{"id":1883,"date":"2026-07-08T03:36:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T03:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ieomsociety.org\/barcelona2026\/?page_id=1883"},"modified":"2026-07-08T03:36:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T03:36:25","slug":"plenary","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ieomsociety.org\/barcelona2026\/plenary\/","title":{"rendered":"Plenary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Online Keynotes<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

7:00 \u2013 8:00 am, July 20, 2026 – Barcelona Time<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

7:00 \u2013 7:30, July 20, 2026: Online Keynote Speaker I<\/p>\n

\"\"Girish Kumar Gopalakrishnan, MS, CMBB, CSSBB, CMQ-OE<\/strong>
\nSenior Manager \u2013 Continuous Improvement \u2013 CNH<\/strong>
\nSenior Member \u2013 IEOM Society International<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Girish Kumar Gopalakrishnan is a North America Continuous Improvement Senior Manager at Case New Holland (CNH), Girish has led cross-plant transformation initiatives that have significantly advanced manufacturing performance, digital innovation, and cultural engagement across CNH\u2019s operations. He is a distinguished continuous improvement leader whose 15-year career reflects deep technical expertise, transformative leadership, and a sustained impact on operational excellence. He holds a Master\u2019s degree in Industrial Engineering from North Carolina State University. He was named one among top 50 business transformation leaders to follow in 2025 by Process Excellence Network. He received the 2025 Marlyn Hyde Commitment to Excellence Award from the American Society of Quality (ASQ) NE Illinois Chapter. He serves as an Industry Advisory Board Member for the Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering department at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is an ASQ certified Master Black Belt, Black Belt and Certified Manager of Quality and Organizational Excellence. He is also a Senior member with Industrial Engineering & Operations Management Society (IEOM), ASQ and Institute of Industrial Engineers (IISE). Girish is serving as the Secretary of ASQ NE Illinois Chapter, and as an Editor-in-Chief of the ASQ Lean Enterprise Division eZine Quarterly Magazine.<\/p>\n

\n

7:30 \u2013 8:00, July 20, 2026: Online Keynote Speaker II<\/p>\n

\"\"Dr. Mario Fargnoli<\/strong>
\nAssociate Professor<\/strong>
\nDepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering<\/strong>
\nSapienza University of Rome<\/strong>
\nRome, Italy<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Mario Fargnoli is an Associate Professor of Industrial Systems Engineering in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (DIMA) at Sapienza University of Rome. He has been a member of the Industrial Engineering and Operations Management (IEOM) Academy of Fellows since 2023, recognizing his distinguished contributions to industrial engineering and operations management.<\/p>\n

Dr. Fargnoli teaches Operations Management at Sapienza University of Rome. Prior to his current appointment, he served as Associate Professor of Industrial Systems Engineering at Universitas Mercatorum from 2022 to 2024. He also had a distinguished career at the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, where he served as Technical Director from 2009 to 2024, leading initiatives in agricultural machinery, occupational health and safety, and sustainable agricultural practices. During his tenure, he received an official commendation in 2013 for his contributions to implementing the European Directive 2009\/128\/EC on the sustainable use of pesticides and an official praiseworthy service recognition in 2015 for his outstanding work as Health and Safety Manager.<\/p>\n

Throughout his academic career, Dr. Fargnoli has held several teaching appointments at Sapienza University of Rome, including courses in Machinery Safety and Machinery Safety Design. Earlier in his career, he was a Research Fellow at Sapienza University of Rome, focusing on the safety and environmental conformity of products, machinery, and industrial equipment. He also served as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellow Researcher at the Department of Precision Engineering, The University of Tokyo, where he conducted advanced research in sustainable product development and engineering design.<\/p>\n

Dr. Fargnoli earned his Ph.D. in Energetics from Sapienza University of Rome with a dissertation on the design and development of sustainable products and eco-efficient engineering design tools. He also holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, a Specialization in Quality Engineering, and a Master’s degree in Environmental Law from Sapienza University of Rome.<\/p>\n

His research interests include industrial engineering and operations management, sustainable product development, product-service systems, ecodesign, quality function deployment (QFD), ergonomics, machinery safety, occupational health and safety, sustainability engineering, and manufacturing systems. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers, and book chapters, and his research has received international recognition through extensive citations and collaborations.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Online Keynotes 7:00 \u2013 8:00 am, July 20, 2026 – Barcelona Time 7:00 \u2013 7:30, July 20, 2026: Online Keynote Speaker I Girish Kumar Gopalakrishnan, MS, CMBB, CSSBB, CMQ-OE Senior Manager \u2013 Continuous Improvement \u2013 CNH Senior Member \u2013 IEOM Society International Girish Kumar Gopalakrishnan is a North America Continuous Improvement Senior Manager at Case […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1883","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ieomsociety.org\/barcelona2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ieomsociety.org\/barcelona2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ieomsociety.org\/barcelona2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ieomsociety.org\/barcelona2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ieomsociety.org\/barcelona2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1883"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ieomsociety.org\/barcelona2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1886,"href":"https:\/\/ieomsociety.org\/barcelona2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1883\/revisions\/1886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ieomsociety.org\/barcelona2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}