Faculty

Roger Ellis, MSE, MBA, BS, PMP, SS MBB, has more than 40 years of hands-on experience in project management, Six Sigma, implementation of lean manufacturing, design for assembly and manufacturing, workplace design, productivity improvement, leading and managing work teams, competitive analysis, operations management, and production and inventory control. He has taught at the undergraduate and graduate level in the areas of business and project management, and has conducted project management and manufacturing seminars at Arizona State University, the Institute of Industrial Engineers, A.M.A., and the Six Sigma Academy. Mr. Ellis has developed and conducted training programs for manufacturing companies worldwide and is an active member of the Project Management Institute (PMI)®. He is a member of the International Society for Six Sigma Professionals (ISSSP) and is certified as a Six Sigma Master Black Belt.

Mark R. Blackburn, Ph.D. is a Senior Research Scientist with Stevens Institute of Technology and Principal in KnowledgeBytes. Dr. Blackburn has been the Principal Investigator (PI) on 14 System Engineering Research Center (SERC) research tasks for both US Navy NAVAIR, US Army ARDEC and DoD on Systems Engineering Transformation through Model-Centric Engineering. He has also been PI on a FAA NextGen and National Institute of Standards and Technology projects and has received research funding from the National Science Foundation. He develops and teaches a course on Systems Engineering for Cyber Physical Systems. He is a member of the SERC Research Council, member of OpenMBEE leadership team and core member of the Semantic Technologies for Systems Engineering initiative. Prior to joining Stevens, Dr. Blackburn worked in industry for more than 25 years. Dr. Blackburn holds a Ph.D. from George Mason University, a M.S. in Mathematics (emphasis in C.S.) from Florida Atlantic University, and a B.S. in Mathematics (C.S. option) from Arizona State University.

Dave McSherry, BSBA Degree Finance, LSSBB, ISO 9000 auditor, has over 35 years of experience in Business Management. Presently, Chief Operating Officer for a Miami based Not for Profit organization. Former Global Director of Operational Excellence (Lean Six Sigma) for a Fortune 500 Corporation.Held positions as COO, CFO, Director and Plant Manager. Certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt. Taught and mentored numerous Master Black Belts, Black Belts and Green Belts. Past guest speaker for TLMI and Six Sigma & Process Excellence Conferences.

Jane Stewart Somerville, MBA, PMP, PMI-RMP, PMI-SP, has over 18 years of business experience in the Information Technology industry. She has developed and taught courses in project management and international business and provided consulting services for project management, business management and quality initiatives. Her experience includes establishing corporate PMO’s, initiating Scorecard and Six Sigma Performance Management efforts, analyzing business risk and security exposure and developing corporate training programs.

Barbara Zimmerman, MSPM, BSIM, PMP, PMI-RMP, PMI-SP, PMI-ACP, has over 20 years experience in the Information Technology industry with half of that in project management. As both a consultant and employee, she has obtained experience in the utilities, manufacturing, education, software development, and financial industries. As a trainer, she has delivered workshops in PMP® Exam Prep Certification, Project Management using Microsoft Project, and the Microsoft Office tools. Also, Barbara had earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Management from Purdue University and a Master of Science degree in Project Management at George Washington University.

Loan Ton, BS in Mechanical Aerospace Engineering, MS in Engineering Management, Certified LSS MBB, is an accomplished business leader with over 20 years of experience in the FDA regulated and life safety industries. She held a number of engineering and plant management positions early in her career, with the past 14 years dedicated to change management and process improvement in several global companies. Her professional accomplishments include full scale deployment of process improvement programs, strategic planning, project selection and execution, resulting in impactful improved quality, productivity, streamlined operations, and increased financial performance in the manufacturing and transactional environments. Loan has developed instructional materials and trained over 700 Master Black Belts, Black Belts, Green Belts, Yellow Belts and Lean Leaders. Her passion, positive energy and unique approach to training make her an extremely effective Lean Six Sigma trainer and mentor.

Jerry Bridgewater, BSEE, BSBA, AS, AMT, LSS MBB, has more than 20 years of experience in Lean Implementations in the manufacturing industry. He has also implemented and performed numerous Employee Development training sessions. He has worked globally, and has extensive experience in high-quality plant operations, labor relations, quality control, resolving customer conflicts, safety, and engineering. He has a proven track record of consistent contributions to increase production, quality, cost effectiveness, and profitability. He has worked in leadership roles in a number of industries such as: Automotive, Aerospace, Medical, Industrial, and Construction. He has worked on Project Implementations with organizations such as: Motorola, Delphi Automotive, Tyco, Abbott Laboratories, and H B Fuller Company. Jerry’s practical and hands on teaching skills allow him to blend his diverse experience from the different industries with sessions in the classroom. He is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt.

Marvin Wurtzel, MS Engineering Management, BE(Electrical), has over 40 years of hands-on experience in Quality Management, Process Improvement, Six Sigma, Lean and Business Process Management (BPM). He has implementation of lean, six sigma and BPM at several major corporations as an employee and consultant. He has taught graduate level courses in quality management and six sigma for the National Graduate School. Mr. Wurtzel is the author of “What is BPM”, an introduction to Business Process Management. He is a regular speaker and instructor, for both online and classroom courses at the BPMInstitute.org. Mr. Wurtzel has worked and consulted for major corporations throughout the United States. He is a Fellow of the American Society for Quality, Certified Business Process Management Professional (CBPMP), and a Certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt.