The Board

Tadashi Jones

President EVLA

Vice President of Resource Management for Rosen Aviation, LLC, the leader in cabin electronics for the business aviation marketplace.  In this role he is responsible for championing organizational change, including Rosen’s Lean evolution.

His background includes leadership experience in Operations, Quality, Program Management, Regulatory Compliance, and Strategic Planning.

He is a Kaplan & Norton Balanced Scorecard certified practitioner, a Federal Aviation Association certificated repairman, a quality management system auditor, and led the development of aviation regulatory guidance material RTCA/DO-313, Certification Guidance for Installation of Non-Essential, Non-Required Aircraft Systems and Equipment.

When not helping to shape Rosen’s future self, he enjoys travel, volunteering in the local community and spending time with his wife Jill and daughter Kaylee.

Kim Wooten

Vice President EVLA

Kim Wooten is a Chemist at Forrest Technical Coatings.  Her Lean experience spans over several industries over the last 19 years.  She has worked in manufacturing and service companies, implementing Lean and helping to continuously improve processes in the aerospace, financial and Coatings industries.

Her passion for Lean began during and after graduation from Keller Graduate School of Management, with an MBA in Business Administration with a Certificate in Project Management.  She also holds Lean Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Certificates through Emerald Valley Lean Association (EVLA), is a Lifetime  Certified Allenbaugh Coach, and is Lean Six-Sigma Green Belt Certified.  Kim currently serves as the Vice President and Lead for Education / Curriculum on the EVLA Board.  She also enjoys exploring beautiful Oregon with her family after moving to Oregon from Phoenix, AZ in 2017.

Jeremy Green

Jeremy Green is a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, the former Director of Lean Six Sigma for a national consulting and training firm, and the Executive responsible for continuous improvement for a division of a Fortune 500 consumer products company. He holds a PhD in Counseling Psychology and is a former National Science Foundation Scholar in Engineering.  Dr. Green was privileged to write the introduction to “Fundamentals of Lean Manufacturing”, the last published book by Shigeo Shingo, one of the two founders of the Toyota Production System. Jeremy works for Arcimoto, a local manufacturer of ultra-efficient electric vehicles, as their Logistics Engineering Manager. With his experience of starting one company and co-founding a second, he is also the lead instructor for the Eugene Regional Accelerator, teaching local entrepreneurs how to build sustainable startups.

Mark Forrest

Mark has more than 20 years at Forrest Technical Coatings, a world leader in the formulation and manufacturing of heat resistant and other high performance finishes. Before assuming the role of company president in 2008, he held technical, product management, sales, and general management leadership roles. He earned a B.A. in Music from the University of Southern California and an M.B.A. from the University of Oregon. He brings the perspective of owners and senior business executives to the EVLA board.

Throughout his years in the coatings industry, Mark has worked as a professional jazz guitarist and raced sailboats competitively. These days, he enjoys travelling, sailing, scuba diving, and hiking with his wife and five children.

Rob Loper

Lean Engineer, PacificSource Health Plans
Industrial Engineer, Oregon State University
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt – Villanova University
Master Scuba Diver Trainer – PADI (Professional Association of Dive Instructors)

Rob’s career has spanned over 20 years within the high tech industry at Hewlett Packard and Intel as an Industrial Engineer and Lean Facilitator prior to moving into the health services work at PacificSource. His current role at PacificSource focuses on enterprise lean training and the input into the development of strategy deployment. Outside of work, Rob is a scuba dive instructor through a local dive shop and an underwater photographer.

Tom Wright-Hay

Tom Wright-Hay has over 25 years of experience in management, strategic planning, sales/marketing, engineering, and Lean Manufacturing.  Tom’s career began as a project manager in a refinery for a Fortune 500 energy company and progressed to include internal business consulting and strategic planning roles.   After obtaining his MBA from the University of Oregon, Tom was CEO/General Manager of a recreational products manufacturer where he successfully employed Lean to turn the company around.  As a consultant with the Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Tom worked with numerous companies in the high-tech, wood products, metal fabrication, heavy equipment, and medical products industries.  He served on OMEP’s board of directors, was a member of the State of Oregon’s Manufacturing Workforce Committee, and has guest lectured at the University of Oregon.  Tom is currently the Director of Information Services and Continuous Optimization for Blue Star Gas.  In addition to his MBA, Tom holds a degree in mechanical engineering from Cal State Fullerton.

 

In his spare time, Tom enjoys hanging out with his kids, mountain and road biking, travel, and good food and drink.

Lisa Smith

Senior Vice President of Productivity and Process Improvement

Lisa Smith is responsible for organizational change management initiatives at AccessOne to create a more efficient, effective and compliant organization. She has extensive experience in process improvement, project management and behavior change management after serving 27 years in justice and government services. Lisa is known for her leadership and for bringing Medicaid reimbursement funding to the juvenile justice system and to mental health services in both Missouri and Oregon. She has been called upon to speak at both local and national conferences regarding organizational change, process improvement and cognitive behavior interventions.

Lisa serves in a volunteer capacity as the coordinator for Amputee Empowerment Partners of Willamette Valley and serves on the Board of Directors for Volunteers in Medicine, and United Way of Lane County.

Lisa holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from William Woods University, and an MBA from William Woods University.

Frank Vaughan

Vaughan is currently serving as the Continuous Improvement Program Manager for Eugene Water and Electric Board where he is responsible for leading the effort to maximize the use of continuous improvement and change management to add value for the community of Eugene. He has served in various executive management, continuous improvement and engineering roles throughout the United States and has lived in Oregon since 2006.

 

Vaughan is a US Air Force veteran and received an Associate of Applied Science in Aerospace Physiology from Air University. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology at Southern Illinois University, and an MBA from Northwest Christian University in Eugene, Oregon. Vaughan holds certifications in Professional Project Management (PMP), Change Management (Prosci) and is a certified Professional Coach (CPC)

 

In his free time, Vaughan loves taking adventures with his wife, traveling, and off-road jeeping.

Kelsey Brannon

Kelsey is currently serving as the Continuous Improvement Analyst for Eugene Water and Electric Board where she is responsible for helping EWEB staff apply continuous improvement and lean best practices in their work and projects.  The majority of Kelsey’s career has been in quality assurance in food manufacturing, where she has helped to add value and apply lean tools such as root cause analysis, process mapping, and visual management.  Her favorite part of the job is collaborating with cross-functional teams on big problems and empowering the experts in the work to use tools that will increase the success of the solutions they come up with.

Kelsey is a local to the Lower Willamette Valley and took her education growing up on a grass-seed farm into college with her, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Business Management from Oregon State University.   A few years ago, Kelsey decided to follow her passion for learning and leadership by pursuing a Master of Arts degree from Gonzaga University in Organizational Leadership and Change Management.   After completing her degree, she plans on focusing on growing a large garden with the help of her husband and two boys.