Logan, Utah, April 4, 2024 — The Shingo Institute, a program in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, proudly announces the continuation of the esteemed Shingo Rising Star Award. Now in its second year, this accolade spotlights emerging leaders in organizational excellence.
Building upon the success of last year's debut, the Shingo Institute will honor eight outstanding recipients at the upcoming 36th Annual Shingo Conference Awards Gala, to be held on May 9-10, 2024, in Orlando, Florida. This year’s recipients, Lacey Garner, Scott Shurtliff, Heidi Marquardt, Pedro Jimenez, Adolfo Amador, Marshall Hooper, Javier González, and Hannah Xu were selected for their exemplary dedication and contributions to Lean principles. They embody the spirit of excellence and innovation in their respective organizations.
“The Shingo Rising Star award is a new recognition that highlights individuals who, though early in their careers as organizational excellence professionals, have already made significant contributions to the Lean community,” said Ken Snyder, executive director of the Institute. “The recipients have shown their dedication to Lean principles as they significantly impact their organizations in a variety of ways by advocating the Shingo Model and the mission of the Shingo Institute. We look forward to recognizing the Shingo Institute’s Rising Stars at this year’s Shingo Conference.”
The Shingo Conference, renowned as a premier event in the operational excellence community, will offer attendees unparalleled opportunities for learning, networking, and professional development. This year's agenda features engaging keynotes, interactive breakout sessions, and optional pre-conference workshops and company tours.
To learn more about the 36th Annual Shingo Conference and the Shingo Rising Star Award, please visit https://shingo.org/events.
About the Shingo Rising Star Recipients
Lacey Garner serves as a Modeling Leader within the Global Modeling and Implementation Team, bringing 18 years of expertise in the cloud-based technology space, focusing on powersports, retail, and consumer packaged goods industries. She played a pivotal role in leading the architectural design and development of complete excellence at Circana. As the inaugural system owner for continuous improvement, Lacey spearheaded efforts to implement and optimize complete excellence, Circana's engine for fostering a culture of sustainable operational excellence, guided by principles and insights from the Shingo model. In her current role, Lacey is responsible for developing and executing the strategy for a team of modelers she oversees in the US and India. This dedicated team implements changes and performs maintenance on our clients' models.
Lacey holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from Western Governor's University and an associate degree in music education from Brigham Young University – Idaho.
Lacey lives in Meridian, ID, with her husband, Scott, and their youngest daughter. They enjoy spending time together visiting their two older children, who are married and live with their spouses nearby. Lacey actively participates as a cellist in the musical group Millennial Choirs and Orchestras, known for their performances during the Easter and Christmas seasons with locales in six states.
Scott Shurtliff is the Executive Vice President of Global Retail Client Service at Circana. He is a Global Operations senior leadership team member with 20+ years of experience in Operations Leadership, Strategy, and Finance. In his current role, Scott leads a global operator team that supports Circana's retail clients to deliver technology, data, and analytics services. He also oversees Circana's global efforts to promote a culture of sustainable operational excellence through the application of the Shingo Model. Scott is passionate about developing high-performing leaders and building a culture centered on creating customer value and driving continuous improvement.
Prior to working at Circana, Scott held operations leadership positions at the hospital revenue cycle provider R1 RCM and worked in corporate strategy at Aon. Scott holds a master's in business administration from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and a bachelor's degree in accounting from Brigham Young University.
Scott lives in Chicago, IL, with his wife Liesl, their four children, and two cats. He loves playing ultimate frisbee and cheering for the Chicago White Sox.
Pedro Jimenez serves as the operational excellence manager for Spirax Sarco in the United States. He is an experienced manufacturing director with a proven track record in the mechanical and industrial engineering industry. Pedro is skilled in operations management, innovation development, Lean thinking, strategic vision, and analytics. He is a strong operations professional with a focus on international exchange programs, having completed his studies in Economics at the Université de Rennes 1.
Heidi Marquardt is the Sustainability Manager at Curries / ASSA ABLOY in Mason City, Iowa. While researching how to sustain continuous improvement efforts at this door and frame manufacturer, Heidi discovered the Shingo Model and the impact it can have when embraced by an organization. Throughout her career with renowned companies like General Motors, Motorola, and ASSA ABLOY, Heidi has always recognized the profound impact that company culture has on employee satisfaction and performance. She appreciates what the Shingo Model offers related to culture and the refreshing perspective on achieving excellence.
As an industrial engineer from Iowa State University, Heidi recognizes the significance of ergonomics in optimizing performance. She finds it truly fascinating to discover the parallel impact that human behaviors have on performance, which she enjoys learning about and practicing through the Shingo Model.
Marshall Hooper is the Director of People & Culture at Bullfrog Spas, an industry-leading manufacturer of hot tubs and swim spas, where he leads the human resources, safety, training, and continuous improvement teams. Marshall has nearly 20 years of experience in manufacturing and continuous improvement, with 12 years in people operations. He was first introduced to continuous improvement at US Synthetic, a Shingo Prize recipient organization, where he grew in roles in production, training, continuous improvement, and HR during the initial transformative years of the company's Lean journey.
In his six years at Bullfrog Spas, Marshall has been instrumental in driving toward a culture of continuous improvement and creating a workplace where people love to come to work because they are treated with respect, aligned to common objectives, and engaged. He has helped teams implement continuous improvement principles across all departments to see and solve problems everywhere, every day.
In the last couple of years, Bullfrog Spas has hosted several Shingo workshops and tours and presented at the annual conference in 2023.
Marshall earned his degree in Behavioral Science from Utah Valley University and holds a Master of Science in Human Resources Development from Villanova University. He is also a Shingo Alumni.
Adolfo Amador González brings over a decade of expertise to his role as Operational Excellence Manager at ICU Medical Costa Rica, where he has honed his skills in the intricate realm of medical device manufacturing. With a solid foundation in quality systems rooted in FDA QSR and ISO-13485 requirements, Adolfo has dedicated the past six years to cultivating operational excellence aligned with the Shingo Model. He champions a culture of continuous improvement, leveraging his passion for statistical data analysis and Lean manufacturing principles to drive transformative change. Adolfo's unwavering commitment to nurturing talent and fostering organizational growth underscores his role as a change agent, adept at harmonizing regulatory compliance with the pursuit of operational excellence.
Javier Gonzalez serves as the Managing Director at Grupo PXS. He has been involved in certifying over 500 professionals in quality, green belt, black belt, and Lean across the Central American region. With a decade of experience in public and multinational companies, Javier has worked in diverse industries such as medical devices, food, low and high technology, and finance. He has held positions as production supervisor, executive director, director of operations, consultant, and instructor. Javier is an American Society for Quality (ASQ) member and holds certifications such as CSSGB, CSSBB, and CMQ/OE. He is also an expert in systematic innovation and facilitates lateral thinking and methodology.
Hannah Xu is currently the leader of the business excellence office at Abbott Rapid and Molecular Diagnostics manufacturing site in Hangzhou, China. In this role, Hannah is responsible for advancing strategic initiatives by promoting a site-wide continuous improvement culture and ensuring systems and tools are deployed where needed. Hannah engages operational excellence pioneers across all functions within the company to foster a sustainable, people-based culture foundation. Using her mechanical engineering background and experiences in manufacturing and quality to drive efficiencies, Hannah and her team actively explore pathways to smart manufacturing while ensuring daily improvement activities continue to serve as a solid foundation. Hannah first learned about and started applying the Shingo Model when working at Abbott Nutrition. She is on her path to becoming a Shingo Alumni.
About the Shingo Institute
The Shingo Institute is home of the Shingo Prize, an award that recognizes organizations that demonstrate an exceptional culture that fosters continuous improvement. A program in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, the Shingo Institute is named after Japanese industrial engineer and Toyota adviser, Shigeo Shingo. Dr. Shingo distinguished himself as one of the world’s thought leaders in concepts, management systems, and improvement techniques that have become known as the Toyota Production System.
Drawing from Dr. Shingo’s teachings and years of experience working with organizations worldwide, the Shingo Institute developed the Shingo Model, which is the basis for its several educational offerings, including workshops, webinars, podcasts, study tours, and conferences. Workshops are available in multiple languages through the Institute’s licensed affiliates. For more information on workshops and affiliates, or to register to attend the Annual Shingo Conference, please visit www.shingo.org.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Mary Price, Events and Marketing Director
Shingo Institute
Phone: +1.435.760.0711
Email: mary.price@usu.edu
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