All will be installed on November 13, 2010, at the SME Fall Board of Directors Meeting in Dearborn, Mich. Their terms officially begin on January 1, 2011.
2011-12 International Directors
Warren R. DeVries, PhD, FSME, is dean of the College of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Previously, DeVries was director of the National Science Foundation’s Division of Design and Manufacturing Innovation from 2002-06; he also spent 1994 as a program director in the division. Concurrent with his appointment at NSF, DeVries was professor of mechanical engineering at Iowa State University, and from 1996-2002 was chair of ISU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. In 1971, DeVries received a BS degree in letters and engineering from Calvin College. He received his mechanical engineering degrees (BS in 1971, MS in 1973 and PhD in 1975) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he remained as a research associate for two years.
DeVries has authored or coauthored numerous technical papers and two textbooks. He is a fellow of both SME and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. DeVries has held leadership positions as 1997-98 president of the North American Manufacturing Research Institution of SME (NAMRI/SME) and as a member-at-large of the ASME Board of Governors. Recent awards include a 2004 Distinguished Service Award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, ASME’s 2005 Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award and the 2007 SME Albert M. Sargent Progress Award.
Wayne F. Frost, CMfgE, retired as a production system project manager and product quality systems auditor of John Deere Waterloo Works after a successful 37-year career. An active SME member since 1983, he has served at the international and former region and chapter levels. Frost served two terms on the Board of Directors from 2004-07. He is currently the at-large member of the Executive Committee, a member of the Audit Committee and IT Task Force, and a membership consultant for senior chapters in northern Iowa. In 2006, he was a member of the International Officer Nominating Committee. Frost has previously served as vice-chair of the Region Chairs Committee and as a member of the Certification Oversight & Appeals Committee.
He served the former Region 9 as chair, chair-elect, treasurer, secretary, leadership training coordinator and certification committee chair. His many positions with Waterloo No. 186 include chapter chair, honor awards committee chair, student chapter liaison, certification committee chair, and recruitment and retention chair. Frost has received the Award of Merit, President’s Award, the Waterloo No. 186 Kurt E. Lear Award and the John Deere General Manager’s Award. He is also a member of the American Society for Quality and the Institute for Supply Management. Frost has a BS and MS from the University of Northern Iowa.
LaRoux K. Gillespie, DrEng, FSME, CMfgE, PE, retired as quality assurance manager of Honeywell’s Federal Manufacturing & Technologies Division. He led a 200-employee group responsible for product and operating quality for the 2,800-employee plant. Before his quality organization role, he was involved in high-precision defense work at the Bendix Corp. and AlliedSignal (which later became Honeywell) in a variety of engineering and management positions, including leadership of mechanical and electrical production, as well as research and management. He has been very active in SME since becoming a student member in 1962. Gillespie has held more than 20 different officer and committee positions in his chapters, including chairing the former University of Kansas S003 and Kansas City No. 57, and organizing the former Robotics International F162.
Currently, he is the SME vice president and an advisor for the Deburring, Edge Finishing & Surface Conditioning Tech Group. An SME Fellow, Gillespie has served on numerous SME committees over the years, including honor awards, certification, ad-hoc lifelong learning, education and advanced technologies publications. He chaired the former Machining Technology Association of SME (MTA/SME) and has led numerous SME technical conferences. Gillespie also chaired the SME Education Foundation Student Guidance Operating Committee from 1979-88. He has degrees in both manufacturing engineering and mechanical engineering.
Thomas R. Kurfess, PhD, FSME, PE, is one of the world’s leading experts in the field of microscale manufacturing metrology, with research focused on the design and development of high-precision manufacturing and metrology systems. Kurfess began his career in manufacturing as a machinist at a job shop in the Chicago area in 1978. In 1989, he joined the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University where he rose to the rank of associate professor. In 1994, Kurfess moved to the Georgia Institute of Technology where he was promoted to full professor in 2000. In 2005, Kurfess joined the faculty at Clemson University as the BMW chair of manufacturing where he also currently leads the Automotive Engineering Program. Kurfess presently serves on the board of the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences.
Throughout his career, Kurfess has received numerous awards including the National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, the NSF Presidential Faculty Fellowship Award, the AMT Charles F. Carter Jr. Advancing Manufacturing Award, the 2006 SME Philip R. Marsilius Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award and the 2010 SME Education Award. Kurfess joined SME in 1983, was elected to the 2006 Class of SME Fellows, served as the 2007-08 NAMRI/SME president and is a current member of the Manufacturing Enterprise Council. He received his SB, SM and PhD degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT in 1986, 1987 and 1989, respectively, and his SM degree in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT in 1988.
Mark L. Michalski is director of operations for MKS Instruments, a leading provider of instrumentation for the manufacture of semiconductor and thin-film products. Michalski is responsible for all manufacturing and technical operations at four MKS facilities in the Boston area. Prior to joining MKS, he held positions as director of operations at Bel Fuse, a DC-to-DC converter manufacturer, and vice president of operations at Acumentrics Corp., an advanced fuel-cell provider. Michalski also served in senior technical management positions at Zoll Medical and BBN Advanced Computers. He received his education in manufacturing engineering and operations management from Northeastern and Lowell Universities. Michalski has been an SME member since 1992. Since joining, he has held a variety of leadership positions.
Locally, Michalski served as chair and board member of Boston No. 33. Nationally, he has been a member and subsequent chair of the Manufacturing Enterprise Council. As cochair of the One SME Committee, Michalski coauthored the white paper and rollout plan to combine chapters and technical community resources, further leveraging the strength of our overall membership. For the last five years, he has been chair of the SME Leadership Series development team, as well as a primary speaker at more than a dozen series events throughout the United States. In 2009, Michalski served as chair of the Chapter Enhancement Committee and is the current chair of the Member Council. He is also a large supporter of student members’ transition into senior chapters through his support of the Student Member Bridge Program. In 2010, Michalski became an Award of Merit recipient.
George E. West Jr., is vice president of manufacturing at PACCAR Inc., which designs and builds highquality light, medium and heavy-duty trucks. He leads installation of automotive-style production operations and lean manufacturing techniques at PACCAR where his goal is to reduce time to customer by 40 percent. Previously, West was manufacturing vice president at BMW Manufacturing, responsible for the startup of the organization’s first plant outside Germany. Prior to that, he was manufacturing operations vice president at Genie Industries where he introduced TQM techniques. He also served as division chief at Honda of America, where he is credited with cutting launch costs by 30 percent at several new plants.
An SME member since 1999, West served as SME secretary/treasurer in 2005, as an at-large member of the Executive Committee from 2004-06 and as a member of the Board of Directors from 2002-09. He was a member of the Manufacturing Enterprise Council from 1999-2001 and served as ex-officio to the council in 2003. In addition, he served as a member of the International Officer Nominating Committee in 2007. He led PACCAR’s multidisciplinary team that won the 1999 CASA/SME Industry LEAD Award for enterprise-wide integration of information technology used in the manufacture of heavy-duty aerodynamic trucks. West holds an industrial technology degree from Ohio University.
2011 International Director
James W. Schlusemann is director of global business integration for Navistar Inc.’s Engine Group, one of the world’s largest truck and engine manufacturers. Currently, he is leading a team charged with expanding Navistar’s engine business to China. During his 37-year career with the company, he has driven technology solutions that support high-quality products, a streamlined cost structure and global growth. Following 12 years in manufacturing operations and manufacturing engineering, Schlusemann held leadership positions within Navistar’s Information Technology group. He led a team of manufacturing professionals in projects that resulted in Navistar’s Engine Group being awarded the 2002 CASA/SME Industry LEAD Award.
Schlusemann joined SME in 1989 and served on the SME Board of Directors in 2005 and 2006. During that term, he served on the Board Work Group on Governance. Schlusemann has also served as an advisor for the former Product Design & Automation and Product Data Management & Exchange tech groups. Additionally, he led a team in contributing to the fifth edition of “Fundamentals of Tool Design.” Schlusemann holds a bachelor’s degree in business management and computer science, and a master’s degree in management information systems from North Central College in Illinois. He is also a member of the American Management Association and the Society of Information Management.
2011-12 Member Council
Timothy D. Bond, CMfgE, is a manufacturing engineer at Boeing Commercial Airplanes on the 787 program. Bond has more than 30 years of experience in various positions at companies, including manufacturing engineer, project manager, tooling, program planning and control, and change management. He has been an active SME member since 1981, serving as the communications director and 2001 chair of Seattle No. 39, and as a membership consultant for student chapters in Oregon and Washington since 2004. At the national level, Bond has contributed to the Chapter Enhancement Committee as well as the Industry & Continuing Education Tech Group.
Bond is a cofounder and past director of the Regional Access Mobility Program, a nonprofit 501c(3) organization in Washington dedicated to helping apprentices of the allied trades become aware of the rewards involved with building ramps for disabled people who are financially challenged, as well as providing increased visibility of career fields within the manufacturing industry. Bond also initiated a dialogue with, and is a past director of the Manufacturing Technology Advisory Group, which has led to increased awareness by students in manufacturing-related career fields. His efforts on behalf of young people continue in a variety of chapter activities.
Helen Greathouse started her own consulting company, Greenville Design, after retiring from Taco Inc. as a mechanical designer. Previously, Greathouse was a manufacturing engineer at FMC Crosby Valve Inc., a tool engineer at Stanley-Bostitch, a product designer at Astro-Med Inc., a designer and field supervisor at National Air Systems Inc. and a detail drafter at Amperex Electronic Industries. An SME member since 1986, she currently serves on the Member Council, is the bulletin editor and webmaster of Little Rhody No. 53, and is a membership consultant for four senior chapters and three student chapters.
Previously, Greathouse was a member of the Board of Directors (2006-07), the former Computer and Automated Systems Association of SME (CASA/SME), the Design Documentation & Tooling Standards Subcommittee, the International Director/Member Council Nominating Committee, Engineers Review Committee for Regional Special Projects Funding, and a trainer in the local region for chapter secretaries and treasurers. In addition, she has had various roles and responsibilities at the former region level, such as secretary, treasurer, chair and the lead person handling database and directory duties. Greathouse has also been a student guide and speaker at EASTEC, and received the President’s Award. She was also a member of a committee reviewing the Mechanical Engineering Technology program at New England Institute of Technology prior to it receiving ABET accreditation. Greathouse attended Hall Institute, Rhode Island College and Johnson & Wales University.
Brock T. Strunk is currently a senior structures engineer at Erickson Air-Crane Helicopter’s Inc. Previously, he worked as a level 3 stress engineer at Spirit AeroSystems, an engineering manager at Adam Aircraft and a senior structures engineer at Columbia Aircraft. At Adam Aircraft, he directed a team of engineers and manufacturing technicians who worked to improve the aircrafts’ fuselage manufacturing process time and reduce the part’s weight. Strunk has also developed numerous composite repair techniques and structural testing procedures for aircraft structures for both Adam and Columbia Aircraft.
During his tenure at Adam and Columbia Aircraft, he played a key role in helping the companies certify the Adam 500 and Columbia 300, 350 and 400 aircraft with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Strunk earned a BS in manufacturing engineering and a BS in mechanical engineering from the Oregon Institute of Technology. He joined SME in 1999; is a current member of the Member Council; is vice-chair of the Plastics, Composites & Coatings Community; co-chair of the Finishing Processes Tech Group; and an advisor for the Composites Manufacturing Tech Group. In 2008, Strunk was awarded SME’s Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award.
Robert L. Wolff, LSME, an SME member since 1967, is a professor and coordinator of the Global Manufacturing Systems Engineering Technology BSET program at the University of Dayton. During his career at Dayton, Wolff has helped develop three ABET-accredited Bachelor of Science in engineering technology programs and numerous new courses. His professional experience includes consulting and employment with Kimberly-Clark, NCR, the UD Research Institute and North American Aviation. Wolff served as an SME International Director from 2004-07. He is active in Dayton No. 18 and has been the faculty advisor for the University of Dayton S070 since 1967. He helped develop SME’s Manufacturing Education Plan and Manufacturing Engineering Certification Institute.
Wolff also participated in the production of SME’s five-volume work “Manufacturing for the 21st Century” and served on the SME Education Foundation’s Proposal Screening Committee. He was actively involved in events leading to the establishment of the ABET accreditation criteria for baccalaureate programs in manufacturing engineering technology. Wolff is a recipient of a 1999 Award of Merit, an SME Certificate of Appreciation, the U.S. Army’s Commander’s Award for Public Service and the University of Dayton’s School of Engineering’s Faculty Award of Excellence in Service. Wolff is also active in the American Society for Engineering Education, the International Society for Automation, the Society of Plastics Engineers, the American Foundry Society and was national president of the Fluid Power Society. Additionally, he is on the board of several community service organizations.
The Society of Manufacturing Engineers is the premier source for manufacturing knowledge, education and networking. Through its many membership programs, events and activities, SME connects manufacturing practitioners to each other, to the latest technology and the most up-to-date processes spanning all manufacturing industries and disciplines, plus the key areas of aerospace and defense, medical device, motor vehicles, including motorsports, oil and gas and alternative energy.
