP of Operations, he oversees internal manufacturing in Fender’s Corona, Calif and Ensenada, Mexico factories, as well as new product introduction, the Fender Custom Shop, supply chain and purchasing, logistics and distribution, and planning. He aims to build strong connections between the front-and back-end of the business in order to create the right product at the most opportune time – and get it in the hands of the right customer in the right channel. He is currently working on developing build standards for each aspect of making a guitar,after successfully moving a warehouse and implementing a new warehouse management system in 2016. He notes that the level of teamwork and collaboration between operations, IT,sales, and finance was eye-watering and inspirational, and reaffirmed his love for the company and the overall vision. Prior to falling in love with the guitar-making process and the opportunity for continuous improvement at Fender, Magee spent 15 years flying the A-6E Intruder and the F/A-18 Hornet for the United States Marine Corps, earning the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.After his time in service, he spent a decade at Harley-Davidson Motor Company in their Kansas City, Milwaukee, and York, Pa. factories and also ran a 13-factory operating company for 3 years at ABB in Memphis, Tenn. The SVP of Operations is currently learning to master playing his American Professional Telecaster with the help of his Fender Play lessons and is most inspired by Stevie Ray Vaughan. He also loves Prince and Jimi Hendrix, and cites The Sugarhill Gang and Grandmaster Flashband the Furious Five as the artists whose albums are among the first he ever owned. Outside of work and music, the Lafayette,La.native spends time with his wife Jamelle and their daughters, the eldest of which is an accomplished guitarist herself. Magee is known to come up with his own “Ed-isms,” which include sayings like “self-licking ice cream cone” and “giddy up.

Phil’s career is steeped in thirty years’ worth of business leadership and manufacturing expertise. Phil has successfully worked with and led several business units within Milliken & Company to profitable growth and financial sustainability. Prior to his business leadership roles, Phil led the implementation of Milliken Performance System for the Performance Products Division and served as Director of Cost Improvement, where he was responsible for strategic cost reduction efforts. Phil has also spent time as the Pursuit of Excellence Director responsible for integrating customer needs (and wants) with manufacturing and business capability. Early in his career, Phil worked in four different manufacturing locations, holding multiple positions ranging from quality to cost. Phil credits this early diversity in job responsibility and scope as the beginning of his in-depth knowledge of continuous improvement; his appreciation for sustainable, empowered safety processes and systems; and his understanding of the critical nature of establishing the right financial metrics to drive the right behavior. Phil holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Clemson University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Wake Forest University.

Ganesh Hegde is a Product Marketing Director at GE Digital, with more than 20 years of experience in the software and manufacturing industries. Prior to joining GE Digital, he worked at Applied Materials and SAP and was responsible for the product management and marketing helping customers to achieve digital manufacturing excellence. His manufacturing domain experience include high-tech and consumer packaged goods (CPG) industries in both North America and Asia. He is been instrumental in reengineering business processes and implementation of various business systems, including ERP, manufacturing execution, manufacturing intelligence, and factory automation systems.

Ken Baker is the CEO of NewAge Industries, a plastic and rubber tubing and hose manufacturer and RFID tag solutions provider located in Southampton, Pennsylvania. The company originated in 1954 and Ken joined in 1985 as the second generation of his family to carry on its successes. NewAge provides solutions to many Fortune 500 companies and services customers worldwide. Ken has over 35 years of experience in the tubing and hose industry. He is a majority owner of Colex International, NewAge’s sister plant in Leicestershire, England. In 2001, Ken led NewAge in the launch of AdvantaPure, the company’s high purity tubing and hose division, and has since worked to develop several innovative Single Use disposable solutions. He is a co-inventor on five patents in RFID tagging technology for the company’s Verigenics™ RFID division and is a co-founder in the RFID in Healthcare Consortium. Ken is also a board member of the BPSA Bio-Process System Alliance, an industry trade organization. In 2006, Ken established the company’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), and its employees now own 49% of the company. He is a founding member and Chairman of Pennsylvania Center for Employee Ownership (PCEO), a new organization designed to raise awareness and increase the number of employee owned companies in Pennsylvania. In addition, Ken spends time speaking about ESOPs to other CEOs at local and national events. Ken invites area high school students to intern at NewAge Industries each summer and is on the Foundation board of Montgomery County Community College. Ken is also a generous contributor to local and national charities.

Mr. Muscat’s corporate career has spanned 37 years with a variety of global experiences in the Automotive, Defense Electronics, Aerospace and Office Furniture industries. His experience includes engineering, manufacturing, program management, mergers and acquisitions, global manufacturing strategy development and execution, and the implementation of the Toyota Production System/Lean Manufacturing principles. Mr. Muscat’s career began in 1978 at Ford Motor Company in Dearborn MI in their Automotive Assembly Division which included projects at Ford’s assembly plants in Louisville KY, Wayne MI, Wixom MI, and Metuchen NJ. In 1980, he joined Raytheon Company’s Submarine Signal Division where he held a variety of manufacturing engineering and program management positions working on surface ship sonar programs. From 1984 – 1986 he worked at Ball Aerospace in Boulder CO developing manufacturing operations for military aircraft antennas. He joined Knoll-Shaw/Walker in Muskegon MI in 1986 and held the positions of Project Engineer, Product Engineering Manager and Director of Engineering – Midwest Operations. Mr. Muscat joined Herman Miller in 1991. He was responsible for engineering, new product development, operations management, corporate quality, mergers and acquisitions, and global facility strategy. He led a core team that developed and implemented the Herman Miller Performance System, Herman Miller’s adaptation of the Toyota Production System/Lean Manufacturing, worldwide. Mr. Muscat oversaw all new North American product launches in Operations from 2001 - 2014, and researched the development of new materials and manufacturing processes for the factory of the future. His responsibilities included all North American facilities along with numerous facility construction projects, consolidations and upgrades internationally. He currently serves as Principal, Muscat Consulting, LLC, a Lean Manufacturing, Engineering and Operations consulting firm. Born in Detroit, Michigan Ray has a BSE in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the University of Rhode Island. He has served on the University of Michigan IOE Academic Advisory Board, the College of Engineering Alumni Society Board among others. Additionally, he has lectured and consulted on the application of Lean principles at the University of Michigan, Michigan Lean Consortium, American Manufacturing Strategies Summit and for State of Michigan employees.

Dr. Pritchard is an Associate Professor at the State University of New York - Empire State College located in Buffalo, New York USA and his Ph.D. dissertation from the State University of New York University at Buffalo is titled “Global Decentralization of Commercial Aircraft Production: Implications to the U.S. Based Manufacturing Activity”. Dr. Pritchard has over 20 years of aerospace experience in aircraft automation assembly as former Director of Operations of Gemcor and has been involved with seven aircraft launches, managed international offsets programs, completed foreign financing transactions and has expertise in aerospace marketing and product introduction into the regions of Europe, Russia/CIS, China and Asia. Dr. Pritchard’s research in the commercial aircraft industry focuses on the global supply network, and has been published in The Economist, Financial Times, Newsweek, and Business Week along with aviation trade journals such as Flight Global and Aviation Week. He has recently presented his current research titled “Aerospace 4.0: Implications to the New Manufacturing Ecosystem” in China, Russia, India and United States. The research focuses on next generation single aisle aircraft (late 2020s) that will be adopting advanced manufacturing robotic applications (COBOTS-Collaborative Robots, MOBOTS-Industrial Robots on Automated Guide Vehicles), automated fiber placement, thermoplastics composites and additive manufacturing processes.

Josh Fiorenza is a Vice President with Atos responsible for the “Internet of Things” IoT practice within North America. Josh has 19+ years of IT consulting and sales experience with the last 7 years at Atos. Josh’s approach to customer’s digital transformation jouney is outcome focused realizing digital dividend through a data based approach. Prior to joining Atos, Josh’s foundation started at Accenture in management consulting strategy and business architecture which he has leveraged in his sales and leadership roles. Josh has received his bachelor of science in Industrial Engineering with a focus on Operational Research from Pennsylvania State University.

Paul Boris started his career at General Motors in manufacturing and operations a mere 2 weeks out of highschool, and has been in Industrial Operations or organizations supporting those operations ever since. Currently he is the CRO of the Industrial Analytic company, Praemo; prior to that he was COO of Vuzix, driving the transformation of the engineer founded wearable provider; Vice President of Manufacturing Industries for GE Digital and CIO for Advanced Manufacturing Strategy at GE, where he drove the Brilliant Factory initiatives by using big data, software, sensors, controllers and robotics to increase productivity and deliver asset and operations optimization. Earlier in his career, he served in leadership roles across a wide variety of manufacturing operations, as well as within organizations providing enterprise class solutions for manufacturing and operations. Today Paul works closely with manufacturing leadership world-wide to define and deliver their own transformation. He sits on the board of Praemo and the advisory board of York Exponential.

Dr. Nourredine Boubekri is currently a professor of Engineering at The University of North Texas. He received his Ph.D. in 1983 from the University of Nebraska Lincoln in the field of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering. He received both his Master and Bachelor of Science degrees in 1980 from Boston University in the field of Manufacturing Engineering. His experience and tenure started at the University of Miami where he began as an assistant professor in the department of Industrial Engineering. 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 at NIU (2002-2006), Department chair at UNT (2006-2010),Director of UNT SACSCOC reaffirmation (2012-206). He directed more than thirty Master and Ph.D. Students and published more than 100 technical articles and journal papers in the areas of green machining , product development, innovation and technology management, His research funding exceeds five million dollars in grants and contracts. His experience in international collaboration includes a number of programs with various institutions in China, Turkey and France.

Ken Guity is a senior executive whose passion is supporting manufacturing companies to optimize business performance by deploying lean leadership strategies and increasing engagement of team members. He firmly believes that the sustainable success of an organization can only be achieved by developing a culture of continuous improvement. Ken has extensive experience leading multi-functional areas of several global, world-class organizations. He is recognized as a leader capable of creating and articulating a vision and energizing employees at all levels to achieve organizational objectives. Ken has a track record as a skilled change agent with a history of leading divisions of various companies to new sales and profitability levels. Most recently, Ken was credited as the architect of the vision for lean practices for MacLean-Fogg, a manufacturer of components for automotive, power distribution and telecommunications. He led the communication, implementation and lean transformation of two business units of the company. Ken also co-developed, articulated and communicated the company values, and strategic operating principles. Building on his operational strengths, Ken has achieved significant company turnarounds and is recognized for his success in growing sales and profits. His strategic approach to business success is reflected in his work as CEO and President of BOS Automotive Products, where his focus on lean practices and cost optimization quickly delivered significantly improved bottom-line results. Ken also had significant impact on profitability and growth at Autoliv North America where he held senior executive positions, including Vice President of Seat Belts. Prior to that, Ken was the Vice President of West Coast Operations for NSK Safety Technology, where he led the successful launch of a “greenfield” manufacturing facility in Mexico, producing safety critical automotive components. Ken’s track record of business improvement is based on his philosophy of customer focus, and total enterprise engagement. He is known for his ability to identify business success impediments, work with companies to refine organizational structure, install capable leaders, and improve core processes, cost effective sourcing, as well as effective, lean operational practices. Thanks to his people oriented approach, he has successfully developed teams and managed in a number of diverse cultural environments, including Japanese, Swedish, German, Mexican and American organizations. His scope of responsibility has included businesses with $365 million in revenue and 3,000 team members. Ken Guity is certified in Executive Lean Leadership. He earned his Master and Bachelor degrees in Industrial Engineering from the University of Tennessee- Knoxville.

Mike Quinn is an Executive Director and Vice President of Operations for Rio Grande. Over the past 30 years, Mike has been privileged to lead high performing teams in achieving engineering, manufacturing and operational excellence across industries as diverse as automotive, entertainment, medical, capital equipment, and now jewelry supplies! Mike has a passion for continuous improvement and continuous learning. He has deep real-world experience instilling a participative improvement culture in a variety of company environments. Mike holds a BSME from the California State University at Long Beach, and an MBA from California Lutheran University. He is a certified by APICS as a CPIM, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers as a silver level Lean practitioner, and the Pyzdek Institute as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

Paul Unitas is the Director of Manufacturing - Cleaning Division for The Clorox Company. In this role he is responsible for leading those facilities in achieving world class results in safety, quality, efficiency and people development. Paul joined Clorox in 1993 as Plant Manager at the Brita facility in Toronto, Canada. He has held various leadership roles at various manufacturing facilities and divisions during his tenure, with Clorox. In 1998 with Kingsford in Belle, MO; 1999 with Glad in Cartersville, GA; 2002 with Hidden Valley in Reno, NV and then in 2005 with Hidden Valley in Wheeling, IL. Paul accepted the role in Atlanta, in 2012. Paul has led 4 of our manufacturing facilities to our top PSO Award, during his time. Prior to joining Clorox, Paul worked for Tremco for 6 years in Toronto, Canada; holding manufacturing assignments of increasing responsibility. A Toronto, Canada native, Paul holds a Civil Engineering Technologist Degree from Ryerson Polytechnical University.

Paul Unitas is the Director of Manufacturing - Cleaning Division for The Clorox Company. In this role he is responsible for leading those facilities in achieving world class results in safety, quality, efficiency and people development. Paul joined Clorox in 1993 as Plant Manager at the Brita facility in Toronto, Canada. He has held various leadership roles at various manufacturing facilities and divisions during his tenure, with Clorox. In 1998 with Kingsford in Belle, MO; 1999 with Glad in Cartersville, GA; 2002 with Hidden Valley in Reno, NV and then in 2005 with Hidden Valley in Wheeling, IL. Paul accepted the role in Atlanta, in 2012. Paul has led 4 of our manufacturing facilities to our top PSO Award, during his time. Prior to joining Clorox, Paul worked for Tremco for 6 years in Toronto, Canada; holding manufacturing assignments of increasing responsibility. A Toronto, Canada native, Paul holds a Civil Engineering Technologist Degree from Ryerson Polytechnical University.

Shane A. Yount is a nationally recognized thought leader, author, and President of Competitive Solutions, Inc., an international Business Transformation consulting firm which pioneered the acclaimed organizational development system known as Process Based Leadership® - A business transformation methodology designed to create a sustainable culture of clarity, connectivity, and consistency through the use of Non-Negotiable Business Processes. Shane began his career with Perdue Farms, Inc., the nation’s second largest poultry grower and processor. Having performed such roles as Front Line Supervisor, Site Operations Manager, Quality Manager, Director of Human Resources, and Corporate Continuous Improvement Champion, Shane brings extensive experience in every aspect of organizational dynamics and effectiveness. His “Real World” process driven approach to creating and sustaining high performance has led leaders across the country to embrace the Process Based Leadership® methodology as a core operating system in driving organizational focus, urgency, and accountability. Since 1991 he has led the offices of Competitive Solutions, Inc. (CSI) in becoming one of the nations most recognized Business Transformation consulting firms, personally working with such organizations as Michelin, Genentech, Pfizer, Lockheed Martin, the Department of Defense, and many others. Shane’s approach of challenging leaders to confront what truly “powers performance” within their organizations often allows leaders a unique glimpse into their personal leadership legacies. His impactful message and delivery has made him a coveted speaker at national conferences and tradeshows. His three books, “Buried Alive: Digging out of the Management Dumpster,” “Leaving Your Leadership Legacy” and “Leading Your Business Forward: Aligning Goals, People, and Systems for Sustainable Success” are required reading in many organizations.

Jeff Wilkerson is currently a Caterpillar Lean Advisor and Master Black Belt with responsibility for the company’s Innovation & Technology Division. Jeff coaches’ senior and shop floor leaders around the world who support an employee population of more than 10,000 global employees on implementation of Lean with a focus on the social side of social- technical systems. Prior to his assignments in Caterpillar, Jeff was the Plant Manager for TI Automotive in Bloomington, Illinois. TI Automotive is based in Oxford United Kingdom with worldwide fluid carrying and fuel tank and delivery systems product support for all the world’s major automakers. Jeff was part of the Lean Deployment and Footprint rationalization teams while at TI Automotive.

Adrian Wood is the Strategic Business Development Director for the DELMIA brand of Dassault Systèmes. Mr. Wood focuses on manufacturing operations management strategies and solution to support global manufacturers in the Hi Tech industry. Mr. Wood spent over 20 years in customer-facing positions ranging from sales and marketing, to fulfilment and account management. His career focus has been on problem solving and development within emerging and rapid growth segments to enable customer success across a wide range of industries from Hi Tech to Retail and Logistics and across multiple disciplines such as Supply Chain, Manufacturing Simulation and Analytics. Throughout his career, Mr. Wood has held senior positions at such companies as Systems Modeling (now Rockwell Automation), i2 Technologies (now JDA) and Oracle as well as several start-ups.

Rick is a supply chain professional that has expertise in the areas of inbound logistics, manufacturing, supplier collaboration and business transformation. His background includes managing logistics solution teams and global business development and marketing professionals. He has a reputation of creating unique solutions and strategic business plans to deliver the company’s vision. In addition, Rick has an in-depth understanding of managing international direct reports in a matrix environment. Rick has a proven track record of achieving profitable growth and cost reductions. Ricks’s project experience includes leading initiatives in supply chain transformation, supplier collaboration, network optimization, inventory analysis and deployment, facility layout, material flow, and transportation management. He successfully completed a project to introduce a transportation management service offering which generated 30% savings and increased profit margin by 10%. He also established inbound transportation management programs that were deployed for external clients and designed and implemented an integrated inbound TMS and sequencing program which resulted in 20% client savings. Currently as a Partner at CGN Global, Rick manages and provides direction and support for the supply chain and operations practice area. Rick earned his Masters in Operations Research from Case Western Reserve University and his Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Mathematics and Economics from Hiram College.

Ms. Coates is the Executive Director of the Reshoring Institute and the President of Blue Silk Consulting. She is a seasoned executive with an MBA, 25 years’ experience in Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Project Management and Systems Consulting. Prior to BSC, she was a Senior Director at SAP, the Supply Chain Practice Leader at KPMG Peat Marwick and at Answerthink, and a Regional Manager at Hewlett-Packard. Ms. Coates has consulted with global and domestic clients, VCs and PE firms on operations systems and processes. She has considerable international experience and has worked for extended periods in Asia and Europe. Her experience spans a broad range of industries including High Technology, Software, Chemicals, Health Care, Consumer Products, Industrial Products, Food Distribution, Transportation, Publishing, Retail, Oil and Gas. She has extensive knowledge and experience in manufacturing and outsourcing in Asia, Europe and the US. She has authored an Amazon.com Best Seller book: 42 Rules for Sourcing and Manufacturing in China, 42 Rules for Superior Field Service and is particularly excited about Reshoring Guidebook. Ms. Coates in a member of the Board of Directors at the University of San Diego Supply Chain Management Institute. She earned a BS in Business at Arizona State University and an MBA at the University of San Diego. She resides in Silicon Valley

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.

Miquela Craytor is the Executive Director of the Manufacturing and Industrial Innovation Council (MaiiC), an Industry Partnership of the NYC Small Business Services. Through MaiiC she has spearheaded the first city sponsored apprenticeship program for Advanced Manufacturing. Other efforts include supporting over 100 business leaders through the council to address their growth challenges. She was formerly the Director of Industrial Policy at the NYC Economic Development Corporation. Her work has consisted of overseeing the city's revived industrial policy efforts. Projects include the city-wide Industrial Action Plan and overseeing the Futureworks NYC initiatives, a $13 million suite of investments in advanced manufacturing services. She was formerly the executive director at Sustainable South Bronx for over 3 years. Ms. Craytor also served as the Senior Planner for Economic Development in the economic arm of the Bronx Borough President's office. Ms. Craytor is a nationally-recognized advocate for using sustainable development to address reinvestment in under-served communities. Ms. Craytor received her BA in planning, public policy, and management from the Honors College at the University of Oregon and her MS in city and regional planning from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. She is also a 2010 Catto Fellow of the Aspen Institute and a 2010 BMW Transatlantic Fellow. Ms. Craytor currently serves as an Advisory Board member of M-Corps, a clean-tech hardware accelerator.

Mike Quinn is an Executive Director and Vice President of Operations for Rio Grande. Over the past 30 years, Mike has been privileged to lead high performing teams in achieving engineering, manufacturing and operational excellence across industries as diverse as automotive, entertainment, medical, capital equipment, and now jewelry supplies! Mike has a passion for continuous improvement and continuous learning. He has deep real-world experience instilling a participative improvement culture in a variety of company environments. Mike holds a BSME from the California State University at Long Beach, and an MBA from California Lutheran University. He is a certified by APICS as a CPIM, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers as a silver level Lean practitioner, and the Pyzdek Institute as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.