Barbara represents Pivotal Resources in Paris, France. She has over twenty years of experience in the application of Continuous Improvement, Total Quality Management and ISO 9000 registration.

With her expertise in strategic planning and process management she has coached top managers and board members of leading companies all over Europe. These companies include Renault, Schlumberger, Hewlett-Packard, GE, Roche, IKEA and many more.

Barbara spent her early career as an international journalist in Europe, Latin America and the Middle-East – particularly as a war correspondent for a major US broadcasting network and as an expert in international communication at UNESCO. She also produced several cultural and educational programs for television and radio. Her experience in journalism later led to her founding and developing the European news offices of a famous Latin-American news agency.

Barbara has two PhDs in Political Science and in Sciences of Communication and Information from University de Paris and a Master's degree in Marketing & Advertising from Universidad de Buenos Aires - Argentina.

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Alex has over 18 years of experience with major corporations including National Semiconductor, Raytheon and NCR. Working now as an independent consultant, his current clients include companies from the manufacturing, health-care & engineering sectors.

Formerly a Director of Quality and Six Sigma at NCR where he completed his Master Black Belt training, Alex was a key player in the implementation of NCR's Six Sigma program, including curriculum development and training at all levels.

With an ability to work effectively across organisations, Alex has worked with senior management teams and project teams to develop their skills in business and process improvement. As well as leading improvement teams, Alex has coached many successful process improvement projects.

Alex specializes in the development and deployment of business management systems. He holds a BSc. in Physics and Theoretical Physics from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

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Graham has extensive experience in leading projects, managing cross functional and cross cultural teams and supporting both service and manufacturing organizations.  He is a sought-after coach, trainer and consultant, bringing a pragmatic, common sense approach to the application of the appropriate business improvement tools and techniques. He has taught people from all levels of his client companies, covering Six Sigma and Lean topics and also some 'softer skill' areas such as facilitation, presentation and team work. He is an excellent communicator and is equally effective at shop-floor and Board level.

Graham entered the consulting field in 2004 and has used his experience and knowledge to great effect in a wide range of business challenges. Prior to this, Graham’s career spanned over 25 years at Motorola, in a variety of roles of increasing responsibility. Here he gained experience in Engineering, both hands on and as a Manager, during which time he introduced the concept of statistical engineering and structured problem solving in his team. He also had the opportunity to run a Manufacturing Operation for many years, where he learned the value of the Lean family of tools. Later in his tenure at Motorola, as a Business Chief of Staff, he was instrumental in leading a quality improvement drive. Laterally, he was the Global Process Owner for Customer Quality in the semiconductor arena, a role which afforded contact with many demanding blue chip customers. Success here required involvement in all aspects of the business and interface at all levels.  

His key client engagements include extensive training and consulting support for BP’s Process Fitness initiative, coaching and training for first direct Bank, and various services for firms such as Cisco, M&S Money, Babcock Naval Services, Pfizer, CRUK,  RS Components and Shop Direct.

His most recent engagement within BP saw him successfully lead a Finance initiative to implement a new process and system to manage the downstream IT costs.  

Graham holds a Degree in Physics from Strathclyde University in Glasgow and is a certified MBB.

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Dave has nearly ten years experience in engineering, information technology, and Six Sigma with General Electric (GE). A graduate of GE's Edison Engineering Program, he has worked in the US and Europe in the Nuclear Power and Lighting industries. As an IT manager with GE, Dave has led many successful system implementations for the commercial functions using the Design for Six Sigma methodology, and has also been responsible for driving Six Sigma quality in the European IT organization.

Dave has consulting experience in credit management, financial transaction processing, procurement, and IT strategy working with multi-national clients in several countries. He has successfully delivered Six Sigma deployment, training and project coaching at many levels within client organizations.

Dave holds a degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Arizona and a Masters in Engineering Management from Stanford University.

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Peter, a GE Master Black Belt, has over 13 years of Quality and Continuous
Improvement management experience. During that time he has designed and directed Lean Six Sigma programs, trained and coached hundreds of Senior Leaders, Champions, Black Belts and Green Belts, and personally led high-impact improvement and design projects, using methods such as DMAIC, DMADV and Lean Action Workout.

For more than 10 years, Peter was a key improvement leader at GE and was recognized as a “TOP Performer.” During this time he worked with several divisions, including GE Lighting, GE Capital and GE Energy. This career path allowed him to gain valuable experience with both service and manufacturing processes, and taught him the subtle - and sometimes not-so-subtle - differences in how to improve them. As he progressed, he became an expert with both statistical analysis tools and with “softer” team facilitation and change management techniques.

Some of the projects he led and/or coached targeted cycle time reduction (from 8
days to 5 minutes in one case), supply chain efficiency (such as improving material availability rates by 45% and reducing inventory levels by 16 MM €), and IT system implementation (SAP integration for example). Peter was also responsible for establishing measurement systems that would more accurately track business performance and identify further opportunities for improvement.

Peter earned a Masters in Information Science from Technical University Ilmenau in Germany. He is fluent in English, Hungarian and German.

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Bernd brings over 15 years of experience in process improvement, implementation of quality management systems and production management. His areas of expertise include: Six Sigma and Lean for Service and Manufacturing Organizations; Implementation of Quality Management Systems according to ISO 9000 Standard; Assessing Quality Management Systems against Total Quality Management Models (European Foundation for Quality Management Model); Change Management Training and Coaching; Team Building and Facilitation; Process Improvement Coaching; and Training Design, Development, Implementation and Delivery.

For the past 9 years Bernd has focused on assisting companies in the design, development and implementation of Six Sigma and Lean programs. He has extensive experience in the delivery of Six Sigma, Change Management and Facilitation training to Green Belts, Black Belts and Master Black Belts.

Bernd has a unique ability to take the most difficult concepts and deliver them in an understandable manner. His broad experience base enables him to draw on real life examples that connect well with various groups. He has guided many teams in the successful application of Six Sigma methodology to their process improvement projects.

Bernd helped companies across Europe in the industries of Finance, IT, and Manufacturing to design and implement successful organizational change, leading to long-term and sustainable benefits. Some of his client companies are GE Oil & Gas, Sun Microsystems, GE Money Bank, GE Jenbacher, Moveon and Raiffeisen Bank.

Prior to becoming a full-time consultant and trainer, he spent 3 years with GE Capital where he was Six Sigma Center of Excellence Leader Europe. As a member of the Quality steering committee at ERC Frankona he helped to implement Six Sigma and Lean. His particular focus there was the design, implementation and delivery of Six Sigma training programs. Bernd has also worked for Mars, where he was Quality Manager and Production Manager.

Bernd has studied electrical engineering and economics. He is a certified Quality Auditor by the European Organization for Quality and a Master Black Belt. He holds a B.A. and an M.S. from the University of Munich.

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Derek has six years experience as a management consultant at one of the world's largest global consulting firms. Before entering consulting, he was an IT manager for GE Capital European Equipment Finance based in London, where he was trained as a Six Sigma Black Belt.

As a management consultant, Derek has consulted, led, trained and coached teams in Six Sigma across all levels of client organizations. Derek particularly specializes on the impacts of Six Sigma led business transformation in IT environments within service & transactional organizations.

In addition, Derek has experience in successfully driving change across a variety of industry sectors including financial services, telecommunications, entertainment & media, utilities, government (defence) and consumer goods. He has worked on assignments with companies such as GE Capital, Scottish Power, Cable & Wireless, Diageo, Edison Mission Energy, Vodafone UK Limited, Thus, Ministry of Defence, and the National Grid Company.

Derek holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours in Systems Analysis and a Master of Business Administration.

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