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This is a forum for attendees and speakers, as well as Manager Tools followers who are interested in discussing and learning more about the M Conference 2021! I will be visiting the forums on a regular basis to answer your questions, provide assistance and collect your thoughts and ideas. Remember that this event was created to serve YOU, our audience, so comment at will! I look forward to hearing you all contribute!

jnuttall's picture
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Who is interested in M Conference Day 3 this year?  Preliminary plans are to play Thursday morning, August 20th, 10 minutes from the conference hotel at The Glen Club.  The Glen Club is a top 100 Fazio designed course on the grounds of the old Glenview Naval Air Station.  Greens fees will be $165.  I will make reservations once I gauge interest.  Open to other suggestions... Monday vs Thursday, or a different course.  Last year we had an incredible time at TPC Las Colinas.  Let's extend this M Conference tradition and get at least a 2nd foursome involved this year.  We'll start early so we can enjoy lunch together after the round before anyone has to head out.  We'll be just 20 minutes from O'Hare, so we should be able to enjoy our round and still get home Thursday evening. 

jnuttall's picture
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By the way, they may not remember, but Sarah and Maggie both committed to playing this year, so our second foursome is already halfway done.

ssentes's picture
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That sounds kind of made-up John, are you sure I did that? If so, I never go back on my word, so sign me up! Don't let me take the spot of someone who's actually GOOD at golf, but I'm more than happy to stick around and play a round :)

jnuttall's picture
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:-) Awesome!

quietlife4me's picture
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I'm in for golf.

Sarah and I should probably be in the same cart though so we arn't annoying everyone else with our 20 over par scores.
 

I'm also a Chicago local so if anyone has logistics or tourism questions I can help.

jnuttall's picture
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Fantastic! You're in. Post your contact info or send it to me via email and I'll start the list. I'll go ahead and reserve two foursomes now for around 0830. Here's mine:
John Nuttall
[email protected]
m 404-372-3212

mark_thomas's picture
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As a new attendee and long time Manager Tools subscriber,  I just wanted to introduce myself and post my bio per request.  I am really looking forward to the conference!

---------------------------------------------

Recently (April 2020) promoted to CIO at eviCore healthcare, Mark is responsible for oversight of all areas of technology for eviCore, including product-related software development, infrastructure, analytics engineering and call center operations. eviCore healthcare is the leading provider of diversified medical benefits management solutions that help clients reduce costs while increasing quality of care. Mark has spent the past 9 years at eviCore with multiple leadership roles in technology including application development teams, enterprise architecture, infrastructure, and program management. Beyond being eviCore's CIO, Mark also lead's eviCore's Agile Transformation Team (a cross functional team of leaders across eviCore responsible for driving enterprise agility). Before eviCore Mark worked in the defense industry for 12 years in various leadership roles working with several agencies across the government and a variety of technologies including National Missile Defense, Remote Sniper Detection and Perimeter Security Robots.
 
Mark and his wife Kelly (both graduates of Auburn University) and their 14 year old son live in Bluffton, SC and enjoy the outdoor low country lifestyle.  Mark is an avid outdoorsman, sports fan and tennis player. Mark also spends time supporting the community through organizations like the Auburn Alumni Association and the National Wild Turkey Federation.
 

www.linkedin.com/in/markhthomas14

 

ssentes's picture
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Thanks for sharing your bio, Mark, it's great to meet you! And congrats on the promotion, these are some interesting times to be leading and, I'd think, even more so in a company providing healthcare solutions to it's customers. We look forward to hosting you at this year's event, and if there is anything we can do to help in the meantime, you know how to find us.

Sarah

jnuttall's picture
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Welcome Mark... have played many rounds of golf in Bluffton at Sun City.  Love that area.

contemplation101's picture
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Very excited to attend M Conference 2020! Here's a bio for the record.

---

Mark Bentsen is the Manager of Quality Assurance at ARGO Data, a software development company providing mission-critical and analytical solutions for financial services and healthcare. He leads a team of 18 engineers and three managers. Mark’s org delivers products for fraud, teller payments, consumer lending, sales & service in banking, patient entity matching, patient care, and others. ARGO products use analytic driven technologies with a decision based engine. Certain products are currently transforming to a machine learning model.

In 2003, Mark started at FedEx where he spent a decade in a variety of roles of increasing responsibility including his first management role. During this period he discovered netcasts. This included Manager Tools’ first episode the week it was published. Mark is a 13 year+ MT member. He attended three MT conferences and, over time, sent all the managers in his org.

In 2015, he became part the Advanced Research Center for Software Testing and Quality Assurance at the University of Texas in Dallas (UTD). Mark presents on QA leadership, KPIs, and root cause analysis in local, national, and international software conferences. Mark is a PMP & CTAL (Full) from ISTQB.

Mark & his wife Melissa are the two time, past President Couple of ‘Better Marriages Texas’ and have been active in Marriage Enrichment since they said “I do” in 2001. Prior to working in technology, he worked in YWAM & Mercy Ships in Switzerland and Namibia. He lives in Dallas with his wife and two boys’ ages 12 and 16.

ssentes's picture
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In my experience you can never have too many Mark's, so welcome to the group! We've done quite a bit of work with your group it looks like, that's awesome, we look forward to connecting you with the network now.

Sarah

ivan.balasko's picture
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Dear MT-friends,
as probably everybody else here I am excited to attend the M-Conference. 

I think I started to listen to the Manager Tools podcast 13 or 14 years ago and enjoyed an Effective Manger Conference in Frankfurt some years ago, which so far was the best training I ever attended.

Together with my wife Linyú and our son Aiden (7 years) I live close to Munich in Germany.
Yep, no Oktoberfest this year.

Professionally:
More than 20 years in consulting, the last 12 of them in Executive Search. At aims (we are a global Executive Search firm with 90 offices in roughly 50 countries) I am in charge of our global industry practice "Media and Technology". Leading this group of senior executive search consultants (who are dispersed over the globe) and not being their formal boss is one of my most interesting challenges currently.

My academic background is in business administration which I studied in Augsburg, Germany and Kansas City, Missouri.
(And since Superbowl LIV I annoy people in my office by wearing red Chiefs hoodies when having no client or candidate meetings)

I really am sorry, but I do not play golf (yet).
But maybe there is someone who would like to join me for a run in the morning?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-balasko-b975068/

ssentes's picture
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Thanks for sharing your bio with us all, it's great to be able to connect with one another! I am also a runner so you can definitely count me in for a morning run before the event, I'm sure there will be a few of us! The hotel is surrounded by parks and nature preserves, it's quite a good location for the outdoor running crowd: https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Renaissance+Chicago+Glenview+Suites+Hotel/@42.077925,-87.8683237,15.69z/data=!4m8!3m7!1s0x880fb9de94b24667:0xbcc1aa7b0df4be03!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d42.079686!4d-87.865255.

Sarah

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This is my first time attending a Manager-Tools conference.  Looking forward to hearing the speakers and acquiring new tools to use as I move forward.  Here is a little bit about me:

 

Susan Ynchausti has dedicated much of her life and career to family and community. As a mother of four, she raised her children while volunteering at non-profit organizations and caring for aging extended family members. She is a recent graduate from the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business with a Bachelor of Science in Management. Susan has led small teams and large organizations to educate and build capabilities in their leadership and general constituency. She has demonstrated the advantages of managing with careful budget practices. Her genuine care for the people around her and her positive approach causes others to enjoy her company.

 

 

 

ssentes's picture
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As soon as I read your bio I immediately thought that you and our speaker, Maggie Tucker, will hit it off brilliantly! You both know the value of managing to a careful budget, something I know I could get better at. I'm looking forward meeting you, it'll be great pick your brain at this year's event!

ynchaustira's picture
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I am expecting the M Conference to be one of the highlights of this year. I feel quite blessed to attend and am very lucky in general. I have a great family and a challenging career. A couple of career highlights are noted in this short synopsis:

 

Randy Ynchausti is a software engineer, leader, and architect with over 25 years of professional experience in family history and genealogy, real-time process optimization and control using artificial intelligence, business-to-business integration in the consumer industry, and world-wide shipping and container value chain realization. A theme of Randy’s experience is large-scale, web-based systems that involve big data where availability, scalability, and performance are always concerns, Randy has completed high-value projects on six of the seven continents of the World. When he is not with family or working on an enterprise system, you might find him driving a fast car or playing a loud guitar.

 

ssentes's picture
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We're blessed to be able to host you at this year's event! I'm really interested to hear about your work, sounds like you've been far and wide building systems that connect people, how cool! Looking forward to meeting you, Randy!

rmhoerle's picture
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I'm looking forward to meeting all of you.   I've been a Manager Tools aficianado for well over a decade and have relied on the MT guidance even more over the last year since moving into a new role and dealing with the pandemic.    This will be my first public Manager Tools conference and I couldn't be more excited.   I've inserted my more formal bio below.

 

Rhonda Hoerle has been serving as the President of Decatur Mold, Tool, and Engineering since February of 2019.   Building upon her long career in sales leadership at Thermo Fisher Scientific, she brings her passion for nurturing talent to this maker of plastic injection molds founded by her father in 1966.   Rhonda and her family are committed to ensuring that they are providing the opportunity for good careers in this small, rural town.    Rhonda’s talents include professional selling skills, customer relationship management, streamlining processes, and building effective teams.

Rhonda graduated from Purdue University and splits her time between southern Indiana and Chicago.  Outside of work, she enjoys exploring the Chicago culinary scene – especially with her son, Mitch, who is a chef.   In Indiana, Rhonda can be found exploring the local walking trails when not at work.    Her favorite way to indulge her travel bug is by catching up with her daughter, Paige, who currently lives in Erlangen, Germany.    

 

 

ssentes's picture
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I know that Kate's been down to Decatur Mold working with your group, she still raves about it, you've built something really special over there and should be proud! We're so looking forward to hosting you at this year's event. 

dpatrickwalsh's picture
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Hey there, Rhonda! Where in southern Indiana do you spend time? I live in Evansville and work at Berry Global. I imagine we know a few of the same people. 

bpaz's picture
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Hello everyone, I'm looking forward to the conference!  The requested bio is below as a brief introduction.

Brian Pasbrig serves as the CEO & General Manager of Show Me Ethanol, an ethanol production facility located in Carrollton, Missouri. Brian began his grain processing career in York, Nebraska in 1994, and has demonstrated expertise in operations, maintenance, quality, safety, environmental and business management.  Throughout Brian’s 26-year ethanol career, his work experiences have taken him to facilities both young and old across the United States and Europe. 

Brian holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management.  He and his wife of 27 years currently reside in Liberty, Missouri, where they enjoy soccer and travelling, primarily to visit their three adult daughters.

 

ssentes's picture
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Hey Brian, I saw your registration come through, welcome! Ethanol production, that's a really interesting line of work to be in, very cool. We look forward to hosting you at our event in Chicago!

cassiesmith's picture
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Hello everyone, 
By now you have received a notification via email that the M Conference dates have been moved to March 10 and 11 of 2021. We’re sad to miss you this year, and excited to host an exciting event next year. Please reach out with any questions, we’re happy to help.

dpatrickwalsh's picture
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Hey there, M-Conf attendees! Looking forward to meeting all of you in person, and not just as squares in my Zoom feed! Bio below. 
------------------------------------------------------

David Walsh is Vice President of Supply Chain and Customer Experience for the Engineered Materials Division at Berry Global. He leads the EMD teams for Supply Chain, Customer Care, and Customer Experience. During his 12 years with Berry, David has held various roles in Supply Chain and IT, including Vice President ERP Serivces and Director Supply Chain Systems. 

David received a bachelors degree in History from the University of Southern Indiana. In 2017, he completed the MicroMasters in Supply Chain Management program from MITx. He and his wife live in Evansville, IN with their two childern. 

ssentes's picture
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While you do make a mighty-fine postage stamp, I'm sure I'm one of the few in this group who've met you full-sized. So glad you're part of this group so I can see you again and the rest can meet you for the first time. See you next week on the call next week with Eldon!

mbaker's picture
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Mike Baker has served as Deputy Village Manager for the Village of Downers Grove, Illinois (population 50,000) since 2008.  He began working for the Village in 2000 and has also held the positions of Assistant Village Manager and Assistant to the Village Manager.

Mike holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Kansas.  He first became interested in local government as an undergraduate student at Miami University, where he majored in Political Science and Urban & Regional Planning, while also serving as a volunteer intern for the Town of Oxford, Ohio Planning Department. 

Mike’s career in and commitment to local government has grown since that time, with strong emphasis on contributing to the effective performance of the local government organization and its workforce.   He has assumed leadership roles in several professional associations, including ICMA and ILCMA.  

Mike lives in Downers Grove with his wife, Brigit, and three children: Maryn (11), Isla (9), and Leo (8).  He and his family enjoy hiking, camping and spending time in nature.  

 

 

ssentes's picture
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It's been a pleasure to serve the folks at Downers Grove at our public conferences in over the years! Thanks for all the support, Mike, and I look forward to meeting you in person. 

wvavrik's picture
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Dr. Bill Vavrik is a Vice President and manager of the Transportation and
Infrastructure of Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA).  He joined ARA
in 2000 and oversees three divisions that focus on engineering and
scientific research and consulting projects in surface and air
transportation along with protective designs and security risk mitigation
for buildings and infrastructure. He joined ARA in 2000 and currently leads
200 engineering, research, testing, and consulting professionals across
North America.  Bill has delivered a diverse project portfolio, including
projects in transportation infrastructure engineering, research,
development, software, and technology deployment.

Bill is the technical lead for the Illinois Tollway Pavement and
Infrastructure Management consultant contract.  The Illinois Tollway has
documented savings of over $300 million through the implementation of
research in materials and construction that he coordinated. Currently, Dr.
Vavrik is helping the tollway deliver the cleanest and greenest program in
its history.

Dr. Vavrik is the program manager in ARA’s support of the Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA) Innovation Deployment Program.  Every Day Counts
(EDC) is a state-based model to identify and rapidly deploy proven but
underutilized innovations to shorten the project delivery process, enhance
roadway safety, reduce congestion and improve environmental sustainability.

Bill is also an elected Village Trustee for the Village of Savoy,
Illinois.  He and his wife Liz have 4 children and live in Central Illinois.

ssentes's picture
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Welcome, Bill, our newest registrant! Sorry for the late notice of today's call, I hope you'll be able to join us!

jnuttall's picture
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I am a Director - Technology at AT&T, where my organization is helping lead the effort to move AT&T internal applications to the Public Cloud.

I've spent the last 25 years working for AT&T (BellSouth, Cingular) in IT, leading software application development teams and organizations.  I've spent the last 10 years using Manager Tools practices, and it has transformed my career.  I've also got an MBA (2007) from Coles College of Business and have been active in that program as an individual and team coach since.

I grew up in suburban Philadelphia area, graduated from Villanova Univ with a degree in EE and Solid State Physics (Go Cats!), and then spent 9 years in the US Navy submarine force.

I am an active Boy Scout leader and enjoy backpacking and golf.  I'm married with 4 children (32, 29, 24, and 5 (you did not misread that :-) ) and 1 granddaughter (18 months) with a little sister due in the spring.

jnuttall's picture
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forgot to mention, I was an M1 attendee and am very much enjoying the M2 speaker series and looking forward to seeing everyone in Chicago in the spring.

Tamara Byrne's picture
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Hi! Looking forward to meeting everyone in person. Below is my bio:

Tamara Byrne is an Associate Director of Process Sciences at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in Rensselaer, NY where she has been for the past 5 years. Her organization monitors data from the manufacturing process to detect and prevent process drifts. She recently took over a group of 45 after managing closer to 10 people before March. 

She spent the last 20 years working at IBM, MKS Instruments, and Regeneron focusing on process data monitoring, and has had direct reports since 2008 when she was introduced to Manager Tools. 

She is from Anchorage, Alaska and graduated with a Physics\CS degree from University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. She lives in Albany, NY with her husband of 15 years. 

dbooth's picture
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Good morning, M Conference group!

I was very lucky to have attended the first M Conference - it was so incredibly valuable - and am looking forward to the 2nd.  The speaker series has been a great way to bridge the gap between August and March.  I'm looking forward to meeting up with you all.

I've worked for E&J Gallo Winery for the last 16 years with a vareity of roles.  My background is in Engineering, which is where I started, but have since had experience in Continuous Improvement, Maintenance, Operations, and now Supply Chain.  During the last conference, I was the Plant Manager for our "cellar" (it's actually above ground and is able to store millions of gallons of wine).  Almost immediately afterward, I took a new role as the Director of Supply Chain Planning where I have responsibility for the planning and scheduling the production of ~65 million cases of wine.

ssentes's picture
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Hi folks, I hope you saw the announcements that the M Conference has moved again, this time to October 27 & 28, 2021. Disappointing but this time I think we've got a pretty good chance of going ahead in October. Gives us plenty of time to get folks vaccinnated, before next flu season hits in full force, it's going to be good! 

We hope you can all join us, please reach out with any questions, we’re happy to help. Loving the new bio's all, thanks for sharing!

Sarah

Jollymom's picture

Ow, that's sad to hear as we are as excited as you. Anyway, it will give us enough preparation to prepare ourselves to be physically and emotionally fit before the conference. Few months to go!!!

alexdaskalow's picture
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Hello Everyone,

I am Alex Daskalow from Charlotte, NC (born in Berlin, Germany) and I am the COO for Teguar Corporation. We provide industrial and medical computers both domestically and internationally under our Teguar brand. Our customers range from smaller systems integrators all the way to multinational medical device OEMs that use our computers as part of their product or in their manufacturing process. 

Teguar is still a small business (~40 employees) and I am proud to have been with the company since the beginning. 

Like many others, I started listening to MT guidance on my commute around 2007. As I have told the MT team many times, I feel like I owe a significant part of my success to their guidance.

I am an M1 Conference attendee and am very excited to see what M2 will bring.

I am very much looking forward to meeting everyone!

Alex

 

Breanna_Ileen's picture

Hi Everyone,
 
It's disappointing that it was moved on October but, atleast we have still something to look forward to. Besides, its just 3 months to go.
 
Hope to see you around. Keep safe!

Brian Hanks's picture
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I'm looking forward to meeting you all. You all have such impressive resumes! No golf for me this year, but I'm happy to organize some early morning excercise for either or both of the conference days. If you're interested, let me know and I'll coordinate something fun: crossfit, F45, Orange Theory, a run, etc. 

---------------

Brian Hanks is the owner of Dental Buyer Advocates, a small business with 5 employees and a pending offer for a 6th (gulp!). He's helped over 500 dentists buy their dental practices and has a goal to help 1,000/year. Brian is a published author of three books on dental transitions. His Covid-related highlight was having a personal story featured in Things and has listened to the podcast since 2005. Brian is a father of four and lives in Salt Lake City.

dbooth's picture
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That would be fun.   I need to keep my mileage up at the conference.  

joeb83's picture
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Hi all,

I look forward to meeting everyone in person.  The speakers so far have been terrific and I'm excited to hear more.

 

-----------------

Joe is currently the Vice President of Go-to-Market Strategy at MetroNet, the fastest growing privately held fiber-to-the-home provider in the United States.  Joe started his career at Charter Communications working in the warehouse prior to transferring into the accounting team and later internal audit.  In 2012, he completed his Washington University in St. Louis, MBA while transitioning to Suddenlink Communications where he was hired as the Manager of Business Intelligence.  He went from being the first hire into the newly formed BI team to a Director overseeing 5 team members.  After Suddenlink was purchased by Altice USA, Joe moved to New York City to serve as Senior Director of Business Performance Management and later Senior Director of Business Operations.  Following his tenure there, in late 2018, Joe joined Google Fiber based in Raleigh North Carolina where he led retention strategy and analytics as the Head of Retention.  In 2020, he returned home to St. Louis working remotely for Google Fiber until finding his newest opportunity with Metronet.  There, Joe lives with his partner and her two sons and enjoys travel, stock trading and guitar.

quietlife4me's picture
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Tyler is the VP / Deputy Chief Information Security Officer for Walgreens Boots Alliance. Tyler is responsible for roughly 130 souls around the globe that are focused on the delivery of Information Security Services. He is primarily responsible for the global Identity platform, application security and penetration testing, security technology engineering and 24x7 IT security operations. As Deputy, he functions as trusted advisor to the Global CISO, develops strategic roadmaps and executive material as well financial governance for the office of the Global CISO. Tyler has spent the last 11 years with WBA leading every department within Info Sec, at one time or another, and with progressively increasing roles within the organization. Prior to WBA, Tyler worked as a principle consultant for a boutique security consultant company based in Chicago. Prior to that, Tyler worked for American Financial Group in Cincinnati. In the late 1990's he worked for NASA Ames Research Center as a security engineer in the super computing facility and then later as lead engineer for the NASA center of excellence for IT Security. Tyler is also the founder of AllisonHouse which is a two person company that, for the past 10+ years, has provided high resolution high availability customizable weather data to individuals, meteorologists and government agencies.

Tyler and wife/kids live in a rural suburb of Chicago with the first child heading to University in a few weeks. When the family isn't going to Broadway shows (pre COVID), Tyler is usually working on a new hobby, the most recent being kayak bass fishing. Tyler is driven by new challenges, learning something new and doing things that folks believe either can not be done or are too hard to do.

Jollymom's picture

I'm excited too to hear more positive podcast from great speakers. I'm always looking forward for this kind of activity.

dan west's picture
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Hi Everyone,

I’m Dan West from California. A small bit about myself -

I’ve been managing for roughly 20 years. I jumped to Apple 15 years ago to manage a small Quality team in Hardware Engineering. Over the years, I’ve developed a reputation for 1) developing people, 2) creating technical depth within the organization and 3) finding ways to get stuff done. A lot of my success is directly related to what I’ve learned from Mark, Mike and the rest of the MT team. Since starting at Apple with a team of ~8 it’s grown to ~600. Some of that was hiring, but the vast majority of it has been absorbing other groups.

On the personal side, my wife and I just celebrated our 23rd anniversary. Additionally, our daughter is in her second year of college. For stress relief, I play ice hockey, hit the gym and cook.

If I can be of any assistance to any of you, reach out to me directly on LinkedIn. Be sure you tell me your from the M Conference or the response will be *very* slow. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone there.

-Dan

www.linkedin.com/in/westdan

moretzj's picture

Hello Everyone!

Here is my bio:

I’m currently the Manufacturing Engineering Manager for John Deere Application (Sprayers) Equipment in Des Moines Iowa.  I have been with John Deere for 16 years in various Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering and Continuous Improvement roles of increasing responsibility.  I have been listening to Manager Tools podcasts since 2006 and recently became licensee.  I love my responsibilities in managing people (1:1, coaching, feedback, delegation) and often find myself coaching other managers.  Much of my success in managing people I would contribute to the numerous Manager Tools podcasts I have listened to over the last 15 years.

On the personal front, I am happily married to my husband Justin of 6 years.  We live just south of Des Moines, Iowa and enjoy traveling, entertaining friends in our backyard pool, and working on home improvement projects.

If I can be of assistance to anyone please feel free to contact me on LinkedIn. I’m very excited to attend my first M conference in October and get to meet all of you!

John

www.linkedin.com/in/johnmoretz

rbw822's picture
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Hello 2021 M participants!
 
I'm Rodney, currently located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where I'm serving as the vice president and chief clinical engineer for medical management at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. We have more than 6,000 employees and serves more than 3.5 million members in the state and across the country.
 
In my role, I'm actively guiding BlueCross' strategic clinical operations to streamline processes and improve member health outcomes. This role also allows me to align technical, clinical, and operational areas with analytics and medical management to achieve optimal efficiency, effectiveness, and service.
 
I recently completed my doctorate this past May 2021 in strategic foresight and innovation at Regent University. So, I'm recovering from doctoral studies PTSD.
 
I'm looking forward to reconnecting with the M group. Improving my network of like-minded fellows is much need at this point in my career.
 
Regards,
Rodney

MattJBeckwith's picture
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Howdy, fellow M Conference attendees. I am very excited to be joining many of you in Chicago next month, expecially after so many amazing sessions of the speaker series!!! I'm really looking forward to learning from you all! I have been been a listener of, and devoted follower of, Manager Tools since the very beginning. I'm proud to have attended the first public M-T conference way back in 2007... where, just like Mark describes, the introductions took hours! (But as a High-I, I loved it!!!!). 

My wife of 28 years and I call the lovely city of Stockton, California home. We successfully deployed two adult daughters into the world and are the grandparents to two adorable grandmunchkins. Aside from loving the work that I do, I also spend a lot of time riding a bike, running, and playing the guitar (not yet simultaneously). 

And here's my bio on the M Conference page, lovingly crafted by Matt Beckwith, who always feels strange writing about himself in the third-person:

Matt is proud to be a Contact Center Geek! Since putting on the headset for the first time as a directory assistance operator over 25 years ago, he has spent his career building and leading customer service and sales call centers in industries such as telecommunications, banking, and health care. His passion for customer experience, technology, leadership, and professional development has led him to his current role leading customer experience and customer contact operations for Clark Pest Control, one of the largest and most successful pest management companies in the US, headquartered in Lodi, California. In 2018 and 2019, Matt was named a top 50 thought leader in the contact center and customer experience space by ICMI and is a regular speaker at industry events. Matt also serves as a steering committee member for the Northern California Contact Center Association.

 

https://linkedin.com/in/matthewbeckwith

[email protected]

209-483-5199

 

 

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Hello, I’ve been a Manager-Tools listener and practitioner since the early days of the podcast, and I’m excited to be attending my first in-person conference.  I bring 20+ years of quality, manufacturing, and operations leadership to the group. 

I’ve been in my current role as a Director of Data Center Availability at Amazon Web Services (AWS) for just over three months, and I also have eleven years of experience with Amazon World-Wide Operations. 

Earlier in my career, I worked for Motorola’s Automotive division from 1999-2010 where I held positions of increasing responsibility at factories that manufactured circuit boards, tested them, and assembled them into completed electronic modules. In addition to leading teams that manufactured some of the first OnStar and Ford SYNC electronic modules at Motorola, I’ve led manufacturing facility expansions in Brazil, China, and Mexico.

After earning my MBA, I joined Amazon in 2010 as a Pathways Operations Manager. I relocated to Virginia in 2012 be part of the team that opened Amazon’s first Virginia-based Fulfillment Center, and in 2014 I was promoted to a site General Manager role. From 2018 to 2021 I led the North America Reliability and Maintenance Engineering team where we were responsible for the availability of conveyance and sortation equipment, robotics, electrical systems, HVAC systems, and all other equipment within the WW Ops. This meant that I had ~13,000 technicians spread across ~1200 sites supporting receipt goods and shipment of customer orders.  It was a big role and a lot of fun. 

I have a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Miami University (Ohio) and an MBA from WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, I live in Midlothian, VA with my wife and children. In my spare time, Greg loves exploring the cities, towns, mountains, beaches, rivers, historical sites, and breweries near Richmond, Virginia.

I am naturally curious and I enjoy asking thought-provoking questions that help me learn how systems interact. I enjoy doing hard things and I am not shy about addressing difficult, intractable problems head-on. I value action over endless-debate. I’m generally optimistic, but when the going gets rough I’ll probably make a sarcastic joke to lighten the mood.

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greggrilliot/

Email: [email protected]

 

gnewby's picture
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Hi. My name is Glynn. Long time MT-er, first time MCon-er.

They say that you are the five people you hang out with most. So, I am joining you this year to level-up my mentors and friends. I am not yet a manager of people so I am personally investing in this event so that I can be ready for when opportunity meets preparation.

I work for SAS in Cary, NC. SAS produces data analytics software used in a variety of data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning applications. I have been in my current role, Manufacturing Industry Marketing Manager, for just over two months. I am primarily responsible for educating my colleagues about the needs and challenges of manufacturing customers, maintaining analyst relations, and providing thought leadership within this space. My current goal is to exemplify the Drucker definition of marketing: To know a customer so well that it makes selling superfluous and it results in a customer who’s ready to buy.

Prior to SAS, my career experience centered in the power distribution and controls space at electrical manufacturers including Siemens, Eaton, General Electric and ABB. My career has spanned functions including R&D, Product Management and Product Marketing. I am proud of the many electrical products I have managed through the years which help distrubute power and protect lives and equipment from harm. I am an Army brat and graduate (mechanical engineering) of UNC Charlotte and Georgia Tech, so I am familiar with discipline, resilience, and overcoming obstacles.

I have the most amazing wife, Leisa. I am lucky to know her, and I hope that you will also get to meet her someday. She is a Chef and creates extraordinary experiences with food. As Mike said about Mark so many years ago, I really do need to help her find a way to share what she has to offer with a broader audience. Our children are Lilyana (9), Pepper (7) and Gabriel (2), and when I’m not spending time with them, you can find me driving a fast car.

 

[email protected]

personal mobile: 404.939.6392

work mobile: 984.400.3347

www.linkedin.com/in/glynnnewby

 

 

jbasden's picture
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Hi Everyone. Looking forward to seeing you all next month. I'm pasting my "official" bio below, which is why it's in the third person :-) Contact info below that.

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Jon Basden is a group vice president in the External Engagement and Corporate Communications Division at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, where he has responsibility for Employee Communications, Creative Services, Technology Services, the Customer Relationship Management Support Office, the Inside the Economy Museum and division business operations.

Jon has worked at the Bank since 2002.He joined the organization as an instructional designer in what was then the Center for Online Learning, which later became the Center for Learning Innovation. Since 2004, Jon’s time at the Bank has included various management roles in the center and related technology and Supervision administrative functions, as well as in the Federal Reserve System’s Treasury Relations and Support Office.  In the TRSO, he had responsibility for marketing and market research programs that the Federal Reserve conducts for the U.S. Treasury and other Federal Reserve business lines that support the Treasury. Jon has also served in temporary assignments as the assistant secretary to the System’s Information Technology Oversight Committee and the facilitator of the Eighth District’s annual strategic planning process. In support of his strategic planning role, Jon is a past participant in the Baldrige Executive Fellows Program.

Prior to joining the Bank, Jon was a public middle and high school teacher and coach. His various assignments included middle school math and technology, high school business and web design, elementary and middle school basketball, and high school wrestling.

Jon spent two years at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point before pursuing his undergraduate degree in education and holds an M.S. in instructional technology and an MBA.

Jon is active in his local community and serves on business school and computer science program advisory boards as McKendree University and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, respectively.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbasden/

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For the stuff that really matters, I'm married with three kids. My wife Liza is a high school chemistry teacher, and my kids are 21, 19, and 16 -- Caitlin, a senior at University of Illinois; Lia, a sophomore at Saint Louis University; and Cole, a junior at Highland High School. For fun I like outdoor and active things -- hiking, running, biking, gardening, yoga -- and finding new music, books, and podcasts.

See you soon!

topher18's picture
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Hi everyone.  I'm looking forward to meeting you all at the conference!  Here's my bio, which did feel odd to write in the third person.

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Chris Myers is the Vice President of Engineering and Operations for USA Firmware, a turnkey engineering and product design services firm with an emphasis on quality firmware in embedded systems and Internet-of-Things (IoT) application development.  Chris’ primary focus is on building scalable processes and systems to support the rapidly growing business.  He is responsible for all operational functions of the business other than sales, including engineering, project intake and delivery, resource allocation, recruiting, and finance.  Chris holds a BSEE degree and has 33 years of professional experience in the engineering field, the last 20 years in management, and has been with USA Firmware for six years.

Chris and his wife, Anne, live in Copley, Ohio and have two grown children.  In his copious spare time, Chris enjoys making his own wine and taking walks in the many beautiful parks of Northeast Ohio.

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