Connecting the Dots

Mark Reich spent 23 years working for Toyota, starting in 1988 with six years in Japan in the Overseas Planning Division, where he was responsible for Product Planning and collaborated with Chief Engineers to define vehicle specifications for overseas markets. This pivotal time was when Toyota introduced the Lexus to the world. In 1994, Mark returned to the United States and transitioned to the To...

Andrew is the Founder and Managing Director of Agility Consulting Group. He is a leadership enthusiast who is passionate about building leadership capacity to help organisations to make progress on big complex problems. He has been an Adjunct Faculty at the Australia Graduate School of Management (AGSM) at the University of NSW for 15 years where he facilitates executive programs in adaptive...

Jacob Raymer is an internationally recognized speaker who addresses corporate, public and university audiences on the subjects of leadership roles and responsibilities, cultural transformation, and how to achieve organizational excellence with the right behavior and sustainable long-term results. As the Shingo Institute’s former Director of Education, Jacob co-created the Shingo Model and develope...

Stephen Hunter PT, DPT, OCS, FAPTA  received his Bachelor of Arts in physical therapy from University of Utah in 1984, and his clinical doctorate in 2008. He is board certified in orthopedic physical therapy. Currently, Stephen continues to treat patients and is the director of Internal Process Control for Intermountain Health’s rehabilitation services. He leads a team of 4 internal process c...

By founding Lean Institute Brasil in 1999 to disseminate the principles and practices of lean thinking to Brazilian companies, Ferro helped catalyze a global movement to establish lean institutes in other countries, which ultimately grew into the Lean Global Network, chartered in 2007. In the late eighties, he was a visiting scholar in MIT’s International Motor Vehicle Research Program (...

Rusty is the founder and CEO of Resonate Leadership Lab, a healthcare leadership development consultancy with a mission of “Building Leadership Capabilities.” His passion for developing leaders and shaping organizational culture are hallmarks of his 30 years as a physician executive. Rusty has degrees in both Religious Studies and Psychology, and considers himself a lifelong student of how leaders...

Michael Gallagher is an Executive Lean Leader with GE Aerospace. After 14 years in the auto industry Michael has held several roles in 14 years with GE including Lean Six Sigma Leader, Quality Leader, and Advanced Manufacturing Engineering Leader before taking his current position leading the Finance Kaizen Promotion Office at GE Aerospace. Michael received his MBA in Supply Chain Management with...

Derek Leiner trained in internal medicine at VCUHealth and the Richmond VA Medical Center. In 2018, he completed a year as Chief Resident for Quality and Safety, a national VA QI and safety training program then began as a staff physician at the Richmond VA Medical Center.  His career has included teaching, education leadership as an Associate Program Director for a medicine training program,...

Gemma started her career studying Mechanical Engineering at Cardiff University. She quickly discovered the world of Continuous Improvement and spent 20 years working to improve processes and systems within various manufacturing industries including Automotive, Pharmaceutical, Dairy, Cosmetics & Toiletries, Food, and Medical Devices. She has been a CI Manager numerous times and an Operations Ma...

Gemma started her career studying Mechanical Engineering at Cardiff University. She quickly discovered the world of Continuous Improvement and spent 20 years working to improve processes and systems within various manufacturing industries including Automotive, Pharmaceutical, Dairy, Cosmetics & Toiletries, Food, and Medical Devices. She has been a CI Manager numerous times and an Operations Ma...

Jenn Christison grew up wanting to change the world as a teach Worker, social worker, or stand-up comedian. After exploring all three, she discovered her most significant impact could be made by leading organizational transformation. With over 15 years of experience as a performance improvement consultant, senior leader, facilitator, and coach across multiple industries and sectors, Jenn brings a...

Richard Winters, M.D. is an emergency physician at  Mayo Clinic  in Rochester, Minnesota. He is the director of leadership development for the  Mayo Clinic Care Network , a member network of over 47 national and international healthcare systems. Dr. Winters develops and delivers leadership programs and provides executive coaching for leaders around the...

Gemma is an Improvement Coach, Trainer, and Visual Facilitator, based in the UK and working globally. Gemma started her career in Engineering and quickly found a passion for Improvement. She spent 20 years in Manufacturing across numerous industries, then in 2019 she left employment to build her own business. Gemma's mission is to help organizations and individuals be the best they can be, by help...

Kian Gohar is a futurist, AI researcher, and Founder/CEO of Geolab, a research lab helping organizations build the next frontier of Human-AI collaboration through training and strategy. A former executive director of the XPRIZE Foundation and Singularity University, Kian has coached the leadership teams of dozens of  Fortune  500 companies on AI, innovation, and the Future of Work. His l...

Nancy Kline pioneered of the body of thought and practice known as The Thinking Environment. Her research through teaching, lecturing, coaching, and working with individuals, professionals, executives, and organizational teams around the world continues to develop this work. She also is Founding Director of Time To Think, a global leadership development and coaching company that specializes i...

Emily Swaney is the Senior Director of the Lean Promotion Office at OhioHealth, a 16-hospital healthcare system based out of Columbus, Ohio. She has a degree in Operations Management and Marketing complimented by 14 years of experience in lean facilitation. Emily’s passion is creating a culture of problem solvers, and she has partnered with the Shingo Institute, ISE, and Catalysis in publishing ar...

As Baptist's chief medical information officer,  Dr. Lancaster  works to improve the effectiveness and usability of health care technology for physicians and other providers. He is also a part-time internist for the Baptist Medical Group. After his residency, Dr. Lancaster completed a clinical informatics fellowship and earned a master's degree in applied clinical informatics from Vander...

David M. Williams, PhD is an internationally respected scholar-practitioner of the Science of Improvement. With 25 years of experience in improvement, he has worked with leaders and teams worldwide to develop people’s abilities to make rigorous, results-driven improvements and adopt quality as an organizational strategy.  Dr. Williams coauthored  Quality as an Organization...

Melissa Vandergriff, MBA, PMP, is Director of Continuous Improvement for the Cleveland Clinic Enterprise Markets. Melissa has served as a member of the Cleveland Clinic Continuous Improvement team for 15 years and has led numerous successful improvement initiatives across the Cleveland Clinic health system. Prior to her current position, Melissa held the role of CI Director for Clinical Institutes...

Michael Gallagher is an Executive Lean Leader with GE Aerospace. After 14 years in the auto industry Michael has held several roles in 14 years with GE including Lean Six Sigma Leader, Quality Leader, and Advanced Manufacturing Engineering Leader before taking his current position leading the Finance Kaizen Promotion Office at GE Aerospace. Michael received his MBA in Supply Chain Management with...

Petal Bartlett joined the University of Kansas Health System in 2019 as a Pharmacy Master Trainer, where she focused on influencing the implementation of standardized training to ensure high-quality patient care. In 2020, she utilized over 20 years of educational experience and her certification as a Job Instruction course instructor from the TWI Institute to develop the Training Leadership Certif...

Jacques Neatby  is a leadership team and corporate strategy expert. He   began his career as a labour & litigation lawyer with one of Canada’s elite international law firms. He was recruited into consulting in 1994 and soon after was hired by Canada’s largest independent  strategy consultancy  (since acquired by  KPMG ). There he worked with the executive teams of...

Bijoy E. John, MD, is a board-certified Sleep Specialist, Sleep Expert, Public speaker, Podcast guest and an author. He is currently a private practitioner with over 25 years of clinical and research experience. He is the founder and medical director of Sleep Fix Academy which offers online courses, podcasts, and other resources to improve sleep quality. He also treats both kid and adults wit...

Evan Unger has 25 years’ experience driving organizational change initiatives, both as an executive in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries and as an external consultant. Since 1988 he has consulted with clients in small organizations, school systems and in Fortune 100 companies domestically and across Europe, the Pacific Rim and South America. He served in several key leadership positions...

Wendy K. Smith is a Harvard educated, award-winning academic and the Dana J. Johnson Professor of Management and faculty director of the Women’s Leadership Initiative at University of Delaware. She is an expert on organizational paradoxes, exploring how leaders and individuals effectively respond to contradictory, yet interdependent demands. She spends her time continually working t...