Panel

Diversity & Inclusion Panel Sponsored by Ford Motor Company

2:30 – 4:00 pm, Thursday, April 7, 2022 – Room 5

Panel Chair

Professor Don Reimer
Director of Membership and Chapter Development – IEOM Society
President, The Small Business Strategy Group, Detroit, Michigan, USA
Adjunct Faculty – A. Leon Linton Department of Mechanical Engineering
Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, Michigan, USA

Donald M. Reimer is an adjunct faculty at the A. Leon Linton Department of Mechanical Engineering in College of Engineering at Lawrence Tech in Southfield, Michigan. He coordinates the Certificate of Entrepreneurial Engineering Skills. Mr. Reimer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Management from Lawrence Technological University and a Master of Arts degree in Political Science from University of Detroit/Mercy. He is a Certified Management Consultant with over 35 years of experience in working with closely-held businesses. He has taught courses in entrepreneurship, strategic management, corporate entrepreneurship and innovation for engineers. Mr. Reimer is a member of the Lawrence Tech Kern Campus Committee, Coordinator of the Lawrence Tech Innovation Encounter. He is faculty Advisor of the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization. Mr. Reimer serves as a Kern Fellow of The Kern Family Foundation, Co-Direct of the Coleman Fellows Program, member of the National Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization Faculty Advisory Council and is a member of the American Society of Engineering Education. He has operated his own consulting company – The Small Business Strategy Group for 23 years. He published numerous articles on small business, entrepreneurship and strategic thinking. He has received several awards and recognition by local, state and federal agencies for his work in entrepreneurship and minority business development. Mr. Reimer served as member of the Minority Economic Development Committee of New Detroit. Mr. Reimer is member of the Small Business Advisory Council of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Reimer is a member of Advisory Board of the Milwaukee Junction Small Business Assistance Center. He is also a member of the Applied Innovation Alliance. Mr. Reimer serves as a KEEN Fellow for The Kern Family Foundation and is a member of United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

Panel Speaker I

Yazeli Cruz
Medallia Expert Services / Latinx@Medallia Lead
Medallia
Washington, DC, USA

Cruz is the current Latin America Medallia Expert Services Senior Analyst, where she coaches and supports sub-contracting partners that roll up to over forty accounts and a hundred Medallia software users. She is also the Latinx@Medallia employee resource group lead (ERG). The Latinx@Medallia is an affinity group for employees of Latin American descent and allies. She obtained her bachelor’s and master’s in Industrial engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (UPRM). She started her work in diversity and inclusion in 2009 as part of the Industrial and mechanical engineering student mentor association also in UPRM. In 2012, she joined the Applied Optimization Group led by Prof. Mauricio Cabrera-Rios and Prof. Clara Isaza. She participated in research to unlock information about the origins of certain illnesses such as lung cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease. Thanks to her work in the Applied Optimization Group, she published a paper in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease titled: “A Selection of Important Genes and Their Correlated Behavior in Alzheimer’s Disease.” In addition, she was the only student chosen from Puerto Rico in 2013 to be part of INROADS. This non-profit organization creates pathways to careers for ethnically diverse high school and college students across the United States. She participated in co-ops in both Rockwell Aerospace and Amgen. She has won various awards, including INROADS 2014 Golf scholarship, DiscoverE’s 2016 New Face of Engineering: College Edition, SACNAS 2016 travel award, and AAAS 2017 Joshua Neimark Travel award recipient. In 2017 she co-founded the grassroots organization called “Copa Solidaria”, which aims to help underprivileged people who menstruate. After graduating with her master’s in 2018, she became a Technical Analyst for Accenture Federal Services plus service as one of the co-leads of the community outreach committee of the Washington D.C. chapter of Accenture’s Hispanic ERG. In 2020, she joined Medallia as a technical senior analyst and liaison between financial services accounts in Latin America. She also became the leader of the Latinx@Medallia ERG. Yazeli continues to service her community by mentoring the next generation of tech employees and supporting Latinx organizations throughout the Americas.

Panel Speaker II

Dr. Bhaskar Bhandarkar
Director General
Institution for Innovation Industrial Engineering and Entrepreneurship India and
Former Chairman Indian Institution of Industrial Engineering

Dr. Bhaskar Bhandarkar is Director General of Institution for Innovation & Industrial Engineering and Entrepreneurship.  He received is BSc from Nagpur University, BTech from JNU New Delhi, MTech from Pune University, MBA (Operation & Marketing) and PhD: BIT, Mesra ,Gold Medalist from NCDC, GOI, Ministry of Home affairs. Dr. Bhandarkar has 37 years’ experience in Operations/Refits/Quality Assurance/Manufacturing and Training; Consultant to NITIE Govt. of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development; Chairman, Indian Institution of Industrial Engineering for record eight years; Director General Indian Institution of industrial Engineering Mumbai, Managing Editor of Industrial Engineering Journal; Member of the Technical Committee Indian Register of Shipping. He served in many international committees including Board Member of Asia Pacific IE and Management Systems Society (APIEMS) , and Program Head: Indo US Science & Technology Forum (workshop). His research interests are servant leadership, safety management, quality management, futuristic SCM and logistic and lean six sigma. He is a Fellow of Institution of Engineers (India)(FIE), Institution of Marine Engineers (FMarE), and Indian Institution of Industrial Engineering (FIIE). Dr. Bhandarkar received various awards including Lilian-Gilbert Award, Ramaswami Award, Coal-India Productivity Award, Shiksha-Bharati Award, Best-Educationalist Award, Distinguished Engineer Awards, Distinguished IIIE Service Award. International recognitions include Production and Operation Management Society (POMS):  Recognition on 08th May 2016 at Orlando USA Conference, IEOM at Rabata, Morocco Conference, Advisor IEM, MOST Govt of Taiwan. He served as an Associate Editor of International Journal of Production Research (IJPR) Taylor and Francis. Award Constituted in the Honor of Dr Bhandarkar include Dr. Bhandarkar Award for First Merit Student, VJTI, Mumbai University and Nagpur University and Cdr Bhandarkar Visionary Leadership Award ( For CEOs with outstanding leadership and  Visionary Institution Building.

Panel Speaker III

Professor Eldon G. Caldwell Marin, Ph.D., Sc.D, Dr.Ed.

Professor, Industrial Engineering Department
Engineering School
University of Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa Rica

Eldon Caldwell is full professor/Cathedraticus of the University of Costa Rica, Central America; member of the IEOM Society Academy of Fellows and member of the IEOM Society Global Council. Also, he has been recognized by the IEOM Society with the “Outstanding Service Award” for his career of over 30 years as an educator, researcher and promoter of development of industrial engineering and as “Distinguished Professor” by IEEE Computer Society, USA.

Dr. Caldwell earned his B.Sc. and Master degree in Industrial Engineering at University of Costa Rica and he earned a Master degree in Service Marketing, as well in Financial Analysis at Interamerican University of Puerto Rico; M.Sc. Health Management Systems at UNED, Costa Rica and a M.Sc. Operations Management at ITESM, México. Finally, he earned three doctoral degrees: 1-Ph.D. in C.Sc. / Industrial Engineering,  Autonomous University of Central America; 2- Ph.D. (Sc.D.) in Robotics and Automation, University of Alicante, Spain; and 3-Ph.D. (Dr. Ed.) in Education at the University of Costa Rica, developing the “Theory of Socio-educational Exergy-Anergy and Entropy”.

He is author of many scientific articles and two books: “Marketing of Social Products & Services”, UCR Publications; and “Lean Manufacturing: Fundamentals and techniques for cycle time reduction”, Kaikaku Ins. Press, USA.

Dr. Caldwell served as Director of Industrial Engineering Department at Engineering School of University of Costa Rica, Operations Manager at MASECA, CA; Lean Manufacturing Project Manager at Eaton Corp. Costa Rica, General Manager at Quirós & Cía-Bandag Inc. and General Manager at Lean Systems Intl., USA. He has more than 30 years of experience as advisor and consultant in Operations Management, Lean Manufacturing and Lean Logistics at Interamerican Bank for Development, WHO, UN, World Wide Bank, Coca-Cola, Ministry of Health, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panamá, Costa Rican Institute for Electricity, RTC- Perú, Young Electrical Signs, Nevada, USA, AirCare Inc., Reno, Nevada, Plan International-Honduras, Bournes Co., DOLE Co. and many others. In addition, Dr. Caldwell currently serves as Director of the Central America Robotics and Industry 4.0 Challenge Contest (ROBOTIFEST) and General Manager at Kaikaku Institute Latin America..

Panel Speaker IV

Engr Dr Paul Amaechi Ozor
Head
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Nigeria

Engr Dr Paul Amaechi Ozor is the West African Sub-Regional Coordinator of Industrial Engineering and Operations Management Society International. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical/Production Engineering from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology as well as Masters and PhD in Industrial Engineering and Management from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Dr Ozor had been a Project Manager in a reputable Engineering company in Nigeria for many years. He had been a faculty member of University of Nigeria Nsukka since 2009, and has served the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Faculty of Engineering in various capacities prior to his appointment as the head of Department of Mechanical Engineering in August 2021. Dr Ozor is a Scholar of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), and a fellow of The World Academy of Science. He is a fellow of the global excellence stature (GES) of the University of Johannesburg. He is currently serving as a Senior Research Associate of the University. As a speaker and participant in international conferences, seminars and workshops, he has visited several countries on research grounds. Dr Ozor has published research articles in many peer reviewed local and international Journals and conference proceedings. He has supervised significant local and international postgraduate students to successful study completion. He is an external examiner to University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. He is a member of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) and registered with the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN). His research interest is not limited to Asset Management, Quality, Operations Management, Reliability Engineering, Environmental Influence, Sustainable materials, lean six sigma, smart manufacturing.