MESA Elects New Board for 2011

True to a commitment made several years ago to change MESA International from a purely supplier membership, manufacturers/producers are playing an increasingly more visible role in shaping the association.

MESA International announced the results of its annual election for its International Board of Directors (BOD) on Nov. 11. As is MESA’s practice, voting was conducted via an electronic ballot made available online to MESA Premium Members globally. The ballot was published in late September with votes cast and tallied in October.

John Southcott, co-CEO of Brock Solutions, succeeds John Dyck, Director of Software Business Development for Rockwell Automation as Chairman of the International Board. Mr. Dyck successfully completed his two-year term as Chairman with many accomplishments to his credit. He will remain on the BOD as a Member-at-Large Representing Rockwell Automation.

Mr. Southcott, as co-CEO of a large independent integration company focusing on Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions and real-time operational systems, brings extensive management consulting and large-scale transformational program experience from multiple industries to MESA. Prior to joining Brock in 2005, Mr. Southcott was a partner at Deloitte Consulting for over 20 years where he held many leadership roles, including CEO of ICS Canada (Deloitte’s SAP and Baan practice), Americas Manufacturing Industry Practice Leader, and Global Managing Director - Strategic Partnerships and Alliances. John is a member of Young Presidents Organization and serves on the Advisory Board at the Center for Business, Entrepreneurship & Technology at the University of Waterloo. Mr. Southcott’s leadership experience and expertise in ERP, CRM, Supply Chain, MES, and Technology Integration over the last 25 years will be leveraged as Chair of the International MESA board.

Tom Troy, Director of MES Solutions at Invensys Operations Management, assumes the role of Vice-Chairman of the International Board, replacing out-going Vice-Chairman Ganesh Wadawadigi of SAP. Mr. Troy’s background includes roles in the product businesses at Wonderware and Rockwell and systems integration experience as the Chief Technology Officer of Interwave Technology. He leverages his strong industry experience to manage the current MES portfolio at Invensys Operations Management.

Doug Weaver, MES Systems & Project Manager at Boeing Commercial Aircraft, continues in his role as Treasurer. Mr. Weaver’s perspective as a manufacturer, with first-hand experience leading an MES team from concept through implementation, is extremely valuable to the International Board.

Joining the association’s elected officers are seven new Board Members at Large, including three manufacturers/producers – Energizer Battery Company, Cormetech, Inc., and Saudi Aramco.

•Juli Crenshaw, System Coordinator at Energizer Battery, is the global system owner and manager of Energizer's MES solution, which currently spans 5 plants in 4 countries. In her MES Team Leader role, she is in charge of deployments and also works to evolve Energizer's MES solution to meet the needs of both Plant Operations and Corporate-level reporting.

•Scott Daugherty, Director of Operations at Cormetech, Inc., brings over 25 years of manufacturing management experience to the MESA BOD, including experience as a Plant Manager for Lenox Incorporated's fine dinnerware operation, a Group Manager at AVX Corporation, and a Direct Electronics Salesman and Digital Control Engineer at Corning Incorporated.

•Fayez Kharbat, Engineering Specialist at Saudi Aramco, has over 20 years industrial experience in integrated enterprise solutions, advanced process control, process automation systems and knowledge management. Mr. Kharbat began and is the chairman of both the MESA Continuous Process Industry Special Interest Group (CPI SIG) and MESA Middle East Regional Working Group.

Ms. Crenshaw, Mr. Daugherty and Mr. Kharbat join current BOD members Carlos DaSilva, Global Quality Manager at Vibracoustic, and Mr. Weaver from Boeing as manufacturers/producers on the International Board.

Rounding out the slate of new Board Members at Large are three business leaders from MESA’s Keystone Sponsors.

•Sheila Kester, GM of Operations Management (OM) Software at GE Intelligent Platforms (GEIP), returns to the MESA BOD for a second time. Ms. Kester is responsible for GEIP’s OM Software business globally and has over twenty years experience in manufacturing and operations, including leadership positions in engineering, consulting, product marketing and operations.

•Chuck Pharris, Sr. Director or Manufacturing Solutions Marketing at SAP, is responsible for driving marketing programs, market analysis and the long-term strategy of manufacturing solutions for SAP. He has over 15 years of experience in manufacturing industries and has worked in all areas of plant automation, including process control, energy management and production management.

•Mark Sutcliffe, President of CDC Factory, is a recognized authority on continuous improvement and change management practices centered on technology. He joins the MESA BOD with a proven track record of deploying technology to leverage human capital and achieve breakthrough performance across the enterprise that spans more than the past two decades.

Ms. Kester, Mr. Pharris, and Mr. Sutcliffe join current Keystone Sponsor representatives John Dyck, Director of Software Business Development for Rockwell Automation, Raj Khoshoo, VP of Strategic Initiatives at Siemens PLM, Matthew Miller, Manager of Customer Interest Groups at OSIsoft, Catherine Minter, President, Americas at Cordys, Andrea Mulas, General Manager, Manufacturing Execution Systems at Siemens, Karl Schneebauer, Partner Manager at MPDV, and Sam Youness, Worldwide Industry Technical Strategist, Plant Operations at Microsoft as Members at Large on the International Board. Jan Snoeij, Principal Consultant at Logica, also continues as a Member at Large on the International Board while additionally serving as Chairman of the EMEA BOD.

Commenting on the incoming Board of Directors and the association’s road ahead, incoming Chairman John Southcott had this to say, “The MESA community is quite diverse. That diversity speaks to the commonality that manufacturers and producers from every industry and every geography share in both the challenges they face and the approaches they take to solve those challenges. I believe that the makeup of the incoming International Board of Directors mirrors that diversity – with several manufacturers and producers joined with industry leading solution providers to drive the entire marketplace forward. I’m very enthusiastic about the future of MESA and its membership.”