TLS Speaker Bios
|
David Poirier
Keynote Speaker, Presidents Panel and Wrap-Up Current Role: CEO of The Poirier Group David is the Founder and CEO of The Poirier Group, a boutique management consulting firm focused on strategy execution, operational efficiency and sustainable business transformations for clients across the retail, private equity, manufacturing and healthcare sectors in North America. He provides oversight and perspective acquired from 25+ years of successful C-Suite experience across major National and International organizations. David works with leaders to create and translate strategic roadmaps into actionable goals, helping organizations achieve their full potential. He thrives at running multiple global divisions in complex and everchanging business environments and effecting positive cultural shifts that impact bottom line performance. |
|
Michael Foss
Personal Growth Workshop, Presidents Panel and Wrap-Up Current Role: Head of Ocean Operations, NA | Global Operational Excellence at Flexport. Founder & CEO CoachFoss LLC (Speaker | Author). Michael is a strategic logistics & supply chain leader with extensive global experience and success in cutting costs and improving performance, processes, and people for premier technology companies including Caterpillar, Amazon, Cameron, Weir, and FedEx. He is a dynamic and energetic change agent, recognized for driving business transformations and optimizing operations. He is a skilled relationship builder, well-known for inspiring and empowering high-performance teams. |
|
Dr. Scott Sink
Presidents Panel and Wrap-Up Current Role: Sr. Advisor of The Poirier Group, Adjunct Professor of the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech Scott’s career has encompassed Academia, Consulting, and Senior Roles in the Private Sector. His areas of contribution have been Large-Scale Organization Transformations, Operational Excellence, Operational Analytics, and Integrated Lean Sigma. He is a Past President of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering and also currently Serves as the Global Performance Excellence Continuing Learning Lead. |
|
Dr. Don Taylor
Presidents Panel and Wrap-Up Current Role: Executive Vice Provost of Virginia Tech Don Taylor has served in a variety of roles at Virginia Tech, including ISE Department Head, Interim Dean of Engineering, Vice Provost, and Interim Vice President for Research and Innovation. He is currently the Executive Vice Provost. He is a Fellow and Past President of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) and is the founding Chair of the Board for IISE Solutions, Inc. He has research interests in applied operations research, with particular interest in the simulation of complex systems. |
|
Colleen Craig
Industry Leaders Panel Current Role: Manager - Industrial Engineering, Disney Cruise Line After graduating from Virginia Tech ISE (BS, MS), Colleen began her career as a project management consultant for the Department of Defense and Homeland Security. In 2014, she transitioned to begin her career at Disney Parks, Experience & Products as an internal management consultant for Walt Disney World Parks & Resorts. Currently, Colleen leads a team of IEs in support of Disney Cruise Line, focusing on strategies and improvement opportunities for executives relating to operational performance, commercial strategy, labor efficiency, capacity/demand planning, and optimal Guest experience. Colleen also currently serves on the VT ISE Advisory Board. |
|
Erika Dabney
Industry Leaders Panel Current Role: Technology Executive, Independent Technical Assessments Erika Dabney is a technology executive responsible for the independent assessment of technical capabilities at Bank of America. Erika joined Bank of America in 2006, in Global Technology and Operations where she held a series of roles. Beginning as a technical delivery manager supporting the Online Banking platform, moving to more senior positions leading technical delivery as well as key leader in driving the Agile Transformation across the organization. |
|
Thomas Davis
Industry Leaders Panel Current Role: Director, Hospital Operations - Performance Services at Duke Health Thomas serves as a Director with Performance Services for the Duke University Health System. Thomas began his career in health care at Duke Health in 2007 following work in the manufacturing sector. In his time with Duke Health, Thomas has led numerous process improvement projects, actively engaged in labor and productivity management processes, and led efforts to develop decision support tools for health system leaders across a variety of key service lines. |
|
David Long
Industry Leaders Panel Current Role: CEO and President of Vitech After graduating from Virginia Tech, David Long founded Vitech in 1992 to transform his graduate work into a commercial systems engineering tool. He served Vitech as a software developer and lead of product development before becoming Vitech’s president in 2005. With Vitech acquired by Zuken in 2019, David continues to serve as Vitech’s president while leading Zuken’s digital engineering efforts. |
|
Deirdre Cahill
Young Leaders Panel Current Role: Management Engineer supporting Perioperative Services at Duke Health Deirdre graduated in May 2020 from Virginia Tech as an ISE major. During her time at Tech, she interned at Volvo Trucks as an Industrial Engineering intern and at Duke Health as a Management Engineering Intern. Since starting at Duke remotely in June, she has loved being able to create tools that help make a difference in patients’ lives as well as being part of a supportive and genuine team! |
|
Jules Jones
Young Leaders Panel Current Role: ISE Senior at Virginia Tech Jules is a senior at Virginia Tech, majoring in Industrial and Systems Engineering with a minor in Business. She interned at GE Power as a Materials and Production Intern and Deloitte as a Summer Scholar Consulting Intern. Jules spent a semester at Walt Disney World as an Industrial Engineering Professional Intern in Orlando, FL. At Virginia Tech, she is actively involved as Secretary for the Class of 2021, an ISE Ambassador, and a Peer Career Advisor. |
|
Jake Norton
Young Leaders Panel Current Role: Consultant Jake Norton graduated from Tech in 2019 with a degree in Industrial and System Engineering and Minors in Business and Spanish. Originally from Baltimore MD, he now lives in Alexandria VA working for Alpine Consulting Partners, a technology consulting firm founded by Hokies in 2016! |
|
Drew Thomas
Young Leaders Panel Current Role: Analyst – Alpine Consulting Partners LLC Drew is a first year analyst at Alpine Consulting Partners, having graduated from Virginia Tech in the Spring of 2020. He completed both his undergraduate and master’s programs within the ISE department at Virginia Tech. While in school he participated in internships across consulting and aerospace industries, ISE organizations like IISE, ISE Ambassadors, and APM, as well as the Polo Club at Virginia Tech. |
|
John Kollar
Revamp Your Resume Current Role: Materials Planning and Execution Specialist at GE, Campus Recruiting Leader for Virginia Tech at GE John studied Electrical Engineering at Virginia Tech, earning his B.S. in 2010. He then went to work for Northrop Grumman while getting his Masters of Engineering in Project Management from the University Maryland, College Park, in 2013. He now works for GE Aviation where he’s held roles as a project engineer, production supervision manager, and production controller while also helping with campus recruiting for Virginia Tech, where he currently acts as the campus recruiting leader across all of GE’s businesses. |
|
Mike Kaminski
Virtual Networking: Catching a Recruiter's Attention Current Role: Senior Manager - Accenture Federal Services Mike Kaminski leads the Operations Excellence practice at Accenture Federal Services. He is an organizational leader, continuous improvement professional, and lean practitioner with experience leading organizational transformation and workforce optimization in operations, engineering, and quality disciplines within the manufacturing, consulting, distribution, government, process, and retail industries. Mike regularly recruits, interviews, and hires all levels of candidates from co-ops to managers to join his practice. |
|
Ben LaBine
Achieving Work-Life Balance While WFH Current Role: Analyst at Alpine Consulting Partners Ben joined the Alpine team as one of the firm’s first college hires after graduating from VT ISE in May of 2019! Since then, he has gained countless technical skills while executing two On-Prem to Cloud migrations and working in both the Public Sector and Commercial spaces. He loves being a part of a small, fast-growing company that’s full of fun and motivated people. Fun fact: he was the HokieBird! |
|
Cris Alcocer
Achieving Work-Life Balance While WFH Current Role: Systems Engineer in the Engineering Leadership Program Apprehensively left Blacksburg with a bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering in 2017 and moved up to Fairfax, VA to start working for General Dynamics Mission Systems. Soon afterward, I was accepted into GDMS’ Engineering Leadership Program and began my journey towards a master’s in Systems Engineering while also completing rotations in a variety of programs/roles, including a position as a Quantum Technology Analyst! I’ve been volunteering as a representative for GDMS in university career fairs every year, but I’m especially excited to speak in such a valuable event like TLS – go Hokies! |
|
Dr. Leigh-Anne Krometis
Yoga Current Role: Associate Professor, Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech Dr. Krometis is currently an Associate Professor of Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech, with a research program focused on environmental health engineering. She is also a Yoga Alliance certified Hatha Yoga instructor, and has been teaching at In Balance Yoga in Blacksburg since 2018 |