Discovering your pathway to a people-centric culture

Implementing and sustaining a people-centric culture requires articulating a way forward and understanding your role on the journey. Unique conditions within our organizations typically demand unique paths. Fortunately, we have the opportunity to share and learn from a model of cultural change that has a proven track record across many industries.

In this highly interactive session, groups will work together to find clarity around their personal and organizational people-centric leadership journey. Panelists will share experiences, inspire reflection and help attendees to discover key areas of focus. Supporting activities, tools and resources will enhance discovering your pathway to a people-centric culture. Attendees will leave with personalized action plans, shared best practices and a renewed sense of the power of people-centric leadership.

Allan Coletta is senior director of engineering and facilities for Siemens Healthineers Reagent Manufacturing facility in Delaware. He previously served as site manager for ICI’s largest specialty chemicals plant in NA, where he introduced and developed numerous lean systems. Coletta serves on the fiduciary and advisory boards of the Delaware MEP, is a member of AME's Champion's Club, serves on AME's PCL KRA team and is a former member of the DE Chamber of Commerce Board of Manufacturing Managers. He is author of "The Lean 3P Advantage, A Practitioners Guide to the Production Preparation Process,” (2012) and received the 2013 Shingo Prize for Research and Professional Publication. Coletta is a chemical engineer from Northeastern University with significant experience in manufacturing, engineering, technical, and supply chain operations. 

Carlene Frimer is a learning and development manager/coach at Libro Credit Union, one of the largest credit unions in Ontario, Canada. Her purpose is to grow prosperity in southwestern Ontario by transforming banking, using innovation and continuous improvement methodologies to drive customer value. Frimer holds a lean black belt (Lean Sensei International) and has developed white belt, blue belt and yellow belt programs for Libro – which won the 2019 National Credit Union Learning Excellence Award for its Lean at Libro program. A skilled facilitator, learning designer and coach, she has delivered PCL workshops at companies, and recently at the Michigan Lean Consortium annual conference. 

Cindy Hinds is the director of enterprise excellence at A.O. Smith Corporation. She began as a process engineer for a major aluminum company in 1997, where she was introduced to lean tools. She continued to work in smelting for nine years with a focus on teaching and implementing lean in the U.S., Canada, Norway, Iceland and Brazil. She joined A.O. Smith in 2006 as continuous improvement manager and later accepted a role that found her stationed overseas teaching lean thinking at the company's operations in India and China. When A. O. Smith decided to adopt an enterprise approach to implementing lean tools and thinking, she strategically orchestrate the effort. Hinds holds a BSc in chemical engineering, an MBA and is a certified professional coach. She is a member of AME's Champion’s Club and volunteers on AME’s PCL coaching curriculum development team. 

Marc Kuzik is a professional engineer who leads the enterprise-wide lean journey towards excellence at Argus Machine located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  Argus shifted away from a lean tools only approach and now architects its lean thinking strategy and implementation around a people-centric culture supported by the appropriate lean tools. Prior to Argus, Kuzik helped develop problem-solving skills in thousands of engineering students while lecturing in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Alberta. He is an active member of AME's Champion’s Club and serves on AME’s PCL curriculum development team. 

Lisa Weis is the lean program director for DEMEP. She is a people-centric, lean/continuous improvement expert, with 24+ years of success in helping hundreds of public and private organizations achieve their vision and meet their strategic goals by engaging people, implementing enterprise excellence and inspiring innovation. She was part of the core team that developed the national lean initiative to help small to medium-sized manufacturers become more globally competitive as part of the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). Weis is the lead for curriculum development for AME's PCL initiative. She is a member of the AME Mid-Atlantic board and an AME Excellence Award assessor. She has a BSc degree in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware.