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Lean Accounting Summit Presenters
The Lean Accounting Summit has a reputation of drawing the world's most recognized lean and lean accounting thought-leaders.

Bruce Baggaley

Bruce Baggaley, Senior Partner, BMA, Inc., specializes in the development and implementation of management processes that incorporate Lean Accounting and lean performance management systems. His functional expertise includes the development of management information for operational and financial planning and control, in implementing financial accounting control systems, and in applying activity-based management principles to reengineering operating processes. He has extensive experience in aerospace and defense, public utility, telecommunications, semiconductor manufacturing and service industries. Prior to forming his own firm Mr. Baggaley was a Accounting and Audit partner at KPMG responsible for strategic planning for the firm and a managing associate in the management controls consulting practice of Coopers & Lybrand in New York, and was a Professional Accounting Fellow at the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Mr. Baggaley received an AB in Economics from Dartmouth College and an MBA in Finance from Columbia University Graduate School of Business, where he was a member Beta Gamma Sigma honorary society and is a Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Baggaley is a frequent speaker on lean accounting and the management of lean companies and is co-author of the book Practical Lean Accounting about implementing Lean Accounting.

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Frank Celmer

Frank Celmer is the controller for TC Industries, Inc. in Crystal Lake, Illinois.  Since 2005 Frank has helped spearhead his company’s Lean journey and serves on several Lean steering committees.  He holds “Accounting for Lean” seminars for local and national companies and also collaborates with a lean manufacturing consultant to promote the early involvement and integration of accounting into the Lean process.  Frank had the privilege to help organize and present TC Industries as a 2007 tour site for the AME Conference last October.  

Frank also serves as an instructor at Judson University and McHenry County College in the Business and Accounting departments.  Frank holds a MBA with a certificate in Project Management and was featured in the April 2007 issue of “Lean Accounting News.”

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David Cochran, Ph.D.

Dr. David S. Cochran is the founder of System Design, LLC (2003). He was on the Mechanical Engineering faculty at MIT from (1995-2003). He established the Production System Design (PSD) Laboratory at MIT (1995) and his company (2003) to advance the science of system design and integrated performance measurement which provides a roadmap for advancement beyond the success of “lean” and the Toyota Production System. He is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Shingo Prize (2002 and 1989) for manufacturing excellence for his work in the design of “lean” systems. He received the Dudley Prize for best paper from the International Journal of Production Research in 2000 for his work to integrate system design theory. A special issue of the Journal of Manufacturing Systems (v. 20, No. 6 2001/2002) highlights his work in developing the MSDD (Manufacturing System Design Decomposition) and case study research with the Automotive and Aerospace industries.

Dr. Cochran has developed the Collective System Design (CSD) methodology for advancement beyond the results achieved with lean and six-sigma (while not replacing the fundamentals of lean or six-sigma). CSD codifies the leadership and technical principles that bring success to companies like Toyota, Honda, GE and Southwest airlines through a language for system design. It integrates change leadership through dialogue, a diagnosis to design process to identify and resolve problems, principles for designing effective systems, a language for system design and tools to take thinking from structure to action in many applications including government, industry, service and cross-sector systems in scope.

Dr. Cochran is facilitating system design change with major Aerospace, Automotive and Consumer Products companies. His work is presently focused on the Collective System Design of enterprise, and integrated product design and delivery systems with THAAD, Lockheed Martin, Visteon and Hewlett Packard.

Dr. Cochran has consulted Lockheed Martin (F-22, JSF, Space Systems, Missiles and Fire Control: PAC-3), NASA, Visteon Automotive (6 divisions including Electronics, Plastics, Climate Control, Glass, and Chassis components), Robert Bosch Corp.(2 divisions: AB and AP), Ford Motor Company, Dell Computer, and Kinetic Systems. Prior to joining MIT, he worked for Ford Motor Company (Electronics and Automotive Components Division), Lord Aerospace and the US Army Corps of Engineers, Systems Engineering Division.

Dr. Cochran is adjunct faculty at Meijo University in Nagoya, Japan in the Production Engineering - Management Program and is guest lecturer to the Production Engineering Institute (TUT), Tampere, Finland. He is a Board Member of the Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership and is affiliated with the Society of Organizational Learning founded at MIT. Dr. Cochran received his Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Auburn University and M.Sc. in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University.

For articles by Dr. Cochran and more information click here

Learn more about Dr. Cochran's Cost Management and Lean System Design Simulation bonus event on day 2 of the seminar

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Robin Cooper

Professor Robin Cooper has been a faculty member at the Goizueta Business School at Emory University since 1997. Prior to that he held positions at the Drucker School of Management, Claremont Graduate University (1992-1997) and the Harvard Business School, Harvard University (1982-1992). Professor Cooper’s major research interest is the strategic use of cost information. His current research focuses on how firms can use cost information to create competitive advantages. He is a specialist in the design and implementation of activity-based cost management systems and has studied Japanese cost management practices extensively. He currently teaches Strategic Cost Management in the MBA and Executive MBA programs at Goizueta.

In 1990, Cooper was the recipient of the first “Innovations in Accounting Education Award” presented by the American Accounting Association in recognition of his course development efforts in product costing. In 1991 and 1993, he was the recipient of the Notable Contributions to Management Accounting Literature presented by the Management Accounting Section of the American Accounting Association. In 2002, he was awarded the R. Lee Brummet Distinguished Service Award for Educators presented by the Institute of Management Accountants.

In his Japanese research, Cooper studied the cost management systems of over 30 Japanese firms. The first output of that project was a book titled When Lean Enterprises Collide: Competing under Confrontation (Harvard Business School Press, 1995). The next two outputs were Target Costing and Value Engineering and Supply Chain Development for the Lean Enterprise (both co-authored with Regine Slagmulder and published by Productivity Press (1997 and 1999 respectively). The final output of the project was Cost management in a Confrontation Strategy: Lessons from Japan (Harvard Business School Publishing, 1994), a customizable case book.

In his activity-based cost management research, Cooper studied the implications of the more accurate cost information they provided compared to their traditional counterparts on firm strategy and the development of competitive advantage. The first output of this research was Implementing Activity-Based Cost Management: Moving from Analysis to Action (co-authored with Robert S. Kaplan, Lawrence S. Maizel, Eileen Morissey, and Ronald M. Oem published by the Institute of Management Accountants in 1992). The second output was Design of Cost Management systems: Text and cases (co-authored with Robert S. Kaplan and published by Prentice Hall (first edition 1992 and second edition 1999). The third output was Cost and Effect (co-authored with Robert S. Kaplan and published by Harvard Business School Press in 1997).

Cooper is a regular contributor to several journals including; Advances in Management Accounting, The Journal of Cost management, International Journal of Production Economics, Strategic Finance (previously Management Accounting (US)), Strategic Management (previously Management Accounting (UK), Accounting Horizons, and Accounting (Japan). He has had six articles published in the Harvard Business Review and two in the Sloan Management Review.

Cooper received his BDA from Harvard in 1982 and his MBA in 1977. He was a Baker Scholar. Cooper was a recipient of the Deloitte, Haskins, and Sells Foundation Fellowship and an ITT international Fellowship. He was awarded an Honorary Ph.D. from the University of Gent in Belgium in 1996. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. A native of England, Cooper received hi B.Sc. in Chemistry with first-class honors form Manchester University in 1972.

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Jean Cunningham

Jean Cunningham, founder of Jean Cunningham Consulting (JCC), is internationally recognized as a pioneer in the Lean Accounting field.  In addition to an extensive speaking schedule, Jean also currently serves as the CFO of the Association of Manufacturing Excellence as well as the CFO for Stiles Associates, an executive retain search firm focusing on Lean and Six Sigma.

Jean is the co-author of the acclaimed book, Real Numbers: Management Accounting in a Lean Organization, an essential text for learning Lean Accounting.  She has also recently co-authored another book, Easier, Simpler, Faster – a book about Lean and Information Systems.  Both books have been awarded the Shingo Prize, which Newsweek magazine referred to as the “Nobel Prize of Manufacturing.”

Jean was previously the former Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Company Services at Lantech, LLC and Marshfield Door Systems, Inc..  It was during these tenures that Jean launched her Lean career, driving Lean from the manufacturing floor into the backoffice functions to include Finance, Information Systems, Human Resources and Telecommunications. 

Prior to joining Lantech, LLC, Jean was a finance professional with Digital Equipment Corporation and Westinghouse Electric, holding a number of senior Controllership and Treasury positions.

Jean has a BS in Accounting from Indiana University and an MBA from Northeastern University’s Executive Program.  She and her family reside in the Chicago area.

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Bob Dean

Bob Dean is a co-founder of TBM Consulting Group, Inc. and has developed most of TBM’s training and new products, a role that keeps him on the leading edge of trends in business improvement. Bob has been instrumental in the incorporation of lean business techniques and Six Sigma – creating LeanSigma® – and in taking the improvement tools that traditionally belonged to manufacturing and applying them to service industries.

Bob is a frequent contributor to the Managing Times quarterly journal where he writes on developments in lean philosophies and, most recently, he has been helping companies integrate their value chains beyond manufacturing.

For nearly 20 years, Bob has been consulting with companies from the manufacturing and service sectors worldwide such as Allied Signal, Ames True Temper and Pella Corporation. He continues to have close ties with the Japanese team responsible for the legendary Toyota Production System, and has worked extensively with the core group of men who worked under Taichii Ohno, recognized as the father of just in time. Bob is a graduate of Clarkson University with a degree in Engineering.

TBM Consulting Group, Inc. has been instrumental in bringing lean business principles to the United States, Europe and South America over the past decade. From its Connecticut beginnings, TBM has branched out to include offices on three continents, while growing at a rate of about 30 percent annually. Profiled in several publications, TBM has been credited with turning around hundreds of companies worldwide in the manufacturing and service sectors.

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Mark DeLuzio, CMA

Directly mentored by the originators of the Toyota Production System (TPS), Mark DeLuzio has directed the implementation of Lean principles and strategies globally for more than 15 years. Mr. DeLuzio founded Lean Horizons Consulting in 2001, now a leading provider of enterprise-wide Lean transformations. Formerly as Vice President and Corporate Officer of Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR), Mr. DeLuzio led the corporate-wide implementation of Lean and designed what is known today as the Danaher Business System (DBS). In 1988, as Chief Financial Officer at Danaher's Jake Brake® division, Mr. DeLuzio implemented one of the first Lean accounting processes in the USA. He was also instrumental in developing Jake's first zero-defect manufacturing process for Toyota's Hino Motors.  

In March 2007, Mark was recognized by the Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing for his dedication to the pursuit of Lean world-class manufacturing practices. As the newest member of the Shingo Prize Academy, Mr. DeLuzio joins an impressive list of individuals who have distinguished themselves in the area of manufacturing excellence. Members serve as promotional ambassadors for the Shingo Prize and its activities.  

Mr. DeLuzio holds two undergraduate degrees in business, an MBA in Operations Management, a Certificate in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) and is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA).

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Orry Fiume

Orest (Orry) J. Fiume was vice president of Finance and Administration and a director of The Wiremold Company, West Hartford, CT, which gained international recognition as a leader in lean business management in “Lean Thinking,” by James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones. Orry was Wiremold’s senior financial officer from 1978 until his retirement in 2002. Before that, he was an audit manager with Coopers & Lybrand.

Orry led Wiremold’s conversion to lean accounting in 1991 and developed alternate accounting systems that supported the company’s entire lean business efforts. He went on to install lean accounting at more than 20 Wiremold acquisitions. Orry has studied lean production in both the U.S. and Japan and has been a guest speaker at many conferences throughout the U.S. In addition, he has taught courses on management accounting in a lean business at The TBM Institute, The University of Dayton Center for Competitive Change, The Center for Lean Business Management, MEP’s in five states, and numerous companies. He also was a member of the People to People Program’s Economic Management Delegation to China to discuss U.S. financial management practices. More recently, Orry has co-authored the 2004 Shingo Prize winning book, Real Numbers: Management Accounting in a Lean Organization and was inducted as a Life Member of the Shingo Prize Academy, which has been referred to by Business Week as the Nobel prize in manufacturing.

Orry has an MS in Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a BBA in Accounting from Fairfield University. He is a certified public accountant, and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Financial Executives International, where he is a past president of the Connecticut Valley Chapter. He also serves on the Board of Directors of several companies.

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Janice Frampton

Janice Frampton is a Senior Lean Consultant with Jean Cunningham Consulting (JCC), a financial and process improvement consulting firm with clients throughout the United States. The firm specializes in “Lean Beyond Manufacturing” offering a full range of services that redesign business processes into a lean framework that sustains waste elimination and supports ongoing and long-term improvements.

Prior to joining JCC, Janice was the Director of Finance Excellence for Solectron Corporation, where she was responsible for designing and disseminating a Lean Six Sigma Program across Solectron’s worldwide Finance organization. Her focus was on the education and development of functional lean leaders around the globe while simultaneously driving and measuring the impact of lean events across a decentralized and diverse team of 800 professionals worldwide. Some of the major processes that were leanified across the organization included:

• Monthly and Quarterly Close
• Legal Entity Structure
• VAT Tax Recoveries
• Customer Profitability Statements
• Rolling 12-Month Forecast Process
• Business Metrics and Reporting Requirements

While at Solectron, Janice was also the General Manager of a New England based manufacturing operation with an expertise in new product introduction and high mix/low volume as well as Director of Finance, I/T, H/R and Administration for a self-contained subsidiary.

Prior to joining Solectron, Janice spent fifteen years with Digital Equipment Corporation/COMPAQ Computer Corporation in various financial roles, including OEM Divisional Controller, European and Asian Internal Audit Manager, International FP&A Manager as well as multiple positions in the Corporate Controller’s office.

Janice has a BS in Accounting from Rochester Institute of Technology and is a Certified Public Accountant. Janice resides with her family in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts.

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Rosemary Fullerton

Rosemary Fullerton is an associate professor in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University (USU) where she teaches undergraduate cost accounting and graduate advanced management accounting, focusing on lean principles and lean accounting. During her tenure at USU, she has been affiliated with the Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence, serving as an applicant reviewer, site examiner, and team leader.  

Dr. Fullerton’s research is centered on the relationships among Lean manufacturing, cost accounting and performance measures, and firm profitability. Her current research interests include investigating the prevalence of Lean accounting and the impact of cost accounting practices in Lean manufacturing environments. Dr. Fullerton has published her research in some of the top academic accounting and operations management journals. She has also presented her research at numerous universities and conferences throughout the U.S. and in Canada, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, and Italy. Dr. Fullerton has received awards for outstanding teaching and research. She co-authored with Jerry Solomon the Shingo Prize winning book, Accounting for World Class Operations. Her manuscript, The Role of Performance Measures and Incentive Systems in Relation to the Degree of JIT Implementation, co-authored with Dr. Cheryl McWatters from the University of Alberta, also received a Shingo Research Prize in 2004.  

In 2007, Professor Fullerton completed a year-long sabbatical where she worked with leading Lean consultants at various U.S. manufacturing firms, helping managers transition their accounting systems to become more relevant in Lean environments. She has presented workshops on Lean accounting to both professional and academic audiences around the country.  

Dr. Fullerton has a Ph.D. from the University of Utah. She also earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Brigham Young University and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from Utah State University. In addition to USU, Professor Fullerton has taught at McGill University, University of Utah, and Weber State University. Prior to her academic career, she worked as a CPA. She is a member of the American Accounting Association, the Institute of Management Accountants, the American Institute of CPAs, and the Utah Association of CPAs, where she currently serves on the Business and Management Council.

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Nick Katko

Nick joined BMA in 2002 as a senior consultant after a career as a manufacturing CFO & controller. As CFO for E.D. Bullard Company, a privately held manufacturer of personal safety equipment, Nick led the company in the implementation of lean accounting techniques – this includes implementing performance measurements, value stream costing, lean decision making and the elimination of Bullard’s traditional standard cost system.

Nick is a featured speaker on lean accounting at the University of Kentucky’s Lean Manufacturing Leadership Institutes and the Lexington, KY APICS Chapter.

Nick has a BS in Accounting and MBA in Finance, both from the University of Kentucky

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Frances Kennedy

Frances Kennedy is an associate professor at Clemson University and teaches undergraduate cost accounting and graduate controllership. Prior to teaching, Dr. Kennedy had 13 years of experience in public accounting and in industry. While at Rubbermaid, she worked as accounting manger in a manufacturing facility and as an analyst on a new product development team at the division’s headquarters.  

Dr. Kennedy’s research focuses on performance measurements and control systems in lean enterprises and she actively participates in the annual Lean Accounting Summit. She is the 2006 recipient of the Silver Lybrand Medal awarded by the Institute of Management Accounting and the 2006 Award of Merit from the International Federation of Accountants for her contributions to the field of management accounting. She was also awarded the 2006 Clemson University Board of Trustees Faculty Excellence Award. 

She has published in both academic and professional journals, including Performance Measurement and Management Control, Journal of Business and Economic Perspectives, Cost Management, Target, Strategic Finance, Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance, Accounting Education, Journal of Accounting Education and Advances in Interdisciplinary Studies.

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Drew Locher

Drew is currently Managing Director for Change Management Associates. CMA provides various Business Improvement Consulting and Organizational Development services to industrial and service organizations. CMA will assist organizations to successfully implement Systems and Quality Management principles within their operations to improve business performance.

Since 1986, Drew has been working to implement innovative Business Management strategies in a wide spectrum of business environments. From 1986 to 1990 he particpated in the development and delivery of Business Improvement programs for General Electric. During this time, he had the opportunity to gain first hand experience in significant business improvement initiatives throughout a large industrial and service company.

In 1990, Drew left GE to form CMA. CMA is a consortium of individuals who share a similar business management and improvement vision. They are committed to seeing innovative strategies implemented in all business environments. The CMA approach is practical and application oriented - a 'learn as you're doing and succeeding' approach. Recently CMA has partnered with the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Manufacturing Extension Partnership to develop and deliver Lean Manufacturing services to NIST MEP's 78 centers throughout the United States. More recently, he has joined the faculty of the Lean Enterprise Institute, the not-for-profit organization of the authors of "Lean Thinking". In 2004, he co-authored a book titled, "The Complete Lean Enterprise - Value Stream Mapping for Administrative and Office Processes. “The Complete Lean Enterprise” was a recipient of a 2005 Shingo Prize for Manufacturing Excellence.

Drew received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Delaware in Mechanical Engineering, as well as a Master of Science degree from Drexel University in Electrical and Computer Engineering. He has also received a Master of Business Administration from Cornell University. He is a member of the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS), American Society for Quality (ASQ), and the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME).

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Glenn Marshall

Glenn Marshall brings over 30 years of hands on experience in the development and deployment of a  Value Stream Management  approach to leading and sustaining a Continuous Improvement System (CIS). CIS integrates Lean and Six Sigma methodology, principles, with other CI tools to sustain ongoing continuous improvement cycles.

At Northrop Grumman Newport News, Glenn is the Sector Benchmarking Champion  and  works at all levels of the corporation to develop cross functional teams that take a value stream approach to identify and eliminate waste, defects, variation, and performance gaps from core business processes. Benchmarking is use as a key CI tool to identify “best practices” and then share knowledge to rapidly close gaps in value stream performance.

The goal of these teams is to use value stream mapping and management to identify key constraints and use Lean Six Sigma to drive continuous improvement results. In addition, he has help design and deploy CIS  to achieve higher efficiency and maturity levels across the enterprise. Glenn is both Lean and Six Sigma Certified.

Glenn was an Operations / Site Manager with Texas Instruments Defense Systems working at multiple sites including supporting international partnerships. In that role he championed continuous improvements initiatives, led the design and deployment of integrated factory systems. Glenn was one of the leaders in TI becoming the first defense company to win the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

Glenn is actively involved with professional and learning organizations:

• Association for Manufacturing Excellence - National  Director at Larger

• US Senate Productivity and Quality Award Examiner for Virginia 

• Hampton Roads Quality Management Community Steering Council - Community of Practice

• AME National Chair – Growth and Visibility Committee

• Lean Accounting for Defense Industry - Community of Practice

• Virginia Business Excellence Consortium – Steering Committee

• Northrop Grumman Corporation - Process Excellence  Community of Practice

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Brian Maskell 

Brian H. Maskell, President of BMA Inc., has more than 25 years experience in manufacturing and distribution industry. He has held a variety of management positions from the shop-floor of an electronics company to Manager of European Inventories for the Xerox Corporation to Vice President of Product Development and Customer Service of the Unitronix Corporation. Over the past fifteen years Mr. Maskell's consulting practice has taken him to many manufacturing and distribution companies in the United States, England, Mexico, Australia, South Africa, and Europe. In recent years BMA Inc has specialized in the changes required to accounting, control, management, and measurement methods for companies pursuing lean transformation. Mr. Maskell is regarded by many as a leading expert in Lean Accounting.

A sought-after speaker, Brian Maskell is the author of six books including; Practical Lean Accounting (2003), Performance Measurement for World Class Manufacturing (1991), Software and the Agile Manufacturer (1993), New Performance Measures (1994), Making the Numbers Count; the accountant as an agent of change (1996), and Life's Little Lean Accounting Instruction Book (2006).  Mr. Maskell's works address the needs of manufacturers as they move into the increasingly competitive 21st century. Mr. Maskell conducts seminars and workshops around the world on such subjects as Lean Accounting, Performance Measurement for World Class Manufacturing, Value Stream Cost Management, Target Costing, and Lean Accounting Processes; Transaction Elimination.

Mr. Maskell has an engineering degree from the University of Sussex, England. He is certified with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) in London, and the American Association of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). He is a Fellow of the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS). Mr. Maskell also teaches at the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA. He is the author of numerous articles and papers and regularly presents papers at national and international conferences.

For articles by Brian Maskell and more information, click here

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Ed Miller

Edward B. Miller is currently a principal of Strategy Development Services, LLC, a consulting company he founded to help companies along their Lean transformation by developing corporate and go-to-market strategies based on Lean Business Principles as well as deploying them (using Hoshin Kanri) through the entire enterprise and to the customer.   

Ed is a senior-level executive who is experienced with developing, leading, and executing successful business strategies including enterprise-wide lean transformations.  Ed has over 32 years of industry experience as an executive in marketing, sales, and engineering with the practical know-how of applying Lean principles to win in the marketplace.  Ed has co-authored several articles and case studies on Lean strategies in marketing and sales. He is a member of the Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) Business School Advisory Council and a member of the Connecticut Shingo Prize Advisory Board.   

During his 10 years at one of the early adopters of Lean in North America, The Wiremold Company, Ed was Vice President of Marketing & Sales.  He was a member of the leadership team that transformed the company applying lean principles throughout the enterprise.  Ed’s leadership helped Wiremold leverage the company’s lean capabilities with all customers in the buying chain.  This allowed Wiremold to achieve strong market position, expand its markets and realize significant and sustainable double digit growth.  Results were dramatic, during 1993 to 2000, sales grew 4.5X while operating profits increased 14 fold.  

Previously, Ed served three years at GS Edwards, a unit of General Signal, as the Vice President of Engineering, and almost 15 years at The General Electric Company holding several key management positions.  At GE, Ed was Manager of Product Marketing at GE Electrical Distribution & Control, Manager of Engineering for GE Wiring Devices, Engineering Manager of the GE PLC Venture, and a Research Electronics Engineer at the GE-Corp Research & Development Center.   

Miller holds a B.E. in Electrical Engineering from The City College of New York and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Union College.  Ed also attended many GE business management training programs at Crontonville, NY and Globally including, MDC, BMC, AAMS, et al.  He has been awarded 20 patents, and was named “Inventor of the Year” in 1980 by the New York Patent Law Association.

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Peggy Neale

Peggy Neale is Controller for Landscape Forms where she has worked since 1993.  Her 30 plus year accounting career has been in both private and public accounting, most of which has been in the manufacturing sector.  Peggy received her BBA in Accounting from Davenport University.

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David Paino

Prior to joining BMA, Inc., David was the Vice President of Operations with an auto-parts remanufacturing company in Philadelphia.  David was the driving force behind the introduction of lean manufacturing and other lean methods that – according to the company’s President – saved the company in these increasingly competitive times.  David has also served as President of an industrial parts distribution company and is very experienced with warehousing, distribution, and inventory planning methods.  Prior to moving into production operations, David did his MBA work at Villanova University as a finance major and worked as a plant and corporate controller.

David is currently working on Lean Accounting projects with the Boeing Commercial Aircraft Company, a multi-national defense equipment manufacturer; a Maryland pre-fabricated building products company, and a division of the Ingersoll Rand Corporation.  David also specializes in quick & easy kaizen methods that are used to motivate and empower the entire workforce for lean improvement.

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Steve Player

Steve Player, CPA, serves as the North American Program Director for the Beyond Budgeting Round Table, an international network focused on improving planning and control, and Managing Director of The Player Group. He has over 20 years experience in implementing cost and performance management, strategic planning and process improvements. Some of Steve’s clients have included American Express, Colgate Palmolive, Hewlett-Packard, The Covey Leadership Center and World Vision. He is the co-author/editor of four books on Activity-Based Management including, Lessons from the ABM Battlefield. He founded and runs the Activity-Based Management Advanced Implementation Group, whose members include Bell South and Bell Canada. Steve has served on the Board of Directors of the Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing - International (CAM-I) and provided insight for the AICPA Industry and Management Accounting Executive Committee. Steve is a frequent speaker and media resource.

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Richard J. Schonberger, Ph.D.

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William Schwartz

A partner with TBM since 1991, Bill Schwartz is head of worldwide business development. He has introduced lean principles at dozens of companies over the years and often launches LeanSigma® initiatives for new clients.

Bill has a widely recognized expertise in translating lean principles for business processes in manufacturing and service industries. He is currently responsible for marketing and new client development for TBM Consulting Group worldwide, and has consulted with such leading companies as Freudenberg-NOK, the Critikon Division of Johnson & Johnson, and Hill-Rom Company. Bill’s expertise in streamlining and optimizing business processes makes him much sought after as a consultant.

Earlier in his career, Bill was a senior consultant with Howell Management Corporation and was Vice President of sales and marketing for Medallic Art Company. A graduate of Colgate University with a degree in mathematics, Bill earned his MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

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Stephen Smith

Stephen Smith, TBM managing director and senior global client relationship manager, worked around the world as an engineer and earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School before joining TBM in 1995.

Stephen was a design and construction engineer in the Middle East and Europe and worked with companies such as Aramco, Timken, Masco, and Delco Remy America in line, senior staff, and executive positions. An early adopter of lean philosophies, Stephen became known for his ability to translate these principles into operating results.

Since joining TBM, Stephen has become a trusted advisor to companies such as Allied Signal, Assa Abloy, Kodak, Lear Jet, Hillenbrand Industries, and Vermeer Manufacturing. When TBM needed a seasoned, creative executive to lead one of its own companies, Stephen was selected for the job and spent a year transforming a troubled company in Arkansas.

A graduate of the University of Texas, Stephen now focuses primarily on helping some of our largest global client partners accelerate their rate of transformation.

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Jerrold M. Solomon

Jerry Solomon has had a unique opportunity to implement Lean accounting and manufacturing techniques as he’s simultaneously held the positions of Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Manufacturing at three middle market manufacturing companies.  In his dual role he was able to cast aside traditional departmental barriers and galvanize the accounting and manufacturing areas to develop timely and actionable information. 

While CFO and VP of Manufacturing at PACE, Inc., an electronics manufacturing firm providing equipment to the telecommunications, consumer electronics, automotive, computer and medical industries, Mr. Solomon led PACE’s Lean transformation resulting in customer lead-time reductions of 75%, productivity improvements of 64%, space reductions of 50%, quality improvements of 100%, and a doubling of inventory turns.  In addition to the improvements taking place in manufacturing, the cost accounting system was simplified and the use of MRP for executing the production plan was eliminated in favor of a pull system with electronic links to all suppliers.  As a result of these efforts, PACE, Inc. was certified as a World-Class company by the Maryland World Class Manufacturing Consortium, the first and only company to be awarded this distinction in the Consortium’s twelve year history. 

Currently Mr. Solomon is the Vice President of Operations – Hunt Valley, for MarquipWardUnited, the largest division of the Barry-Wehmiller Companies Inc., the Western Hemisphere’s leading packaging automation and converting group.   

Mr. Solomon has a B. S. degree from Clarkson University, an M. S. degree from Michigan Technological University and an M. B. A. degree from the University of Chicago.  He’s served on the Board of Directors of Vermont Castings Inc. as well as the Green Mountain Economic Development Corporation and currently is on the Board of Directors of the Maryland World Class Manufacturing Consortium.  

Mr. Solomon teaches Lean Accounting in association with a number of Universities and has delivered keynote addresses to a variety of companies and organizations.  He has also been featured on the Lean Accounting video published by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and has presented Lean Accounting on a national web cast sponsored by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. 

Mr. Solomon is the author of the Shingo Award winning book, Who’s Counting?, a highly acclaimed business novel focusing on the interaction of the manufacturing and accounting functions during a Lean transformation, and Leading Lean, a novel about a three day Lean event.  In collaboration with Professor Rosemary Fullerton, Mr. Solomon has also written, Accounting for World Class Operations, which has also won the Shingo prize.  

Mr. Solomon brings a truly unique perspective to the requirements of manufacturers in their quest to achieve World-Class performance.

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David Strothmann

Dave Strothmann is the Manufacturing Value Network Director for SAP America, the worldwide leader of business management software. In his role, Dave is responsible for building customer communities, providing thought leadership, and influencing product strategy for SAP.  Advancing the state-of-the-art of software support for lean manufacturing is an area of special interest.  

Dave joined SAP in 2006.  Dave brings 24 years of experience in industrial manufacturing management and software product management to SAP.  Prior to joining SAP, Dave spent 8 years in product strategy, product management and marketing within the ERP software industry.  Prior to joining the software industry Dave spent 15 years in the industrial manufacturing industry in a variety of different roles of increasing responsibility including Manager of Contracts and Pricing for an aerospace company and Director of Operations for an industrial equipment manufacturer. 

Dave holds a bachelor of science degree in marketing from Northern Illinois University.  

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Conrad Sutter

Conrad has had over 30 years experience in accounting in manufacturing companies.  He has been the CFO for Landscape Forms, Inc. for the last ten years.  Conrad has an undergraduate degree in accounting from Western Michigan University and an MBA from Drake University.

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James B. Swartz

In 1976, Jim Swartz became manager of an electronics manufacturing plant. Faced with intense competition, he and his management team conducted a worldwide study of the manufacturing and engineering practices of the world’s best manufacturing operations. They then adopted the best manufacturing practices available at the time including JIT and TQC. Working with unions and employees, they aggressively cut costs and improved customer satisfaction. The rate of improvement was dramatic - tenfold improvements in quality and cycle time and 30 - 40% improvement in productivity in less than six months. Many operations originally slated to move to Singapore and Mexico were improved at such high rates they were kept in the US.

This impressed Swartz on what could be done when people have the expertise and willingly commit to nearly impossible objectives.

For the next ten years, he continued to lead aggressive lean manufacturing initiatives that dramatically improve manufacturing operations. In 1986, he turned his attention to helping companies find and seize new product or market opportunities and to redesign their product development and engineering processes to reduce time to market and improve the productivity of engineering operations.

He has made it his life work to help organizations find and seize opportunities to be great. To do this, he has researched the basic technical and strategic principles, drivers, mind changes, and methods that lead to rapid dramatic improvements. He has also studied and applied what it takes to develop and sustain aggressive improvement cultures.

He is current president of the University of Illinois Physics Alumni Association.

He is also the founder of Cygnus Systems Inc., a computer imaging design and manufacturing operation. He founded Competitive Action in 1987, and is the current chairman. He is the author of the bestseller The Hunters and the Hunted. published by Productivity Press, New York, NY. The book provides a systematic approach to transforming businesses by creating and implementing dramatic, non-linear improvements.

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