We want to thank our KVI listeners all over the Puget Sound for tuning in to the American Innovator. Due to government rules and "equal time" regulations... Paul is not able to host the show during the remainder of 
June 19, 2010
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Dan Robbins
Dan Robbins is the Vice President, Part Owner and Director of Hama Hama Company, a family-owned logging, oyster and clam business in business since 1922. Dan has also been the past director of Bank of Washington, Whatcom Chamber of Commerce and was a mayoral candidate. During his 25+ years in retail management he has owned or been a partner in 7 businesses.
June 12, 2010
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Richard Ballantyne
Richard Ballantyne is President and CEO of Heath Tecna, Inc. Richard instituted Lean, leading to a recent string of new contracts. Heath Tecna lnc. is the foremost supplier of passenger aircraft interiors and components worldwide. The company designs, manufactures, and supplies passenger aircraft interiors and components for airlines and original equipment manufacturers. For more than 30 years it has designed, manufactured and certified interior components for a total of more than 6,000 aircraft around the world. It has manufacturing facilities in Bellingham, Washington; and, Australia. The company was founded in 1950 and is based in Bellingham, Washington.
June 5, 2010
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John H. Rutherford
John H. Rutherford is the Sheriff of Jacksonville, Florida and is a 34-year veteran with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. Before becoming Sheriff, Rutherford's "vision" and ability to manage change led to several new innovations within the local Department of Corrections. During his law enforcement career, the Sheriff has served as a uniformed patrolman, sergeant and lieutenant. As a lieutenant, he worked in the Patrol and Detective Divisions and was soon assigned Director of the Region Five Criminal Justice Training Center, in charge of all regional police and corrections training in Northeast Florida. Rutherford has proven to be an excellent leader and innovator of change during these various commands. In 2005 the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office adopted the LEAN program, created our Continuous Improvement division and the CI Unit, and became possibly the first law enforcement organization in the country to do so.
May 29, 2010
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Michel Mestre
Michel Mestre is CEO of Evergreen Team Concepts (ETC). His journey as consultant and professor has taken him to various countries worldwide. His interest is in productivity /performance management. His Ph.D. investigates the use of goals in Japan and North America. Dr. Mestre is Adjunct Professor at Kyoto International University, Kyoto Japan and Handong University in Korea. He was also invited as a research fellow at Nagoya University, Japan; Tilburg University, The Netherlands and, Warwick Business School, United Kingdom. In addition to these accomplishments and honors, Dr. Mestre is an active member of the editorial advisory board of the International Journal of Business Performance Management and the Center for Interdisciplinary Strategic Management Research, London, England. He serves as a lean advisory board member for Harvard Beth Israel Medical Center.
He also has hosted tours to Japan, Korea and China. Dr. Mestre provides a great degree of knowledge about business practices and the benefits of different management systems. He has taught and led various organizations in a number of industries, in Europe, Asia and North America organizational change in numerous industries.
ETC is providing consulting and training to organizations in the areas of Lean Leadership, Productivity and Change Management.
May 22, 2010
Gwendolyn Galsworth
Gwendolyn D. Galsworth, Ph.D., is the Visual-Lean® Author and Educator. She is the author, most recently of the book Visual Workplace, Visual Thinking: Creating Enterprise Excellence Through the Technologies of the Visual Workplace. Dr. Galsworth is an educator, implementer, and a researcher with more than 25 years in the field of Workplace Visuality. Considered by many a leading visual expert, Dr. Galsworth is the author of a number of books on organizational improvement and workplace visuality, including Visual Workplace/Visual Thinking, recipient of the Shingo Prize for Research. A Shingo Prize and Malcolm Baldrige Examiner, Galsworth has helped companies all over the world to accelerate their rates of transformation, strengthen cultural alignments and achieve long-term, sustainable bottom-line outcomes. Her clients include Fortune 500 companies around the world. Galsworth holds a Ph.D. in adult learning and statistics and has led American study missions to some of the world’s finest production facilities, including those in Japan. She is a frequent keynote speaker on visual systems, strategic leadership, and cultural conversions.
May 15, 2010
Tom Dorr
Tom has been the Director of the Center for Economic Vitality at Western Washington University’s College of Business & Economics since September 1996. He has spent many years working in small businesses. His experience includes start-ups and turn-arounds in high-tech electronics, telecommunications, and industrial manufacturing where he was instrumental in expanding their business and reaching profitability. His strengths are in sales and marketing strategies, new product development, distribution channels (domestic and international), manufacturing issues, and financing. At the CEV he provides business counseling services that support economic development in the form of capital investment, increased sales, developing new programs, export assistance and pursuing new sources of funding. He is the busy father of three daughters —Danielle, Rachel and Kimberly.
May 8, 2010
Tom Robles
Tony Robles was born in Brooklyn, New York. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, he spent his career with the U.S. Customs Service. He currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with his family. In his book Joey Gonzalez, Great American, third-grader Joey Gonzalez wants to study hard, learn a lot and grow up to be a great American. Joey s teacher, Mrs. Glass tells Joey he will have trouble learning because he is Spanish and he is a minority. Little Joey is stunned. How can he become a GREAT American if he isn't even an American in the first place? He has to muster all his courage and his proud Spanish ancestry to challenge Mrs. Glass's understanding of what it is to be an American.
May 1, 2010
Matt Stodola
Matt Stodola is a leading expert in wood frame construction in the Northwest with over 22 years in the field. Currently the Quality Control Manager for Exxel Pacific Inc., Matt draws on the experience of his past to solve problems for his company and the industry. Matt is author of "Stress Free Buildings" and the inventor of the "Deflector Fastening System" which is a catalyst carrying the solution to scores of issues in wood construction.
April 24, 2010
Bill Cooper
Bill Cooper a retired Chief of Police (30 years, Seattle area) and the author of the book Leading Beyond Tradition, which he wrote about making law enforcement far more efficient. The book offers a convergence of the highly successful Six Sigma and CompStat business principles and it has extensive applicability for community leaders, elected officials, business leaders and the public. He has taught around the country about making government more efficient and effective, applying improvement methodologies to cases and systems provided first hand by attendees from their own jurisdictions, resulting in substantial cost savings.
Visit Bill's web site for Leading Beyond Tradition
April 17, 2010
Brad Schmidt
Brad Schmidt is the Managing Partner and a founding member of Gemba Research of Gemba Research. Brad was born and raised in Sapporo, Japan and is fluent in both English and Japanese. He based in Japan and work out of Gemba's Tokyo office.
Before becoming a Lean consultant Brad spent many years interpreting for Japanese kaizen consultants. This taught him not just knowledge of Lean but also how to best implement it and sustain the effort. Since 1998 he has been a kaizen instructor in industries such as aerospace, custom manufacturing, small-lot job shops, high-volume electronic manufacturing, chemical processing, service businesses, healthcare, and office environments.
April 10, 2010
Greg D. Ridgley
Greg is an Iraq veteran, author and metal artist that transforms the destruction of the war into wrought iron beauty.
Greg's company website
April 3, 2010
Jeff Kaas
Jeff Kaas is the Owner of Kaas Tailored, a TPS and lean manufacturing company
March 20, 2010
Dr. John Toussaint
John S. Toussaint, MD, is the CEO emeritus of ThedaCare, and CEO of the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value. Dr. Toussaint is very well known for his leadership of the Lean efforts in the ThedaCare system, done under the heading of the ThedaCare Improvement System. This model of continuous improvement helped save millions of dollars in healthcare costs by reducing patient errors, improving outcomes and delivering better quality care at a higher value. ThedaCare and Dr. Toussaint’s work have been featured in Health Affairs, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Modern Health Care, and Health Management Technology. Additionally, Dr. Toussaint is asked to speak all over the world on LEAN and the topics of quality and efficiency in health care.
March 20, 2010
Karl Wadensten
Karl is the President of VIBCO Vibrators, a manufacturer in Wyoming, R.I. VIBCO Vibrators designs, manufactures and markets a comprehensive range of electric, pneumatic and hydraulic vibrators for construction and industrial use. VIBCO has embraced Lean and has realized unbelievable gains as a result. Dramatic inventory reductions, shortened lead times, and a focus on the whole end-to-end customer experience are just a few of these. For the past several years, Karl has hosted Lean President's Events at VIBCO to share his Lean philosophy and inspire other leaders to implement Lean in their organizations. Karl is also the host of his own radio show, “The Lean Nation,” which airs on AM 790 in Rhode Island and streams live on the web everyday weekday at 4 PM eastern — www.790business.com.
Recently, Karl was appointed by Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri to the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (EDC) Board of Directors.
March 13, 2010
Nido Qubein
nidoqubein.com
Nido Qubein is chairman of an international consulting firm and recipient of the highest awards given for professional speakers including the Cavett (known as the Oscar of professional speaking), the Speakers Hall of Fame, Horatio Alger Award for Distinguished Americans and The Order of the Long Leaf Pine (North Carolina’s highest civilian honor) and Sales and Marketing International's Ambassador of Free Enterprise.
Nido Qubein is president of High Point University, an accredited undergraduate and graduate institution with 3,500 students from 50 countries and 44 states. He has written numerous books and recorded scores of audio and video learning programs including a bestseller on effective communication published by Nightingale-Conant and Berkley.
His foundation provides scholarships to 48 deserving young people each year. To-date the Qubein Foundation has granted more than 600 scholarships, worth over six million dollars.
March 6, 2010
Matthew E. May
Author most recently of In Pursuit of Elegance (2009), and of the critically acclaimed The Elegant Solution (2006), which won the Shingo Research Prize for Excellence. A popular speaker, he lectures to corporations, governments, and universities around the world, and works confidentially with creative teams and senior leaders at a number of top Fortune-listed companies. He spent nearly a decade as a close adviser to Toyota, and his articles have appeared in national publications such as USA Today, Strategy+Business, and Quality Progress.
February 27, 2010
Ron L. Docie
Author of The Author of The Inventors Bible
Ronald L Docie, Sr.’s career in the world of inventions spans more than three decades. His own inventions are featured in Wal-Mart, Kmart and thousands of other outlets. As an agent for inventors, Mr. Docie has negotiated more than 50 licenses with companies like General Motors, and he’s an expert consultant to Johnson & Johnson on idea submission. He is also the president of Docie Development, LLC, an international company that provides services for inventors and corporations.
Check out Ron's web site also!
February 20, 2010
Marc Urban and Jon Mosher
Marc Urban of Bellingham is the inventor of the ChopShop Saw Hood and Jon Mosher, from Hawaii, is the inventor of the Puka Patch. Marc and Jon will join us live to share how their products went from concept to market.
February 13, 2010
James Hereford
Executive Vice-President, Group Health
Group Practice Division
Topic: How group Health used Toyota Production system in the medical field.
James Hereford is responsible for strategic oversight of technology, quality, human resources, and strategic planning. He has been instrumental in the development of Group Health's secure Web portals and oversaw the implementation of a comprehensive electronic medical record system.
Hereford has been a key figure in the implementation of a Lean-based management and improvement system at Group Health, has been a leader in establishing collaborative approaches with organized labor, and leads the cross-functional Care Delivery value stream.
Hereford holds bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics from Montana State University and is a faculty member in the University of Washington's Master of Health Administration program. He also is a member of several local and national organizations and boards, including the Healthcare Value Leaders Network, the Center for Information Therapy, One Health Port, and the Greater Seattle YMCA, and is chair of the Washington State Health Care Authority Health Information Infrastructure Advisory Board.
February 6, 2010
Chris Collins
County Executive, Erie County, New York
35 years experience as businessman in private sector
Live from New York
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Running County Government like a Business As County Executive, Collins’ approach to government is simple and straightforward. He calls it the 3 R’s: Reforming Erie County government, Rebuilding the local economy, and ultimately, Reducing taxes. Collins is using his private sector experience to bring Lean Six Sigma to Erie County government. It’s a proven business method to increase efficiency and eliminate waste. Lean Six Sigma is designed to empower employees to suggest changes to their work process. The first wave of Lean Six Sigma projects saved taxpayers millions of dollars. More projects are started every quarter. |
January 30, 2010
Shell Busey
Radio host TV host and all around great guy!
Visit Shell's web site: www.housesmartcentre.com
About Shell Busey
My experiences in the Home Improvement industry now span some 40-plus years, all the way from stock boy to radio and TV shows, dispensing advice and know-how to you, the home owner. A lot of water has gone under the bridge (so to speak) over those years and I am often asked just where I have been in this industry.
January 23, 2010
Simon Dyer
Inventor of the iCap the Solar powered hat
Live from New Zealand
January 16, 2010
Sam Carpenter
Work the System™
The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less
Winner: “Best Non-fiction book of 2009”
New York Book Festival.
Award-Winning Finalist, Business Management and Leadership category,
National Best Books 2009 Awards.
www.workthesystem.com
January 9, 2010
Michael Althoff
Businessman, Inventor
Live from Germany
Owner and founder of Yello Tools
www.yellotools.com
