2013 Manufacturing Leadership 100 Judges
Steve Huffman
Chairman, Government Relations Committee – Automation Federation
Huffman is charged with creating strategies and tactics for the large user and engineering accounts of Mead O’Brien, a multi-state, multi-office provider of process-related engineered products and services across several key vertical market segments. He is a veteran one of the companies merged to form the present day Mead O’Brien and has 35 years combined experience, most of it in senior management. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri and is a former Navy surface warfare officer. Aside from these duties, Huffman is an active volunteer in technical societies dedicated to promoting the automation profession in process and manufacturing environments. He served as 2007 President of ISA (International Society of Automation), and is a key character in the development, direction, and initiatives of the Automation Federation serving two years as Chairman and currently serving as Government Relations Chair.
Sath Rao
Research Director, Industrial Automation & Process Control – Frost & Sullivan USA
Since joining Frost & Sullivan in 2002, Rao has worked on projects for Fortune 500 corporations; his focus has been on a broad range of topics, including industrial automation, process control, manufacturing strategies, advanced process control, optimization, and business solutions. He has pioneered several innovations in research thought leadership, such as evaluating mega-trends within industry verticals.
Prior to joining Frost & Sullivan, Rao had more than 10 years of experience with companies including Invensys, Bechtel and PacifiCorp.’s joint venture
EnergyWorks, and Kirloskar Electric Co. Rao has also worked on consulting projects for IBM, GE, Microsoft, and Siemens. He is an engineer with a management background, and is a certified PMP by the Project Management Institute.
Morris M. Lenczicki
Vice President Industrial Systems Applications – L’Oréal USA
Lenczicki has over 28 years’ experience in management, first as a controller, then in supply chain management and, later, in information technology development and deployment. He now functions as Vice President of Industrial Systems Applications, before that as Project Manager in Operations for the North American implementation of SAP and other systems for L’Oreal. Lenczicki has worked extensively in consumer products companies and has continued to diversify his experience in multiple support departments. Morris has had experiences in the USA, Canada, Puerto Rico, Europe, and Mexico. Over his career, Lenczicki has been able to define functional specifications, perform unit and volume testing, develop training programs and materials, manage multisite deployments, and determine the information systems structure strategy for an international corporation.
Maureen Steinwall
President – Steinwall, Inc.
With a strong background in both manufacturing and academia, Steinwall runs a $17 million thermoplastic injection moulding company in Minnesota as President and CEO. She regularly speaks at both industry and educational events, is a member of numerous professional and academic organizations, including the Women Manufacturing Leadership Council, and sits on the Board of The Society of the Plastics Industries. She has won numerous awards for her work, including the John Deere Supplier of the Year award in 2009, and is a former Progressive Manufacturing award winner and judge. Steinwall has a BSc degree from the University of Minnesota, an MBA from the Carlson School of Management, completed the Owner and President Management Program at Harvard Graduate School of Business, and has a PHD in Organization and Management from Capella University, Minneapolis.
Joe Parambo
Director, Application Factory, Manufacturing and Launch- General Motors
Joe has held positions of increasing responsibility in the automotive industry in his 28 year career. Joe’s prior role at General Motors was Process Information Officer in support of Powertrain’s Global Manufacturing Operations. In this role, Joe managed a team of 450 systems professionals that were responsible for IT strategy development, systems development, deployment initiatives, and IT operations supporting a global footprint of 45 Manufacturing sites. Previous roles at General Motors also include: Chief Information Officer: Saturn Corporation, Director: Global Purchasing and Supply Chain, and Director: North America Truck Assembly Operations. Prior to joining General Motors in 1998, Joe worked for Ford Motor Company where he held senior leadership positions in IT supporting Product Development, Supply Chain, and Manufacturing Operations.
David R. Brousell
Vice President and Editorial Director – Manufacturing Executive
David R. Brousell, the veteran technology editor and writer, has been a professional journalist since 1975. He currently serves as Vice President & Editorial Director of Manufacturing Executive, a division of Frost & Sullivan and publisher of Manufacturing Executiveand producer of the Manufacturing Leadership Summit. Brousell started his career in technology journalism in 1978 at Electronic News, a weekly newspaper covering the computer and electronics industries. He pioneered EN’s coverage of the then emerging independent software industry. In 1985, he joined Datamation Magazine, a publication devoted to information technology, and was named Editor-in-Chief in 1991. In the mid to late 1990s, he served as Vice President & Editorial Director at Sentry Publishing Co., in charge of that firm’s Software Magazine, Client-Server Computer Magazine and Sentry Market Research publications. In 1997, he became Vice President of Strategy at Softbank Comdex, the organizer of the huge Comdex technology trade show and conference.
Brousell has introduced numerous innovations, including launching the manufacturing industry’s first social media-based, paid membership community with Manufacturing Executive, an emphasis on covering the intersection of IT and business, the industry’s first plant floor to enterprise systems reader study, and the Progressive Manufacturing concept, which advocates business transformation coupled with the adoption of advanced technologies to create competitive advantage for manufacturers. Brousell has received numerous journalism awards. In the late 1980s at Datamation, he received two consecutive Jesse H. Neal Editorial Achievement Awards, the highest award for business journalism in the U.S. Under his leadership Manufacturing Executives and its predecessor organizations have been cited 11 times for editorial achievement.
Art Robbins
President, North America- Frost & Sullivan
Art Robbins is the President of Frost & Sullivan’s North American operations. Frost & Sullivan is a global research and consulting firm specializing in helping clients develop and implement their growth strategies. He is responsible for all sales, delivery, and support functions servicing all clients in the United States and Canada. Mr. Robbins directs Frost & Sullivan’s Global Growth Consulting practice providing quality assurance review, executive steering committee participation, strategic workshop facilitation, and moderation of CEO panels. Mr. Robbins has given presentations and led workshops on Mega Trends and Visionary Innovation to executive teams and organizations.
Mr. Robbins’s career has spanned multiple consulting companies, starting with American Management Systems, an IT consulting firm managing software and consulting practices that served both Fortune 100 commercial and government clients. Later at Ernst & Young, as Partner and Vice President, he provided a full range of business strategy, process improvement and IT consulting services to high growth entrepreneurial and mid-market companies. His industry experience includes energy, information and communications technologies, manufacturing, and business financial services.
Mr. Robbins served as Executive Vice President for Energy Maintenance Services (EMS) Group, where he was a founding executive of this entrepreneurial energy services firm focused on providing outsourced operations, maintenance and technology services to major energy companies. At EMS, Mr. Robbins performed a variety of roles, including developing the business plan, directing the sales and marketing functions, and driving EMS’s acquisitions strategy. EMS was named an Inc. 500 fastest growing company.
Mr. Robbins’s educational background includes a BS in Computer Science and Accounting from Brooklyn College, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Mr. Anthony L Chirchirillo
CEO- Chirch Global Manufacturing
Mr.Chirchirillo is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and Loyola University of Chicago.
He began his professional career as a Certified Public Accountant in the Chicago Office of KPMG. Upon admission to the partnership in 1986, at age 32, he was one of the youngest partners in the firm. At KPMG, Mr. Chirchirillo specialized in the health care industry and served as the firm’s National Health Care Manager; Midwest Regional Partner-in-Charge of Strategic Planning for Health Care; and, National Partner-in-Charge of Hospital Repositioning Services. He was widely recognized as one the country’s foremost experts in assisting financially distressed health care institutions.
In 1991, he continued the entrepreneurial phase of his career and started The Chirchirillo Company. The Company prided itself on achieving business repositioning results through team work. In 1993, Mr. Chirchirillo invested in Phoenix Products Company; a 100 year old Milwaukee based manufacturing company that was highly diversified. During the 1990′s, he served as CEO and co-owner of the Phoenix group of companies with operations in the medical packaging, adhesives, lighting, and welding industries. In 2002 and 2003, he sold his equity interests in these businesses and the related real estate located on the Northwest side of Milwaukee.
In 2002, Mr. Chirchirillo founded Chirch Global, LLC. Chirch Global is a family owned business that specializes in procuring high quality manufacturing at globally competitive costs. With operations in Chicago, Milwaukee and Shenzhen, the company assisted USA based companies thrive and prosper in the burgeoning global economy. In 2005, Chirch Global and Chamco, Inc. (the Oshkosh Industrial Development Corporation) received approval to develop GlobalOne, a 1617-acre Foreign Trade Zone. GlobalOne includes land within Oshkosh’s Southwest Industrial Park, Wittman Regional Airport, and Fox Valley Technical College’s Spanbauer Campus.
In 2008, the Chirchirillo family continued its expansion in manufacturing by acquiring an ISO/TS 16949 certified factory in Northern Illinois specializing in the design and construction of progressive dies and highly automated metal fabrications and stampings. The Chirch Global Manufacturing Network was launched in 2011 and has grown rapidly to include 14 companies, operating in two states and China, with over 1,400 employees and 1,000,000 square feet of factory space.
Chirch Global companies embody the entrepreneurial spirit of Mr. Chirchirillo and operate within the context of a clearly defined Statement of Values. Those values emphasize the importance of integrity and the commitment to family that is the foundation upon which the company was built. Chirch Global positions future generations to thrive and prosper in the increasingly interconnected global business environment, while adhering to traditional family values that have been learned and nurtured from generation-to-generation. Chirch Global companies are dedicated to assisting their customers “compete with anyone…anywhere in the world”.
Val Zanchuk
Owner, CEO, Chairman- Graphicast Inc.
Val is the owner of Graphicast, Inc., a Jaffrey, NH based foundry and machine shop that provides precision-machined zinc alloy castings to a global base of industrial customers. During Val’s ownership, Graphicast has been an Inc 5000 company, a PM100 awardee, and for the past six years, one of the top ten small companies to work for in New Hampshire. In achieving this recognition, Graphicast has utilized Lean, Six Sigma, and Theory of Constraints to improve operations and employed social media platforms to enhance its market position. Prior to his tenure at Graphicast, Val was president of TAFA Inc., a Concord, NH based manufacturer of thermal spray equipment and materials. Val’s previous experience includes program management positions at Air Products and Chemicals, plant engineer at New Jersey Zinc Company, and research engineer at Phelps Dodge. Val received his BS and MS degrees in Metallurgy from Lehigh University. He is a registered professional engineer and the holder of two US patents.
Terry Burleson
Vice President, Energy Services- Nalco
Terry is a graduate of Texas Tech University with a BS in Petroleum Engineering. Terry has worked for Nalco for 23 years. He began his career in Upstream and held various sales and marketing positions. Transferred to Downstream in 2003 and has held various positions in North America and Europe. Terry has Global Responsibility for the Downstream Energy Services Group and resides in Sugar Land Texas.
Jim Davis
Vice Provost and Chief Academic Technology Officer- UCLA
Jim Davis is Vice Provost IT & Chief Academic Technology Officer – a new executive leadership role with broader responsibilities focused on UCLA’s academic research and education mission but building on his past position as Associate Vice Chancellor & CIO. Jim has responsibilities for the Institute for Digital Research and Education (IDRE), the Institute for Informatics (I2), UCLA’s institutional educational technology initiatives, and academic application services. In his Vice Provost position, Jim also has broad accountability for university-wide technology planning, strategic investment and deployment oversight for academic and administrative operations, services and resources. Jim is a member and past chair of the University of California’s Information Technology Leadership Council, the council of CIOs from the campuses, government labs and medical centers. Jim is the past Chair of the Board of Directors of CENIC (Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California), the non-profit corporation responsible for network connectivity and services to all higher education and K-12 institutions in the state. Jim is also a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA. Jim’s research is in the area of data analysis, decision support, and intelligent systems. With over 25 years experience in technology-based engineering research and application, he has been involved with research, development and deployment of information technology solutions in a variety of applications. He is currently PI on a national initiative about Smart Manufacturing and U.S. manufacturing competitiveness.
John Gercak
Vice President, Information Technologies- Eaton Corp.
John M. Gercak is the Vice President-Information Technologies for Eaton Corporation’s Vehicle Group. As the group chief information officer (CIO), he is responsible for leading the global automotive and truck information technologies function for the group. Prior to being named to this role in July 2009, John was the the Director-IT for Eaton’s Truck Group. Gercak joined Eaton in 1997 and progressed in various IT leadership roles within North America and Europe. Prior to joining Eaton, he served in finance, operational, and IT roles for Dana Corporation. Gercak holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and a master’s degree in operations management from the University of Toledo.
Brad Heath
CEO, Chairman, President- VirTex Assembly Services
As CEO of VirTex Assembly Services, Heath runs a global organisation providing electronics contract manufacturing services from facilities in Austin, Texas and Juarez, Mexico. He founded VirTex in 2000 after spending fifteen years in management and executive roles in the electronics manufacturing services sector. VirTex has been listed in Inc. Magazine’s annual ranking of the 5,000 fastest-growing US private companies in for the last four years. It has also won numerous awards, including Managing Automation’s 2009 small to mid size Progressive Manufacturer of the Year. Heath is a graduate of the University of South Florida.