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Danilo Amoretty is a member of Carhartt’s senior leadership team where he is developing a production, operations and procurement vision for its supply chain to ensure multi-year growth, product line expansion plans and profitability. Most recently, he served the company as vice president of Global Product Supply. Prior to joining Carhartt, Amoretty served as director of Sourcing Americas at VF Corp., where he led the ideation and implementation of the sourcing strategy in the Western Hemisphere and drove the product innovation process.
Tom Kelly is a globally recognized expert on Industry 4.0 and its impact on business. As executive director and CEO of Automation Alley, Michigan’s Industry 4.0 knowledge center, Kelly oversees strategic planning and all ongoing activities for the organization, including programs and services designed to help businesses increase revenue, reduce costs and make strategic decisions during a time of rapid technological change.
Kelly joined Automation Alley in 2014. His previous roles included director of entrepreneurship and COO. Kelly came to Automation Alley after seven years as a technology business consultant for the state of Michigan’s Small Business Development Centers, where he actively coached more than 300 technology startups in advanced automotive, life sciences, homeland security and alternative energy industries. In addition, Kelly has launched three startup companies of his own.
Kelly is often tapped by media outlets to share his leadership and knowledge around Industry 4.0 and is regularly invited to speak at conferences and participate in panel discussions and roundtables. He has served on the Canadian National Research Council’s Peer Review Committee and is a current member of the World Economic Forum’s Advanced Manufacturing Hub Working Group, the National Research Committee’s Peer Review Committee, and is a board member of the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center and the Jackson Area Manufacturers Association.
Kelly has a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Clarkson University and a master’s in business administration from the University of Michigan.
Jeffrey K. Liker is Professor Emeritus, Industrial and Operations Engineering at The University of Michigan and President of Liker Lean Advisors, LLC. He is author of the best-selling book, The Toyota Way, Second Edition, and has coauthored nine other books about Toyota including The Toyota Way to Service Excellence, Designing the Future, and The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership. A recent graphic novel with Eduardo Lander and Tom Root tells the story of lean transformation at a mail-order company: Lean in a High-Variability Business. His articles and books have won thirteen Shingo Prizes for Research Excellence. He was inducted into the Association of Manufacturing Excellence Hall of Fame and the Shingo Academy.
Debbie Manzano is the Director of Manufacturing – Current Model EV Serving in this role since March 2022. In this role she is responsible for current model electric vehicle manufacturing plants in North America including propulsion systems produced at Rawsonville, Van Dyke and soon Irapuato. The Electric Vehicle plants include the Rouge Electrical Vehicle Center producing the all new Electric F150 – Lightening, Kansas City e-Transit, and Cuautitlan Stamping and Assembly Plant producing the Mach-e.
Previously, Manzano served as Director for the Transmission Region. She also held multiple roles in vehicle manufacturing; including Plant Manager of the Dearborn Truck Plant, where she led the successful launch of the all-new 2021 F-150 and the groundbreaking of the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center. Prior to that she was the Plant Manager of the Flat Rock Assembly Plant and Ohio Assembly Plant. Manzano began her career in manufacturing 27 years ago as a Quality Engineer at Dearborn Glass Plant. Debbie is a 2nd generation Ford employee and is proud to be part of the Ford Family. Debbie’s husband is also a Ford employee and she has two stepchildren.
Manzano is a Board Member of the Women of Ford. She loves being part of this collaborative and energetic Resource Group supporting and developing women within the organization. Manzano recently earned honors in the Automotive News Top 100 Women in Leadership report. Manzano joined Ford in 1994. She holds a bachelor’s degree of Science in Math & Statistics and a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Chad Moutray is chief economist for the National Association of Manufacturers, where he serves as the NAM’s economic forecaster and spokesperson on economic issues. He frequently comments on current economic conditions for manufacturers through professional presentations and media interviews and has appeared on various news outlets. In addition, he is the director of the Center for Manufacturing Research at The Manufacturing Institute, the workforce development and education partner of the NAM, where he leads efforts to produce thought leadership, data and analysis of relevance to business leaders in the sector.
Corey Stowell leads all human capital efforts at the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Tier 1 automotive supplier, with more than 5,000 employees. He has been an executive with increasing levels of responsibility at Webasto since 2002, and was integral in the company’s turnaround, with a focus on cultural transformation efforts centered on purpose, communication and retraining of management. Those efforts earned the company a 2017 Workplace magazine “Game Changer” award for workplace leadership.
Shannon Washburn is the CEO of Shinola, where she leads a talented team of individuals who create world-class, handcrafted goods. Shannon guides the brand’s vision to become the next great American brand from Detroit, overseeing all aspects of the business.
Prior to becoming president in early 2018, Shannon spent six years working with the watch and jewelry product development and design teams. Shannon has garnered experience in various aspects of the business over the course of her career from retail to product development to sales and international brand management. Prior to Shinola, Shannon was a buyer for Dillard’s before her 14-year tenure at Fossil. She was promoted to CEO of Shinola in 2019.
Partner, Simon-Kucher & Partners
Adam Echter is a Partner based in Simon-Kucher’s Silicon Valley office. He brings two decades of B2B sales & pricing experience across manufactured goods, industrial equipment and technology industries. Adam has built pricing & sales organizations throughout North America, Europe & Asia with an emphasis on transitioning transactional businesses toward recurring revenue models. Serving firms across America from base of operations in Silicon Valley provides a unique perspective for bringing SaaS-pioneered monetization models to legacy, industrial firms.
Founder and Chairman, STS Capital
Rob is driven to helping entrepreneurial business owners achieve maximum value when the right time comes to sell. He has a passion for helping people live their vision and wants to help other entrepreneurs achieve full value for their business.
Today, Rob has been involved with or led over a thousand M&A transactions, with a total transaction value of over $100B.
As well as being CEO and Founder of STS Capital Partners, Rob is also the founding Chairman of Altruvest Charitable Services, a Canadian charity that provides training and tools to improve the performance of charitable organizations so they can give more to their causes. In 1998, Rob received the Top 40 Under 40 leadership award for the work he had done in creating 1,000 new jobs in Canada, as well as founding and growing Altruvest Charitable Services which has now contributed over $10 million since its establishment.
Rob’s academic accomplishments include: BA with distinction from the University of Toronto (including RB day award for best undergraduate political science essay); LL.B from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University; certificate in Not-For-Profit Management from the University of Toronto and Sheridan College; Arbor Award from the University of Toronto as an international leader in corporate philanthropy; and MSc (Oxon.) from Oxford University’s Saïd Business School in Advanced Strategy. He was also honoured by being identified as one of the “Group of 175”: the 175 most visionary and philanthropic living graduates in the history of the University of Toronto.
Managing Director, STS Capital
Andy Harris is a proven CEO with over 30 years of leadership experience and an extensive track record in growth through M&A. Within his career, Andy has personally led over 20 M&A transactions ranging from strategic acquisitions of privately-held companies and corporate carve-outs to selling to strategic buyers. His deal experience ranges from $20M to $670M, with total value exceeding $1B in transactions. He has been on both sides of the strategic M&A process and has a deep understanding of both the buy-side and the sell-side.
Andy was President and CEO of Accella Performance Materials from 2012-2017, leading Accella to grow revenue by 6x and profit by 8x in under 5 years through both organic and acquisitive growth (14 acquisitions), culminating in a strategic sale to the Carlisle Companies. Before taking the helm of Accella, Andy was the CEO of Syrgis, another specialty chemical manufacturing business, where he successfully led the business transformation, growing revenue 3x and profit 4x within 5 years, ending with a successful strategic sale of the company in 2012. Most recently, Andy was the CEO of Vantage Specialty Chemicals from 2018-2019, a global provider of naturally derived, specialty ingredients. Andy led two European acquisitions to strategically expand the business platform from North America to Europe, while leading the company’s rebranding exercise and strengthening the global corporate culture.
Partner, Performance Improvement, Crowe LLP
Bart has served more than 100 clients in North America, Europe, South America, and Asia. Clients have included Daimler Trucks, Ball Corporation, Aquilex, Sonoco Products, M.A. Hanna, Dan River, Stratos Global, Acuity, Dayton Superior, Milacron and Kennametal, as well as multiple Private Equity clients. Bart has numerous strategic and private equity merger and acquisition engagements. He has conducted operational assignments in consumer products, animal health, life sciences, food, automotive, and service industries
Since 1998, Mr. Kelly has developed and implemented operational and performance improvement strategies for middle market, including private equity portfolio companies, to Fortune 1000 clients. His primary responsibilities are in identifying and quantifying operational improvements, designing implementation plans to achieve the desired outcomes, managing internal and external resources (and relationships) to achieve the process and cultural changes, and ensuring processes are in place to drive sustainability.
Bart has published multiple articles regarding Operational Excellence, Working Capital and Data Driven Approaches to OpEX. He earned his international MBA from the Vienna Business and Economics University and the University of South Carolina, as well as his B.S. from Ball State University.
Learning and Organizational Development Officer, Jim Rohn Process
Kathee Kelly is the driving force behind Jim Rohn Process’ purpose statement to provide continuous learning opportunities to all team members. She is a senior member of the Leadership Team and implements the Scaling Up methodology to crystalize company growth goals. She specializes in the creation of personalized learning plans and customized role-based curriculums to help others realize their full potential in both personal and professional lives.
Kathee has focused more than 25 years of her career on developing training and learning programs for industrial manufacturing. She holds an Education Specialist (EdS) in College Teaching and Learning from Walden University and a Master of Arts in Training and Development (MATD) from Roosevelt University. Kathee has also been a keynote speaker for the Masie Center, Learn.com and the American SAP User Group. She is also the recipient of the 2008 Chief Learning Officer® magazine “Learning in Practice Award.” Kathee is a passionate educator who really cares and wants to make a difference.
Principal, Strategic Sourcing & Logistics Optimization Practice, Crowe
Wil Knibloe is the founder and principal executive of Crowe’s Strategic Sourching | Logistics Optimization practice. He has over 19 years of operations and supply management experience, including 10 years in supply chain management positions with Ford Motor Company, Union Pacific, Pharmacia/Monsanto and DE-STA-CO (a Dover Company). Wil served more than 50 manufacturing & distribution clients in North America and has experience across a multitude of industries including, automotive, chemicals, oil / gas, industrial engineering services, aero space, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, infrastructure, construction, waste management and others.
Since joining Crowe, Mr. Knibloe has focused on the development and execution of Crowe’s supply chain management solutions, including: strategic sourcing, logistics optimization, performance improvement, third party risk management, supply base resiliency, and trade and compliance services. He primary services as the principal executive for Crowe’s Strategic Sourcing | Logistics Optimization solutions.
Wil has prior industry experience in a variety of supply chain management and consultative roles during his 19 year career. His experience includes management of procurement, warehousing/logistics and manufacturing operations for a Big 3 automobile manufacturer and a Fortune 500 automation company. Wil’s areas of expertise include procurement, materials management, supplier management, strategic sourcing and continuous improvement. Throughout his career, Wil has led organizations to improve productivity, driven value through supply chain functions, and implemented innovative organizational development techniques.
He received his B.A. in Supply Chain Management from Michigan State University and is a Certified Supply Chain Manager (CCSM).
CEO and President, Michigan Economic Development Corporation
As MEDC CEO and President and Chair of the Michigan Strategic Fund, Quentin is charged with implementing and executing MEDC’s core mission of business development and attraction, community development, providing access to capital and enhancing Michigan’s image and brand with a focus on building a strong and equitable economy for all Michiganders. His responsibilities include managing the administration of all programs, funds, personnel, contracts and other administrative functions of MEDC.
Quentin is a member of Governor Gretchen E. Whitmer’s cabinet and serves on the boards of the American Center for Mobility, Michigan Israel Business Accelerator, International Economic Development Council (IEDC) and Oklahoma University’s Economic Development Institute (OU EDI) and is a member of the Michigan Council on Climate Solutions.
He was named by Financial Times as a member of the 2021 Agenda Diversity 100, Crain’s Detroit Business, 50 Names to Know in Government (2021), Biz New Orleans CEO of the Year (2020), Biz New Orleans Businessperson of the Year (2019), by Consultants Connect as one of North America’s Top 50 Economic Developers (2020, 2019) and by Ebony Magazine for its Ebony Power 100 as a Power Player (2018).
Immediately prior to joining MEDC, Quentin was President & CEO at the New Orleans Business Alliance which, under his leadership, became one of fewer than 80 accredited economic development organizations worldwide (AEDO). Quentin also previously served as the Assistant Secretary for Louisiana Economic Development, (LED) Louisiana’s department of economic development.
Quentin is an alumnus of the Boston Consulting Group and O’Melveny & Myers LLP and a degree recipient from Princeton and Columbia Universities
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1:00 - 5:00 pm
Over 70% of Executives Surveyed Agree: Many Strategic Planning Efforts Lack Systematic Approach Tips for Enhancing Your Strategic Planning Process
Executives expressed frustration with their current strategic planning process. Issues include:
Steve Rutan and Denise Harrison have put together an afternoon workshop that will provide the tools you need to address these concerns. They have worked with hundreds of executives to develop a systematic approach that will enable your team to make better decisions during strategic planning. Steve and Denise will walk you through exercises for prioritizing your lists and steps that will reset and reinvigorate your process. This will be a hands-on workshop that will enable you to think about your business as you use the tools that are being presented. If you are ready for a Strategic Planning tune-up, select this workshop in your registration form. The additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.
2:00 - 5:00 pm
Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations.
Limited space available.
10:30 - 5:00 pm
General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course
Sponsored by UBS
General’s Retreat, built in 1986 with architect Gary Roger Baird, has been voted the “Best Golf Course in Nashville” and is a “must play” when visiting the Nashville, Tennessee area. With the beautiful setting along the Cumberland River, golfers of all capabilities will thoroughly enjoy the golf, scenery and hospitality.
The golf outing fee includes transportation to and from the hotel, greens/cart fees, use of practice facilities, and boxed lunch. The bus will leave the hotel at 10:30 am for a noon shotgun start and return to the hotel after the cocktail reception following the completion of the round.
