How to Handle Trade-Offs Between Quality, Safety and Costs especially in the Context of a Post-COVID Recession?

Dr. Nick Vyas is a known practitioner in operations management and organizational excellence by applying Blended Quality Management, AI, ML, RPA, Blockchain, and Data Analytics. Vyas received his Doctor of Education from the University of Southern California, with his published dissertation on Conceptualization of Higher Education Excellence System (HEES): Use of Advanced Data Analytics and Blended Quality Management. A Subject Matter Expert (SME) in End-to-End Global Supply Chain Management, Dr. Vyas has led cultural and business transformation for fortune 100 companies. He implemented breakthrough process improvements for over 500 projects that have transformed businesses for clients in the field of health care, service, government, retail, and end-to-end supply chain, focusing on procurement, sourcing, IT, distribution, logistics, and transportation.

As the founding Executive Director of USC Marshall’s Center for Global Supply Chain Management (GSCM), MS in GSCM, and as an Associate Professor, educating the next generation of business leaders. Nick was recognized as a “Supply Chain Leader of the Year” for the APICS Excellence Awards and the Golden Apple Award for teaching excellence.  He is a fellow for the American Society for Quality (ASQ) and serves as a chair-elect for Lean Enterprise Division.

A versatile Supply Chain Executive with over 16 years’ progressive experience managing international strategic projects and teams at Saint-Gobain. As a results oriented strategic thinker, Gonzalo currently holds the role of Director of Supply Chain at CertainTeed Insulation North America, managing 160 people and a budget of $60M, reporting to the Group’s General Manager and serving as a member of the Executive team. During his tenure at Saint-Gobain, he has lived and worked internationally in France, UK, Morocco, Spain and North America leading projects involving customer service, S&OP, process improvement and implementing SAP. He has a successful track record of leading complex mergers and acquisitions, managing world-class supply chain programs, and providing financial management. Fluent in three languages, English/Spanish/French, Gonzalo is a proven leader, with a demonstrated ability to manage people as well as processes.

In addition to supply chain, he has managed finance, Audit and IT projects across multinational boundaries. Representative accomplishments include:
• Defined a new Value Proposition and executed an improvement program leading to customer service improvement (CSI from 92% to 96%), $15M annual profit increase and 15 days of working inventory reduction.
• Successful implementation of a new S&OP process for tactical planning ensuring the alignment of Sales & Marketing, Planning, Production, WH and Transportation.
• With a specific focus on Customer Service streamlined communication between Supply Chain, Sales and the Customer. • Implemented cost improvement through product simplification, regional freight bidding, external warehousing and other outsourced services reductions. • Implemented of SAP ERP including APO and MRP as well as QlikView for reporting.
• Won Supply Chain Award for best 2019 Saint-Gobain’s worldwide business improver.
• Instrumental in improving CertainTeed’s IG operating profit from - $43M in 2017 to +$30M in 2019. He graduated from Universidad Autonoma de Madrid in Madrid Spain with the equivalent of a Master’s Degree in Business Administration.

Throughout his career, Gonzalo has been known for getting the job done and making things happen to the betterment of the companies he has served. As a strong team player and contributor, he gained a reputation for dependability and technical savvy, and for bringing extraordinary value to his positions.

Connie is the Vice President of Business Excellence for Greenfield Global, a leading producer and supplier of high-value, mission-critical raw materials, ingredients, and additives that are vital to businesses and integral to a lower-carbon economy. Connie is responsible for creating and implementing long-term integrated business improvement and technology projects. She leads multiple teams that will collectively and collaboratively deliver an enterprise-wide transformation program. This includes enterprise software selection projects, multi-year ERP and other technology implementations, foundational projects, business optimization, and continuous improvement projects. As Vice President of Business Excellence Connie is accountable for developing and leading a center of excellence to provide advanced leadership, training and support for optimizing the business, resolving complex business issues and driving continuous improvement/ learning across the organization. Connie is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Ottawa University. She has received a Black Belt certification in Lean.