Logan, Utah, May 8, 2023 — The Shingo Institute, a program in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, and the Shingo Executive Advisory Board are pleased to announce the Shingo Rising Star award, a new recognition category for developing organizational excellence professionals.
Five Shingo Rising Star recipients—Marianela Alfaro, Amayas Benkaroun, Virginia Cosgriff, William Fookes, and Carlos Scholz—will be presented their award at the 35th Annual Shingo Conference Awards Gala in Provo, Utah, USA, on May 23, 2023.
“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 first Rising Stars at this year’s 35th Annual Shingo Conference.”
Recipients of the Shingo Rising Star award will be recognized during the Shingo Institute’s Awards Gala at the 35th Annual Shingo Conference held on May 23-24, 2023, in Provo, Utah, USA. The annual conference is designed to provide ongoing knowledge, insights, and experience for organizations in their pursuit of operational excellence. The conference will feature keynotes and interactive breakout sessions. Attendees will also have the option to add pre- and post-conference workshops and company tours to their agenda. To learn more about the event, please visit https://shingo.org/events.
About the Shingo Rising Star Recipients
Marianela Alfaro, operational excellence leader at Hologic Costa Rica, has developed the strategic and implementation path of operational excellence at Hologic. In the past four years, Marianela has guided Hologic Costa Rica in its operational excellence pursuits, hosted many Shingo workshops, and been a part of many internal and external operational excellence evaluations. Also, she recently began implementing the Shingo Model in other Hologic facilities.
Marianela has more than 12 years of experience implementing cultural change in organizations and developing tools and systems that help organizations achieve their goals and create sustainable cultural change. She is well-versed in Lean and has a Six Sigma ASQ Black Belt certification, but her knowledge goes beyond the theoretical field. She has put her knowledge into practice by implementing improvement projects and strategies at Hologic, where she has not only helped develop tools and systems but has also helped create a culture based on behaviors and principles.
Marianela is a Shingo Alumni and recently became a Shingo Prize examiner.
Amayas Benkaroun is currently the head of operational excellence for Ipsen specialty care manufacturing sites. Ipsen is a global specialty-driven biopharmaceutical company focusing on oncology, rare diseases, and neurosciences. Mr. Benkaroun is responsible for leading the culture of excellence using the Shingo Model.
Mr. Benkaroun was also the operational excellence leader of the Ipsen Pharma Biotech site in Signes, France, which received the Shingo Prize in February 2020. He has more than 15 years of Lean Six Sigma and management experience in automotive, process, and pharmaceutical sectors located in many countries.
Mr. Benkaroun earned a master’s degree in industrial engineering from Arts et Métiers ParisTech and is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt. He also teaches a statistics course for university students in medicine.
Virginia Cosgriff: Using her industrial engineering background to drive efficiencies, Virginia Cosgriff has been implementing Lean, cultural change, and operational excellence since 2011. She has challenged herself by focusing on non-manufacturing industries, where she has worked to translate Lean concepts to new applications, such as operating room departments, patient care units, hospice, emergency departments, insurance verification, and aspects in the construction industry. Virginia has worked for Bozeman Deaconess Hospital, Mayo Clinic, HealthEast Care System, MHealth Fairview, and currently works for McGough as a general contractor. She has progressed from coaching frontline teams to senior leaders, guiding organizations through their operational excellence journey. Recently, Virginia helped develop the first national Lean construction practitioner certification as a subject-matter expert. She first learned about and started applying the Shingo Model in 2013 and became a Shingo Prize examiner in 2022.
William Fookes is a partner at McKinsey & Company, which is based in Santiago, Chile. His office leads the organizational excellence efforts in Latin America. William has been a Lean advocate and ambassador for more than 15 years as he has led major organizations in beginning and consolidating their organizational excellence journey.
Prior to his role at McKinsey & Company, William led a boutique consultancy firm in his home country of Venezuela, where he helped many mid-size organizations adopt Lean practices. His efforts allowed these organizations to compete with the big players. William’s passion for organizational excellence brought him back to his home university for five years where he was a lecturer on Lean philosophy.
Currently, William is a trusted advisor to CEOs and COOs of major organizations in Latin America that are following the path toward organizational excellence. He has guided some of these organizations in achieving Shingo award recognition.
Carlos Scholz
Carlos Scholz is the director of medicine specialties at the Permanente Medical Group in the Sacramento, California, metro area. In this role, Carlos is responsible for advancing strategic initiatives and managing operations for several medicine specialties operations. Prior to this role, he was a performance improvement director overseeing the successful deployment and maturity of the “North Valley Way,” the organization’s Lean management system, which is based on the Shingo Guiding Principles.
Carlos brings more than 19 years of experience in international operations management, organizational transformation, and Lean management. Prior to joining the Permanente Medical Group, he was AVP of organizational innovation at NYC Health + Hospitals. Carlos also worked in the manufacturing industry at Hanesbrands, Inc. and D’Addario & Company, Inc., where he held progressive leadership roles and had the opportunity to launch system-wide Lean transformations.
Carlos holds an undergraduate degree in industrial and systems engineering from IEST Anahuac in Mexico and an executive master’s degree in healthcare leadership from Brown University.
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.
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