CII’s DAM Good Birthday Bash

Megan Shepherd is a Senior Manager of Brand and Creative Strategy for the New York Times, looking after the Audio, TV, and Film lines of business. Prior to coming to the Times, she worked in advertising, editorial, content and creative strategy, partnering with brands like Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, Reebok, Urban Outfitters, McKinsey & Company, Shutterstock, and Hearst Global to help bring beloved brand stories to life across marketing and editorial. She is a writer and former food editor, and her work has been featured across a number of print and digital publications, including Delish, Bustle, Food 52, Thrillist, Edible, and Woman’s Day, among many others. A native Oklahoman and a graduate of Oklahoma State University, she is thrilled to be back in Tulsa after several years in New York (but misses the bagels!). 

Melissa Maday is the Division Director Performance Excellence for CHI Health’s Midwest Division.  She has been with CHI Health, in various Process Improvement and leadership roles, since December 2005.  Melissa has over 20 years’ experience in Lean, Six Sigma and other process improvement and change management approaches.    

 Melissa holds a Master Black Belt certification in Lean Six Sigma, a Project Management Professional certification, and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.  She has an MBA from Bellevue University, Bellevue, NE and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle, WA.   

Scott Post is a Lean Leadership Coach, he loves to help leaders pursue excellence through process improvement to achieve their desired results. Scott started his career serving four years with the U.S. Marine Corps, then received an Industrial Engineering B.S. degree from Iowa State University. Scott’s passion for CI blossomed while working at Pella Corporation. Now, as Chief Operations Officer, he is serving by leading and coaching the Pizza Ranch team on a journey towards excellence with primary responsibilities of the Operations, Training, and Process Improvement teams. Scott has served the local lean community as a board member of the Siouxland Lean Consortium and formed his own company SPost Consulting after several requests for his professional services. Outside of his daily work, he spends time with family, goes camping, or plays on his hobby farm. Scott, his wife Danette, their four children, and a few farm animals live in the beautiful farm country of NW Iowa.

Shayne is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt with the Center of Operational Excellence at the State of Nebraska. He has been embedded full time at the Department of Transportation for almost 3 years.

He also served as the outside sales rep and operations manager for a small company of electricians, however, the bulk of his career (18yrs) was as a pastor. He loves his wife and two kids, large dogs, craft beer, and rucking.

Amy Jenkins is the founder and chair of CAPABLE, a ONE Gas employee resource group created to promote understanding and provide support for employees with disabilities and for those supporting loved ones with all kinds of disabilities. She is committed to learning about people from all walks of life and finding equitable solutions to problems businesses face today.

Amy has more than fifteen years of experience at ONE Gas and is currently a process improvement consultant.

Phil is a proven leader and multi-functional logistician with an obsession for Continual Process Improvement (CPI). Extensive experience in teaching, mentoring, and facilitating multiple CPI methodologies including Lean and Six Sigma, Lean Start-up, Design Thinking, Business Process Re-engineering, and Change Management.

Amanda Zimmerman has a decade of experience as a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, leading process improvement initiatives all over the world. She has led projects in a variety of industries, including Oil and Gas, Software, Education, Marketing, and non-profits. She has enjoyed leading both Lean Transformations and formal organizational Six Sigma deployments. In her career she has saved her clients over $270MM in annual benefit.

In 2020 Amanda started Beautiful Opportunities to help individuals and organizations master the foundational concepts of Continuous Improvement. Her White Belt course at Unschool.in has over 800 enrolled students. She also teaches at Portland State University’s CEPE program (Process Improvement Fundamentals, Six Sigma Fundamentals, and Process Improvement in Practice). Amanda holds an MBA from Imperial College of London. She trained with Variance Reduction International to earn her LSS Master Black Belt in 2011.

Thomas Devon Laney is the President & Chief Executive Officer of 36 Degrees North, Co., an award-winning, not-for-profit entrepreneurial support organization focused on providing the workspace, resources and community needed to build growing companies and drive economic impact.

Before joining 36°N in 2019, Devon co-founded and served as CEO (and COO) of Innovation Depot in Birmingham, AL for over 14 years, leading the organization to consecutive record-setting years of economic impact and entrepreneurial growth. Prior to joining Innovation Depot, Devon worked with Accenture LLP on numerous strategic projects at various Fortune 500 companies and is also an entrepreneur with experience in the technology & B2B space. Devon has spoken in both the U.S. & internationally on entrepreneurial ecosystem development as well as business incubation and innovation. He holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s Degree in International Business.

Allison Greco created her foundation with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and Master of Business Administration from the University of Oklahoma. Over the past 15 years, she has held Continuous and Process Improvement roles for Black Hills Energy, Williams, the United States Air Force and BNSF Railway. She has started up new CI programs and reinvigorated stale ones. Along the way she earned a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and became a licensed Professional Engineer.  

Allison launched Continuous Improvement International in 2018 to share her passion for continuous improvement, process improvement and change management.