Carl has a wealth of experience in the areas of Industry 4.0, Maintenance, Asset Management, Reliability Engineering, and Lean Operations. He is a renowned leader in the enablement of technology in the manufacturing environment and also holds both an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering and a graduate degree in Automotive Systems Engineering. His list of publications include technical papers written for the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress as well as the IMechE International Journal of Automobile Engineering and other industry periodicals and reference texts. He’s had proven success in numerous industry sectors, in the application of optimization methods leading to higher levels of equipment reliability, operability and maintainability. Carl’s passion and focus has been in the transfer of knowledge/ capabilities in Reliability and Asset Optimization Techniques, RCM, TPM, Lean, Root Cause Analysis and Reliability Excellence to clients worldwide seeking to achieve manufacturing distinction.

A third generation family business successor, Marcy has been working her way up the ranks at Excello Tool Engineering and Manufacturing, a custom CNC job shop located in Milford CT. As Chief of Operations, Marcy is responsible for all operational and financial decisions relative to Excello Tool Engineering and MFG. She is currently serving Vice President for ManufactureCT and is a very active participant in the mentoring and creation of skilled manufacturing jobs across state technical high schools and community colleges.

Colin Cooper has more than 30 years of professional experience as a design engineer, investment banker, crisis manager and aerospace executive.

Colin retired from the Whitcraft Group to become the State of Connecticut’s first Chief Manufacturing Officer on October 30, 2019.

Prior to that, he served as the CEO and then the Executive Chairman of the Whitcraft Group. Colin and his operating partner, Jeffrey Paul, acquired Whitcraft in 1998 and grew the company from one facility in Eastford, Connecticut to eleven facilities in four New England states, Illinois and Arizona. The Whitcraft Group is a Connecticut based contract manufacturer of precision machined, formed and fabricated parts and assemblies for many of the world’s largest aerospace OEM’s. Whitcraft’s parts are on virtually every major large commercial and U.S. military aircraft in service today.

Prior to joining Whitcraft, he was a managing director at Alvarez & Marsal, Inc., a nationally recognized crisis management and turnaround consulting firm specializing in operational and financial restructurings and before that he worked as an associate in corporate finance for Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. He began his career as a design engineer for Pratt & Whitney Aircraft. Colin has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Tufts University and an MBA from Columbia University.

Colin currently serves on the boards of the Whitcraft Group, Habco Industries, the Aerospace Component Manufacturers association, and the Connecticut Manufacturing Innovation Fund. He is a past board member of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association.

Kurt Albertson is the North American Practice Lead for The Hackett Group's Procurement Advisory Program, based in Atlanta, Georgia. Working with procurement and finance executives, Kurt supports their ongoing transformation agendas leveraging his experience, best practice-based research and cutting-edge frameworks. Mr. Albertson also conducts research into topical issues, and leads client conferences, webcasts and other related events. He has 25+ years of experience in assessing procurement and finance capabilities concentrating on category management, strategic sourcing, risk and supplier management, purchasing and accounts payable, and travel expense management. Mr. Albertson offers a blend of consulting and industry experience, having served a wide variety of clients as a management consultant and managing manufacturing operations in an automotive plant. He holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina, and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Michigan. He also is a featured presenter at industry conferences and has been published in leading periodicals such as the Wall Street Journal.

Terrence Clark serves as the President and CEO of the New York New Jersey Minority Supplier Development Council. At the Council, Terrence provides operational oversight and carries out full management and operational responsibilities for the Council staff including personnel, administration, work delegation and performance evaluations. He also provide supervision and direction related to the Council program areas and activities in the Council’s market areas which are the State of New York and New Jersey up to the Trenton area.

Prior to this position, he served as the Vice President of Entrepreneurship and Business Development for the National Urban League, where he was responsible for the management of all of the small business and entrepreneurship programs. Terrence also served as the Senior Vice President, Knowledge Sharing for Opportunity Finance Network, where he was responsible for the management consulting, training and annual conference lines of business for community development financial institutions nationwide.

Over the course of his career, he has served in a variety of leadership positions for community and economic development organizations over the past twenty five years. He served as the Executive Director of the 47 th Street Business Improvement District for nine years assisting the 2,600 business owners in New York’s Diamond District in improving economic conditions in the district and marketing its services to a wider client base. He also served as the Executive Director of the Manhattan Minority Business Development Center, Bronx Small Business Development Center and the Pace University Minority and Women Business Development Center, where he managed and provided management consulting and business training services to small, minority and women business owners.

Terrence began his career with the United States Small Business Administration, where he served as the Assistant District Director for Management Assistance managing and providing management consulting and training services to SBA clients in the downstate 14 counties of New York. He is a graduate of Hunter College of the City University of New York, with a bachelor’s degree in Economics.

He serves as a board member of TruFund Financial Services, the Supplier Diversity Development Council of New Jersey, the New York New Jersey Minority Supplier Development Council and sits on the Economic Impact Committee of Stonehenge Capital. He is also a member of the Economic Club of New York and sits on the Minority and Women Business Enterprise Advisory Councils for the NYC Comptroller Scott Springer and Governor Andrew Cuomo. He is named as one of the Notable Black Leaders and executives by Crain’s New York in 2021.

Paul S. Lavoie was appointed by Governor Ned Lamont as the Chief Manufacturing Officer for Connecticut in February 2022. The Chief Manufacturing Officer position was created to coordinate efforts from the state and private sector to expand manufacturing in Connecticut.

Paul has extensive industry experience, most recently as General Manager at Carey Manufacturing in Cromwell, CT. Carey is known for their reshoring efforts, bringing jobs back from China to Connecticut. Prior to Carey, Paul was vice president of sales, marketing and human resources at ETTER Engineering Company in Bristol. Prior to ETTER, Paul has owned two businesses and served at senior level positions at publicly traded and privately owned businesses.

Paul serves as the Board Chair of the Central CT Chambers of Commerce, member of the i4.0 Working Group, member of the Governors Workforce Council and a member of Senator Chris Murphy’s Aerospace and Advance Manufacturing Advisory Council. In 2022, Paul was named as one of the Greater Hartford’s Top 50 Power Players by Hartford Business Journal.

Chris has served as the Vice President – Global Supply Chain for the Otis Elevator Company since October 2019. In this role, he is responsible for the global purchasing and supply chain function across the direct material, indirect material, and subcontracting categories.
Chris started his career at Chrysler as a product development engineer. After completing his MBA, he joined McKinsey and Company’s Operations Practice, and focused on working with clients to deliver bottom line results through Design-to-Value and Design-to-Cost efforts, as well as purchasing transformations, including clean-sheet cost modeling. This included collaboration with suppliers to deliver win-win solutions.Prior to joining Otis, Chris worked in the automotive industry in various supply chain leadership roles at Tier 1 suppliers TRW Automotive, ZF Group, and Aptiv.
Chris earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan, and an MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Thomas J. Niglio earned his BS in Computer & Systems Engineering, and an MS in Organizational Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

TJ Niglio is a Vice President and the Chief Procurement Officer at Pitney Bowes. TJ has been with Pitney Bowes for over 20 years, moving through a series of assignments and responsibilities. The past 10 years have been in Procurement on the business side, overseeing all sourcing categories and Pitney Bowes’ supplier diversity initiatives. He was appointed CPO in April 2022 and has been integrally involved with their supply chain strategy as the corporation has evolved and endured pandemic-era supply chain issues. TJ lives in Milford, CT with his wife and daughter and will be setting the stage for a great morning of exploration. He will especially review the evolution of Pitney Bowes’ supply chain as they have responded to supplier, economic, organizational, and technological challenges and what they expect next.

TJ lives in Milford, CT with his wife and daughter.

Daniel Dorr has spent the last 20+ years leading marketing teams, launching new businesses, and developing winning campaigns. At Supplier.io Daniel is responsible for connecting with Supplier Diversity leaders globally; helping them create and mature successful supplier diversity programs with Supplier.io’s industry leading data, software, and services.

Everyday, Demetrius makes strides to be the change he wishes to see in the world. Being an active philanthropist is an important aspect of that mission. Demetrius is so passionate about helping others because he knows what it is like to overcome adversity and hardship. His vulnerability allows him to genuinely connect with people and inspire change in the lives of others. In his free time, he enjoys being a student of life through traveling the world and studying self-development podcasts.

TBA

Catherine Marx was appointed District Director of U.S. Small Business Administration’s Connecticut District Office on September 28, 2020. As District Director, Ms. Marx is responsible for leading the Connecticut SBA team in the effective delivery and management of SBA’s financial and business development programs throughout the state. Her office has a mission to advise, assist and advocate for the interests of small businesses statewide. Central to this mission is the close collaboration Ms. Marx fosters between small businesses and lending partners, SBA resource partners, economic development professionals and state and local entities. These relationships strengthen the economy by promoting entrepreneurship as well as small business creation and growth.
Ms. Marx and the Connecticut District Office staff help entrepreneurs start, grow and build their businesses through access to capital, government contracting and technical assistance. Ms. Marx is also responsible for SBA oversight of the Connecticut Small Business Development Center, Women’s Business Center, Women’s Business Development Council and the six Connecticut chapters of SCORE.

Sheila Sweeney Hummel is a National Development Council-certified economic development leader with more than 20 years of experience managing successful state programs that fuel business growth and job creation.

Recognized for establishing a new level of customer service in state government, Hummel connects people with resources and balances state interests with client needs. She leverages expertise in financial management, team leadership, and process improvements to increase access to state funding for all, including business owners from underserved populations

Hummel managed the very successful Small Business Express (EXP) program, which provided more than 2,000 loans and grants for a total of more than $300M disbursed. In its eight years, EXP connected small businesses with the financial support and technical assistance they needed to be successful.

Sheila has assumed Leadership of the following programs:

• · Small Business Development Center
• · CT Procurement Technical Assistance Program
• · University of Hartford, Entrepreneurial Center
• · Women’s Business Development Council
• · Business Industry Foundation of Middlesex County
• · Small Business CT Boost Program (2022)
• · Small Business Support Grant Program (2022)
• · Urban Act Grant Program
• · Small Town Economic Program (STEAP)
• · Black Business Alliance
• · Spanish American Merchants Association

John Baltosiewich is the Executive Director of Supply Chain at Stamford Health in Stamford Connecticut. Stamford Health is an independent, non-profit health system comprised of a 305-bed acute care hospital, a growing ambulatory network including four multispecialty centers and a medical group with more than two hundred physicians and advanced practice providers in forty offices throughout Fairfield County, Connecticut. With more than 3,800 employees, Stamford Health is the largest employer in the City of Stamford, has an operating budget of close to $1 billion, and contributes more than $1 billion a year to the local economy. John is responsible for leading the organization across the following: purchasing/procurement, strategic sourcing of products/services, value analysis, inventory control, logistics of clinical inventory, distribution services, linen services, vendor contracting and negotiations, and mail room and copy room services.
John has 35 years of supply chain and purchasing experience. He spent the first half of his career in the manufacturing sector including 7 years working for General Motors Corporation. For the last 15 years he has been in healthcare all with Trinity Health which has over one hundred hospitals across twenty-two states. John was based in the corporate office in Livonia, Michigan for 5 years before he moved to Marland to run supply chain operations as Senior Director of Supply Chain at Holy Cross Health.
John has extensive experience supporting large capital projects as Holy Cross built a brand new one hundred bed hospital and added a new two hundred bed patient tower to the campus in Silver Spring, MD. He was instrumental in guiding their value analysis efforts by driving millions in savings annually.
John is originally from Michigan. He has both a master’s and bachelor’s from Michigan State University. With his husband Michael, John lives in one of the oldest houses in Stamford a farmhouse built in 1724.

Eileen Candels is the Director of Partnerships at the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT), where she leads outreach to Manufacturers and Trade Associations to connect with CCAT resources. Eileen joined CCAT in late 2020, leading CARES Act, Workforce, and Education programs for the CT Manufacturing ecosystem. Prior to CCAT Eileen had a 35-year career in the staffing industry, as Vice President of the Greater Hartford and Western MA area, and later as Director for New England with educational staffing. She is involved in several Education-Business partnerships around the State, Million Women Mentors – CT, Hunger Action service and lives with her family in Wethersfield. Eileen holds a BA from Tufts University.

Gary Breitbart is the Program Director, CT Supplier Connection.

Steven Semaya is the Program Director, CT Supplier Connection.

Ron Angelo is CCAT’s President & Chief Executive Officer. He is formerly Principal of Great River Advisors and previously served as Deputy Commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), where he administered business development programs totaling more than $3 billion that targeted retention and expansion of in-state businesses and recruitment of domestic and international companies, as well as state and federal programs focused on building strong neighborhoods and communities. Prior to DECD, he served as Deputy Commissioner for the Department of Consumer Protection and Vice President for Fleet Financial Group/Bank of America. He has over 25 years of management experience in the public and private sector. He also has experience working with universities and institutions of higher education and with several successful not-for-profit organizations. He currently services on the Goodwin College Board of Trustees, UCONN’s School of Engineering Advisory Committee, MetroHartford Alliance Board of Directors and the Naval Maritime Consortium Advisory Board. He is a member of the Aerospace Component Manufacturers Development Team and served on Governor Lamont’s Job and Economic Growth Committee.

Hilary Kuhl is the Vice President of Sikorsky Global Supply Chain, focused on leadership, performance, management, compliance, and execution of all supply chain activities across the Sikorsky enterprise serving our military, commercial, and international customers. Partnering with her team, she drives strong collaboration across the portfolio to create and implement strategies leveraging the size and scope of our supply base while standardizing processes and driving innovative solutions to deliver to the mission, capture new business, grow current programs, and accelerate Lockheed Martin Sikorsky into the future.

Prior to her current role, Hilary worked in Space as the Special Programs Quality Director, delivering first class quality products at a competitive price and delivered high-performance systems and innovative concepts for critical applications. She was also the Director of Operations Excellence, responsible for driving short-term and long-term improvement strategies for processes and systems-thinking throughout Operations. Hilary led a team focused on continuous improvement and implementing Enterprise transformation while establishing a new operating model dedicated to delivering results and measuring cost take-out across the business.

Previously, Hilary was the Technical Assistance to the Executive Vice President of Space, where she served as a strategic advisor to the EVP and Space Executive Leadership Team and coordinated cross-enterprise integration activities.

With over 20 years of experience at Lockheed Martin and across multiple business areas, Hilary brings a breadth and depth of knowledge to the Operations organization. Hilary first joined Lockheed Martin as a Co-Op before joining the Operations Leadership Development Program (OLDP). After graduating from OLDP, Hilary spent the next several years working in Supply Chain, Product Cost Analysis, and international subcontracts for Rotary & Mission Systems (RMS), including leading subcontract program management (SPM) efforts on the corporate focus program Space Fence.

Hilary has a well-established background in Operations, with leadership roles in Supply Chain, Quality, Production, Operations, and Assembly, Test and Launch Operations (ATLO). She has enjoyed re-joining RMS in 2022 and supporting the Sikorsky line of business.

Hilary graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Science in Supply Chain Management and Finance and earned her Master of Science in Engineering Management from Drexel University. Hilary also graduated from the Program Management Development Talent Initiative (PMTI) and is an active OLDP graduate and mentor.

Andrew manages the newly established Clean Economy Program at the State of Connecticut’s Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) and is responsible for spearheading the development of the renewable energy industry in the State - in particular, the offshore wind industry, with a focus on advancing Connecticut’s green economy supply chain, workforce, port assets and research and development.
Before joining DECD, Andrew managed business development and special projects at the Connecticut Port Authority, the state’s maritime economic development agency. Andrew previously served as director of special projects for a national nonprofit policy institute and leadership development organization headquartered in Washington, DC and prior to that he managed the flagship policyprogram for a DC-based nonprofit research center covering a wide range of issues, including defense, renewable energy, transportation, critical infrastructure, and resilience.

Saranda is the Director of Business Development at AdvanceCT, a nonprofit economic development organization that engages and recruits businesses to Connecticut. Saranda works to increase the regional and global competitiveness of the state, with a primary focus on renewable energy and offshore wind. Building on public and private sector partnerships, she manages new-to-market foreign direct investment opportunities seeking the best regional advantage for their next stage of growth.

With work focused on offshore wind energy in the US, the SCD role facilitates the interactions and exchange of information related to supply chain development between Ørsted’s internal sourcing teams and external vendors who would like to provide goods and services to the projects.

Mohawk Northeast Inc. a local Heavy Civil Construction firm located in Plantsville Connecticut. Mr. Schill has degrees in Civil Engineering, Ocean Engineering, and Marine Biology. He has over 35 years of experience in civil and marine construction, with a wide range of skill including many years as a commercial diver, a design engineer, and Project Manager for numerous large-scale civil projects. Mr. Schill is also very involved in the community, and is currently serving on the Board of Directors for Associated Builders and Contractors of Connecticut (CTABC), Naval & Maritime Consortium (NMC), Connecticut Construction Industries Association (CCIA), and various Town Agencies.

Primary Responsibilities
Bernice manages the CONNEX Connecticut Supply Chain Solution database, directing customer engagement efforts, including building relationships with manufacturers, suppliers, stakeholders as well as government entities. She also maintains the CONNEX Marketplace portal, designed to connect manufacturers to resources andexpertise across the state, provide supplier lists to Connecticut partners, and identifygaps in Connecticut’s manufacturing industry community.

Notable Performances
Bernice has over three decades of experience working for the Connecticut Department of Labor, where for the last several years she managed the Manufacturing Innovation Fund Incumbent Worker Training Program in collaboration with the CT Department of Economic and Community Development. She also has extensive background working with state manufacturers on marketing, business development, grant writing, contract management, and project coordination.

Achievements
Bernice has a Bachelor of Arts, Communications Sciences degree from the University of Connecticut. She also earned supervisory skills and project management certifications from Capital Community College.