Brad J. Actis

Brad Actis, Purdue LSS Instructor

Brad has more than 27 years of experience in manufacturing, project management, quality process management, training, and development. As a Master Black Belt, Brad has helped his current employer, Rolls-Royce, transform the company’s global engineering by expanding Lean Sigma certifications from three to 130 between 2006 and 2011, which increased savings by 114 percent and $13 million.

Brad has also served as a Black Belt II manager, leading a 30-member team of Black Belts and Green Belts and nearly 30 Black Belt and Green Belt certifications, as well as teaching close to 500 employees. Brad’s experience also encompasses quality process management, leading 135 Lean Six Sigma projects at a 3,000-employee plant and creating annual savings of more than $5 million.

Brad is a certified Green Belt and MiniTab trainer. His mission as an instructor is to help others succeed by sharing his knowledge and leadership experience, coaching, and mentoring.


Lisa Feeley

Lisa Feely, Purdue LSS Green Belt Instructor

Lisa Feeley possesses over 30 years of consulting, sales, operations, marketing, human resources and entrepreneurial experience in progressive management roles, working for both Fortune 500 and start-up companies in multiple industries.

Lisa earned her Lean Six Sigma Green Belt working on various projects at Roche Diagnostics. She was responsible for developing and implementing a national, vendor-managed inventory program at Roche for one of its largest reference laboratory clients, LabCorp. She earned her Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification while working on a project focused on online student retention for Purdue University. In 2018, she received her Master Black Belt.

Lisa has taught as an adjunct professor for UT Dallas, Ivy Tech and IUPUI prior to being an instructor of Lean Six Sigma Green Belt for Purdue.

Having founded her first company at 27, Lisa has started and operated five companies over the past 25 years, in industries ranging from global wholesale and retail to book publishing to social media & video marketing. Upon selling her company in January 2013, she joined KJWW Engineering (now IMEG), a national design engineering firm. (She left IMEG in 2018 and rejoined them in 2022.)

“I was challenged and motivated by the course content, and the availability of the instructors to share their knowledge and help was very refreshing.”

LSS Green Belt and Lean Principles Course Graduate

Mary Garretson

Mary Garretson, Purdue LSS Instructor

Mary has 30 years of experience in the medical diagnostics industry, with proficiency in project management, process improvement, training administration, and IT support.

As a Six Sigma Green Belt, Mary improved new product launch processes. She earned her Six Sigma Black Belt certification working on projects to improve inventory system master data management and integrity. Additionally, Mary holds LEAN certification and has coached Green Belts through all phases of process improvement initiatives, both onsite and remotely.

Mary’s accomplishments at Roche, a multinational health care company, include managing scalable and scope expansions of the North America Training Administration team to significantly increase the number of employees served from 5,000 to 33,000.

In her current role at Roche, Mary serves as the Manager of IT Service Desk Support, working to unify processes globally by consolidating approximately 20 support groups into three regional Shared Service Centers that will support over 90,000 employees.


Michael D. Greer, PMP

Michael Greer, Purdue LSS Instructor

Michael has more than 15 years of experience in a variety of project/program management, quality, and business improvement roles, primarily in international environments. In his work as an employee and as a consultant, he has acquired in-depth experience in fields including aerospace, marine, healthcare, environmental affairs, operations, and academia.

Michael has extensive experience using project/program management tools as a Six-Sigma project leader, project manager, and program manager. As an instructor, he draws on his education, practical experience, analytical background, and leadership experience to help students develop the ability to deliver impactful projects and results in various business and organizational environments.

Michael holds an M.B.A. from Butler University and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from Purdue University. In addition to being a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Michael holds Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification through the Project Management Institute. He also is a certified ISO 9001:2000 / AS9100 Lead Auditor.


John Kamp, PMP, LSSBB

John Kamp, Purdue LSS Instructor

John is an independent consultant with more than 30 years of international business experience and Project Management in more than a dozen industries including manufacturing, electronic document management, software and transportation. As a PMP and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, John utilizes PM Methodology as well as Lean Six Sigma methods in a variety of business settings, focusing on triple constraints of a project, standardization, stabilization, sustaining process gains and continuous improvement.

John is proficient in directional vision analysis, strategic execution, change management, process development, business process re-engineering and cross-functional team education. He has successfully applied his expertise to startups, struggling ventures and growing mature companies. John has also been instrumental in developing, growing and leading international trade associations, and developing sales programs and sales certification programs.

His experience includes leading training and educational seminars in business processes, Project management, business development, change management and communication. As an instructor, he enjoys motivating and developing people to reach beyond their full potential.

John is a decorated U.S. Navy veteran of 12 years.


Rachel Lamb, PMP

Rachel Lamb, Purdue LSS Instructor

Rachel is a results-oriented, process improvement, project management professional who has been helping companies make sustainable performance improvements that have delivered tremendous value to the bottom line. She has over twenty years of experience leading, training and mentoring through the use of problem solving, lean and project management tools. Throughout her career, she has delivered results in a wide range of industries such as medical, energy, aerospace, automotive, hospitality, education and government.

Rachel holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Purdue University and a master’s degree in manufacturing management from Kettering University. She is an authorized training partner for the Project Management Institute (PMI). She is PMP® certified and is also a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.


Alicia Butler Pierre

Alicia Pierre, Purdue LSS Instructor

Alicia Butler Pierre’s career in operations began over 20 years ago as a chemical engineer in several chemical plants and oil refineries in her native Louisiana. Her passion is in designing and optimizing processes that help people, places and things flow more efficiently. She is the Founder and CEO of Equilibria, Inc., a 17-year-old operations management firm specializing in business infrastructure for fast-growing companies. Her company currently holds the world’s largest and most comprehensive repository on business infrastructure for small businesses.

It is at Equilibria where she invented the Kasennu™ system and software for business infrastructure. She has since successfully applied this system in over 30 different industries. Alicia has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana State University and an MBA from Tulane University.

Her ability to blend scientific, business and mathematical methodologies (like Lean Six Sigma) to solve complex operational problems enables her to bring a unique, tactical and realistic perspective to her diverse clientele which includes larger organizations like The Coca-Cola Company, Lowe’s, The Library of Congress and Shell Oil Company.

Alicia also holds a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification from Purdue University and has produced over 500 articles, podcast episodes, case studies, videos and white papers in the areas of business infrastructure, process improvement and operational excellence. She was hand-selected by HubSpot to contribute Lean Six Sigma content to their inaugural Revenue Operations course in 2022. Combined, her content has over a million views across various online platforms.

Alicia hosts the weekly podcast Business Infrastructure: Curing Back Office Blues — a show that ranks in the top 2% in the world with listeners in 60 countries and counting. She’s also an adjunct professor of operations management at Nichols College as well as the author of the 2x Amazon bestseller, Behind the Façade: How to Structure Company Operations for Sustainable Success. Her book debuted on Amazon as the #1 New Release for business books in the production and operations category and made their bestseller list twice. Committed to doing the right things the right way, Alicia’s mantra is “leave it better than you found it.”


Tom Quinlin

Tom Quinlin, Purdue LSS Instructor

Tom has a strong background in both project management and Lean Six Sigma. As a mechanical engineer, he uses his years of experience in design, manufacturing, customer service and procurement to lead, train and coach organizations through process challenges. He currently serves as a supply chain manager at Rolls-Royce in Indianapolis, managing a cross functional team of professionals in the procurement of a variety of commodities from suppliers around the globe. As a Black Belt, Tom has delivered process improvement projects for both manufacturing and transactional processes to reduce defects, eliminate waste and cut cycle times.

With over 10 years of lean and six sigma improvement experience, Tom has led and managed large corporate initiatives. These have included creating and implementing an all-new production system within the procurement organization at Rolls-Royce, introducing and embedding concepts that include performance management, effective supplier engagement, workplace organization and building the overall organization’s capability to systematically solve problems. Additionally, Tom is an excellent trainer, coach and facilitator, leading global teams through workshop topics ranging from advanced manufacturing, invoicing issues and indirect purchasing. His approach is target audience-appropriate and relatable at all levels of an organization, and he knows that the key to any project or initiative is not found within the leader itself; rather, it lies in building a strong team and in what that leader can bring out of that team around him.

Tom is actively involved in his local school and church communities, as well as various employee resource groups at Rolls-Royce. He has volunteered on the advisory school committee at his home parish and children’s school, Saints Francis & Clare. He also serves as a cub scout leader, a coach of at least four youth sports and a frequent field trip chaperone. His best life decision was marrying his high school sweetheart and Purdue Boilermaker, Brooke.

Tom has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA in operations management from the University of Indianapolis.


Rick Ring

Rick Ring, Purdue LSS Instructor

Rick served as a lead project specialist in quality for Purdue University’s Technical Assistance Program (TAP), leading and/or facilitating multiple Six Sigma projects and Lean kaizen events. He also has 20 years of quality and manufacturing experience with the Pillsbury Company.

His expertise encompasses both the manufacturing and service sectors and includes training and implementation assistance to banking, education, health care, logistics, manufacturing, and real estate organizations. He also served in the U.S. Air Force.

Rick is a Society of Manufacturing Engineers Certified Lean Instructor, Registrar Accreditation Board Certified ISO 9001 Lead Auditor, and American Society for Quality Certified Auditor, Quality Manager, and Quality Engineer.

He holds two Six Sigma Black Belt Certifications, one from the American Society for Quality and the other from the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center, and has taught both public and on-site LSS courses. As an instructor, Rick stands ready to assist students on their quality improvement journeys.

“The course was extremely informative. The instructors were approachable and provided me with critical feedback. They were instrumental to both my understanding of the material and my ability to improve my approach to the DMAIC process.”

LSS Black Belt Course Graduate

Jennifer L. Sargent

Jennifer Sargent, Purdue LSS Instructor

Jennifer is a Master Black Belt in Six Sigma and Lean Management who has worked in Lean process improvement since 2007. She has extensive experience in the health care industry, including working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as a contractor and Lean Sensei for VA Medical Centers.

For half of her 10-year tenure at the DWA Healthcare Communications Group, Jennifer served as the business process and quality assurance director. At DWA, she was involved as an individual contributor and leader in the implementation of 48 cross-functional project teams aimed at developing actionable recommendations to resolve the root causes of failures. This work led to three Black Belt, 16 Green Belt, 25 Yellow Belt, and four kaizen projects.

Jennifer’s experience includes coaching and mentoring numerous individuals selected as Black Belts, Green Belts and Yellow Belts. She holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Ball State University. Her instruction is characterized by creativity and attention to detail.


Patrick Sullivan, PMP

Patrick Sullivan, Purdue LSS Instructor

For more than 20 years, Patrick has applied Lean Six Sigma to drive operational and manufacturing change in operations, program/field service, and technical services for fast-growth businesses of global companies including Rolls-Royce and General Electric.

As a Six Sigma Black Belt, Patrick has led transactional and production improvement initiatives; mentored Green Belts and other professionals through projects; identified and assessed potential DMAIC projects; chaired gate reviews; and conducted relevant training for team members. His work has included leading international teams from around the world to success and acting as liaison between customers and suppliers.

Patrick holds a master’s degree in engineering and an MBA, both from the University of Cincinnati; and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University. He is a registered professional engineer in Ohio and a graduate of GE’s Manufacturing Management Program.

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