Hermann Ortega, VP, Integrated Supply Chain, Honeywell Specialty Materials

Hermann is VP of the Integrated Supply Chain for Honeywell International, Specialty Materials Division with global responsibility for Operations, Engineering and Safety Health and Environmental. The scope of this position includes $7.5 billion in assets, 42 plants in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia and 7,000 people in the organization.

Tom Archibald, Vice President, Director of Engineering and Operations, Rohm and Haas Company

Tom Archibald joined Rohm and Haas in 1972 as a Development Engineer in the Louisville Plant. He remained at the plant until 1981, holding positions of increasing responsibility, including Development Group Leader, Process Technologist, and Assistant Area Manager.

In 1982, Mr. Archibald moved to the Bayport Plant to assume the position of Manufacturing Manager. Three years later he was named Operations Director for the Latin American Region. In 1988, he became Manager of Process Engineering at the Engineering Division in Bristol, Pennsylvania. He returned to Louisville in 1990 when he was promoted to the position of Plant Manager.

Elected a Vice President in 1997, Mr. Archibald was named Director of Engineering and Manufacturing at that time. In 1999, Mr. Archibald was named the Director of Engineering and Operations.

Mr. Archibald earned a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Northeastern University in 1972.

Jim Porter, ChEng and VP Engineering & Operations, DuPont (Retired)

James B. Porter joined DuPont in 1966 as a chemical engineer in the Engineering Services Division (ESD). In 1972, he was reassigned to the Engineering Test Center as supervisor of the chemical engineering test group; in 1979 he became field manager at Chambers Works Construction. Throughout the 1980's he held various managerial positions. In 1990, Porter became Director of Engineering Operations; in 1995 he assumed the position of Vice Chairman of the DuPont Corporate Operations Network.

Porter was named Vice President of Engineering in 1996 and assumed his present position in 1999.

In 2000, he served as Chair for the Construction Industry Institute (CII) and Delaware's United Negro College Fund. He participates on various industry advisory boards, including AIChE's Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) and the University of Tennessee's College of Engineering Board of Advisors.

Porter received a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tennessee in 1965.

Thomas H Strang, VP of Manufacturing Excellence, Hercules, Inc.

Mr. Strang began his career with Hercules in 1982 and has held various management positions in engineering, maintenance and operations at major Hercules manufacturing facilities, including Hopewell, MCW and Brunswick. From 1996 to 1998, he served as MCW Plant Manager and from 1998 to 2003 was Plant Manager at Brunswick. Mr. Strang has participated on numerous teams that resulted in significant injury reduction and performance optimization projects being developed and successfully implemented at Hercules facilities.

In 2002, Mr. Strang was appointed Director, Supply Chain for FiberVisions and Pinova. He assumed his current position on January 1, 2004.

Prior to joining Hercules, Mr. Strang held engineering and production positions at Monsanto, International Harvester Truck and Borg Warner.

Deborah L Grubbe, PE, Vice President - Safety Change Management, BP Refining

Deborah Grubbe is Vice President - Safety Change Management for BP Refining, where she is on assignment to lead the effort on safety culture change in BP's US refineries. Before her employment by BP as VP of Group Safety, Deborah was employed by DuPont in Wilmington, Del., where she held corporate director positions in safety, operations and engineering. She currently serves on the NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, and was a consultant to the Columbia Shuttle Accident Investigation Board. She is the Past Chair of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Visiting Committee, and served on the oversight committee for the Demilitarization of the US Chemical Weapons Stockpile. Deborah is also an Advisory Board Member for the Center for Chemical Process Safety. Deborah graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering with Highest Distinction from Purdue University. She received a Winston Churchill Fellowship to attend Cambridge University in England, where she received a Certificate of Post-Graduate Study in Chemical Engineering. She is a registered professional engineer, enjoys water skiing, and is married to James B. Porter, Jr., of Chadds Ford, Pa.

Ken Eickmann, Lt. Gen. USAF (Ret.), Senior Research Fellow, Energy Institute , University of Texas

Ken Eickmann is a Senior Research Fellow for the Energy Institute at the University of Texas. He recently chaired three committees for the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council focused on how to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign sources of fuel. He has also served as the Director of the Construction Industry Institute (CII), a national forum for construction research, where he led a collaborative effort by engineering and construction owners, contractors, and academia to improve one of the nation's largest industries. As CII Director, he guided more than 700 individuals from the Institute's 100 member companies in research projects involving more than 30 of the nation's top universities.

Prior to joining CII, Eickmann (Lt. Gen., USAF, Retired) completed a distinguished and highly decorated 31-year career in the U.S. Air Force. His last assignment on active duty was Commander, Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, where he led the nation's largest center of excellence for research, development, and acquisition of aircraft, aeronautical equipment, and munitions. In that capacity he managed more than 2,800 programs, executed an annual budget of more than $11 billion, and employed a work force of approximately 12,000 at 35 locations worldwide.

Eickmann is a Registered Professional Engineer and a Certified Acquisition Professional in Acquisition Logistics, Program Management and Systems Planning, Research, Development, and Engineering. He also is a recognized expert in propulsion technology and has published several papers in technical journals in the U.S. and overseas. Eickmann also is a member of the faculty at UT Austin. He holds a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from UT Austin, a master's degree in Systems Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology, and is a graduate of both the University of Michigan School of Business and the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Laurie Bassi, PhD, CEO, McBassi & Company

Dr. Laurie Bassi is the CEO and a co-founder of McBassi & Company. She is also Chair of the Board at Bassi Investments, Inc.

Laurie is one of the world's leading authorities on the emerging "decision-science" of human capital management-the processes and practices within an organization that align the management and development of employees with its business results. She loves working with clients to help them improve organizational performance through targeted, effective strategies for managing and developing their people.

She has overseen the development of McBassi's Human Capital Capability Scorecard, a powerful tool for pinpointing and improving the unique people-related drivers of an organization's business results.

Prior to launching McBassi & Company, Laurie served as the director of research for Saba Software and as vice president at the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD). While at ASTD, she created internationally recognized standards for measuring and valuing firms' investments in education and training, and a core set of quantitative indicators for measuring the effectiveness of knowledge management initiatives. She has also served as the director of several U.S. government commissions, and a co-chair of the National Academy of Sciences' Board on Testing and Assessment. The early years of Laurie's career were spent as a tenured professor of economics and public policy at Georgetown University.

Laurie has authored over 60 published papers and books, and is a sought-after speaker both domestically and internationally.

She holds a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University, a M.S. in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University, and a B.S. in mathematics from Illinois State University.

BJ Stephan, Site Leader, INEOS NOVA LLC

B.J. Stephan has dedicated his career to the protection of human health and the environment. He has been instrumental in migrating the issue of sustainability as an independent “matter of concern” to the core value proposition in the strategic, long-term plans of organizations across the world.

Growing up in Pittsburgh (once the heart of the world’s steel industry), B.J. personally experienced the effects of business models, which did not adequately consider the impact of human resources, the environment, or social responsibility on financial returns or shareholder confidence. His extensive experience in weaving sustainable practices, and engineered teams into business strategies resulted in an international career leading functional areas for mergers and acquisitions of Fortune 500 companies. With roles throughout North America and Europe, B.J. brings an international perspective on the need for diversity in engineered teams. Having worked in the Federal Government, Consulting, and Industrial sectors, B.J. has been accountable for a variety of functions including safety/health/environment, risk management, customer service, reliability, operations, and supply chain.

With 20-years of experience, he is currently the Site Leader for the Ineos-NOVA Springfield Massachusetts Plant. B.J. earned a BS in Geology from The University of Pittsburgh, an MS in Hydrology from Ohio University, and an MBA from Bay Path College. He also holds an SPHR – (Senior Professional in Human Resources) from The Society for Human Resource Management and is a licensed Professional Geologist in Pennsylvania.

Richard B Pettigrew, Principal, AURA, LLC

Dick Pettigrew is a former Director of Asset Management Services for Rohm and Haas Company - a $6 billion manufacturer of specialty chemicals. His career at Rohm and Haas included Process Engineering Management, Project Engineering Management, and Maintenance Management. As Director - Asset Management Services, he managed a group of internal consultants which provided reliability, process consistency, work force practices, and technology deployment services to four businesses and more than 100 facilities world-wide.

Paul Casto, Manager of Reliability Technology, Eastman Chemical Company

Paul R. Casto CRE, CQE, CSSBB, CMRP is a leader in the application of reliability and maintenance improvement methodologies in the manufacturing and service businesses with experience in reliability, maintenance, operations and engineering in the steel, aluminum, automotive, chemical, aerospace, consumer goods and construction industries. His current areas of focus include: value creation through reliability and maintenance, application of advanced reliability tools, leading maintenance work processes, applying six sigma to reliability, reliability based operations and maintenance and design for reliability.

Paul holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from West Virginia University, a Masters in Engineering Management from Marshall University Graduate College, an MBA from Clemson University, a Masters in Maintenance Management and Reliability Engineering from the UT/Monash University program and is pursuing a PhD at the University of Tennessee. Paul is an ASQ certified Six Sigma Black Belt, holds ASQ certification in Reliability Engineering and Quality Engineering and is a SMRP Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional. He serves on the University of Tennessee's Maintenance and Reliability Center's advisory board and is an active member in IEEE.

Harold Pitchford, Manager, Total Quality & Training, DSM Chemicals North America Inc

Harold's background is production; he's worked as an operator, senior relief operator, shift supervisor and production supervisor from 1973 until 2001. Pitchford assumed the role of Manager, Total Quality and Training in 2001; he maintains the internal audit programs, ensures compliance to ISO 9001:2000, is DCNA's QMS Management Representative and works with all departments in continual improvement initiatives. He's is a certified ISO Auditor, TPM Practitioner and a certified RC14001/RCMS Auditor.

Harold has been married to Susan since 1972; they have 3 sons - Jeremy, Kevin and Brandon.

Paige Walden, Six Sigma Leader, DSM Chemicals North America Inc

Paige Walden's background is in Chemistry; she has served as Trouble Shooting and Environmental Control Chemist Supervisor for 9 years. Walden earned a BS in Chemistry from Augusta State University in 1991 and an MS in Analytical Chemistry from Illinois Institute of Technology in 2005. She's been committed to continuous improvement throughout her career, has served as a certified ISO 9000 lead auditor and earned a Black Belt from Shaw Industries in 2005. Recognizing the value of the methodology, Paige led the campaign to implement Six Sigma at DSM Chemicals, NA where she currently serves as Six Sigma Deployment Leader. Paige has trained Green Belts for this location and other DSM entities since 2006 and Black Belts since 2008. She earned ASQ certification as a Six Sigma Black Belt in 2007 and presented DSM's non-traditional approach to Six Sigma implementation at the 2008 International Lean & Six Sigma Conference in Orlando.

Paige has been married to Scott for 17 years; they have a 12 year old daughter, Megan.

John Voeller, ASME White House Fellow and CTO, CKO, SVP, Black & Veatch

John G. Voeller, ASME White House Fellow and CTO, CKO, SVP, Black & Veatch