MNASQ is managed by an Executive Board comprised of three Directors, the Chair, Chair-Elect, Past Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, Vice-Chair of Membership Development, Vice-Chair of Marketing. The Executive Board can be reached at board@mnasq.org.
The Executive Board meets on the first Tuesday of every month at the Hampton Inn in Shoreview. All members are welcome to attend. Please contact the Section Secretary at secretary@mnasq.org so that we know you are coming (just in case we cancel or reschedule the meeting!)
The expanded leadership team including all committee chairs and key positions can be reached at leaders@mnasq.org.
MNASQ Leadership Team
Chair, Wayne Ellison
Wayne was elected Chair-Elect for the program year of 2010-2011 and he is now this year’s Section Chair. Previously, he was involved in the MN Quality Conference for most of the last 25 years, served as Chair of that conference in 2007-08 and as Vice Chair conferences in 2009-2010. He was awarded the prestigious 3M Lewis W. Lehr Career Quality Achievement Award for 2007 and in 2008 received the first Richard S. Alberg Distinguished Science and Technology Professional Award from MFESTS (Minnesota Federation of Engineering, Science, and Technology Societies). Wayne’s professional career was with 3M for 38 years, 28 of those in a Quality function, and he is now retired.
Chair-Elect, Bob Mitchell
Bob was elected to the position of Chair-Elect in 2011 and will be moving into the role of Section Chair starting July 1st, 2012. He is a long-time quality management professional with 3M where he works as a Senior Quality Manager for 3M Lean Six Sigma Operations responsible for the deployment of Global Quality and international Lean Six Sigma. Bob received 3M’s Lewis W. Lehr Career Quality Achievement Award in 2005, and in 2010 received the Richard S. Alberg Distinguished Science and Technology Professional Award from MFESTS (Minnesota Federation of Engineering, Science, and Technology Societies). Bob has been an active member of ASQ since 1985; he is an esteemed “Fellow” in ASQ, holds CQE and CMQ/OE professional certifications, and has served two separate rotations as Chair of the ASQ Statistics Division. ‘QualityBob’ is an “Influential Voice of Quality” blogger for ASQ, and is a frequent contributor to quality and organizational performance excellence topics on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and other social networking sites.
Past Chair, Ashweni Sahni
Ash is an ASQ Fellow, a member of ASQ since 1981. He has worked on every committee in the Section at various times. Ash has been very active with the Biomedical Consortium. He has been a Section director for 3 years. He was a co-chair of the Section host committee of for the World Conference on Quality Improvement held in Minneapolis in May 2009. Ash is a CQE, CRE and CIA and is President of his own consulting company, ASH and Associates.
Senior Director, Annette Borrelli
Annette has held several leadership positions in the Section since she first became involved in Member Services and Administration in 2002. She pioneered many technical improvements for Section operations including the first Section website, SMP (now QMP) metrics, and electronic approvals for check requests. She is currently a Quality Manager at 3M.
Director, Julie Baker
Julie has been a member of ASQ since 2005 and a volunteer for the 2008 MN Quality Conference Planning committee as the Treasurer. She has been with 3M since 1984 and the Quality representative for Dyneon LLC, a 3M Company supporting the Fluoropolymer products since 2004.
Director, Meena Chettiar
Meena Chettiar is an active senior member of ASQ Minnesota Section 1203. She has been a member since 2004 was co-chair of the MNASQ Education Committee (2008-2010), passionately pursuing and succeeding in increasing the number of ASQ certified professionals in MNASQ and has been instructing certification prep classes for CQIA, CQA and CMQ/OE offered by MNASQ since 2005. Meena has worked in QC Lab/QA management in food and pharmaceuticals for several years and is currently employed by Synovis Surgical innovations, a bio medical device company in St. Paul as the Senior Quality Analyst. Meena is looking forward to continuing to raise the voice of quality as a Director on MNASQ’s Executive Board to ensure continued value for our customers and increase the quality of our offerings.
Secretary, Ed Andrews
An ASQ member since 1989 and currently a Senior Member, Ed has been an active member of the MNASQ section, serving on the Program Committee since 2009 and Section Secretary since 2010. He has held Quality positions from Inspector up to Director of Quality, fifteen of those years in Quality Management in manufacturing industries. Currently at Greatbatch Medical in the Design Assurance Group, Ed‘s experience spans the medical device, automotive, gaming, appliance, office furniture and aerospace industries, to name a few.
Treasurer, Jason Powell
Since the 80′s Jason has been providing leadership and training in areas of TQM, SPC, Toyota Production System (TPS), Six Sigma problem solving and DFM planning, LEAN manufacturing, and LEAN office. Recently his responsibilities have tended toward implementation of internal quality, environmental, safety management systems, and development of supply chain vendor qualification programs for tracking domestic and international supplier performance. Jason is a Senior Member of ASQ who holds a Six Sigma Black Belt certification.
Vice Chair, Marketing, Karen Maskell
Karen has been a member of ASQ for more than 15 years. She is a Senior Member who has served is a wide variety of capacities for the Dallas Section, Software Division, HD&L Division as well as the Minnesota Section. Karen previously served the as Co-Chair of Programs and Chair of Voice of the Customer. She majored in Marketing at the University of Texas at Arlington and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota and is currently working as an independent management consultant. She is passionate about quality, continuous improvement, and finding ways to delight customers.
Vice Chair, Member Development, Greg Olson
Greg has been an ASQ Member since 1990 and has held several leadership positions for the Section, most recently as Chair and as Treasurer. Greg worked at Medtronic for 32 years, and as part of Quality for 22 of those years. He served as a RAB Certified QMS Lead Auditor for the last 12 years. Greg is now retired.
Chair, Professional Development Summit, Doug Stohr
Doug has over 30 years of hands-on Quality Experience in various manufacturing and service industries. He has served on the board of directors for the ASQ Hiawatha chapter, Precision Metal Forming Association and has given numerous guest Quality presentations at various industry functions including ASQ. Doug was also awarded a Master Black Belt level for his work in Six Sigma at Clore Automotive in 2002. Doug has numerous certifications in Quality Skills, Methods and Systems including Certified Lead Auditor in ISO 9001:2000, TOC, GDT, DOE, Lean, Six Sigma and advanced SPC.
Chair, Communications, Jay Sykes
Jay Sykes has more than 20 years of quality experience in a variety of manufacturing disciplines and a variety of industries. As the Corporate Quality Director for MME Group, he is honored to develop and produce products for a “who’s who” of the Top 100 Companies in the world. Jay holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Baker College as well Certifications in Leadership & Management from St. Paul Technical College. Jay is a Senior Member of ASQ and long standing member of American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). Additionally, he is a Certified Master Trainer as well as a ISO 9001 & ISO 13485 Auditor. He has always enjoyed using technology as a medium for delivering information and looks forward to using his experiences to help MNASQ continuously improve its communication services for the community.
Chair, Programs, Jan Schutz
Jan Schutz is a Senior Member of ASQ and Certified Quality Auditor who has been a member of ASQ Minnesota Section 1203 since 2005. She began volunteering as a member of the Program Committee in 2009. Until recently Jan worked in the Quality group at Boston Scientific working with the Cardiology, Rhythm and Vascular Division. She is currently seeking new employment opportunities.
Chair, Voice of the Customer, Craig Erickson
Craig Erickson is a Senior Member of ASQ who has been a member of ASQ for 23 years. He works as a Quality Engineer at Imation and holds Six Sigma Green Belt, Certified Quality Auditor and Certified Quality Engineer credentials. Throughout his career he has been active in supplier assessments and process improvement activities for companies in the aerospace, industrial products and consumer products industries. Craig has a Bachelor of Science degree as well as an Associate Degree in Quality Technology. He looks forward to applying this experience to lead Voice of the Customer initiatives within the Minnesota Section.
Co-Chair, Education, Dale Seitzer
Dale Seitzer, a member of ASQ for 4 years, is a Certified Quality Process Analyst and Certified Six Sigma Black Belt. He has 8 years of process improvement experience as a Six Sigma Black Belt, Project Manager, Quality Analyst and Business Analyst working in financial services, information technology, sales and service organizations. He also has experience as one of the Green Belt instructors.
Co-Chair, Education, Bob McClement
Bob has worked for nearly 18 years as an engineer/supervisor in semiconductor manufacturing and as an independent contract engineer. He attended the University of Washington as an undergraduate, having earned a B.S. in Engineering and a B.A. in Economics. His first job out of college was as a process quality engineer. He attended graduate school at Portland State University, where he earned an M.S. in Engineering Management, targeting quality and project management. In addition to Co-Chairing the Education Committee, Bob is also the lead instructor for MNASQ’s Certified Quality Engineer, Six-Sigma Black Belt, and Six-Sigma Green Belt exam preparation classes. He holds six ASQ certifications.
Chair, Membership Services, Mark Lanz
Mark has been a member of ASQ for 8 years and holds a Certified Quality Manager/Organizational Excellence. Mark has an MS in Business Administration and Manufacturing Systems from St. Thomas University. He has held a number of management positions in operations and quality for both service and manufacturing organizations.
Chair, Biomedical Consortium, Ken Kraemer
Ken has been a member of ASQ for 19 years. He is a Senior Member, a Certified Quality Engineer and Certified Biomedical Auditor with extensive experience in the Medical Device Industry as well as a registered Professional Engineer with the State of Minnesota. Ken is experienced in Quality Engineering, Quality Auditing, Manufacturing Engineering, Metrology, Preventative Maintenance and Returned Product Analysis. Extensive knowledge of QSR and ISO regulation compliance. He has been active with the Biomedical Consortium for 6 years.
Chair, Advancement Committee, June Rowley
June has been a member of ASQ for several years and has been involved with the Minnesota Quality Conference planning committee since 2006. She has been with 3M for 30 years and has held various Quality positions involved in the manufacture of both Medical Devices and Industrial products. June has been working in the Abrasives Division Quality group in 3M since 2006.
Advancement Coordinator, Chuck Carter
Chuck Carter has been a member of the Minnesota Section of ASQ since 1964. He has been an ASQ Fellow since 1989 and has served the section in a variety of capacities including Programs, Education, and Conferences. He has also served as Chair, Director, and Treasurer. Today Chuck serves the section as the Advancement Coordinator helping members navigate the process to advancing to ranks of Senior or Fellow.
Recertification Coordinator, Les Gagner
Les Gagner has been an ASQ member since 1983 and holds several ASQ certifications. He has been active on the Education Committee since 1986, mostly supporting member’s recertification. He is currently employed at Robert Bosch Packaging Technology Inc in Brooklyn Park as Quality Manager.
Newsletter Coordinator, Bruce Cessna
Bruce has been working in Quality for 6 years after having stumbled into it from the production floor. He is currently a Quality Engineer for a printing/packaging/data firm in Roseville. My education in Quality has been mostly learn as I go on the job supplemented by with a few local quality courses. Now that he is a member of ASQ he is pursuing certification programs to further his education. Bruce has developed and edited a few newsletters in the past and hopes to make the MNASQ revamped newsletter informative, educational, and entertaining. When not working, he spends his time expanding his knowledge on a variety of subjects, exploring the Twin Cities artistic scene (a renewed interest), or just enjoying time with friends and family.
Volunteer Coordinator, Steve Price
Steve Price has been a member of ASQ for almost 5 years. He earned his Certified Quality Engineer credentials in 2008. When a friend shared about one of his favorite past-times, volunteering, Steve investigated where he might make a contribution by volunteering. He chose to volunteer with ASQ because he appreciated the value of his membership and wanted to help others do the same. In his role as Volunteer Coordinator Steve is working with potential volunteers – getting to know them, their skills,interests and availability – and helping them find a place (or places!) within MN ASQ where they can make a contribution. He tells us that it has been a rewarding experience and he’s looking forward to the challenges of this new position.
Volunteer Coordinator, Lynn McCluskey
While Lynn has been a member of ASQ for 18 years, she has just recently started her volunteer journey. Her professor in the basic Quality Engineering course at the University of Minnesota offered applications for membership and I took him up on it. Her degree is Mechanical Engineering, but she minored in Industrial and then focused on Quality. She heard a calling in this field and have loved the work. After school she landed in the Medical Device field and has learned all the more due to the specific requirements imposed upon these products. She has been attending monthly MNASQ section meetings and other events since I was in school; she enjoys the learning and networking opportunities they provide. Now she’s off to her latest adventure of trying to match volunteers with opportunities in the section.