Conference Agenda
Continuous Improvement Oklahoma
Tulsa
Wed, Sept 15
36 Degrees North
6:00-7:30pm Networking & Trivia Night
Join us for an evening of fun and fellowship! Get to know your fellow continuous improvers and process improvers while competing for the title of Trivia Night Champion. It’s a great way to build your connections and network in a fun atmosphere. Light refreshments, beer and wine will be served.
Thurs, Sept 16
Tulsa Central Library
8:30-9:00am Check-In
Grab a cup of coffee and a muffin or banana and make friends with the person sitting next to you. Get ready for an engaging day!
9:00-10:15am The Opening & Killer Keynote
Keynote speakers set the tone for the day! Get excited, get inspired.
Keynote speaker announcement coming soon!
Opening Speaker: Allison Greco, Founder, CII
10:15am-11am Speed Networking
Rapidly and efficiently grow your network of continuous and process improvers. Let’s build our relationships so we can continue to connect long after the conference is over.
11:00-11:15am Morning Break
Stretch those legs, grab a bit of sunshine or refill your coffee cup. Or just keep talking to those new friends you made during speed networking.
11:15-12:00pm The Power of CI in the Customer Experience
Speaker: Kim Hankins, Customer Service Continuous Improvement Project Manager, Black Hills Energy
12:00-12:45pm The Power Lunch
Refuel with some yummy lunch. And yes, we want to maximize this time too, so each table will unlock the Power of CI during a engaging exercise.
You should still have a few minutes to check your email, take a walk around the library’s Childrens’ Garden or grab your favorite caffienated beverage from Starbuck’s (inside the Library)
12:45-2:00pm Leadership in Continuous Improvement Panel
Hear from top continuous improvement and Lean leaders. They’ll share their insider perspectives in our leadership panel discussion. Plus, they’ll answer YOUR questions.
Expert Panelists
- Jason Ketchum, Vice President of Commercial Affairs, OneGas
- Mark Cluff, Vice President of Safety & Operations Discipline, Williams
- Sara Gallagher, President, The Persimmon Group
- 4th Panelist annoucement coming soon!
2:00-2:15pm Bio Break
Take a couple of laps around the room, step out for bit of sunshine or grab a sweet treat. Or just keep talking to your new friends!
2:15-3:00pm Continuous Improvement & Innovation
Carlos Torres
Head of Industry 4.0 USA 5G Smart Factory, Ericsson
3:00-4:00pm CI Cafe
By now, your head is swimming with ideas and inspiration! But we often leave conferences with inspiration and not enough action. Let’s expand upon those ideas and turn them into action plans.
We’ll break into small, collaborative discussion groups for brainstorming and best practice sharing.
4:00pm-4:30pm Closing Celebration
It’s going to be hard to say good-bye so we’re going to make it fun! We’ll have some cool announcements and cool giveaways. Plus, we’ll show you how to keep the momentum going.
About Our Incredible Speakers

Sara Gallagher
President, The Persimmon Group
Sara Gallagher is President of The Persimmon Group, a Tulsa-based award-winning consulting firm. Sara helps organizations thoughtfully select, plan, and execute high-stakes projects and business transformations. Her approach to solving business problems is interdisciplinary, focused on “leading with both sides of the brain”, on the premise that even technical efforts require innovation, strategic thinking, and emotional intelligence to execute effectively. She is a Project Management Professional (PMP®) and Professional Scrum Master (PSM I). Sara holds a BA from Emory University in Atlanta, GA, and has also studied at the American University in Cairo.

Jason Ketchum
Vice President of Commercial Activities, ONE Gas
Jason Ketchum is the Vice President of Commercial Activities for ONE Gas in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Jason specializes in building teams that are adaptable, innovative and growth-focused. With over 20 years in all aspects of the energy industry, he has experience with investor relations, public relations, utility operations, energy trading, branding and building customer solutions. He is married to his college sweetheart, who he met at the University of Missouri and has three children. In his spare time, Jason likes to read, play video games with his son, fish and generally spend time outdoors.

Mark Cluff
Vice President of Safety and Operational Excellence, Williams
Mark Cluff is the Vice President of Safety and Operational Excellence at Williams. In this role he is responsible for leading several multi-functional groups including: Pipeline Safety & Integrity Process, Employee & Contractor Safety, Security, GIS & Facility Asset Management, Continuous Improvement, Operating Corporate Standards, and Operational Risk teams. Mark joined Williams in 2015.
Prior to Williams, he worked as a senior operations leader for DuPont across many different businesses and locations throughout the company. In addition to DuPont, Mark also worked as a Capital Projects Leader for ExxonMobil at the Beaumont Refinery, Chemical Plant, and Polyethylene plants.
Mark received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering at Brigham Young University with an elective emphasis in Operations Management.

Kim Hankins
Customer Experience Continuous Improvement Project Manager, Black Hills Energy
Kim Hankins is the Customer Experience Continuous Improvement Project Manager at Black Hills Energy. In this role, Kim uses her more than 14 years of utility industry experience to identify business needs, drive innovation, increase operational leverage and implement value-added solutions. Kim’s keen ability to strategically plan, problem solve, and trouble shoot has helped her identify, manage and implement continuous improvement projects, increasing company satisfaction goals year after year.
Using her degree in Human Resources and Workforce Development from the University of Arkansas, Kim has built a highly effective, cross-functional team that utilizes critical thinking and new technology to deliver upon product enhancements and process improvements to create a top-tier customer experience.

Carlos Torres
Head of Industry 4.0 USA 5G Smart Factory, Ericsson
Bio coming soon! The World Economic Forum recently named Ericsson’s USA 5G Smart Factory a Lighthouse factory.

Allison Greco
Founder, CII
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.
Members
Early Bird Pricing- Pre-conference networking & trivia night
- The full-day conference
- Light breakfast, yummy lunch, snacks and good coffee
- Early bird pricing ends April 30th
Not Yet Members
Early Bird Pricing- Pre-conference networking & trivia night
- The full-day conference
- Light breakfast, yummy lunch, snacks and good coffee
- Early bird pricing ends April 30th
VIIP
Very Important Improver Package (Add on)- VIIP Conference Swag Bag
- Post-Conference Virtual CI Cafe via Zoom (renew that post-conference enthusiasm & reconnect with your new friends!)
- We’ll also provide you with coffee for CI Cafe!
- Included with early bird registration