Manufacturing Tomorrow

Carol Latham is the retired founder, president, and CEO of Thermagon, a Cleveland-based custom manufacturer of high performance heat-transfer materials for electronic components. Under her leadership, Thermagon changed the microchip industry and, within five years of its launch, achieved sales of $18 million annually. She writes about her experiences in the book A Chip Off the Silicon Block.

Carol also served as a founding board member of New Bridge, a community-based arts education and career training center that addresses the needs of residents and youth who live in some of Cleveland’s most challenged neighborhoods. She has been recognized by the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges Hall of Excellence and received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the Ohio Wesleyan University.

Rita Hoffman is co-owner at Converse All Steel Services in Canfield, Ohio. The company was established by Roger and Rose Converse in 1986 as a steel warehousing and shot blasting facility. In 2014, Rita and her brother, Ross, took ownership of the company that now produces custom steel parts for heavy manufacturing and construction industries.

In addition to overseeing daily operations at Converse, Rita also is part owner of CC Metal Design, which produces custom metal art direct to the consumer. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy with a double minor in math and business from Mount Union College.

Mark Fedor, CEO of Morgan Industries, leads an Alliance Ohio-based manufacturer of material handling systems and production solutions. The company specializes in the construction of large-scale industrial overhead cranes and steel mill equipment. Under Mark’s 16-year tenure as CEO, this 152-year old company is leading its industry in the adoption of automation and other Industry 4.0 technologies. 

Mark began his career at Morgan after college. He then pursued an opportunity to build a steel plant at Steel Dynamics in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and then was lured back to the company where his father, grandfather and great-grandfather made their living.  

Mark has been a member of the Association for Iron & Steel Technology, or AIST, since 1996, serving on the crane committee and a number of subcommittees. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Akron.

Natan Linder, our 100th guest, is CEO and co-founder of Tulip, a manufacturing software company that builds digital applications to bridge the human-automation gap for frontline operations. Tulip’s platforms are based on over a decade's worth of breakthrough research by world-class experts on technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), human-computer interaction, augmented reality, and machine learning.

Natan is also co-founder and chairman of Formlabs, which develops affordable high-resolution 3D printing for professionals in a diverse set of industries and serves as an advisory board member of RightHand Robotics. He was a former Intel Fellow in the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT Media Lab and co-founder of Samsung Telecom.

He earned his doctorate in media arts and science at MIT and a BA in Computer Science and Business Administration at Reichman University.

Bob Willig, executive director and CEO of SME (also known as the Society of Manufacturing Engineers), and John Dyck, CEO of CESMII – The Smart Manufacturing Institute, recently announced a partnership to accelerate smart manufacturing adoption.

Bob joined SME a year ago after more than 30 years’ experience holding multiple leadership positions at global manufacturing companies, most recently at Stoneridge Inc. where he was president of the Control Devices Division. Prior to Stoneridge, he served as president and CEO of Plasan Carbon Composites and was president in the Americas for GKN Driveline, an automotive industry supplier. Earlier in his career, Bob was president of both Power Transmission and Powertrain at The Gates Corp. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical systems design at Lawrence Tech University and an MBA from Wayne State University.

John began his tenure at CESMII in 2018 after securing his reputation as a domain expert on applying innovations like the Cloud and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in diverse manufacturing industries and supply chains. Prior to joining CESMII, John held senior leadership positions in large corporations like GE and Rockwell Automation and was effective in raising venture capital funding and building a successful software startup called Activplant. He has been awarded a number of patents for IIoT and analytics applications in manufacturing workflows and business processes. He received a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering from Conestoga College.

Matt Fenneman, VP of Sales & Marketing at Engineered Profiles, a Columbus-based manufacturer of custom plastic profile extrusion products. For more than 70 years, the company originally known as Crane Plastics has been a recognized leader in the thermoplastic industry. Engineered Profiles’ advancements include creating one of the first U.S. vinyl siding products, offering custom part finishing, and leading the early development of wood-plastic composites.

Matt serves as the chief executive over all sales and marketing activities at the company. His experience began in an engineering role at Crane Plastics in the tooling and product development groups; he has also served in a technical sales and business development role.

He received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Franklin University, and has taken additional coursework in computer science as well as automation and programming.

Todd Leebow is president and CEO of Majestic Steel USA, a national steel service center headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. Todd took the reins from his father in 2012 after working at the company for several years on supply chain management and innovation. Since then, Todd has taken aggressive measures to modernize the company to deliver steel to customers faster and cheaper, with the ultimate goal of bringing the US steel industry into the digital revolution.

As principal of Majestic Universe Ventures and Investments, Todd has stakes in several other companies including Felux, a B2B marketplace and platform for the steel industry; Sozo Workwear, and a host of other real estate investment and hospitality firms. He studied business management and entrepreneurship at the University of Miami in Florida.

Nick Day is Vice President of Client Solutions for Roundtable Learning, an e-learning company based in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, that develops technology-enhanced training programs for a number of industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, business services, and retail. Prior to Roundtable, Nick worked as a sales executive and team lead manager for Park Place Technologies and as a senior corporate risk project manager for PNC.

Nick earned his MBA and bachelor’s degree in finance at John Carroll University.

Zach Douglas is a North American Product Manager at QleanAir Scandinavia. He is responsible for US product management, including moving the company’s supply chain from Europe to North America and scaling the company to meet rapid growth. Prior to that role, he worked as an Operational Excellence Manager for Outdoor Living based in Columbus, Ohio, and ran his own Wikipedia consulting company.

Zach received his bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering at The Ohio State University and is certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

Melissa Hadley is business planning manager at Koppers Inc., a Pittsburgh, PA, manufacturer of treated wood products, wood treatment chemicals and carbon compounds. Koppers serves a wide range of applications in a diverse global network of end-markets, including railroad, specialty chemical, residential lumber, agriculture and construction industries.

Prior to Koppers, Melissa worked at Morton Salt in various roles, including as supply chain planning manager, plant manager and process engineer. She started her career at Sunoco as a process engineer. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering at Ohio University and an MBA in Operations/Supply Chain Management from Arizona State University.

Melissa has been recognized by The Manufacturing Institute with the 2021 STEP Ahead Award, which celebrates women who have demonstrated excellence and leadership in their manufacturing careers.