Panels
Speaker Registration Link: https://www.xcdsystem.com/IEOM/attendee/index.cfm?ID=2LQLkeY
Women in Industry and Academia (WIIA) Panel
Tuesday, April 4, 2023, 2:00 – 5:00 pm – Room 1
Panel Chair
Dr. Bupe Getrude Mwanza
Associate Director
Graduate School of Business
University of Zambia
Zambia
Dr. Bupe Getrude Mwanza has over 9 years of experience in the Higher Education Sector. She has practical experience in teaching and learning, academic administration and research, and quality assurance in the Higher Education Sector. Bupe has teaching and learning experience in Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. She has experience in Quality Assurance in the Manufacturing Sector. She worked for Best Oil Products and Konkola Copper Mines were she was designated in the Quality Assurance Departments. Bupe has a Bachelor of Science in Production Management, Master of Engineering in Manufacturing Systems and Operations Management and PhD in Engineering Management.
Bupe has published and presented a number of papers on Waste Management, Operations Management, Manufacturing Systems and Engineering Management. She has presented in countries such as Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ghana, Colombia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Macao, Thailand and India. She has contributed to the Research Output of the University of Johannesburg, University of Zambia, Copperbelt University, Cavendish University Zambia and Harare Institute of Technology. Because of her passion in research, Bupe has won best paper awards in Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Malaysia.
Bupe is a mentor to a number of young ladies. Her profile has been used to mentor young ladies pursing their careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programmes. Bupe is the Chairperson of the Industrial Engineering and Operations Management Chapter in Zambia. She is also a Visiting Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg. She is permanently employed by the University of Zambia, where she serves as the Associate Director and Senior Lecturer in the Graduate School of Business.
Panel Speaker I:
Michelle Baker
Director of Professional Services /PMO
EW Consulting LLC
West Bloomfield, USA
Michelle is currently the Director of Professional Services /PMO at EW Consulting LLC. She has managed projects and programs in the IT management consulting industry that supported Fortune 500 clients in the automotive, healthcare, technology business management, utility, regulatory, and advertising marketplaces. She is passionate about managing timelines and deliverables for IT and Business programs, also driving team cohesion amidst high stakes, high-level stakeholders, and executing project team members. In addition, she champions professional development and sits on the executive boards of 3 volunteer organizations in her area: Project Management Institute – Great Lakes Chapter, National Black MBA Association–Detroit Chapter, and Lawrence Technological University Alumni Association. She also owns That Project Management Polish LLC, an image consulting company and is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated.
What’s next for her? Continuing the project management profession through the mentoring of younger practitioners who are coming behind her as well as sitting at the feet of those executive mentors who have come before her. Always lifting as she climbs and in awe of those, she is striving towards!
Speaker Experience
- 2020 PMO Impact Speaker Series
- 2020 Project Management Institute—Great Lakes Chapter PMI Symposium
- 2021 PMI-GLC Dinner Meeting (September)
- 2022 Project Management Institute—Great Lakes Chapter PMI Symposium
- Toastmasters Clubs, University Audiences.
Panel Speaker II:
Roxan Ara Cadir
Panel Speaker III:
Vali Issufo
Panel Speaker IV

Dr. Nita Sukdeo
Associate Professor and Head
Department of Quality and Operations Management
University of Johannesburg
Gauteng, South Africa
Prof Nita Inderlal Sukdeo is currently an Associate Professor and Head of Department in the Department of Quality and Operations Management within the School of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She obtained a Masters in Quality from the Durban University of Technology and a PhD in Engineering Management from the University of Johannesburg. She is an active researcher in the field of total quality management and operations management. Her field of expertise also include advanced manufacturing technologies, smart factory, Quality 4.0, quantitative analysis, quality management systems, quality auditing and risk assessment. She is a qualified Lead Auditor, proficient in ISO standards and certification. She is chairperson and director of the Society for Operations Management in Africa (SOMA), a professional member of the South African Society for Quality (SASQ). She is an active member and participant, session chair of the IEOM Women in Industry and Academia panel session Africa edition.
Panel Speaker V
Dr Christine Lesa
Panel Speaker VI
Dr. Eng. Loice K Gudukeya
Senior Lecturer
Mechanical Engineering Department
University of Zimbabwe
Loice is a Senior Lecturer in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Zimbabwe. She has previously held the post of Assistant Lecturer in the same department at University of Zimbabwe and at the Harare Institute of Technology, in the Industrial Engineering Department.
She is a holder of a PhD in Engineering, University of Johannesburg (2018), MSc in Renewable Energy, University of Zimbabwe (2012), BHon in Engineering: Industrial and Manufacturing, NUST (Bulawayo, 2004). Her PhD research title was: “Towards Green Manufacturing: Improving Environmental Sustainability in The Zimbabwean Steel Industry”.
Professionally Loice is a corporate member of the Zimbabwe Institute of Engineers. Under the same board she is a member of the National Student Award and the Congress Planning Committees. She is also registered with the ECZ. She also in different committees in the department and faculty and has published a number of journal and conference papers. Her research areas are Environmental Sustainability and Cleaner production.
Loice is passionate about promoting Science and Engineering to young girls in primary and high school. The hope is to invite them to the Engineering world and to make them stay in the field. She is currently chairing University of Zimbabwe Women in Engineering, which falls under the Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers, Women in Engineering. The mandate is having a community of Women in Science at the university that holds different events that promote higher numbers of females in the field.
Panel Speaker VII
Ms. Sebonkile Thaba
Lecturer in Transport and Supply Chain Management
University of Johannesburg
Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
She is currently a lecturer at the University of Johannesburg, holding Masters of Technology Degree in Operations Management. Ms Thaba serves at the Department of Transport and Supply Chain Management, lecturing 3rd-year students on Purchasing and 4th-year students on Logistics Processes and Practices. Ms Thaba’s research area are enterprise development, Sustainable Supply Chain Management and Cooperatives. She has so far published one book-chapter and 25 peer-reviewed international conferences papers. She has 25 Google Scholar citations with two h-index, and 1 I10- Index. She is awarded Academic Doctorate Advancement Project towards Transformation (ADAPTT) Scholarship, which is the collaboration of University of Florida (USA) and South Africa Higher Education (SA-HE) Network (UJ). Sebonkile received three global prestige’s awards from Industrial Engineering and Operations Management (IEOM)-International Society, Best Track Paper Award, Outstanding Service Award and Teaching & Learning Award in Supply Chain Management. She is a Track Chair for Waste Management and Supply Chain Management, Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management.
Ms. Thaba currently is working on two projects, on Enterprise Development, which is Sustainable Supply Chain Management on Agricultural Farming Industry and Social Value Chain Economy within Local Community Enterprises. She currently a PhD candidate at University of Johannesburg, with a proposed title: Deconstructing the Social in Sustainable Supply Chain Management for African Farmers.
Global Engineering Education Panel
Tuesday, April 4, 2023, 5:00 – 7:00 pm – Room 1
Panel Chair
Panel Speaker I
Panel Speaker II
Panel Speaker III
Panel Speaker IV
Sustainability Panel
Wednesday, April 5, 2023, 2:00 – 3:45 pm – Room 1
Panel Chair: Dr. Noha Mostafa
Dr. Noha Mostafa is an Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering and Management in The British University in Egypt. She got B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Zagazig University. In 2016, she was a visiting PhD student in Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan and she finished her PhD degree in Industrial Engineering and Management in 2017 from Egypt-Japan University; the topic was the integration between different functions of the supply chain. Dr. Noha has broad expertise including supply chain management, logistics, operations management, lean manufacturing, sustainability, plant layout, design thinking, energy management, and innovation management. She has been working in training and consultation for 15 years.
Panel Speaker I
Panel Speaker II
Panel Speaker III
Panel Speaker IV
Transition to Human-Centric and Resilient Manufacturing Panel
Wednesday, April 5, 2023, 4:00 – 5:45 pm – Room 1
Panel Chair
Panel Speaker I
Panel Speaker II
Panel Speaker III
Diversity and Inclusion Panel sponsored by Ford Motor Company
Thursday, April 6, 2023, 2:00 – 3:45 pm – Room 1
Panel Chair
Panel Speaker I
Panel Speaker II
Panel Speaker III
Panel Speaker IV
Global Supply Chain and Logistics Panel
Thursday, April 6, 2023, 4:00 – 5:45 pm – Room 1
Panel Chair:
Dr. Abdelaziz Berrado
Professor and Academic Coordinator
Department of Industrial Engineering
The Ecole Mohammadia d’Ingénieurs (EMI)
School of Engineering
Mohammed V University
Rabat, Morocco
Abdelaziz BERRADO is Professor and Academic Coordinator of Industrial Engineering in EMI School of Engineering at Mohammed V University in Rabat. He was previously Industrial Engineering Department Chair at the same institution. Prior to his current position, he was a faculty member of Engineering Management at AlAkhawayn University in Ifrane. He holds a Ph.D. in Decision Systems and Industrial Engineering from Arizona State University. He researches advanced analytical methods and frameworks for knowledge generation and decision support in organizations. He focuses on data analytics for Operations and Supply Chain Modelling, Planning, Improvement and Control with applications in Healthcare, Education and other Industries. He has led several funded applied research projects with local and international impact and published research papers in renowned journals. In addition to academic work, he interacts closely with the industry through training and consulting projects. He is a fellow of IEOM Society and a member of INFORMS and IEEE. Previously, he was a senior engineer and data analytics lead at Intel.
Panel Speaker I
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