TLS Speaker Bios
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Dr. Janet Hilder
Current Role: Assistant Director for Learning Partnerships at Virginia Tech An experienced educator with a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction focusing on Instructional Design and Technology, Janet is passionate about teaching and learning, with teaching andinstructional design experience in both formal classrooms (K-12 and university) and the corporate sector, including a professional service firm and a state government office. She is at her best when she has opportunities to impact learning environments, either directly as an instructor/trainer or indirectly as a faculty developer. As the current Assistant Director for Learning Partnerships at Virginia Tech, Janet works closely with students, faculty, and staff across campus overseeing the Gallup CliftonStrengths initiative for the Division of Student Affairs. In the past two years, she has facilitated more than 100 Strengths workshops with groups of as few as 4, and as many as 340, participants. Those workshops are engaging, interactive opportunities for people of all ages and at all stages to learn more about themselves and their Top 5 and to connect them to their experiences in the classroom, at work, and elsewhere; as well as to better understand the talents of those with whom they interact and work. In her time away from work, Janet adores hiking – all things outdoors, truly – and baking. |
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Colleen Ferlotti
Current Role: Consulting Manager at Vynamic Originally from the Washington D.C. area, Colleen is a 2018 Summa Cum Laude Graduate of the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering with a Minor in Business. While at Virginia Tech, Colleen was a leader in many student organizations including the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers, ISE Ambassadors, Alpha Pi Mu, College Mentors for Kids, Wishmakers at Virginia Tech, and Alpha Omega Epsilon Sorority. After graduation, Colleen moved to Durham, NC to begin her career as a Healthcare Management Engineer at Duke Health. While supporting the Operational Excellence and Analytics Strategy for the Duke Telehealth Office, Colleen took an interest in digital health and healthcare technology. She went on to graduate as an Honor Scholar from the Master of Management for Clinical Informatics program at Duke University in 2018. She then became a Product Owner for several patient-facing digital health tools like Duke Health’s mobile app, AI chatbot, and SMS technology. Wanting to broaden her industry knowledge, Colleen took a role as a Consulting Manager at Vynamic, a Management Consulting firm focused exclusively on the healthcare industry. Here she is able to work with clients across the healthcare sector, including life sciences, provider, healthcare technology, and payers. In this role, she helps her clients with Operational Excellence, Scalability, Technology Transformation, and Process Improvement. In her free time, Colleen hangs out with her dog, cat, and fiancé checking out the local breweries throughout their home, Raleigh, NC. She is a Wish Granter with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and a Committee Chair on the Virginia Tech ISE Emerging Leaders Board. |
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Michael Foss
Current Role: Founder & CEO of CoachFoss LLC Michael is passionate about Finding Optimal Solutions for Success. As a speaker, trainer, and consultant, he thrives on inspiring and motivating leaders, teams, and individuals to achieve and sustain transformational success! He leads large global teams to be enthusiastic, embrace innovation and disruption, seek relentless improvement, never give up, & never settle for mediocrity! He moves you from where you are to where you want to be! Michael is a strategic executive logistics & supply chain operations leader with extensive global experience and success in cutting costs & improving performance, processes, and people for premier companies including Tandem, Advatix, Archway, Flexport, CloudSort, Walmart, 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. Michael holds a BS degree in Industrial & Systems Engineering from Texas Tech University and earned his Lean / Six Sigma Black Belt from the University of Villanova. Michael is a Fellow, Past President, & IAB chairman of the Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers (IISE). Michael is a member of the Texas Tech University (TTU) Industrial Engineering Academy, is the Past President of the TTU Whitacre College of Engineering Dean’s Council and was awarded the Texas Tech Whitacre College of Engineering Distinguished Engineer’s award, the highest award given from Texas Tech. Michael is one of ~230 Engineers, one of only 27 Industrial Engineers ever awarded. Michael is certified to train The Power of Positive Leadership & The Power of a Positive Team by Jon Gordon and is an active Executive Program Director John Maxwell Leadership Certified Speaker, Trainer, and Coach. |
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Thomas Davis
Current Role: Director of Performance Services at Duke University Health System Thomas began his career in health care and at DUHS in 2007 working as a Management Engineer. In his time with DUHS, Thomas has provided decision support tools and services to a variety of areas including: Primary Care, Urgent Care, and Specialty clinics, along with Perioperative Services. Thomas’ work in the Ambulatory division included several Six Sigma and Lean projects focused on medical records flow, improving patient satisfaction scores, and improving patient throughput in both primary and specialty care clinic settings. In the Perioperative arena Thomas has focused on OR utilization, dashboard development, and installing a consistent measurement approach to OR performance measurement across the six OR platforms at Duke Health. Work has also been focused on data staging and report development in partnership with Epic. In his role as a Director with Performance Services, Thomas leads teams of Management Engineers at the two community hospitals within the DUHS network along with a team of Management Engineers focused on supporting operationally focused clinical service lines. Thomas serves as a liaison to the Duke University Hospital Senior Leadership team to support data driven decision making and process improvement projects. Thomas has served a lead role in developing training programs for the health system centered around performance improvement including serving as an instructor for Duke’s Rapid Improvement Event training class. In addition to being trained as a Six Sigma Blackbelt, Thomas holds a B.S. degree from Virginia Tech in Industrial and Systems Engineering and a M.B.A. from Elon University’s Love School of Business. Thomas is licensed as a professional engineer (PE) in the state of North Carolina. Thomas was elected to serve on the Virginia Tech Industrial and Systems Engineering Advisory Board starting in 2018 where he is serving a five year term. Thomas served as the Chair of the Advisory Board from 2020 to 2022. Thomas is also an active IISE member and currently serves on the IISE Council of Industrial and Systems Engineers (CISE). |
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Maria Bothwell
Current Role: CEO of Toffler Associates Futurist and Strategic Advisor who helps Fortune 5000 and Government clients anticipate and prepare for many plausible futures in a world full of uncertainty. The extraordinary speed of change and disruption hurtling towards every industry is causing businesses and government sectors to question and rethink their entire strategic planning approach. Maria brings clarity to how organizations can capitalize on the opportunities that change and future disruptions bring. Maria is CEO of Toffler Associates, a future-focused strategy advisory firm. Tofler Associates’ approach is rooted in the ideas and methodologies of world-renowned futurists Alvin and Heidi Toffler, whose work foreshadowed the sweeping effects of rapid technology development on people, businesses, and government. She has worked in management and strategy consulting since the 1990’s and started her career as a Manufacturing Engineer at Litton Industries. She graduated from VA Tech in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research and with an MBA. She also earned her certificate de cuisine from Le Cordon Bleu Paris. |
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Dan Surber
Current Role: Founder and CEO of Alpine Consulting Partners As an Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) student at Virginia Tech, Dan Surber served as the President of the ISE Honor Society, Alpha Pi Mu (APM), and was awarded both the ISE Outstanding Junior Award and ISE Outstanding Senior Award. Dan graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2010 with a VT ISE undergraduate degree and started his career at Deloitte Consulting focusing mostly on Federal client engagements. After 3.5 years, Dan switched to a much smaller commercial consulting firm, ADI Strategies, based out of San Francisco. Over the following two years, Dan created the Federal Consulting Practice at ADI and built a net-new revenue pipeline for the firm. In May of 2016, Dan founded the Washington, DC headquartered consulting firm, Alpine Consulting Partners, for which he continues to serve as CEO. In just over 6.5 years, Alpine has quickly grown into a firm of 19 full-time practitioners with a high rate of retention. Of the current Alpine firm total, 84% of firm practitioners are VT alumni and 47% (nearly half) of firm practitioners are VT ISE alumni!! Aside from work, Dan co-founded the VT ISE Emerging Leaders Board (ELB) which helps young ISE alumni across the nation stay engaged and involved with the ISE Department. Most recently, Dan was inducted into the ISE Advisory Board and continues to serve as a member of the board. In his spare time, Dan enjoys skiing, rock climbing, and playing guitar. |
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Paul Torgersen
Current Role: Director of Major Gifts for VT Athletics Paul Torgersen is now in his sixth year working within the Hokie Club. As a Virginia Tech fundraiser, Paul is responsible for identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding major gift prospects and our Hokie supporters. Paul received a dual degree in Management and Marketing from Virginia Tech in 2012 and completed his Master’s degree in Sport Management from Florida State University in 2016. This is the third year Paul has been a guest speaker at the Torgersen Leadership Summit. |
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Jeremy Codiroli
Current Role: Vice President, Process Improvement at AVI-SPL Jeremy Codiroli is currently the Vice President of Process Improvement for AVI-SPL, one of the world’s largest AV Integrators. He is an expert in both developing and implementing creative margin enhancement strategies for Operations and Sales through the use of LEAN process improvement principles (Master Black Belt and Green Belt certified). He is a process Improvement professional with 10+ years of experience leading cross-functional project teams, developing complex financial models & projections, and utilizing LEAN/Six Sigma principles to identify, break down, & rebuild inefficient processes. While his focus has been around Supply Chain/Operations Optimization, he has led strategic transformation initiatives involving Sales, Finance, Engineering/Innovation, and Human Resources. Jeremy was recently designated as a member of Commercial Integrator’s 40 Under 40 list due to his contributions to the AV Integration industry. Jeremy graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering in 2013 and then received his MBA in 2018 (also from Virginia Tech). At Tech, he served as the Student Engineers’ Council President & Chairman and led them to receive awards for “Best Council in the Nation” and “Most Successful Philanthropy”. He has also returned to multiple Virginia Tech Engineering classes as a guest lecturer on topics around Organizational Strategy, Analytics, Supply Chain, Process Improvement, and Change Management. |
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Jim Sowder
Current Role: Senior Engineering Executive (Retired) Jim retired following a 35+ year career in the Aerospace and Defense industry. He served in senior engineering management positions, as a Systems Architect, Technologist, Software Engineer, and Project Manager on advanced information system projects and research efforts. Jim conducted numerous complex system requirements, architecture, and performance studies. He has a proven ability to communicate with customer, stakeholders, and project teams. His customers have included the US Department of Defense, Intelligence, and Civil/Federal agencies. Jim concluded his career with Peraton following 30+ years with Northrop Grumman and its predecessor companies. Prior to Northrop Grumman, Jim served as an Industrial Engineer for a heritage company of General Dynamics Information Technology. Jim earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from Virginia Tech. He is a member of the Industrial & Systems Engineering Advisory Board at Virginia Tech. He was a Northrop Grumman Technical Fellow (Emeritus), a distinction bestowed on the company’s top scientific, technical and systems engineering talent. Jim was twice nominated for the company’s Chairman and President Award for Innovation; once receiving the President's award. He was selected by the National Academy of Engineering as a ‘Frontiers of Engineering’ participant. Jim is a US Patent recipient in the area of cyber security and virus threat detection. |