Top 50 thought leaders in operational excellence for 2023

PEX Network is delighted to present its guide to the top 50 thought leaders in operational excellence you should know about in 2023.

Our list features people from all over the globe from the worlds of manufacturing, finance, science, technology, healthcare and engineering to name just a few.

All have successfully led initiatives that have helped businesses improve their ways of working, pioneering operational and leadership transformation through change management, Lean and Six Sigma and digitization among other specializations.  

To navigate the list easily we have compiled it in alphabetical order – take a look by clicking on a name to go to them directly, or scroll down to find out who is leading operational excellence around the world.

Nao Anthony

Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Transforming process

Nao Anthony is a strategic advisor to business leaders on process transformation. Throughout his 20-year career he has worked across manufacturing, supply chain and financial services, helping to embed process thinking among stakeholders and providing mentorship to senior leaders on the Lean Sigma Approach to transformation.

Based in Sydney, he currently works at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia as a senior manager of operational excellence, and he is also a PEX Network advisory board member.

He recently contributed a series of insightful articles to PEX Network explaining how leaders can break the cycle of implementing knee-jerk solutions towards the end of the financial year. “You need to be brilliant at basics, which includes having a sound understanding of the changes in customer needs and using agile ways of working to adapt your transformation to those,” he wrote. “The operational ways of working that are deemed basic must be followed no matter what.”

• Read more from Nao Anthony on PEX Network

Pavel Azaletskiy

VSOptima

Dynamic value stream mapping (VSM)

Pavel Azaletskiy is the founder and CEO of VSOptima, a software company through which he has developed a digital twin platform to help organizations achieve operational excellence. His career to date includes stints at Google, AstraZeneca and Yandex; now as well as running VSOptima he leads the non-profit Silicon Valley Design Thinking Club at Stanford University, and is the founder of the LISA – LEAD Incubator and Startup Accelerator to help entrepreneurs make positive changes in the world.

He advocates for the use of value stream mapping and has written a number of papers on how the visual tool can help productivity, alongside its other benefits.

We caught up with Azaletskiy to ask him what potential challenges companies face when adopting value stream mapping, and he said one common misconception organizations should be aware of is that it provides a static representation of the value stream.

“It is crucial to recognize that a value stream is dynamic, and its mapping captures a snapshot of its characteristics at a given time,” he remarked. “Additionally, it is important to understand that lead time is influenced by the inflow and constraints within the value stream.”

• Find out what Azaletskiy is talking about on LinkedIn

Damon Baker

Lean Focus

Lean thinking

The Danaher Corporation was one of the very first companies in North America to adopt Kaizen principles for its manufacturing processes. Since Damon Baker joined the company in 2007, he has built on the practice by developing a brand new, company-wide problem-solving process that in turn led him to create the Lean Focus Business System, which has since been implemented by leading manufacturers around the world.

He has led more than 500 Kaizen events in 16 countries. We recommend checking out his blog, where he muses, among many other things, on the advice Socrates would have given if he had been a Lean consultant.

Baker shared with us the best professional advice he has ever received: “Never stop learning and seeking improvement. Continuous learning and growth are essential for personal and professional development. Embracing a growth mindset and being open to new ideas, feedback and experiences allows us to continually improve our skills and capabilities. It also helps us adapt to the evolving needs and challenges of the business world.”

• Read Damon Baker’s blog here

Eduardo Banzato

IMAM Group

Smart logistics

The supply chain and logistics industry is a vital part of Brazil’s economy, driving growth and innovation in Latin America’s largest economy. At its forefront is Eduardo Banzato, who has had a 35-year career spanning supply chain, manufacturing and people management.

He is currently director of the IMAM Group, mentor to some of Brazil’s top companies, and has written more than 10 books on supply chain, operational excellence and people development. Banzato is an advocate of Lean and Kaizen methodologies, which he incorporates into his training courses and technical projects.

He shares his insights on operational excellence, technology and intralogistics – the branch of logistics that deals with the internal flow of information and materials within a company – on LinkedIn, where he has more than 89,000 followers.

• See what Eduardo Banzato is talking about on LinkedIn

Ian Barkin

Skan

Business process outsourcing (BPO) design

Florida-based Ian Barkin is an expert in business process outsourcing (BPO), and has created several LinkedIn courses on process mining, intelligent automation and robotic process automation (RPA).

He is an adviser to consultancy firm Bain & Company on projects related to digital transformation, and has previously worked for Infosys, Capgemini and PriceWaterHouseCoopers among many others, not to mention founding four successful companies including RPA consultancy Symphony Ventures, which was sold for $69m in 2018.

As well as his lengthy CV, Barkin has a very engaging YouTube channel where he explains concepts including artificial intelligence (AI), low code and no code, and cloud-based enterprise applications.

• Hear what Ian Barkin is talking about on his YouTube channel

Amanda Breeden

Denver Health

Lean in research

The concept of Lean may have been born in the manufacturing sector, but Amanda Breeden is an advocate for the use of Lean and process improvement in clinical research. Here Lean principles can help to reduce the administrative burden and make essential clinical research more efficient.

Based in Denver, Colorado, she uses a Lean management system in the oversight and compliance of a $180m portfolio of grants and contracts for the city’s main healthcare provider; she is also on the Board of Directors of the Colorado Lean Network. In a post on her website, Breeden explained why research administrators are well suited to be Lean practitioners, because of their focus on reducing cost and time while maintaining quality for auditing purposes.

• Find out what Breeden is talking about on LinkedIn

Alicia Butler Pierre

Equilibria

Building business

Process engineer turned business owner and best-selling author Alicia Butler Pierre has worn many hats, including troubleshooting manufacturing processes at Monsanto, working as a business process analyst at Coca Cola and becoming a Lean Six Sigma consultant working with Fortune 500 companies.

In 2005 she founded Equilibria, a company that designs business infrastructure and processes for small firms. She is also an adjunct professor at Purdue University in Indiana, teaching Lean principles and supply chain management, and is the author of Behind the Façade: How to Structure Company Operations for Sustainable Success, a book that debuted at number one upon its release on Amazon.

Through her weekly newsletter and podcast she shares advice for business owners on everything from running a company while living as a digital nomad to increasing capacity and scaling operations profitably.

• Read Alicia Butler Pierre’s weekly newsletter on LinkedIn

Nabila Chaudhri

Care Quality Commission

Artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare

UK-based Nabila Chaudhri began her career as a pharmacist, but quickly moved into management and strategy, going on to oversee the inspection cycle for around 500 pharmacies in the south east of England. Working for digital healthcare provider Babylon Healthcare, she helped design the first digital doctor’s practice for the National Health Service (NHS), which uses an AI-powered platform for patients.

She later founded NC Healthcare Consulting, through which she works with healthcare providers globally to set up niche clinics and help them reduce costs and waste, leveraging automation and other advanced technologies. 

Chaudhri is regularly invited to speak at conferences and was named a 'Woman to Watch' by the UK’s Royal Pharmaceutical Society in 2020.

• Read more from Nabila Chaudhri on her website

Greg Coquillo

Amazon

Science and process

Greg Coquillo’s day-to-day job at Amazon sees him using tech and data science to scale new product development. Born in Haiti, Coquillo moved to the US to train as an industrial engineer and went on to work as a value stream manager and process engineer before joining the tech giant in 2020.

That same year he was named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices for Data Science and AI, thanks to his practical tips on how to use data science as a business strategy. The following year he was a LinkedIn Top Voice for Technology and Innovation, and he now has more than 186,000 followers on the platform.

Coquillo is a frequent guest on podcasts and at events where he shares his knowledge of applying Lean, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement principles to his work at the cutting edge of technology.

• Find out what Greg Coquillo is talking about on LinkedIn

Joe Craughan

Novartis

Disrupting business

Joe Craughan has the curious job title of ‘X disruptor’ at Novartis, with a remit that includes finding disruptive solutions in the areas of ESG, finance, procurement and global drug development.

Over the 10 years he has spent at Novartis he has been head of finance and global process owner; prior to this he worked in finance and procurement at Whirlpool, and as a senior business analyst for Carter Holt Harvey, Asia-Pacific’s largest packaging company.

Unsurprisingly, Switzerland-based Craughan is highly in-demand as an international speaker; he is also a PEX Network advisory board member.

Speaking at PEX Network’s live event OPEX Pharma in February this year, he said: “Disruption is probably the next level beyond [Lean Six Sigma]. It is not about standardizing processes, it is really questioning if they're really required, questioning if the activity that's been done is value added by effectively challenging or breaking the system.”

• Find out what Joe Craughan is talking about on LinkedIn 

Dave Crysler

The Crysler Club

Business resilience

Dave Crysler is the principal consultant of The Crysler Club, where he draws from his experience working in manufacturing and distribution to advise businesses on ways to cut waste and achieve operational excellence.

He has also managed and grown a number of businesses, which helped him develop the operations framework he uses to solve everyday problems and help business owners grow their companies. 

Hosting the Everyday Business Problems Podcast, he offers practical tips covering all aspects of business improvement, from effective methodologies for manufacturing to digital transformation, as well as guides for leaders on networking and resilience. 

“I believe the most common challenge for organizations trying to achieve operational excellence is effectively communicating the vision,” Crysler told us. “I recommend taking the approach of starting with and communicating the ‘Why’ as well as the ‘What’ behind the vision before jumping into the ‘How’. Why are we wanting to make this change. What impact are we expecting to have. If these two things are communicated clearly and consistently, people are much more receptive and often contribute meaningfully to how the vision can ultimately be achieved." 

• Listen to Dave Crysler’s podcast here 

Crystal Y Davis

The Lean Coach

Lean mentoring

Since graduating as an industrial engineer, Crystal Y Davis has worked across the automotive, packaging, healthcare and engineering sectors, specializing in process improvement and supply chain optimization.

Her career in these traditionally male-dominated sectors led her to becoming a leadership coach and mentor for women in these industries: in 2014 she established her own consultancy firm, The Lean Coach, and in 2019 she co-founded Women in Lean, an online community providing peer support and visibility to women in the field.

On mentoring, she wrote on LinkedIn: “Studies show that good mentoring can lead to greater career success, including promotions, raises, and increased opportunities. Organizations that embrace mentoring are rewarded with higher levels of employee engagement, retention and knowledge sharing.”

• Listen to Crystal Y Davis’ podcast here

Bob Emiliani

Cubic

Leadership and digital

The acclaimed author of 27 books and dozens of research papers on leadership, Lean and Kaizen, Bob Emiliani has been teaching and researching these subjects for more than 30 years.

He started his career as a materials engineer, going on to become an operations and supply chain manager before moving into academia. 

His published work is hugely influential; he has made significant contributions to the understanding and dissemination of Lean principles while also challenging conventional management practices. 

In a blog for PEX Network, Emiliani explained why and how leadership should transform to meet the needs of the rapidly evolving digital age. “Leaders do not view what they do as processes. They see it as a collection of activities that vary widely from day to day... When we understand leadership as processes, we begin to understand leadership in a new way, one that is critically important for doing business in the digital age: time, information, and information flow.”

• Read more from Bob Emiliani on his website

Bella Englebach

Lean for Humans

Creatively Lean

Bella Englebach trained as a scientist before moving into process excellence and continuous improvement, first working in leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson before starting her own company, Lean for Humans, in 2018.

Her scientific background informs her creative problem-solving approach, and she runs regular workshops where she brings Lean methodologies and creativity together, along with operational excellence and continuous improvement.

Her weekly podcast, The Edges of Lean, features guests discussing these topics, and in 2019 she released her first book titled Creatively Lean: How to Get Out of Your Own Way and Drive Innovation Throughout Your Organization.

Englebach is an advocate for human-centered approaches to business improvement and diversity, equity and inclusion.

• Listen to Bella Englebach’s podcast Lean for Humans

Diogenes Espindola

Mondelez Internacional

Driving efficiency

Diogenes Espindola’s accomplishments are proof of what implementing Kaizen and Lean can achieve. Throughout his 15-year career in Brazil's manufacturing, pharmaceutical and consumer goods sectors, Espindola has worked at Unilever and the global Mondelēz International food corporation, leading successful continuous improvement projects.

In one year alone he reduced quality defects by 89 percent after adopting a Kaizen approach and achieved a reduction in changeover time of 50 percent applying the Lean Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) strategy.

He has amassed a following of almost 14,000 people on LinkedIn thanks to his insights, research findings and humor – including leadership lessons from The Office’s Michael Scott (or in this case, what not to do as a manager).

• Find out what Diogenes Espindola is talking about on LinkedIn

Vilson Fogaça

Yokoten

Yokoten practice

Vilson Fogaça is the founder and CEO of Yokoten, a business development school in Brazil named after the Japanese word that roughly translates as “sharing across an organization”. His aim is for each student to “become a continuous improvement ninja and open the doors to a high-level career.”

The school offers Lean Six Sigma Black and Green Belt certifications and courses in Kaizen and value stream mapping among other business strategies.

Fogaça began his career in logistics, before moving into teaching Lean management systems for Brazil's Gemba Group. He also hosts Radio Lean, a podcast in Portuguese covering Lean, Six Sigma and continuous improvement topics, and he has a YouTube channel where he offers free video lessons on these topics in a highly engaging style.

• Watch Vilson Fogaça’s videos on YouTube here

Gabriela Galic

Deloitte

Process thinking

German-born, NYC-based Gabriela Galic is passionate about process mining and she can frequently be found writing, hosting events or speaking about how to use it and its many benefits.

Her day-to-day role is at Deloitte, where she leads on all things process; additionally, she co-founded Women in Process Mining in 2022, the first global community of its kind through which she encourages women to study and work in the field.

“Women are still underrepresented in tech – and we want to change that,” she wrote in a recent post on LinkedIn, “We founded Women in Process Mining because we were convinced that process mining needs its own community for women and girls in this world.

"We want them to learn from each other, support each other, strengthen their leadership, magnify their influence and pave the way for future women in process mining together.”

• Find out what Gabriela Galic is talking about on LinkedIn

Troy George

Toledo Metal Spinning Company

Leadership excellence

Troy George is a transformational leadership, operational excellence and continuous improvement champion, with a wealth of experience in the manufacturing and automotive industries.

As well as an advocate of Lean management systems and continuous improvement, George is passionate about employee engagement, telling us recently about the importance of valuing people across all organizational operations. “A barista at a small Starbucks store came up with an idea that saved the company millions of dollars in the early 2000s,” he said.

“Some of the best ideas come from the frontlines, not the corporate offices. People operations are very important and worth a mention when it comes to operational excellence.”

• See what Troy George is talking about on LinkedIn

Mark Graban

Constancy

Healthcare Kaizen 

Mark Graban has built a loyal following in no small part thanks to his candid discussions about making mistakes and learning from them to drive improvement and innovation.

His podcast series, My Favourite Mistake, features business leaders talking about their biggest blunders, and their reflections inspired him to write The Mistakes That Make Us, his upcoming fifth book following previous publications on healthcare, Lean and Kaizen methodologies.

With a background in engineering and plenty of experience in Lean management, he applies his knowledge to the areas of patient safety and quality of care. He regularly visits hospitals across the US and shares the successes and challenges they face with Kaizen, Lean and other systems on his blog. Graban is also an acclaimed public speaker and coach for organizations in North America, Europe and Asia.

• Read Mark Graban’s blog about Lean in hospitals and business here 

Antonio Grasso

Digital Business Innovation

Digital futures

Antonio Grasso is a highly influential thought leader on digital transformation, to the point where his tweets make the news (such as this tweet about the impact of emerging technologies on the insurance industry).

He is the founder and CEO of Digital Business Innovation, a startup based in Naples, Italy, and his consultancy services have been sought by the European Commission and Panasonic, among many other public and private sector firms. 

Grasso is particularly passionate about AI, blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT), and how these technologies can drive sustainability and be applied in developing countries. His monthly LinkedIn newsletter Toward a Post-digital Society is highly recommended for anyone interested in Industry 4.0 and the future of digital.  

• Find out what Antonio Grasso is talking about on LinkedIn

Sheri Hinish

EY

Supply chain revolution

Sheri Hinish is known as the “Supply Chain Queen”. Having won numerous awards for her work helping businesses design sustainable, responsible supply chains, she is a trusted partner to a number of companies as an advocate for inclusion and equity in supply chains and STEM.

In a previous role she helped lead IBM Consulting's sustainability services, alliances and strategy globally, and she currently holds the position of principal and global sustainability, innovation and ecosystem lead at accounting firm EY. 

In her podcast, Supply Chain Revolution, she addresses how supply chains can lead change by deploying the circular economy approach, tackling greenwashing, ChatGPT and using AI to reduce waste.

“I believe that we are at a critical inflection point where supply chains have the power to save lives, save the planet, and connect industrial, natural, technological, and human systems,” Hinish says on her website.

• Read more from Sheri Hinish on her website

Lauren Hisey

Lauren Hisey Consulting

Lean AI

Lauren Hisey spent more than 15 years working at telecommunications giant AT&T, applying the Lean approach to product development and value stream processes, before joining renowned data analytics firm Nielsen as a Lean Six Sigma consultant and senior business process improvement partner. She is now a coach and speaker with her own consultancy firm, Lauren Hisey Consulting.

Hisey writes a blog and regularly appears on podcasts discussing technology and digital transformation, and has these words of advice for companies starting to use AI in their operations: “AI and RPA projects fail because there is a lack of clarity on the project from the start. When a business starts implementing these types of projects quickly, the wrong problem is being solved.

"The right kind of questions are not asked, which leads to the wrong reasons and project goals. Without honestly knowing what you are solving for, the project will fail right from the start.”

• Read more from Lauren Hisey on her blog

Tolani Jaiye-Tikolo

Allied Irish Bank

RPA-as-a-service

As well as being the RPA lead at Allied Irish Bank (AIB) in Dublin, Tolani Jaiye-Tikolo is the founder of RPA Jargon Buster, an automation-as-a-service provider for small and medium financial and healthcare services firms.

Tikolo frequently speaks at events and on webcasts to talk about intelligent automation and RPA. She recently shared her 2023 predictions for trends in operational excellence with PEX Network, correctly predicting that AI will become the hottest topic in business: “AI will be at the center of every conversation. For example, how do we deliver more complex automation using AI to augment human intelligence?

"In 2022, there were several AI breakthroughs including Midjourney, DALL-E and ChatGPT. Organizations must look to balance the benefits of AI against [potential] AI ethical issues through a responsible AI lens.

“Forward-thinking organizations must deploy automation effectively to tackle inflation, looming recession and other economic challenges in 2023.”

• Check out resources from Tolani Jaiye-Tikolo on RPA Jargon Buster

Caspar Jans

Software AG

Better business process management (BPM)

Caspar Jans is a leading expert on everything to do with business process management (BPM), in particular the intersection with human performance and improvement.

In his role as senior director of transformation solutions EMEA at Software AG, he has advised major corporations including Unilever, Rolls Royce and GSK on how to get the most out of their BPM initiatives. Previously he has managed a supply chain department and led a center of excellence for BPM and process mining initiatives.

Based in the Netherlands, Jans is a seasoned public speaker and event facilitator on BPM, and you can find all his musings, including tweets and podcast episodes on his website. His weekly newsletter, Process Extraordinaire, is a hugely valuable resource for people who wish to know more about BPM and process.

• Read Caspar Jans’ newsletter here

Franklin Kurniawan

Opex Consulting Group

End-to-end digital

Franklin Kurniawan has almost 30 years' of experience driving operational and business improvement in manufacturing, technology and logistics, with leadership roles including head of manufacturing for Asia Pacific at Siemens, and senior roles at Xenon Technologies, Dyson and PerkinElmer.

In 2017 he founded his own firm, the Opex Consulting Group, providing Industry 4.0 solutions to companies in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Kurniawan shares daily observations on life, work, digital transformation and Industry 4.0 on LinkedIn. “My passion is Opex Consulting Group. My vocation is providing end-to-end digital transformation services and solutions,” he explained in one recent post.

“My mission is to help the manufacturing industries in Southeast Asia to be more productive and competitive through digital transformation,” he added. “My profession is digital transformation consultant cum Industry 4.0 solution integrator.”

• Read more of Franklin Kurniawan’s daily tips on LinkedIn

Eric Lussier

Next Level Partners

Lean transformation

An engineer by trade, Lussier has been applying Lean and continuous improvement practices to almost all the company departments he has worked in for the last 25 years, including quality, human resources, sales, leadership and product development. 

After holding leadership positions at various major industrial corporations, he joined Next Level Partners, a business transformation consulting firm that advises the manufacturing, healthcare, finance, logistics and hospitality sectors among others. 

“As a Theory Y leader, I get to choose how I view people and their contributions, and part of demonstrating the respect for the people principle of lean and continuous improvement is being willing to listen and learn," Lussier shared with us. "That is why we as leaders must go see for ourselves first hand the challenges and opportunities to make improvements.  Furthermore, we need to participate and model the behaviors desired including Kaizen participation on our own.” 

You can read more of Lussier's insights on LinkedIn, where we are pretty certain he became the first person to ever make an analogy between the Star Wars movies and Lean leadership. 

• Find out what Eric Lussier is talking about on LinkedIn 

Veronica Marquez

Aristeio

Six Sigma for good

Veronica Marquez is a firm believer in the power of using Lean and Six Sigma for good. After holding senior roles including continuous improvement manager at L'Oréal and division manager in operational excellence for the city of Montreal, in 2018 she set up Aristeo, a consultancy firm providing supply chain optimization and continuous improvement services.

In addition to this she is a volunteer for the American Society for Quality and a lecturer at the University of Quebec in Montreal’s School of Management. 

Marquez told us that the biggest challenge organizations face when trying to achieve operational excellence is overcoming the silo effect, which causes a lack of communication, lack of foresight, and slow reaction time. “For operational excellence to be powerful, everyone needs to understand the clients’ needs, how the organization delivers on its promises, and what it can do to improve and innovate,” she said. 

“This approach will also help organizations reach an urgent level of commitment and devotion to improving our sustainability efforts, thus reducing our environmental impacts while improving our social and governance foundations.” 

• Find out what Veronica Marquez is talking about on LinkedIn

Karen Martin

TKMG

Performance improvement 

Karen Martin founded TKMG 30 years ago, an organization providing Lean transformation, operations design and management, and business performance improvement support to private firms, government and not-for-profit companies. Clients have included AT&T, Chevron, Epson, GlaxoSmithKline, Lenovo and Mayo Clinic. 

Her approach to process improvement is informed by her background as a scientist – she has a BSc in microbiology and she developed the first university-based phlebotomist training program while at California State University. She is a member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council and an in-demand keynote speaker, as well as the author of books on Kaizen, value stream mapping and operational excellence (two of which have won Shingo awards). 

In 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, she launched the TKMG Academy to provide online courses in leadership development, process design, operational excellence and Lean. 

• Find out what Karen Martin is talking about on LinkedIn 

Joy E. Mason

Optimist Business Solutions

Equity and SixSigma

Joy E. Mason is a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt with more than 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical manufacturing, laboratory operations and risk assessment, including a stint as an internal consultant at a Fortune 200 company where she created strategies to help clients meet regulatory requirements. 

She established her company Optimist Business Solutions in 2018, and in 2021 she founded the Six Sigma Racial Equity Institute in Indiana to help Black women obtain Green Belt certification while addressing the under-representation of Black women in the Six Sigma community.

Mason is also the author of three books on the very different topics of women in business, achieving one’s goals and healing with nature. 

• Read Joy E. Mason’s blog here 

Kevin Meyer

Gemba Academy

Lean and Gemba lessons

As well as being a lecturer, member of several company boards and the author of two books on Lean management, Kevin Meyer had a stint as an inventor earlier in his career, acquiring patents for a lighting system for auto headlights and a lamp deployed in emergency lighting systems. Both are still in use today. 

Over his 30-year career he has held leadership roles in the manufacturing, telecoms equipment, consumer lighting, medical device and food processing industries. Nowadays he teaches Lean, leadership and supply chain topics at two universities, and is an investor and mentor for a number of startup companies local to where he lives in California.

Along with Ron Pereira he co-founded the Gemba Academy in 2008. In a recent blog post he described the academy’s core philosophy as “provide value first, and the business will come.” 

• Read Kevin Meyer’s blog

Allie Miller

Deep tech angel advisor and investor

AI insights 

Allie Miller is an investor and an advisor for Fortune 500 companies on AI, machine learning, blockchain and Web3. She was previously the global head of machine learning business development for startups and venture capital at Amazon (AWS), where she grew the business from having one employee to becoming a 100-person 10-figure organization. Prior to this she was the youngest-ever woman to build an AI product at IBM.

In addition to this Miller is an acclaimed thought leader with a long list of accolades, including being named a LinkedIn Top Voice for Data Science and AI in 2020 (she currently has almost 1.5 million followers on the platform).

She is the co-founder of Girls of the Future, an organization that spotlights girls aged 13 to 18 who are innovating in STEM; is a national ambassador for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and has won the Grand Prize in three nationwide innovation competitions in the US. 

• Find out what Allie Miller is talking about on LinkedIn 

Priscillah Ndadi

Metropolitan Life of Botswana

Process and finance 

Botswana-based Priscillah Ndadi is an expert in personal finance, having worked in life insurance and pension fund administration for almost 20 years.

She currently has the position of chief operating officer at Metropolitan Life of Botswana, one of the biggest life insurance companies in the country, that has been providing accessible financial solutions since it was founded in 1997. 

Ndadi also advises businesses on process improvement and operational excellence in her role as director of UPN Consulting. An experienced public speaker and teacher, Ndadi is passionate about leadership development, so she additionally gives managerial mentoring and coaching to aspiring leaders. 

• Find out what Priscillah Ndadi is talking about on LinkedIn 

Joseph Paris

Xonitek

Excellence by design

Joseph Paris knows a thing or two about adapting to change. In 1985 he founded computer hardware company Xonitek, however as hardware became cheaper and more readily available the company’s profit margins shrank.

He reinvented its USP and began specializing in information and computer networks maintenance, and then transformed it once again into an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) consultancy firm. 

With 30 years’ of experience to draw from, Paris is now an in-demand speaker and consultant for C-suite executives, advising on operational excellence and continuous improvement. In 2011 he founded the Operational Excellence Society, a think tank that emerged from a LinkedIn group that unites educators, end users and other professionals who provide coaching and training within their organizations. 

• Read Joseph Paris’ articles at the Operational Excellence Society

Ron Pereira

Gemba Academy

Gemba-led change

Ron Pereira is the co-founder of the Gemba Academy, which provides online training in Lean Six Sigma, Gemba and Agile concepts. Pereira has more than two decades of experience in manufacturing, supply chain and engineering roles, and in 2002 he became the first American to win the Nokia Global Six Sigma and Overall Quality award.

On his weekly podcast he interviews leaders and innovators in continuous improvement, with past guests including acclaimed author Simon Sinek and Mike Rother, who is credited with introducing the now widespread practices of value stream mapping and Toyota Kata. 

Pereira writes a blog where he shares useful tips for businesses to successfully adopt change management and achieve operational excellence approaches. In a post from earlier this year he wrote: “By leading by example, communicating the why, starting small, encouraging participation, celebrating successes, and making it a part of the company culture, business leaders can help their employees embrace and support the change process.” 

• Read more from Ron Pereira at Gemba Academy

Suzanne Rabicoff 

Invisible Technologies

Improving workflow

Suzanne Rabicoff is a self-proclaimed problem-solver and “pie-grower”. With a background in supply chain and a focus on technology, she is something of an evangelist for digital transformation, automation and technology to drive productivity and efficiency.

Rabicoff is an advocate for continuous improvement and using technology to find new, more efficient ways of working, in particular deploying AI and RPA to fill resource gaps. 

We asked her what potential risks organizations should be aware of when digitizing to pursue operational excellence, and she said challenges “largely stem from siloed decision-making with siloed data sets. Also, if an organization's IT or data teams are still considered back-office, this is code red and leadership must move them front and center to protect the company.” 

• Find out what Suzanne Rabicoff is talking about on LinkedIn 

Didier Rabino

Lean Management Systems

Lean for excellence

Didier Rabino is a seasoned expert in Lean management systems and continuous improvement. After spending more than two decades in manufacturing he moved into the healthcare sector, implementing Lean systems for a number of health providers in the US.

He is currently an instructor for the Lean Certification Bronze-level exam, and the president and owner of Lean Management Systems, providing coaching to leaders across different industries. 

Rabino shared with us the professional advice his coach gave him, telling  him that, "’If you are not making mistakes, it might be because you are not trying hard enough.’

"I realized that making mistakes can be a sign that you are pushing yourself and trying new things. I should not be afraid to step out of my comfort zone and embrace the occasional misstep as a valuable learning opportunity. I should keep striving for growth and improvement," he added. 

• Read more from Didier Rabino on the Lean Management Systems blog

Michele Robert 

Silver Vase

ESG and Lean

Michele Robert has had a varied career. The Brazilian executive spent almost 18 years at General Electric (GE), first at GE Water and Power where she became supply chain director for Latin America, before eventually moving into the role of CEO for GE Power Conversion in Sao Paolo.

Robert then had stints as the CEO of waste company Stericycle and at Gerdau Summit, a joint venture between Gerdau, Sumitomo Corporation and Japan Steel Works which became the first B-Corp steel company in the world. 

In January 2023, after moving back to the US, she took the position of president and CEO of Silver Vase, a family-owned orchid retailer that runs a fully automated and environmentally-friendly greenhouse. 

Fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese, Robert has Six Sigma Black Belt certification and is passionate about environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies and operational excellence. 

• Find out what Michele Robert is talking about on LinkedIn

August-Wilhelm Scheer 

Scheer Group

Mastering BPM

August-Wilhelm Scheer is considerd the founder of BPM, a methodology that is widely used by organizations to discover, model, analyze, measure and optimize business processes.

It was developed at IDS Scheer, the software company he created in 1984, and over the last three decades it continuously evolved its offering to adapt to new technologies. 

Ever the innovator, Scheer also developed the Architecture of Integrated Information Systems (ARIS) concept, a framework that ensures an enterprise information system can completely meet its requirements.

As a result Scheer has won numerous awards including the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2003 and Germany’s Federal Cross of Merit. Today he is a professor of business administration at Saarland University in Germany and continues to be a highly influential keynote speaker and thought leader. 

• Find out what August-Wilhelm Scheer is talking about on LinkedIn 

Rham El Sokary

The American University in Cairo

Quality and improvement

Dr Rham El Sokary is lead instructor and consultant at the American University in Cairo, where since 2008 she has been teaching people the concepts of Total Quality Management, Lean Six Sigma and continuous improvement.

Her scientific background and expertise in quality and environmental health and safety mean she is in demand as a coach and project leader – in 2022, she was asked to design a program to mentor female engineers as part of a partnership led by Siemens Energy and the Egyptian German Technical Academy to help deliver Egypt’s 2030 vision. 

Explaining what “total quality” is, she recently wrote that “total quality culture is the foundation for the rise of societies and countries. We should target all types of organizations that make any type of output including services, goods, projects and software programs that are produced and delivered through governmental or private sectors, all are targeted without exception.” 

• Find out what Dr Rham El Sokary is talking about on LinkedIn 

Marilyn Spink 

Star Diamond Corporation

Responsible mining 

Over her 30-year career Marilyn Spink has paved the way for women to enter the typically male-dominated mining sector. An engineer and expert in mining processes, she has led the delivery of complex projects in North and South America, Africa and Southeast Asia, ranging in value from $500m to $9bn.

Spink has worked in pulp and paper industries, steelmaking operations and engineering consulting, focusing on continuous improvement in engineering, digital transformation, clean energy and responsible mineral extraction. 

Canadian-born, Spink currently sits on the board of several global consulting firms, supporting sustainability and environmental stewardship, as well as the social and technical development of the communities she has worked in.

Thanks to her work in Ontario schools to encourage female students to study science and engineering, in 2017 she was awarded the Ontario Women’s Directorate 'Leading Women, Leading Girls' award, and in 2020 she was named one of Women in Mining UK's Top 100 Women in Mining.

• Read more from Marilyn Spink on her website 

Vinod Srinivasa

Senior manager & partner – operational excellence 

Future of finance

Vinod Srinivasa has spent his career driving operational excellence in the construction, manufacturing, technology and more recently, in the financial services sector.

Based in Gujarat, India, he is currently senior manager and partner - operational excellence, at America's leading multinational bank, where among other things, he leads efforts to drive continuous improvement and BPM initiatives. 

Last year PEX Network caught up with Srinivasa to hear his thoughts on the challenges, solutions and future of operational excellence in financial services, and he told us that organizations must focus on three things: “Challenging the process owner on the status quo, invoking pioneering technologies for process automation and deploying Lean principles across the value chain.

"Other tenets include benchmarking metrics and processes, optimizing cost and reducing loss, a focus on risk mitigation through elimination and reduction and applying process management to keep customer maps at the nucleus of OPEX efforts.”

• Read Vinod Srinivasa’s interview for PEX Network here

Vijaya Sunder

Indian School of Business

OPEX technology  

With a Ph.D. in Operational Excellence from the Indian Institute of Technology and a long list of awards under his belt, Professor Vijaya Sunder is one of India’s top voices when it comes to process excellence and digital transformation.

Much of his career to date has been in the banking sector, working for Barclays, the World Bank and American Express where he has implemented Lean systems and led change management projects. 

As well as teaching continuous improvement, quality management and Lean Six Sigma at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, he is a keynote speaker and author, writing for media outlets including Forbes India, Fortune and The New Indian Express.

He has also written two books on Lean and more than 40 research papers, such as his recent case studies on operational excellence and AI for Harvard Business Publishing Education. 

• Read Vijaya Sunder’s research at Indian School of Business 

Elisabeth Swan

Swan Consulting and Associates

Work just-in-time

We don’t hear about how to apply process improvement to non-profit organizations that often, but that is what Elisabeth Swan does thanks to her experience working with the charity sector as well as healthcare, hospitality and government.

As an example, she helped a non-profit day care center in Massachusetts achieve Six Sigma Green Belt certification so it could make improvements to its operations. 

Swan is the co-host of a podcast and video series called the Just-in-Time Cafe, and is co-author of the book, The Problem-Solver’s Toolkit: A Surprisingly Simple Guide to Your Lean Six Sigma Journey. She also teaches an online Lean Six Sigma Leader course for the University of California San Diego and is the president and founder of Swan Consulting and Associates.

• Read more from Elisabeth Swan on her website 

El Hassen Taktak

BIAT

Toyota system banking

El Hassen Taktak is the managing director and CEO of BIAT, one of the biggest and oldest banks in Tunisia, as well as the co-founder of the Tunisian Association of Management Control and Finance.

He has a lengthy career in managing budgets and keeping costs down, utilizing Lean Six Sigma methods and advocating for agile ways of working to boost efficiency. 

Taktak is an international speaker and Lean trainer. Speaking on the CFO Club podcast in 2021, he explained the advantages of using Lean and the Toyota Production System in the financial sector: “These tools are very important to eliminate waste and improve productivity. This helps CFOs and companies to become more efficient and reduce the seven sources of waste.

“What is also important in this model is having all the elements together as a system; it must be practiced and improved every day in a very consistent manner… Many attempts have focused just on pieces of elements or tools, which explains the limited success of the projects implemented.”

• Find out what El Hassen Taktak is talking about on LinkedIn

Wil van der Aalst 

Celonis

Future of RPA

Dutch computer scientist Wil van der Aalst is known as the “godfather of process mining” and is a leading researcher in BPM and data science.

He has published more than 275 journal papers and 35 books, and is one of the most-cited computer scientists in the world, with his ideas influencing researchers, software developers and standardization committees working on process support. 

Van der Aalst is a professor at RWTH Aachen University in Germany and is chief scientist at software company Celonis. In 2020 he told PEX Network that process mining was becoming an essential component of business success. “In the next year or two, companies will add more process mining capabilities and it will reach more countries,” he said.

“We will get to a situation where people will need to justify why they are not using process mining, because having the data available and not making use of it will open companies up to accusations that they are ignoring reality.” 

• Read Wil van der Aalst’s paper on process mining and RPA 

Rosa Elleni Vargas Brito 

Citi

Workforce future 

Rosa Elleni Vargas Brito has led successful business transformation programs for Fortune 500 companies, designing Six Sigma, Lean and business process systems for Sandvik Mining, John Deere and Rackspace Hosting among many others.

Based in Dallas currently, she has worked in Europe, the US, Mexico and the Caribbean developing go-to-market strategies for different regions. 

Brito is a Lego Serious Play facilitator and a Gallup builder coach, helping people to strengthen their “builder” talents to strive in the gig economy and the future of work. 

“The current and future workplace are posing challenges that will require a surge in intrapreneurship,” she wrote in her LinkedIn newsletter. “Disruptive technologies and the rise of cyber-physical systems present an opportunity to allow employees to work a percentage of their time looking for alternative ways to create value other than the traditional products, services or experiences.

“If a company wants to start transforming their corporate innovation, the first step is to identify those intrapreneurs, the builders that reside within their walls. They can start with top management.” 

• Find out what Rosa Elleni Vargas Brito is talking about on LinkedIn

Henrik Von Scheel 

Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business

Envisioning Industry 4.0

Professor Henrik Von Scheel may not just be one of the most influential thought leaders in operational excellence, but one of the most influential people to governments and economies around the world today. 

As the originator of the concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, his ideas have helped shape today’s business strategies, particularly in terms of digital sectors. 

Scheel, a member of Germany’s Advisory Council at the Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology, helped put together the country’s digital strategy in 2009, which went on to be adopted by the European Commission the following year. His work has since been applied to 19 economies.  

“Today, we are moving towards the Bio (R)evolution, which does not mean the other stages are fading out,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post. “On the contrary, digitalization is still in its infant stage!” 

• Read more from Henrik Von Scheel on his website  

Peter Weckesser 

Schneider Electric

AI and innovation

Peter Weckesser is the chief digital officer of engineering giant Schneider Electric, a role he took in 2020.

Before this he was the digital transformation officer for Airbus’ defence and space division, and prior to this he spent 12 years at Siemens, starting out as director of business development for Siemens Industry in the US. He soon moved up to chief operations officer for Siemens' product lifecycle management division in Germany. 

Weckesser has a degree in physics and a Ph.D. in Computer Science. As an expert in digital technologies he regularly participates in events such as the industry trade fair Hanover Messe and the World Economic Forum at Davos where he can be found talking about AI, machine learning and sustainability. In a recent blog post he wrote about how sustainability and AI go hand in hand.  “We already apply AI to analyze, simulate, test, use logic, learn, predict and adjust over time,” he wrote. “And those capabilities can help companies and societies advance toward greater energy efficiency and decarbonization.” 

• Read more from Peter Weckesser here

Alexis Nicole White

Genuine Parts Company

Steering change

Atlanta-based Alexis Nicole White is a certified project manager and scrum master, with a background in tech, digital supply chain and telecommunications.

She has led major change management projects including upgrading all VoIP, telephony and audiovisual systems for the Indiana State Department of Health and managing a team of 65 technicians along with day-to-day network operations at Ericsson. 

As well her technical expertise, coaching and consultancy, she has written the autobiographical book The Covered, about her journey from experiencing emotional abuse to becoming a successful businesswoman, and is a mentor for Women in Technology (WIT Atlanta), through which she coaches young women who want to pursue careers in STEM.

White shared her advice for organizations embarking on change management projects with us, emphasizing that effective communication is crucial. “To ensure executive support and engagement from all parties involved, it's essential to present information in a transparent, step-by-step manner and encourage feedback loops. 

“Answering the question, ‘What's in it for me?’ can help stakeholders understand the benefits of the change,” White added. “With the right communication strategy, we can overcome these challenges and drive significant organizational transformation.”  

• Read more from Alexis Nicole White on her website 

Jeff Winter

Hitachi Solutions

Simplifying IIoT

Jeff Winter is an Industry 4.0 thought leader with Hitachi Solutions where he leads the north American industry strategy for manufacturing.

With over 17 years of experience working for different industrial automation and technology product and solution providers, he has the ability to simplify and communicate complex concepts to a wide range of audiences, educating people from the shop floor up to the executive board room.

Winter is very active in the Industry 4.0 community; he is part of the International Board of Directors for MESA (Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association) and is on the Smart Manufacturing Advisory Board for Purdue University, among others. Within the past 12 months alone he has received 13 industry awards for being a top thought leader in Industry 4.0, smart manufacturing, IoT and AI.

• Find out what Jeff Winter is talking about on LinkedIn

PEX Report 2024 global state of process excellence

PEX Network's annual report reveals the current state and future trends of process excellence. Based on a study profiling hundreds of global process excellence leaders, the report provides insights on how to leverage innovation, generative AI, and process intelligence to achieve operational excellence, customer-centricity, and organizational growth. Download your copy of the PEX Report 2024 today and benchmark your process excellence journey against your peers.

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