Dana Barclay is a consultant in the fields of safety/security, accident reconstruction, and systems/safety management and training. Before starting his own company, Dana Barclay, Ltd., Dana was in the US Navy for 21 years with various responsibilities as a Naval Postgraduate School Professor, Aircraft Safety Analyst, and a fleet Naval Flight Officer, and toured as a Squadron Flight Instructor. He has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Botany from the University of Rhode Island, and a Master of Science Degree in Systems Management from the University of Southern California. He is also the author of various books, including "Mishap Investigation Event Sequence Handbook" (1990) and "Guide to Extreme Cold Weather Operations".

Since 1985, Barry Baumgardner, President of Microdex Computers, Inc., has been doing consultation, computer sales, service/repairs, training, and networking. Prior to that, he performed as Technical Training Instructor in I&C/Electrical for 7 years. Barry has 35 years of experience in the Nuclear Industry - US Nuclear Navy. He was a Reactor Operator and System Engineer in the Engineering Department at the Commercial Nuclear Plant (CR3), and worked in the IT Department in Process Control. Barry has a BS and an MBA in Professional Management, and is a Certified TapRooT® Instructor.

Heinz Bloch, Consulting Engineer, Life Fellow, ASME

Heinz Bloch is a graduate of New Jersey Institute of Technology (BSME, MSME, Cum Laude). After his retirement from Exxon Chemical Central Engineering (in Baytown, TX), he worked as a consulting engineer and author of 17 books. He is the equipment/reliability editor of Houston-based Hydrocarbon Processing and has published over 460 papers and articles on reliability improvement subjects. For several decades, he has advised industry on maintenance cost reduction and reliability improvement issues and has taught over 500 equipment uptime improvement courses on all six continents.

Ken Bloch is the Lead Process Reliability Engineer at Flint Hills Resources’ Pine Bend Refinery in Rosemount, Minnesota.  He is responsible for preventing and investigating process driven failures on refinery assets.  Ken has published articles featuring equipment failure analysis, life cycle extension, and reliability improvement in Hydrocarbon Processing and Chemical Engineering magazines, and speaks regularly at the API/NPRA Operating Practices Symposium, NPRA National Safety Conference, and AIChE Loss Prevention Symposium. Ken holds a B.S. degree (honors) from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas as well as API -510, 570, and 653 Inspection Certifications.

Ralph’s experience in facilitating individuals and teams through transformational change has given him an appreciation for the potential for sustainable high performance within every organization. His work with exceptional leaders at all levels has confirmed the importance of developing the spirit of leaders to enable them to inspire organizations to achieve results. Ralph works with organizations to prepare and empower facilitators and culture change leaders to effectively impact the attainment of a thriving high performance culture.

Ralph has ten years experience facilitating insight-based learning experiences and working with teams to enhance effectiveness and performance. He has facilitated numerous root cause analysis learning experiences with many corporate clients throughout the United States and Canada. He has a special interest in improving cultures to impact safety in organizations. As program manager for Tennessee Valley Authority’s STAR 7 culture-shaping program, Ralph coached both internal facilitators and executives on their leadership skills. His successful experience with executives, first line leaders, and union members has given him unique insights into thriving cultures and the ability to move comfortably from sector to sector when working with organizations.

Ralph holds a Doctor of Education in Collaborative Learning from the University of Tennessee. His research interests are dialogue and reflective practice. Ralph is curious about almost everything and interested in the rest. He is beginning to research the impact of culture on safety within high risk organizations. He has represented the University of Tennessee in facilitating two seminars on Action Research in Thailand.

Ralph lives in Kingston, Tennessee with his wife Janice. Ralph enjoys traveling and exploring out of the way places. He is very interested in amateur archaeology and has visited the Angkor Wat complex in Cambodia, Authyia in Thailand, the Khyber Pass in Pakistan/Afghanistan, and most of the major pyramids and sites in Mexico and Central America. He enjoys playing with his three young grandsons and introducing them to bicycles, motorcycles, jeeps, caves, cliffs and kayaks, just a few of his many and varied interests. He frequently rides long distance bicycle tours both solo and with groups. His longest ride was a 3,000 mile Pacific to the Atlantic coast ride in 27 days.

“As an explorer, I am excited about partnering with organizations to explore and appreciate together what I believe is the unlimited potential for growth and excellence of performance in both individuals and teams to create healthy high performance safety cultures.”

Tom Brower has 19 years of industrial experience (chemical/mining) spanning from site level to Senior Director of Safety and Health for the world’s largest fertilizer company. Tom has a broad-based safety, health, and environmental (SHE) background ranging from site program development to global corporate systems. He has been a TapRooT® user and Instructor since 1995, completing and reviewing hundreds of investigations. Tom currently provides SHE consulting services including teaching and mentoring TapRooT®. He has a BSc in Environmental Management and is a Certified Safety Professional.

George A. Burk, of Scottsdale Arizona, is a nationally recognized motivational speaker, author and trainer.

In May 1970, he was the sole survivor of 14 passengers in a military plane crash. The crew was enroute to Spokane, Washington to conduct an operational analysis. Ascending through 3000’, the aircraft experienced rapid de-compression and massive structural failure, crashing in the hills near Schellville, California. He suffered severe burns and multiple internal injuries. Captain Burk spent 90 days in Intensive Care where he had two Near Death Experiences, and spent 18 months in the hospital. He was medically retired from the Air Force in 1971.

His awards include: The Bronze Star; Air Force Commendation Medal; Presidential Award for Outstanding Employee with a Disability; Department of Defense Outstanding Employee with a Disability; Department of the Navy Outstanding Employee with a Disability; Air Force Meritorious Civilian Service Award; and the Adrian College, (Michigan) Alumni Achievement Award.  In 1998, George was inducted into the Adrian College Athletic Hall of Fame.

He was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree from Adrian College in 1963 and a Master of Arts degree from Webster University in 1975.

George has over 25 years teaching experience at the university and community college level and is a contributing writer for several magazines and newsletters in the United States.

George is a guest lecturer at the United States Naval Academy and the Unites States Military Academy at West point on issues of Character Development, Ethics and Leadership.

He has appeared as a guest on a number of radio stations around the country, in Canada and several news and TV stations in Phoenix, Arizona. In February, 2001, George’s story was profiled on the Discovery Health Channel; “Lifeforce: Overcoming Obstacles.” Video is available.

Affiliations: Disabled American Veterans; Viet Nam Veterans of America; Veterans of Foreign Wars; The Retired Officer’s Association; Military Order of World Wars (MOWW); American Legion; Military Officer Association (MOA); The National Rifle Association.

George is the author of: The Bridge Never Crossed - A Survivor’s Search for Meaning, ISBN 1-888725-16-8; Value Centered Leadership - A Survivor’s Strategy for Personal and Professional Growth, ISBN 1-888725-59-1; and My Mother My Friend - The Story of a Boy and the Love of His Mother, non-fiction, ISBN 1-888725-09-5.

His books available at publisher’s link at his web site: www.georgeburk.com; Science & Humanities Press, PO Box 7151 Chesterfield, MO 63006-7151; www.scienceandhumanitiespress.com; or special order from any book store.

Proceeds from his first two books benefit the New York Firefighter’s Burn Center Foundation.

For more information visit: www.georgeburk.com; email: gburk@georgeburk.com 1.800.769.8568; Cell: 480.212.6321

Dr. Chiodo is a professor in the Department of Management at Texas State University.  Dr. Jerry Supple, former President of Texas State, said she has won every teaching award the university offers, and she's been recognized for her teaching effectiveness at the state and national levels as well.  In 1996, she was featured as "Hero of the Day" by CBS national TV program -- This Morning.  In 1997, Beverly was named "The Best Business Professor in the Nation" by the National Business Education Association.  She has published widely in her field and is a frequent presenter at seminars and conferences.

Beverly earned her BBA degree from Baylor University, her MBA from Texas Tech, and her Ph.D. from Texas A&M.  She is known by her students as the "Doctor of Encouragement."  Beverly says that her teaching philosophy can be summed up in the proverb which says, "A wise teacher makes learning a joy."

David Davis, RN, MSN, CNS

David Davis is a seasoned health care clinician and administrator with 20+ years diversified hospital and corporate
operational management experience. He thrives in challenging, high energy start up ventures, turnarounds,
and performance oriented organizations. David has been characterized as an innovative leader, communicator, project
manager and customer relations advocate.   He has the ability to apply technology-based solutions to complex business
demands. David is an expert in all aspects of risk management and patient safety, including analysis and resolution of
patient care issues, reducing legal claims and eliminating medical misadventures.

David is the Department of Defense 2006 Patient Safety Award Winner for Most Innovative Solution to Address a Joint
Commission National Patient Safety Goal.

He is a professional consultant, educator and speaker.  His public speaking/teaching engagements include:

“Failure Mode and Effects Analysis for Health Care: Introductory Training Course.” Annual 2008 International
TapRooT® Summit, Las Vegas, NV.

“Lean Six Sigma and Root Cause Analysis: Principles and Methodologies.” Annual 2007 International
TapRooT® Summit, San Antonio, TX.

“An Enterprise Solution to a Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goal: The Standardized Handoff.”
Annual 2007 Department of Defense, State of the Military Healthcare System, Washington, D.C.

“Medical Accident Investigation: An Algorithm.” US Army Medical Command 2005 Patient Safety and Risk
Management Conference, San Antonio, TX.

Brian J. Crawford currently works as the flight safety officer for a large regional airline based in Texas.
 
Throughout his career, Brian has served in many positions throughout the airline.  Starting as an flight operations intern while in college, he has fulfilled many airline functions, including First Officer, Captain, ground, flight and simulator instructor, check pilot, operations manual author, aircraft delivery pilot, human factors department and flight operations technical manager as well as airshow demonstration pilot.
 
As a safety investigator, Brian has five years of experience in voluntary and confidential reporting programs, specifically the FAA’s Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP).  During that time, he has reviewed more than ten thousand confidential reports and has led hundreds of flight safety investigations, many using the TapRooT method.  In addition to reporting and investigation, Brian has retrained deficient employees, performed aggregate data analysis and made safety presentations to all levels of management.  As a direct result of insight gleaned from human factors investigations and retraining sessions, he revamped the existing human factors department to bring it into line with contemporary error management thinking. In authoring source guidance, overhauling courseware and integrating contemporary ideas into the standards, training and safety philosophies, the air carrier was able to make a transition to threat and error management methodology.  He is currently participating in the committee to revise the FAA’s crew resource management advisory circular.
 
Somewhere along the way, Brian became interested in determining the difference between inadvertent and willful actions on the part of reporting employees. This interest led to a culpability determination process that, in turn, elucidated the criticality of dual-loop learning to real understanding. It was at this point - asking questions as to why and how outside factors affect safety performance - that the importance of operational capability and organizational culture were made clear.  Brian believes that safety and performance are the result of well-integrated operations and that fundamental improvement is tied to transformational organizational change.
 
Captain Crawford holds a BS degree is Aerospace Flight Technology from Kent State University in Ohio.  He is also a graduate of the United Airlines Boeing 747 First Officer course. Additionally, Brian holds an FAA Air Transport Pilot Certificate with type ratings on the EMB-145 and Beechcraft 1900 aircraft. He is certified in FAA System Safety/ATOS and ICAO Safety Management Systems and has graduated from the TapRooT Advanced Investigation Team Leader Course.

Daniel Daamen has a diploma in Civil Engineering Technology, a degree in business administration, and holds a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Windsor (Ontario, Canada). Mr. Daamen currently is the Manager of Field EHS, for Union Gas Ltd, a Spectra Energy Company. Within this capacity he focuses on the strategic execution of EHS policies and best practices throughout the various districts within Ontario, Canada. Prior to joining Union Gas in 2007, Mr. Daamen was employed with the Blue Water Bridge Authority, a Canadian federal crown corporation, for 10 years. He was responsible for maintaining critical infrastructure and assets which included the Canadian portions of two international bridges. A major focus in this role was creating and implementing strategy related to infrastructure maintenance systems and developing and implementing EHS polices and procedures.

Brian Dieffenderfer, MPH, is lead quality and safety analyst for Sisters of Mercy Health System (Mercy).  He received his bachelor's degree in economics and statistics from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida and his masters in public health with emphasis in epidemiology and biostatistics from Saint Louis University.  He worked for Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC, an economic forecasting company in St. Louis before returning to graduate school to focus on healthcare.  During his time at Mercy, he has worked on a wide array of quality and safety issues including falls prevention, safety reporting, and presentation of clinical information.

Brian Dolin is the Vice President of Fortier Loss Control Consultants, Inc. He has also worked as a Safety Director at B&G Construction, a Safety Manager at Phillips & Jordan, Inc., and is a Certified TapRooT® instructor. Brian served as a Lieutenant in the Louisiana National Guard, and was an Airborne Ranger in the United States Army, 82nd Airborne Division, Infantry.

Brian earned a M.S. in Safety Management under the Department of Health & Safety at the University of Tennessee, and a B.S. in Industrial Technology under the Department of Engineering at the University of Southwestern Louisiana Lafayette.

From his youth, Marco Flores has dedicated himself to exploring the limits. During his school days in 1965, he was a member of the International Society of Interplanetary Studies, and the University Society for Experimental Rocketry. While at M.I.T. coursing a Master’s Degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics, he was part of the Innovation Center and the Commission for Hispanic Rights, dedicated to defend the human rights of the Spanish-speaking prisoners in Massachusetts. While at the Innovation Center he produced the famous “Phantom Potential Racer” and the “Automatic Banana Peeler,” that took center place in the news in Boston, and was interviewed by Eye Witness News for the banana peeler, and by Boston Public Television on the impact of automation on rural unemployment in Latin America and migration to the United States.

For 25 years he endeavored in the development of technology, start-up and troubleshooting for direct reduction plants worldwide.

Today he is the President of TECMEN, a consulting company dedicated to develop solutions material handling and process under extreme conditions that go from automated “taco” shell handling, to high temperature components applied to chemical and nuclear processes. He has produced multiple worldwide patents for different companies. He has traveled extensively, lately spending most of his time between Australia, Germany and South America.

He has been a TapRooT® instructor for seven years and is co-translator of the TapRooT® course materials into Spanish and Portuguese, and has frequently applied the TapRooT® method for innovation, project planning, and systematic failure and accident analysis.

He paints, writes poetry and wrote a play on the role of women in Mexican History.

Patrick began his industrial career in the Operations department of a “state of the art” pulp mill.  Midstride in his career, he moved into the Oil & Gas industry with EnCana Corporation. He progressed through a variety of Operations positions in Heavy Oil, Sour Gas and Power Generation with EnCana. Patrick was then enticed to join the “dark side” as a Safety Coordinator with EnCana’s EH&S division, where he has been for 5 years. Last year Patrick successfully challenged the Canadian Registered Safety Professional Designation (CRSP). He also has a liberal arts degree in Biblical Studies, and a 2^nd Class Power Engineer Certificate of Competency.

Patrick has been the “go to guy” for the integration of TapRooT® into the existing Crisis Response and Incident Management Systems, within EnCana’s Canadian Division. He is a certified In House Trainer for TaprooT® and has been involved with numerous serious incident investigations across two provinces in Canada. Patrick has also served as on scene liaison with Police and anti terrorist task forces, during the investigation of several domestic terrorist attacks against EnCana.

On a personal note Patrick has enjoyed a wide variety of activities including hiking, snowboarding, hang gliding, flying small aircraft and sailplanes, rock climbing, motorcycling, martial arts, drama, and now has his eye on powered paragliding (and a bigger bike ... ).  When questioned about the dichotomy between “safety guy” and his love of higher risk activities he will respond with “risk management, it's all about risk management.”  His marvelous (& patient) wife of 25 years will roll her eyes at that statement, given that their two teenagers are unfortunately now using similar rebuttals ...

Coming soon!

Capt. Garg joined the merchant navy in 1982, sailing on all types of oil tankers for 20 years. He got his command in the year 1994 and sailed as a Master Mariner until 2001 when he joined World-Wide Shipping as a Quality Superintendent. He was sent to Mumbai to set up the India Liaison Office for World-Wide Shipping and served a year as the General Manager of that office in Mumbai.  In 2004 he returned to Singapore to serve as a Senior Manager in the Marine Department for Bergesen-Worldwide (BW). In 2006 Capt. Garg completed a Diploma in Ship Management from the North West Kent College, UK and then did his Masters in Business Administration from the National University of Singapore, awarded an MBA degree with distinction in 2009. He currently holds the position of General Manager, Marine Department and is also the DPA for BWFM Pte Ltd Singapore.

Tommy Garnett has 20 years of experience in Patient Safety & Risk Management. He is a Registered Nurse, a Certified Trauma Nurse, and a Flight Nurse. Tommy graduated from the American Institute of Medical Law, and is a licensed and Board Certified Healthcare Risk Manager. He is also Certified as a DoD Healthcare TapRoot® Instructor.

Arturo de la Garza has a BS in Chemical Engineering and twenty-two years of experience leading safety efforts for two of the major international corporations of Mexico: Group Cydsa and Cemex.  He is an Independent Safety Consultant and instructor for Vertic, S.C. serving all Latin American countries and was System Improvements' first Spanish speaking TapRooT® Instructor.

Malcolm Gresham is Managing Director of Practical Solutions Group (a Risk Management Consulting and Training company).  He has a Commerce Degree from Curtin University and is completing a Masters in Risk Management.  He has been assisting organisations to learn from their Incidents for over 10 years and has been a TapRooT® Instructor for 5 years.  His expertise has been utilised by international organisations in the Construction, Defence, Mining, Shipping, Rail, Waste Management and Petroleum industries. 

In 1998, Jose established Kalgri, S.A. de C.V. in Monterrey, Mexico. This company manages lubrication devices, mining equipment spare parts, and magnetic separators for industrial minerals.

With his industry experience, he has been very enthusiastic about contacting maintenance and plant managers to offer a way to find root causes. This helps them realize the solution to numerous industry incidents. As safety is a key factor, he has promoted TapRooT® courses in Mexico since 2006. Jose is convinced it is a very useful trouble-shooting and accident prevention tool.

He worked as a Mathematical Teacher at Monterrey colleges, learned English in Kenya during the early seventies, and also promoted an educational program for Irawo University Center in Nigeria, Africa in those early professional years.

He holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from ITESM, and a Bachelor's of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Mexico.

He enjoys, soccer, outdoor sports, and cycling.

John Grout is Dean of the Campbell School of Business at Berry College, Rome, Georgia, and the David C. Garrett Jr. Professor of Business Administration.

Dr. Grout has researched mistake-proofing extensively for the past 16 years. In 2004 John received the Shingo Prize for his paper, The Human Side of Mistake-Proofing with Douglas Stewart. The Shingo prize is named after Shigeo Shingo, noted industrial engineer and one of the developers of the Toyota Production System. The Shingo Prize has been described by Business Week as the "Nobel Prize of Manufacturing."

John’s work has received press coverage in industrial magazines like Quality Digest, Entrepreneur, Machine Design Magazine, Quality Management, and Industrial Products finder (India). John has also published numerous articles on mistake-proofing in academic and professional journals including Production and Operations Management, Production & Inventory Management Journal, Quality Management Journal, the Journal of Quality Technology, Quality and Safety in Health Care, and the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Safety. In May 2007, John’s book “Mistake-Proofing the Design of Healthcare Processes” was published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality as a government document that is distributed free to the public and can be downloaded at www.ahrq.gov/qual/mistakeproof/mistakeproofing.pdf.

John has been involved in working with firms on mistake-proofing including Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, GE Aircraft Engine, Abbott Labs, Raytheon Missile Systems, Danaher Tool Group (Craftsman, Matco, & NAPA tools), Norfolk Naval Shipyards, Lockheed Martin, British Aerospace, Honeywell Aerospace and two divisions of Johnson and Johnson. He also works in the health care field with Barnes-Jewish Hospital, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Sentara Healthcare.

Dr. Grout joined the faculty at Berry College in 1997, being named dean of the school July, 2007. John has also taught at the Pennsylvania State University, and Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He has taught courses in operations and service management, quality, statistics, process improvement, quantitative methods, and materials management. John has managerial experience in scheduling and production control in the semiconductor industry working for a subsidiary of N.V. Philips. He has a Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University in Management Science and a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University in Operations and Systems Analysis.

Dave Janney is a Senior Associate for System Improvements, Inc. He is retired from Delta Air Lines where he was the Corporate Safety Manager/Quality Auditor, and was a former OSHA VPP Special Government Employee. Dave is a Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence, Quality Auditor, and Quality Improvement Associate (American Society for Quality), and is an authorized outreach trainer of OSHA 10/30 hour courses. He has a BS in Business Management, and an MBA in International Management.

Jason Laws has spent his career working as a Process Development Engineer, Plant Engineer and as a Plant Manager. Root Cause and Failure analysis of both chemical processes and process equipment have been central to his professional career. He has a Bachelor and Masters of Chemical Engineering from Ohio University and maintains his licenses as a Professional Engineer in the state of Texas.

Dr. Donald E. Lighter currently serves as the Vice President for Quality at WellCare Health Plans in Tampa, where he is responsible for the performance improvement activities for the Medicare and Medicaid health plans in twelve states.  Prior to this position, Dr. Lighter was the Chief Quality Officer for the Shriners Hospitals for Children, a 22 hospital system, and he worked in the areas of medical staff performance and compensation, leadership training, and medical affairs strategic planning.

Dr. Lighter's over 30 years' experience in the health care industry includes academic and private practice in pediatrics, managed care leadership roles, Medicaid and Medicare quality management programs, and medical missionary work.  Relevant prior positions include:


Dr. Lighter and his wife Salley, an attorney, reside in Knoxville, TN, and have four children and five grandchildren.

With over 20 years of experience across many industries, Michele recognizes processes are critical to organizations operating effectively and efficiently. But, processes alone do not lead an organization into performance excellence. Organizational culture provides the synergistic factor that accelerates performance towards excellence. It is like the harmony from the left and right hemispheres of your brain working in concert to create amazing results, the processes and culture in your organization.   P² can provide assessments, consulting services for cultural transformation implementation, organizational and personal coaching, training and facilitation for implementation of a culture that engages employee and creates an environment ready and open for performance that launches you into excellence.
 
Michele has been a certified Instructor for the TapRooT® System since 1998 and has consulted, investigated and taught using this tool to a long list of Companies that include: NASA, ExxonMobil, Pfizer, Exelon, First Energy, Ontario Hydro, PetroCanada, GE and Fluor. She has taught hundreds of TapRooT® courses and thousands of students throughout Canada, USA and Europe.
 
As an “outside of the box” thinker, Michele was formally trained in Creative thinking techniques in 1994. Recognizing innovation as a key competency in the “new” economy and the challenges and limitations of improvement teams to come up with effective and innovative solutions to problems, Michele leads and facilitates improvements with teams.  She a Certified Instructor of the Six Thinking Hats™ and teaches an Innovation and Creative Thinking Workshop that helps individuals and teams break out of the limits of day to day thinking.
 
Michele lives north of Toronto, Canada with her husband and two daughters.  She is an avid sports enthusiast and loves to help people find and access their potential.  Michele has a B.Sc (Human Kinetics) from the University of Guelph.

Kevin McManus is the President of Great Systems! and provides performance improvement coaching from his office in Rainier, Oregon. He is a TapRooT® instructor, and has served as an Industrial Engineer, Training Manager, Production Manager, Plant Manager, and Director of Quality during his 29 year business career. He has served as an Examiner and Senior Examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for ten years. Kevin also writes the monthly Performance Improvement column for Industrial Engineer magazine and is a regular speaker at a variety of regional and national events.

Richard Mesker has over 20 years of experience in Power Plant Operation, Electric Utility, Safety, Radiation Protection, Power Plant Water Chemistry Programs and Utility Safety Management. Richard oversaw the safety program for a fortune 250 company with multi-state locations. Richard is a graduate of the US Navy Nuclear Power Program. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from the University of the State of New York and performed graduate studies at the University of South Florida in Industrial Hygiene and Safety Management. He is a TapRooT® instructor, certified safety professional, certified utility safety administrator, occupational health and safety technician, and registered with the national radiation protection technologists. Richard is qualified to teach many OSHA courses including OSHA 10 and 30 hour construction and general industry certification.

His current and past affiliations include the Nuclear Industrial Safety and Hygiene Association (NISHA), the Southeastern Electric Exchange, Accident Prevention Section and the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE).

Richard has experience with OSHA investigations, injury/fatality investigations, root cause determination, working with labor on investigations, site audits, training, procedure development and program oversight.

Jennifer Mounce is the founder of Coach Effect, Inc., a leadership coaching & organizational development boutique. With more than fifteen years of corporate experience in human resources and in coaching senior executives, Jennifer uses her expertise to partner with companies and increase their overall effectiveness by coaching, training, and consulting with mid– and senior level managers.  Jennifer is a published author of two books and a professional speaker.  Jennifer is a graduate of the Coach University Coach Training Program.  Jennifer received her Bachelor’s in Speech Communication from University of Illinois and Master’s in Human Resource Management from Loyola University Chicago. She is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources and is currently working toward her Professional Coach Certification.

Susan has been in the utility industry for 30 years and has been involved with incident reporting for approximately 4 years.   Her main responsibility has been focused on internal and external performance reporting for Mirant plants and now Susan has overall responsibilities for implementation of TapRooT® for incident reporting and root cause analysis at all plants owned by Mirant.

Mark Olson is a Reliability Consultant for MFO Services. He is an experienced TapRooT® Instructor and Investigator with an impressive resume of valuable experience including 25 years in the petrochemical industry. Other experience includes facilitating RCFA for safety, environmental and equipment failure incidents, and conducting FMEA to develop equipment reliability improvement strategies; re-engineering a maintenance/reliability business process and providing RCFA facilitation for reliability improvement; and extensive management experience in an industrial setting.

Dennis Osmer has over 40 years of industrial experience - the last seven years of his career as the World Wide Head of Health, Safety, Environment (HSE) and Emergency Management at CIBA Vision (a business unit of Novartis). There, he was responsible for the HSE activities for all of CVs operations (14 supply chain sites, 37 sales and marketing group companies, 11,000 employees on 3 continents). He has a pragmatic approach to developing and implementing HSE strategy which balances employee safety, environmental protection and business needs. He is a recognized expert with a track record of delivering performance.

His most recent activities were with Pandemic Preparedness, energy efficiency improvements, auditing, due diligence, new site start-up and HSE strategies for world class performance. While with a different business unit, he was the deputy chief of an industrial brigade and part of a community outreach program.

Dennis has an MBA in general management and finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and a BA in mathematics from the same university.

For the past 15 years, Kevin Palardy has enjoyed an international career working with thousands of teams in a variety of business development initiatives.

Kevin has been instrumental in leading thousands of groups through the TapRooT® process to identify and implement best practices to improve business performance.

Kevin has previously held positions, in QHSE, Corporate Development Specialist and Celebrity Liaison. He is the founder of a multi-million dollar investment firm and for 'fun' consults to an international group of companies in the area of business improvement.

He currently resides in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his wife and two children.

Mark Paradies is President of System Improvements, Inc., a firm specializing in performance improvement and root cause analysis. He has 29 years of experience operating, managing, and improving high reliability systems. Mark started his career as an officer in Admiral Rickover’s Nuclear Navy. He also worked for DuPont and Westinghouse before starting System Improvements in 1988. Currently, Mark researches performance improvement strategies and helps senior management understand, plan, and implement performance improvement programs while he manages System Improvements and teaches TapRooT® Courses.

Mark has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, and a Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering (with emphasis on Human Factors), both from the University of Illinois. Mark is a board certified Professional Ergonomist, and a Certified Hazard Control Manager. He was also Engineer Certified by training, testing, and experience by Navsea 08.

Dan Phillippe is the PSM Coordinator at the Illinois Refining Division of Marathon Oil Corporation.  During his 33 years of employment at Marathon, he has contributed to Operations, Personal Safety, Process Safety Management, and Training.  Dan is a Certified TapRooT® Instructor.

Barb Phillips has been blazing a trail in the Wild, Wild West of social media for many years.  A non-fiction writer with over 10 years of published credits, she has helped dozens of people develop creative, competitive super resumes that get noticed.

Since 2006, Barb has been the Editor and HR Representative at System Improvements, Inc.  She received her undergraduate degree from Indiana University and is a Certified Professional Coach, receiving certification through Fowler Wainwright International in 2010.  Barbara has continued her education through the Writer's Digest School, eMarketing Association, The Copywriter's Workshop, Ragan's Social Media Boot Camp and Ragan's Corporate Communications & the Social Media Revolution courses.

Ron is a Senior Staff Safety Engineer, and the facility’s Human Performance Coordinator, at Alcoa’s Davenport Works aluminum rolling mill in Bettendorf, Iowa. Ron’s 29 year Alcoa career has included assignments in Operating Line Management, Production Planning and Supply Chain, and over 17 years in Health and Safety, where he has worked with the full spectrum of safety programs and initiatives. Ron is currently leading and coordinating the integration of human performance concepts, including root cause analysis, across all organizational functions. Ron is a Certified Safety Professional, a Certified TapRooT® Instructor, and a member of ASSE. Ron attended Wittenberg University (BA Business Administration) and West Virginia University (MS Safety Management). After spending a significant portion of the past 20 years coaching and officiating youth soccer, volleyball, and basketball, Ron completed a 300 mile bicycle ride across Iowa in the summer of 2009.

Keith Recsky has been an employee of Terasen Gas Inc. for 29 years where he has held positions in engineering, field operations, safety and quality.  He is currently a Sr. Integrity Engineer, and is based in the resort city of Kelowna, BC, Canada.
 
His current duties include conducting post incident reviews, as well as working as an internal coach for quality management principles for the company’s asset integrity management programs.
 
Terasen Gas is natural gas distribution company with over 1600 employees serving approximately one million customers in British Columbia on the west coast of Canada.  Terasen Gas is headquartered near Vancouver, BC, home of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
 
Keith received his BSc (Engineering) from the University of Calgary and is a registered professional engineer in British Columbia.  He has taken the advanced TapRooT® training and has been conducting post incident reviews using TapRooT® since 2002.  This will be his fourth TapRooT® Summit.
 
He enjoys golf, kayaking, hiking and basketball.  Keith is married, has two married children and two grandkids.

Heidi Reed has over 25 years of experience as a health, safety and environmental professional. She currently holds a Certificate of Safety Management with the American Society of Safety Engineers. She has been an accomplished Regional Health, Safety, Environmental Manager for a major international corporation and has an extensive background in managing and mentoring US-based construction and general industry health, safety and environmental programs. Heidi has successfully utilized TapRoot® to analyze the root cause of incidents and to develop strategic corrective action plans for mitigation of jobsite hazards.

Currently, Heidi is a TapRooT® instructor and a health, safety and environmental consultant specializing in program and safety technician development.

Ken Reed brings 21 years of US Navy nuclear operator and supervisor experience to System Improvements, having served on numerous fast attack, ballistic missile, and research submarines. He is currently the Project Manager for the Equifactor® Equipment Troubleshooting module of the TapRooT® software, overseeing course and software updates and revisions. He holds a B.S. in Electronics Management from Southern Illinois University. He was born and raised in Watertown, NY, and currently resides in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Boris Risnic teaches TapRooT® in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.  He has conducted multi-national TapRooT® deployment for companies in Central and South America.  He has conduced over 50 TapRooT® investigations worldwide.  Boris has a BS in Industrial Engineering - Electronics.

Maj. Gen. (Dr.) Douglas J. Robb is the Command Surgeon, Headquarters Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Ill. As chief medical consultant to the AMC Commander, he ensures maximized operational health, combat readiness, and the efficient delivery of health care to 429,000 beneficiaries. He provides guidance on medical capability through plans, operational policies, guidance, oversight, consultation, financial management and training. General Robb oversees the health care services provided by 6,500 AMC medical personnel located at 11 community-based military treatment facilities. He oversees an AMC medicine budget of $672 million and assets exceeding $1.3 billion. General Robb is the Manpower, Equipment and Force Packaging manager for all aeromedical evacuation support and provides clinical oversight for the global Air Force air evacuation system, to include the transformational Air Force Medical Service Critical Care Air Transport Teams.

General Robb entered the Air Force in June 1979 as a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. He is board certified in aerospace and occupational medicine. He has spent 20 years in the practice of aerospace medicine in support of Air Force, joint and coalition aviation forces. Clinically he has held the positions of flight medicine chief, aerospace medicine squadron commander, and hospital and medical center commander. Additionally, he has held staff positions as the chief flight surgeon for U.S Air Forces in Europe, and as Command Surgeon, U.S. Central Command. A chief flight surgeon with more than 1,500 flying hours, he has maintained additional crewmember status in the A-7, OV-10, F-16, C-9, T-43, C-130 and KC-135 aircraft.

Prior to his current assignment, General Robb served as Commander, 81st Medical Group, Keesler AFB, Miss., and as the senior market manager for Tricare's Gulf Coast Multiservice Market.

EDUCATION
1979 Bachelor of Science degree in biological sciences, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.
1984 Medical degree, Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, Ill.
1992 Master's degree in public health in occupational medicine, Harvard School of Public Health, Cambridge, Mass.
1994 Residency training and board certification in aerospace medicine and occupational medicine, Brooks AFB, Texas
2000 National War College, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C.
2002 Medical Executive Skills Capstone, Washington, D.C.
2003 Interagency Institute for Federal Health Care Executives, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

ASSIGNMENTS
1. June 1979 - August 1980, maintenance officer, 13th Tactical Fighter Squadron, MacDill AFB, Fla.
2. September 1980 - June 1984, student, Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, Ill.
3. July 1984 - June 1985, family practice resident, Carswell Regional Hospital, Carswell AFB, Texas
4. July 1985 - July 1987, flight surgeon, 429th Tactical Fighter Squadron and 4450th Tactical Group, Nellis AFB, Nev.
5. August 1987 - August 1988, flight surgeon, 19th Tactical Air Squadron, Osan Air Base, South Korea
6. September 1988 - August 1991, flight surgeon, 526th Fighter Squadron, Ramstein AB, Germany
7. September 1991 - June 1992, student, Harvard School of Public Health, Cambridge, Mass.
8. July 1992 - July 1994, medical resident, Aerospace Medicine, Brooks AFB, Texas
9. August 1994 - June 1997, Commander, 347th Aerospace Medicine Squadron, Moody AFB, Ga. (June 1996 - July 1996, Commander, 4404th Medical Group (Provisional), Southwest Asia)
10. July 1997- July 1999, Chief, Aerospace Medicine, Office of the Surgeon General, Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Ramstein AB, Germany
11. August 1999 - July 2000, student, National War College, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C.
12. June 2000 - July 2002, Commander, 59th Aeromedical-Dental Group, Lackland AFB, Texas
13. July 2002 - June 2004, Commander, 10th Medical Group, and Command Surgeon, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.
14. June 2004 - June 2007, Command Surgeon, U.S. Central Command, MacDill AFB, Fla.
15. July 2007 - July 2008, Commander, 81st Medical Group, Keesler AFB, Miss.
18. July 2008 - present, Command Surgeon, Air Mobility Command, Scott AFB, Ill.

SUMMARY OF JOINT ASSIGNMENTS
June 2004 - June 2007, Command Surgeon, U.S. Central Command, MacDill AFB, Fla., as a colonel

FLIGHT INFORMATION
Ratings: Chief flight surgeon, airborne and air assault
Flight hours: More than 1,500
Aircraft flown: A-7, OV-10, F-16, C-9, C-130, T-43, C-21 and KC-135

MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS
Defense Superior Service Medal
Legion of Merit
Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters
Joint Service Commendation Medal
Air Force Commendation Medal with "V" device two oak leaf clusters
Air Force Achievement Medal

PUBLICATIONS
"Complete Spontaneous Pneumothorax In-Flight in an F-16 Pilot during a High-G Maneuver," Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine, February 1994

EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION
Second Lieutenant May 30, 1979
Captain Nov. 30, 1983
Major Nov. 30, 1989
Lieutenant Colonel Nov. 30, 1995
Colonel May 30, 2000
Brigadier General June 1, 2007
Major General Aug. 3, 2009

Ken Scott worked for the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) as an Instructor at the National Mine Health & Safety Academy. He developed MSHA’s Accident Investigation Training Program, and investigated many mining accidents including mine explosions.

Ken is a Certified Mine Safety Professional and a TapRooT® instructor. He has a BS in Agriculture, and a MS in Safety (Mining).

Ed Skompski has been with System Improvements since 1996, and has taught and specialized in performance improvement through teaching the TapRooT® System for root cause analysis, performing and facilitating investigation, and helping companies implement performance improvement programs. He has taught hundreds of training courses around the world at both client sites and through public seminars.

Ed has been a Partner since 2000, and a VP since 2006. He is currently manager of software development, technical support, e-commerce, and network support. Additional responsibilities include client management, training, and product development. Ed has also spearheaded the projects focused on reducing medical errors in the healthcare industry through the implementation of root cause analysis techniques.

Prior to joining System Improvements Ed provided environmental evaluation, remediation consulting and project supervision for Radian Corporation and Law Engineering.

Steve Swarthout is President and Senior Partner of Performance Improvement of Virginia, Inc. He has 40 years of engineering/equipment troubleshooting experience, and has taught TapRooT® to thousands of people. He has held a Senior Reactor Operator license at a commercial nuclear utility and facilitated over 100 incident investigations.

During the latter part of Brian Tink's career at Hydro One (starting in 1994), he specialized in health, safety and environmental matters. Before pursuing other interests, he held the title of Manager of Health, Safety & Environment Field Support for Hydro One Networks, Inc. This branch of Hydro One delivers electrical service to homes and businesses across the province of Ontario, Canada. Hydro One owns over 90,000 miles of Transmission and Distribution Lines, serves 1.3 million customers with 4,600 regular employees.

In this position, while reporting to the VP HSE, he was called to analyze and investigate safety incidents that occurred. He has facilitated or been part of the action plan development for numerous investigations, approximately 30-40 per year since 2000. The position involved working with and reviewing incident reports and action plans with other Line of Business VP’s and Directors. The lines of business included Construction, Lines, Station Maintenance and Forestry type work activities. He has also been called to lead or participate in investigations where a high level of scrutiny is expected for the results or there is significant need to identify areas of improvement. 

During his career, he had the opportunity to attend an extensive amount of training and seminars. The training resulted in becoming a Certified Registered Safety Professional in Canada and a Certified Utility Safety Administrator through the National Safety Council in the USA. Both of these certifications require safety management theoretical knowledge, testing and several years safety management experience.

Brian A. Tink has recently graduated from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology with a Honours Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminology and Justice. His degree provides Brian the educational background to address and identify the cultural aspects of populations which are necessary to successfully implement corporate programs. Working with Watershape Safety Analysis Inc. Brian currently assists companies to identify and transform their organizational culture. He co-created a two day course which allows participants to use the Taproot tree in order to improve their organization’s culture. Brian is a certified instructor and facilitator using Human Synergistics’ culture and individual assessment tools.

Brad is a graduate of Western Kentucky University with degrees in Corporate Communications and Psychology. He has been working in the Human Resources and Staffing industry for 15 years. His specialty is working for clients with specific hiring needs where just running ads won’t get the job done. His client base is rooted in Middle Tennessee but reaches out across the United States. Brad is the President and owner of Towe & Associates, a corporate and executive search firm based in Nashville. He started this business 8 years ago. He has 3 employees in-house, and consults with clients in the field working on high level searches. He sits on the Presidents board of directors for Goodpasture Christian School, has worked on several committees  at the Middle Tennessee Career Center, and is involved in CEO round table groups related to Human Resources. Brad resides in Nashville, Tennessee where he was born and raised and is the proud father of 2 year old boy/girl twins. He enjoys golf, sports, yard work, and spending time with his family.

Ken Turnbull is a Consultant and TapRooT® instructor with an impressive resume of worldwide experience. Ken specializes in developing proactive measurements for safety programs, coaching executives in demonstrating management commitment to safety, and doing root cause investigations.

He worked for Texaco for 32 years, and lead many accident and incident investigations as Texaco’s Corporate Safety manager. He used and taught the TapRooT® method for over eight years at Texaco and was instrumental in convincing executive management of Texaco the importance of reporting and determining the root causes of all incidents, including near misses.

Ken is a CSP, a former member of the NFPA 30 Committee, a former member of the Technical Steering Committee of the Center for Chemical Process Safety and a former Chairman of the API Safety and Fire Protection Sub-Committee. Ken has taught courses in the USA, Canada, Scotland, and Africa.

Linda Unger is Vice President of System Improvements, Inc. She first became involved in incident investigation and root cause analysis in 1986 as a field engineer working for DuPont where she performed investigations into operating and maintenance problems. Since that time she has become an expert in root cause analysis, incident investigation, and development of performance improvement programs. Currently, Linda helps clients use TapRooT® as part of their performance improvement program by developing implementation strategies. In addition, Linda is responsible for the development of the 2-Day TapRooT® Training program and licensing of TapRooT® Training and Software to clients. She also teaches TapRooT® Courses.

Chris Vallee is a Senior Associate and TapRooT® Instructor with System Improvements, Inc. Chris has 18 years of experience in the aviation industry (from repairing to building aircraft cradle to first flight). A Six Sigma Black Belt with a Human Factors in Psychology Masters Degree, he often spends one-on-one time with many of our clients in process improvement and TapRooT® company implementation.

Dan Verlinde has been with System Improvements since 2006, acting as the Software Project Manager, overseeing the development and technical support of all TapRooT® software. Prior to joining System Improvements, Dan was a Business Systems Analyst for an international third-party certification company.  There he oversaw the implementation, development and support of a business software used for performing audits to international standards.  In addition to his education at the University of Michigan, Dan has had formal training in SQL, Crystal, Software Administration and Lean principles.

Michelle has been with System Improvements since 2007 as the Licensing Paralegal and TapRooT® Implementation Strategist. She writes Licenses for clients and assists with negotiations.  She also maintains and oversees the Certified TapRooT® Instructor database information and helps clients become certified.  Michelle has her BS in Legal Studies and AS in Paralegal Studies as well as some informal training.