IEOM Industrial Advisory Board (IAB)

Md. Kawsar Ali is a well-known expert and mentor in the garment industries of Bangladesh. He has twenty one years of professional experiences in RMG sector. He has worked in different capacities in leading companies like Beximco, Square, Orion and DBL. He has got strong communication, interpersonal relations, mentoring, negotiation and cross-cultural organizational skills, and has demonstrated such over the years with utmost productivity and reputation. He is also expert in Total Quality Management, Lean manufacturing, Kaizen, Leadership and self-development courses like Meditation and Yoga. Mr. Kawsar has completed his graduation from Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET) also obtained an MBA degree from Dhaka University. He has participated in many workshops, seminars and training sessions in Bangladesh and abroad.

Shannon Dare, Ph.D.
Budget Operations Manager
Vehicle Embedded Software & Connectivity
Ford Motor Company
Dearborn, Michigan, USA

Shannon Dare has worked for Ford Motor Company for over 20 years. She is currently Budget Operations Manager for Vehicle Embedded Software & Connectivity at Ford Motor Company. Prior, she worked in Planning & Strategy for the Middle East & Africa region. Dr. Dare completed Ford’s Manufacturing Leadership Program with rotations including: Production Line Supervisor, Process Engineer, Industrial Engineer, Product Development Plant Resident Engineer, and 2007 National UAW – Ford Negotiations team. Dr. Dare also makes time for her community of Milan, Michigan. She is Chairperson of the Milan Beautification Commission and Secretary of Milan’s Downtown Development Authority/Milan Main Street aiding in her city’s revitalization. Additionally, she is on the Parish Council of her local Catholic Church and is a current candidate for Milan City Council. Dr. Dare holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering and MS in Manufacturing Engineering from Wayne State University in Detroit. She also holds a BS in Industrial Management & MS Industrial Operations, both from Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan. Through the American Society for Quality, she is a Certified Manager of Quality and Certified Quality Auditor. Dr. Dare serves on the Mechanical Engineering Industry Advisory Board at Lawrence Technological University and is a Global Industry Advisory Board Member of the Industrial Engineering Operations Management Society International. Dr. Dare is married to Kevin Wayne and they have three active children ages 16, 13, & 8. On most evenings and weekends, you can find her cheering for her kids at either the pool, football & baseball fields, volleyball & tennis courts, or track.

Dr. Saso Krstovski, MBB
Lean Manufacturing Coach /Six Sigma Master Black Belt
Van Dyke Transmission Plant
Ford Motor Company, Michigan, USA

Dr. Saso Krstovski works for Ford Motor Company – Van Dyke Transmission Plant as a Lean Manufacturing Coach and Six-Sigma Master Black Belt. With over twenty years of service with Ford Motor Company, Dr. Krstovski has held a multitude of engineering assignments, which includes time working as a Test Engineer, Launch Test Engineer, and Electrical Control Engineer. During his time with Ford Motor Company, Dr. Krstovski has worked in several plant environments and skill teams such as Dearborn Tool & Die Plant, Information Technology, and has held front-line supervision roles managing hourly UAW-Ford production employees. This exposure to new work concepts within Ford has allowed Dr. Krstovski to amass a holistic approach to engineering. As such, Dr. Krstovski has gained an extensive understanding of the Six-Sigma methodologies. As a detail oriented and data-driven engineer, Dr. Krstovski is an invaluable contributor to Ford Motor Company. He is highly distinguished and skilled with problem identification and resolution to avoid time and cost expenditures.

Dr. Krstovski recently joined Lawrence Technological University as an Adjunct Professor and is currently teaching in the Engineering Department.  Dr. Krstovski’s research interests lie in the area of System Optimization. He continues to collaborate actively with researchers at several universities. Dr. Krstovski provides guidance globally to doctoral candidates on dissertation direction. He graduated from Lawrence Technological University with a Doctorate of Engineering in Manufacturing Systems (DEMS). In addition, to his doctorate degree, Dr. Krstovski has a Masters in Electrical Computer Controlled Systems and a Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical Engineering from Wayne State University. Dr. Krstovski has authored several publications and scientific articles on various engineering topics.

Ali Massaeli
Technical Inspection and Control
National Iranian Gas Company
Tehran, Iran

Ali Massaeli Ali is a Senior Expert in Industrial Inspection Department of National Iranian Gas Company, Tehran- I.R. of IRAN. He earned B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Azad University of South Tehran; M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering – System Management and Productivity from Azad University of Qazvin. He has several research activities such as publishing internal journal of IGU (International Gas Union) and international conference papers. He has several industrial training courses in Chem. and Industrial Engineering and co- authoring and the editor of process engineering in oil and gas industry. He was one of the senior experts in SCOE integrating executive committee of Petroleum Ministry of I.R. of IRAN. In the IEOM 2012(Istanbul-Turkey) he received Outstanding Industry Awards. He is one of the members Industrial Committee of IEOM since 2012 till now. Also he is member of jury team of International Management Conference since 2010 in managerial experience section.

Douglas Mboweni, Ph.D.
Group Chief Executive Officer
Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Limited
Harare, Zimbabwe

Douglas Mboweni is the CEO of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Limited, the country’s leading provider of telecoms services and has over 20 years of senior management experience in the Information Technology and Telecommunications industry. Under his stewardship, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe used innovation in the face of difficult economic conditions to grow its subscriber base from 200,000 in 2002 to over eleven million today, a commanding market share of above 65%. Dr Mboweni was instrumental in the promotion of local mobile financial services through EcoCash, up to the unbundling and listing of its parent company, Cassava Smartech on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange as well as the set up of Mascom (Botswana) and Econet Wireless Nigeria. Dr. Mboweni graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Degree in Business Leadership from the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) in 2019. In his doctorate thesis, he proposed the Leadership-Driven Resilience Model (LDRM), which theoretically proffered possibilities for business leaders to develop sustainable coping strategies in response to extreme business operating environments. Dr. Mboweni is also a visiting Professor of Practice at the University of Johannesburg since 2018 and is a holder of a Masters in Business Leadership (UNISA), and a BSc Mathematics and Computer Science degree from the University of Zimbabwe (UZ).  In recognition of his leadership and his success, Dr. Mboweni has won several national and international accolades. He continues to show leadership through a number of youth mentorship programmes in the community and is an opinion leader on telecommunications and technology in Zimbabwe and abroad. Dr. Mboweni is married to Sarudzayi and they are blessed with 3 children.

Dr. Edly Ferdin Ramly
Certification Director
EFR Certification
Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Presently Mr. Edly is Certification Director and Lead Auditor for various certification schemes including ISO/TS16949. Apart from auditing, he is currently providing Lean, Business Excellence, Quality (ISO9001 and ISO/TS16949), Environment (ISO14001) and Safety (OHSAS18001) management system related consultancy, research and trainings to local and multi-national companies that seek operational improvement and breakthrough.

His industrial experience was in the automotive industry. During his stayed with the TRW Automotive, he was tasked with the responsibility of promoting and implementing Lean and Six-Sigma within the Organization. Due to his extensive exposure in Lean and Six-Sigma Management System, he was invited by Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) and Asia Productivity Organization (APO) to conduct training in the area of Lean and Six-Sigma implementation.

Mr. Edly Ramly graduated from University of Bradford, UK with Bachelor Degree in Manufacturing System with Management. He then furthered his studies at Sheffield Hallam University, UK and awarded with a Master Degree of Science in Engineering with Management.

Aaron Rubel, M.S.E.M.
Head of Aircraft Maintenance Programs Development
Intellectual Property Focal Point
Airbus Americas, Inc.
Mobile, Alabama Engineering Center
Mobile, AL 36615, USA

Aaron Rubel is Head of Aircraft Maintenance Programs Development at the Mobile, Alabama Engineering Center of Airbus Americas.  He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and has earned patented inventions.  Aaron has over 30 years of combined professional aerospace and automotive experience in areas of engineering, design, risk analysis, problem solving, manufacturing, and leadership.  Mr. Rubel earned a M.S. in Engineering Management from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), a B.S. in Engineering Technology from Lawrence Technological University (LTU), and an Associate of Applied Science from Macomb Community College.  Mr. Rubel’s honors include the Dr. Ron Cox Graduate Engineering Management Student Award given by UTC, and he was inducted into the LTU College of Engineering Hall of Fame.  Service in the community is important to Aaron.  He served on a Mobile (Alabama) Area Education Foundation strategic planning committee for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and for three years was the strategic planning committee chair and voting member on a local school board.

Masaru Tezuka
Manager
Research and Development Department
Hitachi Solutions East Japan, Ltd.
Tokyo, Japan

Masaru Tezuka is the Manager of the Research and Development Department at Hitachi Solutions East Japan, Ltd. He received a BE and ME in bio-physical engineering from Osaka University, Japan and a PhD in systems and Information engineering from Hokkaido University, Japan. He is a certified Systems Analyst and a certified Application Systems Design Engineer. He served in Malaysia as a short-term expert in operations research of the Japan International Cooperation Agency in 1998.

His research interests include nonlinear optimization, evolutionary computation, computational intelligence, computational statistics, risk analysis, and their industrial application. He is a member of the Information Processing Society of Japan.