At the 2022 edition of the North American HR Executive Summit we spoke with Kristin Spodobalski of Wellthy about one of the most impactful things companies can do to support their people: Offer help when they are taking care of loved ones.

It is beyond our control to know when we might need to take care of a friend or loved one, but when that responsibility does come to us, of course it is a priority that puts everything else to one side. How does that impact people who want to continue to do well at work while needing to devote so much of their energies to their personal responsibilities? What should employers of choice be doing to go the extra mile in supporting their working caregivers? How does that work in the real-world, and how does knowing that support is there impact how people view their employer?

All these questions and more are explored in this important conversation. Give it a listen!

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Kristin Spodobalski is the Sr. Director of Growth for the Northeast region at Wellthy and is dedicated to bringing Wellthy’s support to families across the country. With a personal caregiving story of her own, Kristin immediately connected with Wellthy’s mission to help families with complex, chronic, or ongoing care needs.

Prior to joining Wellthy, Kristin spent nearly a decade as a Client Manager for National Accounts at UnitedHealthcare.

Kristin received a BA in Business Administration Management from University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford, CT.

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Wellthy is revolutionizing the way families care for their loved ones and themselves. Going far beyond care management, Wellthy helps families balance work and caregiving responsibilities through a combination of precision technology and human expertise.

Over 1.5 million people have direct access to Wellthy through some of the largest employers in the country, and we currently work with employers like Memorial Hermann, Best Buy, Cisco, and Meta.

wellthy.com

At the most recent edition of the Pharma Manufacturing World Summit held May 15-16, 2023, in Boston, we spoke with Michael Kamarck, a senior industry executive, and Pascal Bécotte, the Managing Director of Russell Reynolds Associates, about the most serious challenge threatening to bottleneck the otherwise very bright future of medicine. For a number of reasons explored in both this interview and in this recent blog post, there are not enough qualified people to fill all the top jobs that need to be done, and this is not something that is going to be fixed in a day or even a few years without the industry working together in a decisive and unprecedented way to collectively develop its rising Top Talent in the technical operations space into the senior leaders that Small Molecule, Large Molecule, and especially the emerging Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products sectors cannot do without.

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Michael Kamarck was the Chief Technology Officer at Vir. Previously, he was senior vice president of Global Vaccines and Biologics Manufacturing and president of Merck BioVentures where he was responsible for the establishment of Merck’s global biosimilars business.

Prior to joining Merck BioVentures, Dr. Kamarck held positions of increasing responsibility in Biotechnology and Vaccines Operations at Wyeth, including leading the development of the global biotechnology network with $3.5 billion of capital investment. While at Wyeth, he also was responsible for global technical operations for all of the Company’s businesses. Dr. Kamarck began his career in biotechnology and pharmaceutical research at Bayer AG.

Dr. Kamarck graduated from Oberlin College where he currently serves as a Trustee. He received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is the author of more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and 20 issued patents. He also holds an Honorary Doctorate of Science from University College Dublin.

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Pascal Bécotte leads Canadian operations for Russell Reynolds Associates and is also a member of the firm’s global Executive Committee. He is a key member of the Healthcare Sector where he advises clients across the globe on their overall talent strategy, particularly with respect to leadership assessment, succession planning and the recruitment of directors, CEOs and other senior executives. More specifically Pascal specializes in Biotech and Pharma Technical Operations including Process Development, Manufacturing, Quality, Engineering and Supply Chain leadership across modalities.

At the 2022 edition of the North American Finance Executive Summit  series held in Phoenix, AZ, we spoke with Tony Tiscornia, the CFO of Coupa Software, about the top  priorities for CFOs and finance leaders across every industry: Reducing costs and improving margins, enhancing agility and productivity, mitigating risk, and optimizing performance. How does Business Spend Management (BSM) engage with each of these issues and challenges? What should finance professionals be doing to better maximize their spend under management, gain better visibility into working capital and optimize cash flow? How does Data inform all of this? For all this and more, give this episode a listen!

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Tony Tiscornia is the CFO of Coupa, and oversees the company’s finance and investor relations teams. Tony has been with Coupa since 2012 in various progressive leadership positions, including having served as Chief Accounting Officer and VP of Finance leading up to his appointment as CFO. During his tenure, Tony has helped oversee the company’s IPO in 2016, secondary offering in 2017, three convertible debt offerings, more than a dozen acquisitions, and overall rapid business growth and global expansion. After starting his career in public accounting with KPMG, Tony held various finance positions at the Clorox Company, Chiron Corporation, Robert Half, Blade Network Technologies, and Soraa. At Blade, he also played an integral role in the company’s IPO readiness efforts, followed by the eventual sale of the company to IBM. Tony earned a B.S. in Managerial Economics from UC Davis and is a California CPA (inactive).

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Coupa Software (NASDAQ:COUP) is the cloud platform for business spend management (BSM). Coupa empowers companies around the world with the visibility and control they need to spend smarter and safer. To learn more about how Coupa can help you spend smarter, visit www.coupa.com

Marvin Cooke is the EVP – Manufacturing for Toyota Motor Europe.

Based in Brussels, Marvin oversees all of Toyota’s European Manufacturing Companies, Production Engineering, Logistics, the Toyota Production System and the Production Control functions.

Marvin joined Toyota Manufacturing in the UK as a Manufacturing Engineer in 1991 and has held numerous management posts of increasing seniority throughout Europe. Today Mavin is leading Toyota’s European Manufacturing team along the journey from being an Automobile Company to becoming a Mobility Company.

He will also be a member of the speaker faculty of the European Supply Chain Executive Summit next week in Barcelona speaking about, "A Lean Approach to Carbon Neutrality,"  but first we get to ask him a few questions on the bluEPrint.

Enjoy!

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Marvin joined Toyota Manufacturing in the UK as a Manufacturing Engineer in 1991 and held numerous management posts progressing to Director of Production Operations in 2008. He spent a year as Director of Production Engineering at Toyota Motor Europe in Brussels during 2011 returning to Toyota Manufacturing UK as Deputy Managing Director of Vehicle Manufacturing in January 2012.  Marvin went on to spend 2 and a half years as Production Vice President at Toyota, Peugeot, Citroen Automobile in Czech Republic and returned to Toyota Manufacturing UK in 2017 as Managing Director.

Marvin assumed the position as Toyota Motor Europe’s Senior Vice President of Manufacturing in January 2020 and in addition, from October 1st, 2020, he was temporarily appointed President of TMMF. As of January 2021, Marvin was promoted to his current position as Executive Vice President of Manufacturing in TME.

Marvin started his career as an engineering apprentice at Pirelli Tyre Company. During his apprenticeship he studied at Burton & South Derbyshire College and graduated with an honours degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Nottingham Trent University. After his graduation, he worked as an engineer for Pirelli at both Burton-on-Trent and Carlisle plants. Immediately before joining Toyota, Marvin worked as a consultant engineer within the food and drinks industry.

Marvin is married with two children.

Drew Dudley is the Wall Street Journal-bestselling author of, This is Day One: A Practical Guide to Leadership that Matters. He has spoken to more than a quarter of a million people on five continents, has been featured on The Huffington Post, Radio America, Forbes.com, and also TED.com where his TED talk, “Everyday Leadership (the Lollipop Moment)” has been viewed more than five million times, was voted one of the 15 most inspirational TED Talks of all time, and was named by both TIME and Business Insider as one of the seven TED Talks That Will Make You a Better Leader. 

In this wide-ranging conversation with an accomplished author and public speaker, we explore everyday leadership that matters, personal and professional development as a daily discipline and commitment to life-long learning, the power and importance of mental health, and what we all need to hold onto as the consensus around what we mean by the New Normal of Work begins to solidify. 

This is a great interview. Give this one a listen!

At the most recent edition of the Pharma Manufacturing World Summit held May 15-16, 2023, in Boston, we spoke with Teresa Gorecki of Compliance Architects LLC about what pharmaceutical manufacturers should expect from regulators as the pandemic winds down, where we are and where we're going as the pipeline of Cell & Gene Therapies marches towards commercialization, and a wide range of other industry issues, challenges, and opportunities. This is a great conversation that speaks to a lot of key points of interest for pharmaceutical manufacturers of all shapes and sizes. Give it a listen!

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Teresa Gorecki comes to Compliance Architects® from Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, where she was most recently Vice President, Market Quality.   At Johnson & Johnson, Teresa was one of J&J’s top Quality professionals, known for her ability to manage inspections and remediate and improve deficient operations.  Teresa had senior level roles across all three sectors within Johnson & Johnson:  Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Products and Medical Devices.

Teresa is one of Compliance Architects’® lead subject matter experts, and has primary responsibility for strategic client engagements.

At Johnson & Johnson, Teresa’s key accomplishments included:

• Chair of Johnson & Johnson Cross Sector Business Quality Governance Team responsible for developing a Governance Model and Organizational Structure to develop and oversee an aligned Quality Management System, Processes and Procedures across the J&J Enterprise Business/Marketing Company Quality Units.
• Member of J&J Company Leadership Teams/Boards including Regional Management  Board for North America; J&J Consumer Healthcare Company (CHC) Board; and Neutrogena Management Board.
• Management of all aspects of Quality Systems, Quality Assurance, and Regulatory Compliance with Worldwide Regulatory Authorities including FDA (CBER, CDER and CDRH), MHRA,EMA, ANVISA, CFDA, Health Canada, etc.  Extensive experience in combination products, pharmaceutical dosage forms for both OTC and Rx products; biological (r­ DNA and monoclonal antibody) products and a wide range of consumer products (class I and II medical devices, OTC drugs, cosmetics and consumer products) in the US and Puerto Rico.
• Over 20 years’ experience and lead J&J subject matter expert in handling FDA inspections (routine, special cause, and PAI) for Cosmetic and Consumer, Combination Drug/Device, Pharmaceutical, and Biological products.
• Extensive experience with new product introduction; product and technology transfer, and commissioning of new/re-constructed facilities.
• Leadership of ERP System (SAP) implementation for Pharmaceutical Sourcing Group of the Americas Sites in New Jersey and Puerto Rico. Management of large-scale Supply Chain projects for “Demand Pull,” or LEAN Manufacturing.  Sponsorship of Six Sigma initiatives in Manufacturing and QA, which increased quality and compliance and yielded business benefits.

Teresa received her B.S. in Microbiology, with a minor in Chemistry from South Dakota State University.

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Compliance Architects LLC delivers high-value compliance, quality, and regulatory consulting services to companies directly regulated by the U.S. FDA and other global regulatory authorities. With capabilities ranging from quality systems implementations to audits, inspection readiness, enforcement remediation, and outsourced compliance services, Compliance Architects LLC has the experience, expertise, and delivery capability to significantly improve your company’s business outcomes. Jack Garvey is CA’s founder and CEO, a chemical engineer and a practicing regulatory attorney, and has spent his entire career helping companies navigate the challenges at the intersections of science, engineering, business, an

At the most recent edition of the Biomanufacturing World Summit series recorded last November in San Diego we spoke with Joe Perreira, TOWER Cold Chain's West Coast Business Development Manager, about how the needs of biopharmaceutical manufacturers are changing —particularly in reference to temperature-controlled and cold chain solutions— and how a new generation of services and solutions are coming online to meet those requirements.

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TOWER Cold Chain’s passive thermal containers provide a solution to reduce the total cost of shipping. Tower Cold Chain provides a developing global infrastructure with full-service centres across the US, Europe, Asia-Pacific & South Africa creating a flexible service.
 
 For over a decade TOWER Cold Chain has led the way with its innovative solutions for the reusable controlled-temperature market. Currently servicing and supplying 30 of the world’s top pharma and pharma 3PL companies: these players trust TOWER Cold Chain containers and the simplicity and reliability they bring.
 
 With zero-temperature-excursion phase-change technology TOWER Cold Chain containers are simple to store, load, ship, unpack and store.

www.towercoldchain.com

At the 2022 edition of the North American Finance Executive Summit  series held October 23-25 in Phoenix, AZ, we spoke with Martti Nurminen of Basware about how Finance teams are dealing with uncertainty and disruption, especially as it relates to new trends in procurement and invoicing. This is a great conversation that should be of interest to anyone who is rethinking and reevaluating their business processes in the new business landscape. Give it a listen!

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With nearly 20 years in the finance field, Martti Nurminen is a proven CFO committed to the business and his team. Laser-focused on delivering value to all stakeholders, he strikes the right balance of business insight and interpersonal skills.

Martti joined Basware and the Executive Team in 2019 as Chief Financial Officer.

Previously, he served as CFO in Nordic, publicly listed IT services and software companies, Solteq and Affecto. Prior to these CFO roles, he spent more than a decade in various finance leadership positions at IBM and Johnson Controls.

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Basware is the only procure-to-pay (P2P) and e-invoicing solution provider that empowers businesses with 100% spend visibility through 100% supplier connectivity and 100% data capture. With the world’s largest open business network and cloud-based technology, Basware is uniquely positioned to deliver the solutions required for Visible Commerce, which provides customers with complete transparency into all the flows of money, goods, and services around the world. Through an extensive partner network – application and technology – we make it easy for customers to take a connected, multiple-solution P2P eco-system approach. Basware provides seamless integration with the world’s leading ERP systems, including SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft Dynamics for some of the world’s largest companies. A global company, Basware has offices in 14 countries.

www.basware.com

At the 2023 edition of the long-running and successful North American Manufacturing Excellence Summit in Fort Worth, Texas, we sat down with James Newman and Brian Richmond of Augury to talk about the concept of Production Health, which has grown from its beginnings in Machine Health to encapsulate the idea that understanding what is happening in your manufacturing facilities through the power of Industry 4.0 tools will allow businesses to finally and truly get proactive in all facets or their operations. Workers and leaders empowered with real-time information and a deep understanding of their working environment can plan ahead with confidence, foreseeing challenges and capitalizing on opportunities that in years gone by would have caught them unawares. What does that look like in a real-world working environment? Give this episode a listen to learn more!

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Augury helps eliminate downtime, reduce maintenance costs and maximize productivity for critical machines in industrial and commercial applications ranging from bottling and food processing to paper products and pharmaceuticals. Our Machine Health solutions combine advanced sensors with powerful AI capabilities and collaboration tools to help teams understand when machines are at risk. And we provide the expertise so customers know what to do to prevent failures- long before those risks can threaten production or productivity. To learn more about Augury’s Machine Health solutions, visit augury.com.

For this special episode of Executive Platforms' bluEPrint Podcast series we had three of the top speakers from the 2023 edition of the long-running and successful North American Manufacturing Excellence Summit series sit down and speak to the challenges and opportunities submitted by attendees of the event as they filled out their delegate profiles, weighted by popularity. In this wide-ranging conversation you can look forward to three senior manufacturing executives from three very different companies speaking to the issues, ideas, and innovations that matter to all of them as prompted by their peers. It is a fantastic deep dive into what is most relevant to manufacturers today. Give it a listen!

Our roundtable panelists are...

Daryl Taylor
SVP Commercial Operations at Airbus Americas, Inc.

Daryl Taylor was promoted to Senior Vice President of Airbus Commercial Aircraft Operations in the U.S. in late 2022. In this role, he is responsible for the integration of Airbus’ operations organizations across the region. Daryl continues to serve as General Manager of Airbus’ U.S. Manufacturing Facility which is home to Final Assembly Lines of the A320/A321 and A220 aircraft. Taylor joined Airbus in August 2015 from GKN Aerospace where from 2013 he was Vice President and General Manager of two facilities: Precision Machining, Inc. in Wellington, Kansas and Bandy Aerospace, Inc. in Burbank, California. From 2010 to 2013, Taylor was General Manager of the Q400 Program at Bombardier Aerospace in Toronto, Canada. From 1997 to 2009 he held various roles at Hawker Beechcraft Corporation in Wichita, Kansas.

Brandy Hebert
VP Engineering Excellence at Estee Lauder Companies

Brandy Hebert is vice president of Global Engineering Excellence for Estee Lauder.   Brandy is responsible for Engineering excellence processes across the globe, owning engineering systems, managing standards, governing global capital processes, and developing manufacturing innovations.

Brandy has spent 25 years in various roles in Estee Lauder, Procter & Gamble, Accenture, and TDK where she had roles in Global Equipment platform management, Supply Chain Digital Program Management, Equipment Innovation planning, fill & assembly equipment development, manufacturing operations, and software development. She led teams to develop and deploy equipment, systems, digital and data analytics tools to all levels of the organization for rapid and informed decision making, supply chain planning, supply chain excellence, and manufacturing analysis.   Brandy has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of North Dakota.

Brandy and Justin, her husband of 17 years, have traveled the world, together moved 6 times to experience fulfilling career adventures, and currently reside on Long Island with their 3 biological and 2 foster children.

Bill Good
VP of Supply Chain at GE Appliances

Bill Good began his career in manufacturing on an assembly line while working his way through college. His experience sparked his passion and interest in manufacturing as a career, and he set a goal to one day lead manufacturing for a large U.S. company. Over the course of Bill’s 35-year career, he has honed his knowledge of supply chain management through his various roles of increasing responsibility at Tri-Glass, Charbroil, Whirlpool, and now in his dream job as the Vice President of Manufacturing at GE Appliances, a Haier company.

Bill holds a BS in Operations Management from Auburn University and an MBA and a MS in Human Resources from Troy State University.

Bill is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt, with expertise in Theory of Constraints, HOSHIN Planning, and the Toyota Production System. He places a high value on employee engagement, building