Instructor Biographies
Larry Aft, P.E.
Larry Aft, P.E., is IIE's continuing education director. Prior to joining IIE, he served for 31 years as a professor of industrial engineering technology at Southern Polytechnic State University. He has consulted for more than 165 organizations on productivity and quality-related activities. He has taught Six Sigma, work measurement, process analysis, statistical process control, problem-solving tools and data analysis courses, and he has helped countless organizations implement these methods. Aft has authored numerous articles and several books. His professional experience includes master black belt trainer, Six Sigma implementation, SPC implementation and expert witness and standards audits provider for labor disputes. He is a fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers and the American Society for Quality.
Tina Agustiady
Tina Agustiady is an industrial and manufacturing systems engineer with a background in healthcare, food manufacturing, and consulting. She received her B.S. from Ohio University with an emphasis on operations research and manufacturing. Agustiady received her black belt and master black belt certifications from Clemson University. Agustiady is a keynote speaker for major engineering conferences and expos. She is also an author of several publications with a book coming out in January 2012, “Statistical Techniques of Project Control” by Taylor and Francis Co. In addition, Agustiady has knowledge in lean manufacturing, continuous improvement and process controls.
Lynn Alters
Lynn Alters is project manager with Floyd Medical. Prior to that she was the productivity coordinator for the WellStar Health System. She is responsible for all productivity monitoring and benchmarking activities for the five hospitals within WellStar. Alters holds BIET and MSQA degrees and has a Six Sigma green belt certification. She has more than 20 years of experience in industrial engineering and financial analysis, primarily in the healthcare industry. Alters’ experience includes performing process improvement studies, leading benchmarking teams, implementing productivity systems, and educating management and staff on using measurement tools to identify performance improvement opportunities and reduce expenses.
Bob Atkins
Bob Atkins, P.E., has been a professor of industrial engineering technology at Southern Polytechnic State University since 1984. He has taught undergraduate courses in industrial engineering, quality assurance, marketing, statistics, facility design and work measurement, and he has taught master of science courses in quality assurance. He has a B.S. in industrial engineering and operations research from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and an M.B.A. in marketing from Georgia State University. Atkins has 13 years of factory engineering experience. His work experience includes insurance companies, apparel companies, glass and plastic manufacturing companies, medical device and pharmaceutical companies, and textile companies. He has taught hundreds of continuing education seminars and has done on-site consulting work for dozens of organizations throughout the Southeast.
Marc S. Block
Marc Block is founder and Principal of a company responsible for providing Six Sigma training, coaching, and consulting support for client Six Sigma implementation efforts. He has participated directly with manufacturing clients and transactional clients alike, as well as presenting public courses with attendees from various backgrounds. Mr. Block has aided clients, on-site, across the US and abroad (Canada, Mexico, Singapore, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, India, Belgium, UK, Italy, and Romania).
Mr. Block has more than fifteen years of experience in quality program implementation, management consulting, and project management. He has experience in the implementation of Six Sigma quality including project team training and management activities. Mr. Block’s knowledge of quality management includes strategic planning, electronic meeting facilitation, business process reengineering, metrics development and rollout, business function assessment, and leadership skills development. He has also served in the U.S. Air Force as an Acquisition Professional Development Program (APDP) certified project officer, an internal quality consultant, and curriculum evaluator and instructor within the Air University. He holds degrees from MIT and Rutgers.
David Caudill
David Caudill has more than 15 years of experience in corporate planning, project management and information systems with AT&T. He is a professor in the industrial engineering technology department at Southern Polytechnic State University, teaching simulation, project management and statistically oriented subjects in industrial engineering technology. He directed the university's Computer Integrated Manufacturing Center for two years. He has consulted in the area of project management with several Atlanta-based companies. He currently is lead instructor on simulation for the Six Sigma green belt and black belt training presented by IIE and Southern Polytechnic.
Elizabeth A. Cudney, Ph.D.
Elizabeth A. Cudney, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology. She received her B.S. in industrial engineering from North Carolina State University and her M.S. in mechanical engineering and M.B.A. from the University of Hartford. Prior to returning to pursue her Ph.D., she worked in the automotive industry as a Six Sigma black belt, senior manufacturing engineer and manufacturing manager. She was an adjunct professor at the University of Hartford, where she taught courses on Six Sigma. Cudney is a certified Six Sigma black belt and ASQ-certified Quality Engineer. Her research interests include quality, operations, supply chain management and lean manufacturing. She is a member of IIE, the American Society for Quality, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the American Planning and Inventory Control Society and the Society of American Value Engineers.
Adrienne Dickerson
Adrienne Dickerson has extensive healthcare experience in almost all aspects of hospital operations. She has worked for several years in managed care contracting, revenue cycle, and facilitywide process improvement for her clients. Dickerson also spent five years as director of operations improvement for VHA Georgia and was responsible for leading improvement efforts at more than 40 member hospitals. She works with hospitals and other healthcare organizations to expand the use of traditional industrial and systems engineering techniques in the healthcare setting. Dickerson graduated with honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and a master’s degree in health systems.
David Goldsman, Ph.D.
David Goldsman, Ph.D., is a professor of industrial and systems engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Goldsman's research interests lie in computer simulation with an emphasis on statistical output analysis, applied probability and statistics, ranking and selection, time series analysis, and reliability and life testing. Application areas include health systems, airline safety and the automotive industry.
Jerry Harbour, Ph.D.
Jerry Harbour has more than 30 years of experience assessing, measuring and improving human performance at the individual, team and organizational levels in highly varied operational settings. He has held various human performance-related positions, including serving as manager of human factors engineering at two operational sites, director for the Center of Human Performance at a national laboratory and as a senior research scientist in a human factors research group. Additionally, Harbour has supported various incident investigations from a human performance perspective for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy. He is interested in all aspects of human performance, both from a cognitive and motor skill perspective. He has published extensively in the field of human performance and for his efforts, received the Award of Excellence from the International Society of Performance Improvement. Harbour is the author of five books, including The Performance Paradox and The Basics of Performance Measurement (now in its 2nd edition). His latest book, The Performance Mapping and Measurement Handbook, is currently in press. Harbour holds a Ph.D. in applied behavioral studies from Oklahoma State University.
Jane Henderson
Jane Henderson is the president of H&H Business Services, a business management consultant firm specializing in process improvement using the Six Sigma methodology. Henderson has years of experience as a trainer, coach and consultant on team development, problem solving and process improvement. For the past eight years, Henderson has been an independent consultant. She has conducted Six Sigma training and provided coaching and consulting for many large companies in both the manufacturing and services industries. She has worked with executives, middle management and front-line employees in companies including GE Capital, Johnson & Johnson, Conseco and NCR. She has also worked with hospitals and universities. Prior to becoming a Six Sigma consultant, Henderson served for a number of years as manager of corporate quality for a major telecommunications company. There, she was instrumental in developing and implementing a long-term plan for improving business results through the use of quality tools and techniques.
Richard Halstead-Nussloch, Ph.D.
Richard Halstead-Nussloch, Ph.D., is on the faculty of Southern Polytechnic State University. He is an experienced professional with more than 25 years of managing user-centered product design. He has special expertise in consulting on usability and ergonomics with Fortune 500 companies, being a versatile team player and leader, and managing cost reduction and productivity improvements.
Greg Hutchins
Greg Hutchins is the principal engineer of Quality Plus Engineer, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)-certified company for Critical Infrastructure Protection: Forensics, Assurance, Analytics (CIP/FAA) under the U.S. DHS Safety Act. Hutchins is also the developer of Value Added Auditing (DHS-designated anti-terrorist technology).
Mike Jones
Mike Jones has extensive experience in quality, reliability, training and improvement. His work in recent years has mostly been consulting and training using lean Six Sigma methods. He has trained more than 50 master black belts, 1,000 black belts, 3,000 green belts, and dozens of champions and executives. He has led and coached projects with total savings well over $900 million. His career includes senior positions with Bank of America, Arkansas Center for Quality and Productivity, Atlantic Research Corp., and the U.S. Army. Jones' credentials include the following: Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award examiner (1991, 1992, 1998, 1999), U.S. Air Force Quality Award judge (1993 -1995), and Arkansas Quality Award judge (1995-1998). Jones is an ASQ fellow and was ASQ national president in 1996-1997. He holds the following registrations/certifications: professinal engineer, QMS and EMS lead auditor, CQE, CRE, CQA, MgrQ/OpEx, Six Sigma black belt, and Six Sigma master black belt (Six Sigma and lean).
William (Jay) Jones
William (Jay) Jones has more than 25 years of experience in the computer industry. His education includes an associate's degree in electrical engineering technology, a bachelor's degree in computer science, and master's degrees in both quality assurance and project management. He is pursuing a doctoral degree in business administration. He has expertise in management, process engineering, software engineering, software quality assurance, quality systems, software services, software development, software testing, project management and ISO 9000 registration. His professional certifications include certified software test engineer, certified quality auditor, certified software quality engineer, certified personal software process instructor, certified lead ISO auditor, public notary, adjunct professor, ASQ-senior and chair of the ASQ-Atlanta Section 2002-2003.
Stephen R. Mayfield
Steve Mayfield is vice president for quality and performance improvement at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian. He previously served as senior vice president at the American Hospital Association where he created the AHA Quality Center, a resource for 5,000 member hospitals. The Quality Center grew into the permanent strategic platform Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence (www.hpoe.org). Mayfield has 25 years of experience working with hospitals and health systems across the country to bring together the triad of boards, physician leaders and hospital administration in order to improve the delivery of care in communities while enhancing patient outcomes and safety. A key component of improving enterprise performance is an engaged workforce, and Mayfield contributed to the development of the guide, Using Workforce Practices to Drive Quality Improvement (http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/workforceguide.htm) from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Mayfield has directed the National Patient Safety Leaders Fellowship program and serves as faculty. He served on the AHRQ Technical Expert Panel for the development of the just released Quality Improvement Toolkit (www.ahrq.gov/qual/qitoolkit/). His work focus areas include: engaging leadership in hospitals to employ systems thinking that cultivates process excellence; the innovative applications of health information technology (HIT) to improve care; the implementation of quality management systems (QMS), including ISO 9001, that align organizational efforts for improved performance and transparency; and the applications of Lean/Six Sigma methods to reduce costs of poor quality while improving work flow and patient flow.
Mayfield completed his doctorate in health administration and leadership at the Medical University of South Carolina, earned an MBA from Emory University’s Goizuetta Business School and a B.S. from Georgia State University. Mayfield is a master black belt, certified in lean and Six Sigma. He serves on the board for the California Hospital Patient Safety Organization (CHPSO) and is a member of the Quality Committee. Mayfield is a board member for the Baldrige Award Alliance and for the Improvement Science Research Network. Prior to his career in healthcare, Mayfield worked at the Georgia Tech Research Institute in the Human Factors division of the Systems Engineering Laboratory.
W. Tim McGlothlin
Tim McGlothlin is the executive director for The Ergonomics Center of North Carolina. Reporting to North Carolina State University, the center provides occupational ergonomics consulting, training programs and cost-effective ergonomics solutions to corporate clients throughout the country. Prior to his current assignment, McGlothlin worked for two Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award-winning companies. He spent nine years at Motorola Inc., where he served in various technical and manufacturing leadership positions within the Communications Group. He also worked with Eastman Chemical Co. for 14 years, where he served as principal ergonomist. McGlothlin has served as an instructor on ergonomics for the occupational safety and health technology program at East Tennessee State University. He has consulted throughout the United States and Canada. He is a frequent speaker at the regional and national level on successful ergonomic process implementation.
Kevin McManus
Kevin McManus has 19 years of progressively responsible supervisory and leadership development experience, with staff sizes ranging between two and 25 people and team sizes as large as 200 people. He spent eight years designing systems, leading people, improving quality and managing costs to support company growth rates of between 10 percent and 40 percent per year. He has designed performance measurement systems, which included the application of balanced scorecard, SPC, Six Sigma and activity-based costing tools, for four different organizations. He has a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and a master’s degree in business. McManus has been an Industrial Engineer magazine columnist for many years.
Merwan Mehta
Merwan Mehta, Ph.D., is associate professor of industrial engineering technology at East Carolina University. He has been involved with the manufacturing industry since 1981. He has worked as a design engineer designing special purpose machines, automated pallet systems, jigs, fixtures and tooling; as a manufacturing engineer involved in the building of jigs, fixtures, tooling and dies; and has worked in several management positions for large and small manufacturing companies, including some in which he had ownership. His research interests are flow improvement through lean manufacturing systems, the pursuit of quality through Six Sigma principles and world-class manufacturing concepts, and product design for rapid processing from concept to manufacturing prototype. Mehta is a certified manufacturing engineer and a certified Six Sigma black belt.
Amanda Mewborn
Amanda Mewborn has experience in hospital operations, finance, information technology, and clinical care delivery. An industrial engineer and registered nurse, Amanda has certifications in pediatric nursing and healthcare information management systems. Amanda is a Diplomate in the Society for Health Systems (DSHS) and is currently serving on the Board and as Conference Chair for the Society's 2013 Annual Conference. Amanda is a Senior Member in IIE and is also actively involved in HIMSS.
Isaac Mitchell
Isaac Mitchell is a full time lean practitioner at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital as well as lecturer at the University of Tennessee’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Additionally, he is the founder and president of Gemba Improvements LLC which focuses on Lean healthcare training and consulting. Isaac has more than 10 years of experience driving change utilizing lean methodology in organizations ranging from automotive to small machining job shops to healthcare organization. In addition to a master of business administration from Xavier University and bachelor of science in industrial engineering from the University of Tennessee, he also holds a Lean Black Belt certificate through the Institute of Industrial Engineers. This training and experience has enabled him to bring successful and time-proven methodologies to his clients. His passion and focus is on training and implementing lean techniques to transform work cultures to improve healthcare processes and outcomes for patients and providers.
Rod Munro, Ph.D.
Rod Munro, Ph.D., is a business improvement coach with more than 30 years of manufacturing and service industry experience, including 13 years with Ford Motor Co. in quality and training. He has served on the board for the American Society for Quality. In addition, he has given more than 140 presentations, written numerous articles and is the author of several books.
Paul Odomirok
For the past 30 years, Paul Odomirok has been involved in several careers from academia to corporate leadership to consulting. In his "first career," he taught mathematics and computer science at all levels of learning, from pre-school to post-Ph.D. He was even involved in designing graduate level curriculums at the University of South Carolina as an adjunct professor. His second career began in 1985 with NCR. Beginning as a senior programmer analyst, he was promoted to manager - software development, product manager, manager – product management, corporate strategic planner for banking, director – retail systems product integration, director of quality, and corporate coach. During his stint corporate America, he experienced the NCR/AT&T merger, and was responsible, as a director of quality, for the cultural transformation and change leadership for the Retail Systems Division Organization in Duluth, Ga. He left NCR/AT&T in 1995 to pursue a consulting career, in the areas of lean, leadership, team development, strategy, structure, systems and organization performance. Over the past 10 years, he has worked with more than 30 companies in service, government, manufacturing, and healthcare on over 50 different performance improvement and lean related projects and programs. Some of his clients include Anixter, Motorola, GM, Harland, and Sodexho Services. Most recently he has provided lean assistance to Northrop Grumman, LXE, CNA Insurance, Fibervisions, Delaval, Perkins-Will, Care Logistics, Medivators, Med American, Sparton and the Georgia Hospital Association.
Sandi Reynolds
Sandi Reynolds of SIR & Associates holds a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering technology, quality assurance, and a master's degree in engineering technology, quality assurance, from Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, Ga. Her experience includes positions as an internal consultant and a customer satisfaction analyst at BellSouth Technologies; a year as the quality manager at American Boa Automotive; six years at Lockheed-Martin Co., four of them as a quality engineer and two as an industrial engineer; several years as the quality coordinator at Ingram Appliance; and three years as a full-time independent consultant, providing Cost of Quality training and assistance to several companies in the Atlanta area.
Jim Robison
Jim Robison has 20 years of hands-on Cost of Quality (COQ) implementation and teaching experience. He has contributed to the design and implementation of more than 100 COQ systems in numerous companies. He is one of the authors of the ASQ Book Principles of Quality Costs, Third Edition. Robison has held several positions in ASQ, serving as vice-chair of the Quality Costs Committee several times, chairing the Orlando section and serving as the Region 15 director. Robison's credits include papers, international seminars, articles and several AQC quality conferences. Robison is a state quality award examiner for Florida. He is an RAB-registered lead auditor with QS 9000, AS 9000, 140001, and medical device, ASQ-certified quality auditor, ASQ-certified quality manager, certified manufacturing engineer, certified production/inventory manager, and State of Florida quality award examiner. Robison holds an engineering degree from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from the University of Dallas.
D. Junell Scheeres
D. Junell Scheeres is an industrial engineer and Six Sigma black belt for VHA’s integrated delivery team. She has been the leader of organizationwide performance improvement efforts and guides the identification and prioritization of opportunities to reduce costs, increase efficiencies, and improve clinical, operational, and financial outcomes using a variety of Six Sigma and industrial engineering tools. Her efforts led to more than $2 million of operational enhancements in 2004. In addition to operational improvement, she has led clients in the implementation of lean Six Sigma, as well as enterprisewide leadership development, succession planning, and cultural shift initiatives. Prior to joining VHA in 2001, Scheeres worked for Intermountain Health Care in Utah and the U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense Medical Management Engineering teams. She has led large-scale performance improvement projects across a number of clinical settings, including extensive experience in the functional planning, design, construction, and implementation of healthcare facilities.
Richele R. Scuro, P.E.
Richele R. Scuro, P.E., P.M.P., is a project manager at the corporate headquarters of Liz Claiborne Inc. She provides process improvement and project management support for the senior management team of the company’s distribution network, which includes four facilities with more than two million square feet of space and various levels of automation and services approximately 4,000 retail and wholesale customers. Scuro manages internal teams, contractors and consultants and works on equipment and software projects, process analyses, documentation and requirements, facility design, strategic sourcing and supply chain optimization. Prior to joining Liz Claiborne Inc., she spent more than nine years as a manager of process and methods (industrial engineering for distribution) with CVS Pharmacy and before that was commissioned in the U.S. Navy. In her previous positions, Scuro managed several projects from conception to implementation, achieving double-digit operational productivity gains with less than a four year return-on-investment. She holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from the George Washington University and an M.B.A. for general management from the University of Mary Washington. In addition to her work at Liz Claiborne Inc., Scuro does consulting for Omni Engineering and Technology Inc. and is developing a new consulting company, Pi Dynamics LLC. She is a member of IIE, the National Society of Professional Engineers and the Project Management Institute.
Marc St. James
Marc St. James has more than 30 years experience in business quality consulting, management, and training with Fortune 1000 clients. St. James' focus on business and quality began as an accounting student while attending The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. After five years working as an accountant, he joined SII as an internal quality consultant. SII was a Connecticut-based, privately held, diversified holding company with 15 subsidiaries. As internal quality consultant, St. James was responsible for developing and leading project teams to improve the business processes at the SII subsidiaries and corporate headquarters. St. James joined Convergence Corp. in 1988 as vice president of quality. Convergence is a New Jersey-based business management consultancy to Fortune 1000 companies. He led the efforts to bring Six Sigma methodology to the company and was certified as a Six Sigma green belt, black belt, instructor, and master black belt. He began the firm’s Six Sigma consulting and training practice and led the DMADV project team that developed the innovative live, online interactive Six Sigma Virtual Classroom. St. James joined Six Sigma eLearning Inc. as general manager and, in July 2006, the board of directors appointed him to the position of CEO and president. He is leading the firm’s efforts to deliver affordable live online Six Sigma training globally through modern Internet technology.
Pierce Story
Pierce Story, co-founder and director of concept development at Jumbee Inc., has been in the healthcare industry for nearly 20 years in a variety of roles, from consulting to sales and marketing. In his role at Jumbee Inc., Pierce guides the development of new simulation and dynamic capacity management tools for the ME/PI marketplace. Pierce has presented and written extensively on concepts and uses of discrete-event simulation and Dynamic Capacity Analysis, Matching, and Management (DCAMM™), an acronym he coined through Jumbee Inc. He and Dr. Dave Eitel recently completed a book chapter,“The Physiology of Service Capacity,” for an upcoming book from Productivity Press.
Steven Thompson
Steven Thompson retired from UPS after holding numerous industrial engineering and engineering management positions within the organization. He has been active in IIE affairs, having served on the board of trustees and currently serving as IIE Solutions Conference chair. He is a graduate of the University of Florida.
Marlin Thomas, Ph.D., P.E.
Marlin Thomas, Ph.D., P.E., is dean of the Graduate School of Engineering and Management at the Air Force Institute of Technology on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Thomas received his professional education from the University of Michigan. He has held several academic and leadership appointments at private and state universities that include faculty, department head, and research center directorships. He also served a 32-year combined active and reserve career as a Navy civil engineer corps officer and held several command and staff assignments including naval construction battalion and regimental commands. Thomas' research interests are in stochastic modeling, reliability, and evaluating logistics systems with emphasis on optimal design for contingency operations. He has authored or co-authored more than 60 articles and delivered more than 100 presentations at major conferences. He has served on six editorial boards including area editor for Operations Research, department editor for IIE Transactions, and consulting editor for McGraw-Hill. He has also served on numerous national committees, boards, and advisory panels for academics and research and is a past member of the Army Science Board.