Vivek Bapat, Vice President of Manufacturing Industries Solutions Marketing, SAP

He is the co-author of two books, The Pursuit of the Perfect Plant (2008), and Call Center Modeling and Simulation (1997), and has contributed to eight globally recognized RFID patents. Prior to joining SAP, he has held several management and leadership positions with Rockwell Automation, Systems Modeling, and Alfa-Laval in strategy, business development, mergers and acquisitions, and product management, and he founded a successful Internet start-up company. Vivek holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, a master’s degree in industrial engineering, and an MBA.

Joe Barkai, Practice Director, IDC Manufacturing Insights

Joe Barkai is practice director for IDC Manufacturing Insights' Product Life-Cycle Strategies research service. In this role he examines discrete manufacturing industries that include automotive, aerospace, industrial equipment, and other complex, mission-critical capital equipment to identify business imperatives, best practices and emerging technologies. His research topics center on effective product lifecycle management, and include innovation, design and engineering, service and warranty, and product end of life.

A senior executive with over 20 years of industry experience in software development, product management, marketing, and business development, Mr. Barkai is a thought leader with strong focus on the business value of technology in manufacturing and customer and field service. He speaks frequently at industry events and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, CIO Magazine, and numerous industry publications.

Prior to joining IDC Manufacturing Insights, Mr. Barkai was the founder and principal at Diagnostic Strategies, where he provided management and technology consulting to manufacturing and service organizations of Fortune and Global companies concerning strategy, operation, and technologies. His responsibilities in this role included offering clients strategy assessment and realignment, operational analysis and improvement, business process reengineering, technology benchmarking, and technology insertion.

Mr. Barkai is the founder of the Transportation Industry Knowledge Management Consortium that has become the Service Technology Program Committee of the Society of Automotive Engineers. He has chaired several SAE committees and now serves as a board member of SAE.

Mr. Barkai holds a technical degree in industrial photography from Hadassah College, Israel, and a B.A. in Fine Arts, with a minor in mathematics from Haifa University, Israel. In addition, he studied computer science at the State University of New York and attended the School of Executive Development at the University of Texas at Arlington.

David R. Brousell, Editor-in-Chief, Managing Automation Media

David R. Brousell has been Editor-in-Chief of Managing Automation since 1998. Brousell started his career in technology journalism in 1978 at Electronic News. In 1985, he joined Datamation Magazine, and was named Editor-in-Chief in 1991. Brousell has covered numerous industry developments, technology shifts and major product introductions, including the mainframe era and the development of relational databases; the rise of the minicomputer; the advent of personal computing, client-server computing and the evolution of enterprise applications, and the dawn of the Internet and the worldwide web. Along the way, he has interviewed such notables as ENIAC inventor J. Presper Eckert, IBM's Thomas J. Watson Jr., Microsoft's Bill Gates, Oracle's Larry Ellison, Cincom's Tom Nies, Lotus's Mitchell Kapor, Netscape's James Barksdale, and Intel's Andrew Grove. Brousell has received numerous journalism awards, including two consecutive Jesse H. Neal Editorial Achievement Awards, the highest award for business journalism in the U.S. Under his leadership at MA, the magazine has been cited 9 times for editorial achievement.

Darin Buelow, Principal, Stategy & Operations, Deloitte Consulting LLP

Darin Buelow is a principal in Deloitte Consulting LLP’s Strategy & Operations practice. He provides footprint optimization related services for major corporations in the technology, consumer business, manufacturing, aerospace, food, paper and retail industries. Darin’s experience with clients extends to functions across the enterprise from production and distribution to back office, corporate headquarters, R&D and shared services operations.

With more than 18 years of experience in providing location advisory, real estate and supply chain services to clients, Darin has helped more than 200 major corporations in their efforts to effectively deploy people, facility assets and equipment around the world. His experience includes providing services in support of a wide range of client initiatives, including global location strategy, supply chain strategy, site selection, labor market analysis, footprint rationalization, distribution network optimization, incentives negotiations, and real estate strategy and implementation. A global location strategist, Darin has led the provision of services supporting major site selection and negotiation projects across the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe.

Darin has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin. He is a member of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Industrial Asset Management Council, Warehouse Education Research Council and Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. Darin is also an avid public speaker and has been published in several magazines for his insight and perspectives.

Timothy E. Carroll, Vice President, Global Operations, Integrated Supply Chain, IBM

Tim Carroll is Vice President, Global Operations for IBM’s Integrated Supply Chain.  Named to this position in 2005, he is responsible for driving consistency and focused execution for all aspects of Supply Chain operations worldwide, including Supply/Demand, Inventory Management, Client Advocacy, and Solutions optimization across seven IBM business units.  Recently Mr. Carroll’s responsibilities have expanded to include the integration function for Client Knowledge Enablement and Client Care to drive optimized client and shareholder value.  He also holds responsibility for Supply Chain Strategy, Innovation, and Process Transformation.  Prior to this Mr. Carroll was Vice President, Manufacturing, Integrated Supply Chain, serving in that role since 2002. 

Mr. Carroll joined IBM in 1981 and has held numerous executive positions in a variety of roles, including brand sales and worldwide manufacturing, distribution, and fulfillment for IBM’s personal computer business. In 2005, Mr. Carroll was assigned as the senior executive responsible for executing the divestiture of IBM’s personal computer business to Lenovo. This was the most complex divestiture in IBM’s history, shifting 11,000 employees across 22 business functions in 66 countries in less than 4 months. 

He is a member of the Integrated Supply Chain leadership team that is focused on continuous improvements in organizational capabilities to meet the demands of an increasingly interconnected and global environment. He is also a member of IBM’s Innovation and Leadership Team.

Mr. Carroll currently serves on the Board of Directors of the WakeMed Foundation, the charitable arm of WakeMed Health & Hospitals which supports the health system in its commitment to providing quality healthcare to all citizens of the community. 

Mr. Carroll has a bachelor’s degree in Information Science from the State University of
New York College at Oswego.  

Andy Chatha is president and founder of ARC Advisory Group.  Andy provides leadership to the ARC organization and guides its research and client activities. For over 20 years, Andy has provided advice and consul to leading companies around the world.

Tom Dadmun, Vice President, Program Management Office, AdTran

Tom has recently taken on the role of Vice President, Program Management Office at Adtran architecting enterprise wide systems, processes and solutions for the company. Prior to this Tom was the Vice President of Supply Chain Operations for Adtran and was responsible for end to end supply chain functions including demand supply planning, all forecasting processes, masterscheduling, production control, procurement of raw material and related purchases, outsource manufacturing, distribution, order fulfillment, transportation and logistics, and shipping and receiving. Also, the development and redesign of Adtran’s supply chain architecture, coordinated with IT functions, falls under his responsibility. 

 Robert WM. Dean, Director, Cisco Systems Manufacturing Industry Center of Excellence

Robert (Bob) Dean is a Director at Cisco in the Manufacturing Industry Center of Excellence. He specializes in integrated supply chain management in the manufacturing and the U.S. Department of Defense on a global scale.  An advocate of "customer value/experience" in supply chain processes, Dean’s expertise includes both international and domestic client engagements across the entire spectrum of manufacturing industries and supply chain processes.

With over 30 years of experience, Dean has demonstrated skill in assisting organizations in rethinking the way they do business with a focus on globalization, innovation and value creation, extended enterprise collaboration, and operational excellence.  He is considered a strategist with a global operational/implementation focus.

Before joining Cisco, Bob Dean was the senior executive responsible for building and growing the worldwide Supply Chain Management Practice at both IBM Global Services and BearingPoint.  This included both management consulting and systems integration capabilities across all industries worldwide.  He also has experience as an interim CEO and senior executive with several world-class supply chain, sourcing and procurement consultancies.

Dean has a Bachelors of Business Administration from the University of North Texas with a major area of study in business information systems.  He is also a Certified IBM Global Services Business Transformation Consultant  (process reengineering, organizational design, information technology, knowledge management, customer value management), having worked with over 100 client companies across multiple industries in the United States, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific.

Mark E. Doms, Chief Economist, Economics and Statistics Administration, US Department of Commerce

The Chief Economist at the Department of Commerce performs many duties including helping oversee the primary economic statistical agencies, the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  Additionally, the Chief Economist provides advice and analysis to a wide range of agencies within the Commerce Department and to other agencies across the government. 

Prior to his appointment as Chief Economist at the Economics and Statistics Administration, Dr. Doms worked as a Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and was previously employed in the Research and Statistics Division of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.  Dr. Doms also spent time at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and in the early 1990s worked at the Center for Economic Studies at the Census Bureau.

Dr. Doms has wide experience with economic and policy analysis on a range of topics.  His research has focused on the effects of technology adoption and innovation, on firm productivity, and housing market conditions, consumer spending, and on entrepreneurship.   His research has been published in a variety of outlets and in the most respected economic journals.  Although most of his professional career has been spent working on immediate policy issues, his longer-term research is cited frequently, both here and abroad.  He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and B.A. from the University of Maryland Baltimore County in mathematics and economics.  He is currently on leave from his employer in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he hopes to return one day with his wife to rejoin his many pets and to continue his passion for wine making. 

John Engler, President of the National Association of Manufacturers, and  former three-term Governor of Michigan

John Engler is president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the largest industry trade group in America representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. A former three-term governor of Michigan, Mr. Engler became NAM president on October 1, 2004.

As NAM president, Mr. Engler is a leading advocate for the nearly 12 million Americans employed directly in manufacturing, educating the public and policymakers on issues that affect this critical sector of the U.S. economy. He promotes a broad-based agenda for maintaining U.S. competitiveness by lifting unnecessary burdens on manufacturing: excessive taxation and regulation, the high cost of health care, expensive litigation and soaring energy costs.

Tim Fleming is the Vice President of Information Technology and CIO at Ingersoll Rand’s Industrial Technology Sector. Mr. Fleming has over 25 years experience in Information Technology.  He has served in both the public and private sector and has provided IT services on both sides of the table as a consultant,  an outsourcing provider and in the strategic and tactical delivery in all aspects of internal IT services.  In addition to Ingersoll Rand, Mr. Fleming’s career IT service contributions include the following employers:  IBM, HP,  Carrier,  Amoco, PricewaterhouseCoopers.  Mr. Fleming and his IT teams’ have been recognized for numerous awards in the areas of Best Practices, Excellence in Execution and Innovation, and he has been a guest lecturer at several academic institutions throughout the US.

Julie is a recognized industry analyst, consultant and marketer, specializing in manufacturing and distribution strategies and application solutions. Her reputation and expertise in supply chain, plant floor, integration, and e-business software solutions has kept her in demand as a leading advisor, speaker, and consultant. Julie is Principal of Industry Directions and has 17 years experience as a manufacturing systems industry advisor. Prior to joining Industry Directions, she was VP Marketing for Baan Supply Chain Solutions, and Senior Analyst on Manufacturing Execution Systems and Integration at Advanced Manufacturing Research (AMR). She was editor-in-chief of the CIM Strategies newsletter from the mid-80s to the early 90s. Julie has a degree with honours from Lawrence University in Wisconsin. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, APICS and CASA/SME, and has also served on boards for the local Massachusetts CASA/SME chapter.

Tony Frazier joined Cisco in 2008 to help found an internal start up in Cisco’s Emerging Technology Group.  He currently leads marketing and product management for Cisco Pulse a people and media search platform that is able to analyze content as it traverses the network to discover expertise and valued information spread across global organizations.  Cisco Pulse is a key element of Cisco’s Collaboration Portfolio.

Prior to joining Cisco, Tony spent 10 years leading marketing, business development, and product teams at a variety of software companies ranging from pre-revenue venture backed start-ups to multi-billion dollar going concerns.  Most pertinent to Cisco Tony spent six years as a key member of the executive team at iPhrase Technologies an MIT based venture backed by Sequoia Capital, Greylock, and Charles River Ventures that was widely recognized as a key innovator in the enterprise search market.  iPhrase was acquired by IBM in late 2005 where he lead the Search, Text Analytics, and Content Integration teams before leaving to lead Americas Marketing for Infor Global Solutions a $2.3B provider of enterprise applications.

 Tony began his career at Bain & Company a leading strategic consulting firm based in Boston, MA and went on to complete his MBA at Harvard Business School where he graduated with honors.

John Gagel, Manager of Sustainable Practices, Lexmark

John D. Gagel is the manager of sustainability, for Lexmark International, Inc. He is responsible for Lexmark’s global sustainability initiatives, and has more than 17 years of experience in the environmental, health and safety field. He has been with Lexmark for over 10 years and in his current position since May 2007.

Prior to joining Lexmark, Gagel served as a consultant to many Fortune 500 companies on environmental, health and safety related issues.

Gagel is certified in the comprehensive practice of industrial hygiene by the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH). He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the State University of New York (SUNY) College at Fredonia.

Andrew Gaiziunas, HP

Dr. Andrew Gaiziunas joined HP in 2007 as a Business Process Consultant within HP’s Imaging and Printing Group.  He has worked within the Manufacturing and Energy Industries for over 10 years, focusing in the areas of Compliance, Business Process Management, and Enterprise Content Management.

Tim Hanley, Vice Chairman and US Process & Industrial Products Leader, Deloitte & Touche LLP

In his capacity as the industry leader, he works with and advises Deloitte audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory teams serving many of the world’s most significant companies.  He also serves as the Leader of Deloitte’s Global Chemicals Affinity group and is a member of the firm’s Global Manufacturing Leadership team. Tim has a strong orientation toward all business aspects of an enterprise, including consulting with top management regarding business plans and strategies, tax planning ideas, and management organizations and philosophies.

Prior to joining Deloitte, Tim spent 24 years with Arthur Andersen as an audit partner, advancing to positions managing the Milwaukee audit division and, subsequently, the entire Milwaukee Andersen practice.

Tim has been a formal speaker and presenter to many industry organizations, including the 2009 Managing Automation Progressive Manufacturing Summit, the National Directors Institute, Northwestern University’s Masters of Manufacturing program, The Management Association (MRA), and the U.S. China Chamber of Commerce. Tim is frequently consulted by the media, resulting in articles for The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Chicago Tribune, Crane’s, U.S. Industry Today and the Dow Jones Newswire. 

Brad Heath is the CEO and founder of the nationally recognized VirTex Assembly Services, Inc., a global provider of quality electronics contract manufacturing services with facilities in Austin, Texas and Juarez, Mexico.  Heath started VirTex in 2000 after spending fifteen years in management and executive roles in Tier IV EMS companies.  In the years since, VirTex has been selected by Deloitte in 2006 as one of the top 50 fastest growing technology companies in Texas and has been in Inc. Magazine’s annual ranking of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the country for the last three consecutive years.  VirTex was recently recognized by Managing Automation as the 2009 small to mid size Progressive Manufacturer of the Year.  Heath is a graduate of the University of South Florida.

David Huether, Chief Economist, National Association of Manufacturers

David Huether is Chief Economist of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) where he serves as the organization’s economic forecaster as well as a principal spokesman on economic matters important to America's industrial base.  Before coming to the NAM in 1997, he worked as an economist with the Bureau of Economic Analysis at U.S. Department of Commerce. David received his undergraduate degree from Guilford College (North Carolina) in 1990 and his graduate degree in economics from George Washington University in 1997.

Adriana Karaboutis, Vice President, Information Technology, Dell 

 
Adriana Karaboutis is Dell’s Vice Presdient, Information Technology. Prior to Dell, Adrian was General Motors’ Global Manufacturing and Labor Information Officer.  She was responsible for all vehicle assembly, power train, and stamping plant systems, as well as manufacturing engineering systems. Prior to this role, she was the Global Purchasing and Supply Chain Information Officer responsible for all global procurement, order fulfillment, supply operations and logistics systems.

Adriana spent 15 years at Ford Motor Company where she began as a programmer/analyst and moved into various global IT leadership positions with increasing responsibility in manufacturing, supply chain, finance and purchasing residing in both Europe and North America.  She also moved cross-functionally into Ford's material planning and logistics organization where she spent six years in various global production planning and scheduling positions as well as leading the Order-to-Delivery reengineering initiative.

Before joining Ford, Adriana accumulated a breadth of automotive and defense industry experience including the development of microprocessor-based welding controls and gauging inspection devices at Medar, Inc.; test engineering at Volkswagen of America; and thermoforming process engineering at GM’s Fisher Body Division. Adriana also held positions in scheduling as part of the shipping industry in Athens, Greece.

Adriana received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science in 1986 from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, where she was a Merit Scholar.  She subsequently pursued graduate Electronic Computer Control Systems studies at Wayne State and received an Academic Excellence Award jointly from Wayne State University and Ford Motor Company.  Adriana completed the accelerated Fuqua School of Business Marketing Strategy Program at Duke University and also received The Certificate of Advanced Greek Language Studies from Athens, Greece and is fluent in the Greek language.

Adriana served as a member of the advisory board for the Michigan Council of Women in Technology (MCWT) and effective January 2008, was elected president of the organization. 

Neil joined SAP in 1998 and has worked in several roles in business development, pre-sales and marketing.  During his tenure he has gained deep product expertise and helped SAP customers with Performance Management, Risk and Compliance and Financial applications. 

Jeff Lail, Corporate Manufacturing Systems Quality Manager, Hickory Springs Manufacturing Co.

Jeff Lail has served as the Corporate Manufacturing Systems Quality Manager for Hickory Springs Manufacturing Company for four years.  He joined Hickory Springs in 1973 and has served in various positions over the years, including twenty years in plant management.  Currently as Corporate Manufacturing Systems Quality Manager, he is responsible for Continuous Significant Improvement (CSI Lean) deployment, maintenance and implementation of Quality Management Systems (both ISO 9001:2008 and TS 16949) and energy management.  Under his leadership, Hickory Springs has seen extensive process improvements from the training and deployment of Lean principles, the number of  location Quality Management Systems registered to an international standard has increased from two to ten, and significant reduction in energy costs have been achieved.  A veteran of the US Army, Jeff holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from Gardener-Webb University.  He is a certified Rockwell Automation Power Lean Master, a Six Sigma Green Belt, and a RABQSA certified ISO Lead Internal Auditor.

Michael Langlinais has been with Sprint Nextel Corporation for over seven years, and is the Industry Solutions Manager for Manufacturing, with specific focus on the Oil & Gas  Industry.
 
His most recent previous assignment was Branch Sales Manager for Sprint Nextel Corporations’ Sprint Business Services division responsible for sales and account management for the entire portfolio of Sprint Nextel wireless and wireline services within Louisiana, Arkansas, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
 
Prior to joining Sprint, Michael spent 15 years in various capacities with Xerox Corporation’s computer systems-related business divisions. A native of Lafayette, LA, he is a graduate of the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now University of Louisiana at Lafayette), with a degree in Business Management.

As Director of Supply Chain Capability Development for The Coca-Cola Company Mark Lynch leads the creation, deployment and exploitation of end to end supply chain business processes for Bottling Operations.  His team is responsible for sustainable process documentation, change management tools, IT development/deployment and ongoing exploitation of Planning, Manufacturing, Procurement and Delivery Processes. Lynch started putting sugar & water in a bottle 20+ years ago as a night-shift production supervisor and moved 7 times in 10 years to tackle plant operations roles in Warehousing, Logistics, Manufacturing and Distribution.  Since 1997 he has worked almost exclusively outside the U.S., first as an internal consultant leading Supply Chain Excellence initiatives driving improvements in plant operations, planning and distribution for Coca-Cola Bottlers and later as Global Director of SC Operations for Concentrate Manufacturing overseeing 26 plants serving bottlers in 204 countries. More formal credentials include a Commission in the U.S. ARMY, BSME, MBA and participation in GMA, CPA and CSCMP

Eric Marks, President and Chief Executive Officer, AgilePath Corp.

Eric Marks is President and CEO of AgilePath Corporation, an industry leading vendor-independent Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) management consulting firm based in Newburyport, MA. (www.agile-path.com). Mr. Marks is a software and technology veteran with 21 years of experience with firms including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cambridge Technology Partners, Novell, Electronic Data Systems, StreamServe, Ontos, and Square D/Schneider Electric.

Marks is the author of three industry-recognized SOA books including, "SOA Governance for the Services-Driven Enterprise" (2008), "Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): Planning and Implementation Guide for Business and Technology," (2006), "Executive’s Guide to Web Services" (2003). He also wrote "Business Darwinism – Evolve or Dissolve," (Wiley, 2002), and he also edited and contributed to "Manufacturing Leadership through the Extended Enterprise" (2000). Marks also contributed to Coherency Management: Architecting the Enterprise for Alignment, Agility, and Assurance (publication TBD). He is also collaborating on Executives Guide to Cloud Computing, (TBD, Wiley).

Eric Marks graduated from Syracuse University in 1983 and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1986, and serves on the Advisory Board for Syracuse University’s top-ranked School of Information Studies, as well as being an Adjunct Professor. He also serves on the National Board of Advisors for the Kauffman Campuses Initiative (Enitiative), is on the Advisory Board for Northeastern University's School of Information Services, and is a Visiting Scientist at Carnegie Mellon’s Software Engineering Institute (SEI). 

Luke Oh, President and CEO, Hyundai Systems America

Oh is a general manager of Autoever Systems which services the IT needs of Hyundai and Kia Motor Group’s affiliates around the world, and the President and CEO of Hyundai Information Systems North America.   His current responsibility is to efficiently and effectively provide IT services to several Hyundai and Kia Manufacturing, Sales, Finance, Logistics and Marketing Companies in North America. 
He has extensive management and hands-on experience as an integral member of Hyundai’s automotive global business systems team. With over 20 years of Manufacturing and Automotive IT experience, he has designed IT systems focused on new business objectives and implemented comprehensive information systems leveraging best practices and proven technology across many key functional areas.
He led the development of the IT organization and systems to support Hyundai’s first manufacturing facility in North America with a capacity of 300,000 units per year (Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama). Later he led 6 SAP projects to apply his manufacturing and systems expertise to Hyundai & Kia’s SCM initiative.  He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Statistics and Master of Business Administration in Mathematical Statistics and has been focused on optimizing business processes through leveraging technology for 20+ years.

Sath Rao, Research Director, Industrial Automation & Process Controlm Frost & Sullivan USA (Texas)

Sath Rao is a Practice Director with the Frost & Sullivan Industrial Automation & Process Control Practice and is widely recognized as an expert in the Industrial Automation & Process Control industry.
 
Since joining Frost & Sullivan in 2002, Mr. Rao has worked on projects for Fortune 500 corporations, and his focus has been on a broad range of topics that include distributed control, process control, manufacturing execution systems, advanced optimization and IT business solutions. His thought leadership contributions towards M&A tools (CAMP toolset) has been recognized by the industry as a vital strategic input to drive CEO’s growth agenda.
 
Prior to joining Frost & Sullivan, Mr. Rao had industrial experience of over 10 years with companies including Invensys-The Foxboro Company, Bechtel & Pacific Corp. joint venture- EnergyWorks and Kirloskar Electric Company, in areas of electrical engineering, automation, process control design, project management, business development in the power generation, business process improvement, and IT solutions. Mr. Rao has training in Six Sigma quality initiative and has been part of best practices benchmarking assignments.
 
Mr. Rao has worked on strategic growth consulting, M&A recommendations,  and business consulting projects for Fortune 500 companies like IBM, Honeywell, and Emerson as well as venture capital and financial services clients.
 
Mr.Rao’s contributions have been published in industry and trade magazines and he has been a keynote speaker at several industry conferences and tradeshows. He is also featured under Ask The Expert by the on-line edition of Managing Automation. Mr. Rao is an engineer with management background. Mr. Rao is a certified PMP by the Project Management Institute.

Carlos Rubio has over 15 years experience in the financial, business management and manufacturing operations.  He is currently Director of Finance and Operations for Grayling Industries, Inc. reporting to the President. Carlos Rubio leads a team providing financial strategy, financial planning and reporting, revenue and cost optimization, process efficiency, financial controls and governance, operational and financial modeling, process efficiency decision support, international customs and logistics decision making, and supply chain functions. Carlos Rubio holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a Minor in Accounting from the University of Texas at El Paso. A native and current resident of El Paso, Carlos Rubio lives with his wife and their one child Donatella.

 Sandeep Saxena, Principal Consultant Manufacturing, Sprint 

Sandeep Saxena is the Manufacturing Industry Consultant for Sprint.  In this role focused on Fortune 500 companies, Sandeep works with manufacturing companies to develop mobilization strategies. 

He is currently working with two automakers to mobilize their business processes, inside and outside the plant, using wireless technology to increase efficiency, productivity, reduce downtime, track assets, and allow supervisors to spend more time on the floor.  He is also working with a national window manufacturer to help track order shipments and assets to improve delivery efficiencies and reduce re-orders. 

Prior to joining Sprint, Sandeep served in a variety of sales and marketing positions focused on the manufacturing sector.  He holds a Master’s degree in Management, and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi, India.

Dwayne H. Spradlin, President and Chief Executive Officer, InnoCentive Inc.

Dwayne Spradlin is President and Chief Executive Officer of InnoCentive, Inc. Previously, he served as President at business information company Hoover's Inc. and before that he was President and Chief Operating Officer of Starcite, Inc., an online meeting and events planning business. Spradlin served as Senior Vice President of Corporate and Business Development for Verticalnet Inc., the world's largest portfolio of online industry marketplaces. Earlier, Spradlin was a Director in the E-Business and Emerging Technology practice at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He holds a BA in Applied Mathematics and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He resides in Southlake, TX with his wife and three sons.

Neal Streit, Principal, Supply Chain Practice, HP Enterprise Solutions

Neal Streit is a Principal in HP’s Supply Chain practice. He is focused on delivering innovative solutions to improve business performance by implementing information technology solutions, redesigning business processes, and organization structures. Streit has successfully worked with customers in the: Consumer Packaged Goods; Transportation; High Tech; and Telecommunications industries to redesign supply chain business processes, develop software requirements and implement information technology in the most cost effective manner.

Since joining HP in 1976, Streit has worked with leading companies to help drive business transformation efforts such as indirect procurement process redesign and transformation planning to large scale manufacturing execution systems and ERP systems .
Most recently, Streit worked with a $60B company to redesign its procurement business processes, interfacing with the Chief Procurement Officer and overseeing software selection and change management in order to reduce operational expense, direct material costs and improve on-time deliveries.
Streit has worked with several manufacturers using the SCOR, Supply Chain Operations Reference Model to benchmark their supply chain operations and develop plans for improving supply chain operations.

Streit holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, and Masters Degrees in Computer Science and Business Administration.

Chris Summersgill, Vice President of Operations, BigBelly Solar

Chris Summersgill is VP Operations at BigBelly Solar, manufacturer of the world’s first and only 100% solar powered trash compactor.  Prior to BigBelly, Chris was President of Bolt Industries, a national precision machining and sheet metal fabrication company serving medical, technology, and defense industries.  Previously, Chris helped customers improve supply chain efficiency while at Nonstop Solutions (purchased by Manhattan Associates).  He also worked in manufacturing at Hewlett Packard and in Consulting at Monitor Company.  Favorite job: ski instructor in Winter Park, Colorado.  Chris holds an MBA and Masters in Engineering Management from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University and a BA in Physics from Middlebury College.  He lives in Cambridge, MA with his wife and son.

Alan Tonelson, Research Fellow, U.S. Business and Industry Council

Alan Tonelson is a Research Fellow at the U.S. Business and Industry Council Educational Foundation in Washington, D.C. Tonelson is also a columnist for the Foundation’s globalization website, Americaneconomicalert.org and a Research Associate at the George Washington University Center for International Science and Technology Policy.  In addition, he writes regular columns for The Washington Times and Industrytoday.com.  In Fall, 2002, Tonelson became the Henry L. Stimson Center’s third Visiting Fellow in China. The New Republic magazine has called him “probably the most significant economist spreading the nationalist gospel.” In 2004, The International Economy magazine named him one of “Washington’s Top China-Watchers.”

Tonelson’s book on globalization, The Race to the Bottom, was published in 2000 by Westview Press and issued in paperback in Fall, 2002. His articles and reviews on economic and security issues have appeared in many leading national publications, including Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, Harper’s, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.  In addition, Tonelson has been interviewed frequently on CNBC, CNN, and Fox Business News.  He has testified before Congress and federal agencies on many of these subjects, and lectured frequently in the United States, Europe, Japan, and China. A former Fellow at the Economic Strategy Institute, Tonelson holds a B.A. with highest honors in history from Princeton University.

Joanne Tyree, Group Vice President of IT and Network Services,  Panduit Corp.

As GVP of IT and Network Services for Panduit Corp, the leading global provider of solutions for the Unified Physical Infrastructure,  Joanne Tyree is responsible for IT services and infrastructure that enable Panduit’s competitiveness globally. In this role, she has developed and led the implementation of the strategies and tactics that have established IT systems as a core enabler of Panduit’s success.
 
Prior to joining Panduit, Joanne contributed to IT development efforts at Draper and Kramer, Inc. She started her working career as a Special Education teacher at several Chicago area school districts prior to the career change to IT.
 
Joanne has a Bachelor of Science from Northern Illinois University, an MBA from Lewis University, and completed Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management’s Management Institute.
 
Joanne is a member of the Executive Advisory Board to the College of Business, Lewis University.

Wayne Ward, Vice President of Emerging Solutions, Sprint Nextel

Ward was named to lead the company’s newly formed Emerging Solutions unit in October 2009, with responsibility for developing M2M (machine-to-machine) and mobile computing solutions. The Emerging Solutions unit combines the network, systems and open-device expertise of Sprint Nextel and its strategic partners to deliver innovative integrated product applications to the business and consumer markets. As part of Sprint’s Integrated Solutions Group, Ward’s organization plays a lead role in the creation of a broad range of solutions for B2B and B2C customers and partners, including “e-readers, netbooks, asset tracking, fleet management, telematics, smart grid and telemedicine initiatives, to name a few.
 
Ward has over 25 years experience in business development, product development, product management, marketing, and sales in telecommunications and data communications, as well as extensive experience in enterprise-class mobility applications.

Prior to Sprint Nextel, Ward was the Managing Director, Pacific Region, for Scient Corporation, an e-Business consulting and managed services company, where he was a founding member of the company’s telecommunications practice.  At Scient, he developed eBusiness solutions in the telecom sector for a wide variety of service providers.
 
Earlier, he served as Executive Director of Marketing and Product Development for Pacific Bell Wireless, now known as AT&T, where he directed their channel management and distribution strategies for wireline and wireless businesses.  From 1995-1998, Ward was Director of Product Marketing and Management, for Pacific Bell Network Integration (PBNI), a Pacific Bell subsidiary that he helped launched.  Ward developed PBNI’s LAN and WAN core portfolio of product and services, and created integrated Internet packaged solutions and established channel resell programs. 
 
Ward holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Virginia Tech.