2023 Best Practices in Operational Excellence Presenters

Wade Engelbrecht is a Lean Six Sigma Excellence Senior Manager at Abbott Laboratories. He has a strong background in Engineering, OpEx, Project Management, Maintenance & Operations. Wade earned his Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, and his Master of Science Engineering Management/MBA from the Milwaukee School of Engineering. With over 35 years of work experience, Engelbrecht has many OpEx certifications, including LSS MBB, DFSS BB, TPM Pillar Lead, and ADKAR Change Management. Wade's strengths include bottom-line impact, problem-solving, and driving teams to the finish line. He has a wife, two children, and one grandchild, and enjoys cooking, reading, and traveling.

Coleman Simons is a highly accomplished technology executive with a strong project management and agile methodologies background. He serves as Lead Agile Coach at Cencora. With an impressive list of certifications, including SPC, PMP, ACP, RTE, POPM, SASM, SSM, and CSM, Coleman has a deep understanding of industry best practices and a proven ability to drive successful project outcomes. As a results-oriented professional, Coleman is known for team-building, exceptional leadership, valuing collaboration, and actively fostering an inclusive and empowering work environment. With a strong passion for community engagement, Coleman actively participates in various philanthropic initiatives. He believes in using his skills and expertise to make a positive impact. As a result, he has worked on projects that promote digital literacy and bridging the digital divide.

Heather Marzano is a senior leader with extensive experience managing complex enterprise products and service improvement projects using the Lean Six Sigma DMAIC methodology. After graduating from Drexel University with a Bachelor's in Computer Science, she transitioned from a career in coding and solutions analysis to improving processes. Heather is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (ICBB). Along that journey, she has acquired certifications and implemented projects using complimentary best practices such as ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library), SAFe (Scaled Agile), and more. She now leads Continuous Improvement globally within Cencora, a Fortune 10 pharma distribution company, partnering with Agile, DevOps, and other best practices to provide the best outcomes for her organization, customers, and stakeholders. Heather acts as a change facilitator, mentor, and coach, driving the adoption of a continuous improvement culture across the organization.

Mr. Koning has over 30 years of manufacturing experience in various manufacturing industries. His areas of management experience and responsibility include Safety, Site Leadership, Lean Six Sigma Implementation, Project Management, and Business Continuity. He took on his current role as Director of Operational Excellence with Aurorium in July 2022 after ten months as the Site Director for the Aurorium Zeeland, MI site. Kim holds a BS in Management from Purdue University and MBA from Western Michigan University. He has certifications as a MoreSteam Six Sigma Master Black Belt, Black Belt, Lean Leader, ISO 22301 Continuity Manager, and ISO Lead Auditor. After 20 years working in Operational Excellence, he "retired" as a coach and referee of various community soccer organizations. He is working on his next challenge and opportunities to help in the community as he and his wife become "empty nesters".

Tim grew up in Arizona and graduated with an intellectual history degree from Arizona State University. After graduation, he worked for a large wholesale company for 15 years, learning lean principles. Tim started a family-owned company focusing on Safety Management systems that worked in the US and the Caribbean. He has worked with the City of Goodyear for the past 11 years, focusing on safety, organizational development, and Continuous Improvement. The organization received recognition for outstanding safety performance from OSHA in 2021. The city of Goodyear is the only municipality in Arizona to have obtained Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) status. The organization has been on a 10-year cultural journey and was recently recognized as the highest-ranked local government workplace for employee satisfaction. Continuous Improvement is integrated into the culture to support the organization's people strategy. The centerpiece of the strategy is the "whole employee", having employees experience their best selves both personally and professionally.

Alex Lestinsky is a Business Analyst for the Development Services Department in Goodyear, Arizona. She received her Bachelor of Science in Urban Planning in 2014 and Master of Public Administration with a focus in Urban Management in 2019 at Arizona State. She started working as a city planner for the Development Services Department in 2014 before their Lean journey began in 2015. Along the way, she became an early adopter of Lean principles and Continuous Improvement. In December 2023, she became the first Business Analyst for the department, focusing on data-driven process improvements, cultural enablers, and assisting in making Goodyear the best place to work.

Erin is the Manager of Process Improvement for The James Operations Improvement team. She has a Bachelor of Science in Radiologic Technology and a Master of Business in Operational Excellence from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Heuser has a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification from Moresteam and is a Certified Change Management Practitioner through Prosci. Erin started her career in a clinical role as a Radiation Therapist for 19 years before transitioning over to being a Process Engineer. Erin's focuses on improvement opportunities related to hospital KPIs, patient satisfaction, and strategic opportunities that advance The James in the oncology landscape and education to our faculty and staff.

Sara is the Director for Operations Improvement, which includes instructional design, process improvement, and project management. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Hearing Science from The Ohio State University and a Master of Business Administration from Franklin University. She has a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification from Breakthrough Management Group and is a Certified Change Management Practitioner through Prosci. Sara's career has always been focused on healthcare improvement, working within the revenue cycle, supply chain, surgery, and hospital operations. She has an enthusiasm for teaching others key concepts of applying Lean Six Sigma to enhance daily operations.

Jeff McCoy is the Director of Business Process for McKesson Corporation, leading the Talent & Effectiveness Team. Throughout his 16+ year career at McKesson, he was driven by a passion for leadership and developing people to achieve their full potential while also delivering on stretch goals. Some notable accomplishments from his tenure in operations include helping improve the Lakeland Distribution Center from a 6th place BOS (Business Operating Scorecard) ranking to a 1st place BOS ranking in under three years, developing a distribution center culture of increased employee engagement, open dialogue, high trust, and consistency, and achieving an Operations Excellence Award. Jeff earned a Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M in Industrial Distribution and is also a certified John Maxwell Coach, Trainer, and Speaker. He lives in Dallas, TX, with his wife Kate, 9-year-old daughter Haven, and 7-year-old son Luke. Outside of work, Jeff enjoys coaching his kids' soccer team and spending time outdoors.

Kelly maintains the Lean Six Sigma Program for Memorial Health and oversees the quality improvement practices for their hospital and ambulatory groups. Hill is a Registered Nurse (RN) by licensure with a background in medical surgical nursing. She has previous leadership experience in Regulatory Compliance, Patient Safety, Infection Prevention, Accreditation, Risk Management, and Performance Improvement. Hill holds a Bachelor of Science in nursing (BSN), and a master's in business administration (MBA), both from Millikin University. She also maintains a Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma (CLSSBB), is a Certified Professional of Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) and is studying for completion of her Doctorate in Nursing Practices (DNP). Hill notes that her best accomplishment is being a wife to her husband and mom to her two children.

MoreSteam is the brainchild of Bill Hathaway. Prior to founding MoreSteam in 2000, Bill spent 13 years in manufacturing, quality and operations management. After 10 years at Ford Motor Co., Hathaway then held executive level operations positions with Raytheon at Amana Home Appliances, and with Mansfield Plumbing Products.

Bill earned an undergraduate finance degree from the University of Notre Dame and graduate degree in business finance and operations from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Peg Pennington joined MoreSteam's executive team in 2018 and provides leadership to all company operations. Previously, Peg was the Executive Director of the Center for Operational Excellence at The Ohio State University. She will continue as an adjunct instructor of the Master of Business Operational Excellence ('MBOE') curriculum at Ohio State's Fisher College of Business. Before joining Ohio State, Peg served in a managerial role at Emerson Network Power.

Peg earned a bachelor's degree in finance from Michigan State University and an MBA from the University of Dayton.

Karina Kretz began working at MoreSteam in 2014, developing practice exercises with the eLearning team. She now assists with User Experience design and front-end development as part of the EngineRoom development team. Before coming to MoreSteam, Karina worked as a student developer in the Academic Technology Lab at the University of Notre Dame.

Karina received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, and an MSc in Interactive Media from University College Cork, Ireland.

Mel Coyle is a licensed educator with experience in course development, classroom teaching, large scale project management, and data-informed practices. She joined the MoreSteam team in December 2022 as the eLearning Instructional Designer. She is responsible for improving the clarity and alignment of current lessons, adding more practices, skill checks, and exam questions, and analyzing question data.

Prior to joining MoreSteam, Mel spent 13 years in education, developing curriculums at KIPP Columbus High School, and teaching Composition and Literature at Southern University at New Orleans and Columbus State.

Michael manages instructional content at MoreSteam, working to ensure that lessons are clear, memorable, relevant, and filled with high-impact practice. Prior to joining MoreSteam, he spent seven years teaching middle school students at YES Prep Northside in Houston, Texas, and KIPP Columbus Middle in Columbus, Ohio. He taught classes covering a broad range of subjects including reading, social studies, and science. Both of these charter school systems were founded on data-driven process improvement principles.

Michael received a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame through the University's Program of Liberal Studies.

Nick LaRosa began working for MoreSteam in 2014, lending his talents to both the eLearning and EngineRoom development teams. He currently focuses his efforts on the back-end development of EngineRoom. In addition to his role with MoreSteam, Nick also serves in the United States Marine Corps Reserve as a Captain and Communications Officer with the 14th Marine Regiment.

Nick earned his B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Notre Dame and Master's of Science in Computer Science, Specialization in Machine Learning, from The Georgia Institute of Technology.

Dr. Lars Maaseidvaag started out his career in operations research and management consulting. He then managed the Lean Six Sigma curriculum for Accenture/George Group as the Curriculum Manager for several years. Afterwards, Lars led MoreSteam's product development teams. During that time, Lars was instrumental in the design and creation of EngineRoom®, MoreSteam's online data analysis software, and was the mastermind behind Process Playground™, MoreSteam's online process modeling tool. Lars has been a lead instructor for the Master Black Belt training program offered in collaboration with The Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business for over ten years and has over 20 years of experience teaching advanced Lean topics. Lars received a PhD in Operations from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He received a Masters in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering and an MBA from The University of Texas in Austin. As a MoreSteam Client Services professional, Lars helps clients design and deploy Lean Six Sigma continuous improvement programs, and is particularly adept at improving complex processes using process modeling and mathematical optimization.

John Draper is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Operations and Business Analytics in the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University. He has a PhD and MS in statistics from Ohio State as well as BS degrees in mathematics and statistics from Florida State University. His extensive experience in education at Ohio State includes courses statistical theory, business analytics, engineering, operations, six sigma, statistical computing/datascience, and sports analytics at both the graduate and undergraduate level as well as biostatistics courses for graduate-level students in the College of Public Health and Dentistry. He currently serves as the Co-academic Director of the Specialized Masters of Business Analytics and the Academic Director of the Executive Education Master Black Belt.

Larry Inks, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Management and Human Resources at the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University. He has an MA and Ph.D. in Industrial/ Organizational Psychology from The Ohio State University and a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Purdue University. He teaches undergraduate and graduate-level classes in talent management, organization change and project management, organizational behavior and human resource management, staffing, statistics, and research methods. Dr. Inks has received a significant number of teaching and service awards while at The Ohio State University, including the Fisher Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award, the Fisher Pace Setters Teaching Award (Fisher's highest-level award) for undergraduate-level teaching excellence, the Fisher Pace Setters Award for Distinguished Service, and Ohio State University's Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching, the University's highest recognition for teaching excellence. Prior to joining the faculty at the Fisher College, Dr. Inks had a successful career in talent management leadership roles at PepsiCo, AlliedSignal/ Honeywell, and Cardinal Health.

Dr. Jurriaan de Jong is an assistant professor in the Management Sciences department. From 2013-2019, he worked at the Jacobs School of Management at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he taught in the MBA, undergraduate, and executive education programs. Dr. De Jong currently teaches the Core Operations Management course in the Full time MBA, Working Professional MBA, and Undergraduate programs. In addition, he teaches graduate elective courses, Operations Strategy, and Healthcare Operations Management. He is also one of the faculty members for Fisher's non-degree Executive Education program, and for the Master of Business Operational Excellence (MBOE) program. Dr. De Jong earned a PhD in Operations Management from Ohio State and an MS and BS in Industrial Engineering & Management Science from the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands.

Brian Reece co-founded Service Physics, where he puts his engineering and product development backgrounds together to think holistically and design human-centered experiences that exceed customers' expectations and deliver at scale. Previously, Brian worked for Starbucks, leading projects that changed how millions of people order and receive their coffee daily. He spearheaded a redesign of the drive-thru operations engine to optimize beverage production, digital innovation, and customer experience, reducing beverage production bottlenecks by 30% and shaving several seconds off window time. Reece went on to lead Data Strategy and Digital Product for AB-InBev's emerging e-commerce business before taking on technology, data capabilities, and digital products for its retail business. Brian holds a BS in Industrial & Management Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Steve co-founded Service Physics, a consulting firm for restaurant transformation. As an enthusiastic coach with over 20 years of hospitality leadership, Steve finds joy in learning alongside others to solve problems and create value. Previously, Steve worked for Starbucks Coffee Company and AB InBev. He led teams to bring systems thinking, kaizen, and coaching to more than 20 branded concepts across 12 countries. With over 17 years of experience working at Starbucks, Steve was steeped in lean manufacturing and kaizen techniques, from field leadership to operations innovation and strategy, and how to apply them in a retail environment. At AB InBev, he developed an Operational Excellence program based on business maturity to help brands prepare for franchising. He led the COVID-19 response for their entire retail business, including its additional 10,000 convenience stores globally. Steve holds a BS in Hospitality Administration from Boston University and an MBA from Tennessee Technological University.

Katie O'Neill grew up in Wisconsin and graduated with a history degree from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. After earning her commission and working full-time in the Army for a few years, O'Neill transitioned to a combination of General Electric and the Army National Guard. While in the Army, she held leadership roles in transportation. After transitioning to GE, Katie started as a supervisor, holding progressive roles including Black Belt, M&A Integration Leader, Master Black Belt, and Director of Operations. Most recently, she was the Director of the Program Management Office and Continuous Improvement at CDK Global and is now with Sterigenics as an Operational Excellence Manager. Her focuses are training, capacity improvement strategy, and Lean maturity. Katie has three grown children and enjoys cooking and traveling with her husband.