Industrial Advisory Council

Brad Bishop leads the Smart Connected Factory Program for John Deere. In his 16 years in the industry, Brad has held numerous roles in manufacturing engineering, quality engineering, material flow operations, and manufacturing operations. John Deere is a world leader in agriculture, forestry, and roadbuilding equipment with over 82,000 employees worldwide. For 185 years, John Deere has led the way in developing innovative solutions to help our customers become more productive.

In his current role, Brad leads the Smart Connected Factory Program across the eight divisions of John Deere spanning 62 factory locations worldwide. The program is focused on developing and introducing technology in meaningful ways to connect factory assets, turn data to insights, and file more productive manufacturing operations.

Brad graduated from Iowa State University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering. He now lives in Le Claire, Iowa with his wife, Kristen, and their five children, Dayton, Colton, Declan, Karis, and Kaia. They enjoy an active lifestyle as a family playing sports and outdoor activities as well as in their church in the Quad Cities.

Valerie Boelman is the Senior Director of Process Improvement and Revenue Enablement at Premier, Inc., and an Adjunct Instructor at Nebraska Methodist Health System.  At Premier, Valerie leads efforts to optimize revenue cycle processes, enhance sales enablement capabilities, and drive process improvement initiatives for its Continuum of Care division.  At Nebraska Health System, she teaches a Lean Six Sigma course for healthcare professionals.  Valerie began working in healthcare fifteen years ago at UnityPoint Health – Des Moines, most recently serving as the organization’s Assistant Vice President of Process Improvement and Quality.  She earned a Diplomate and President-Elect for the Society for Health Systems, a professional organization within the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers that supports industrial engineers involved in improving quality and efficiency of healthcare systems.

Prior to her experiences in healthcare, Valerie worked at Pella Corporation as a Continuous Improvement Engineer and Materials Scheduling Supervisor, and Product and Process Engineer for Anderson Corporation.

Valerie earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Iowa State University and a master’s degree in healthcare engineering from Texas Tech University.  She is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt.

Melissa Kay Boom is the Vice President of Business Excellence Systems at Winnebago Industries.

Melissa joined Winnebago Industries in 2021 with more than 25 years of experience across multiple dimensions of Operations, including Quality, Lean, and Engineering.  During her time with the company, she designed the Business Excellence Systems COE (Center of Excellence) framework with a purpose to enable the businesses, including Winnebago, Grand Design, Chris Craft, Newmar, Barletta Boats, and Lithionics, to partner together and to continually improve using techniques to drive value, reduce risks, and increase synergies, as well as a Quality COE to bring the same businesses together focused on a shared culture of quality.

Melissa is Winnebago Industries’ Women’s Inclusion Network (WIN) leader, the company’s first ERG.  WIN supports the professional development of women by encouraging access to learning, mentoring, and networking opportunities with the goals of increasing women’s sense of belonging and the percentage of women in leadership roles within the business.  For Melissa it is important to spend time on being a positive role model for female employees. She mentors several female leaders at Winnebago Industries and is committed to the success of STEM programming for young students in high school. She was also recognized by the Manufacturing Institute as a 2024 Women MAKE Awards Honoree at the National Association of Manufacturers, Manufacturing Institute Women MAKE awards and conference in Washington D.C. in 2024.

Melissa has 2 daughters – one is a recent IMSE graduate from Iowa State (2024) and the other starts her study of industrial engineering in the fall at the University of Iowa.

Melissa earned her Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Iowa State University (1994) and a Master of Science in Management of Technology from the University of Minnesota – Institute of Technology (2006).

David Corbin is Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Vermeer Corporation, a global industrial and agricultural equipment company. His responsibilities include information technology, environmental health and safety, continuous improvement and facilities management.

David joined Vermeer in 1998 as a plant manager after starting his career at Dynamics Corporation and Ford New Holland. Since joining Vermeer, he has held leadership positions in manufacturing, procurement, engineering, continuous improvement and business segment management and has provided leadership to subsidiary organizations through board roles at Vermeer Freeman and Lely Vermeer Maschinenfabrik.

David serves on Iowa State University’s IMSE Industrial Advisory Council and is also involved in the Iowa Advanced Manufacturing Council, Technology Association of Iowa, Rotary International, the Institute of Industrial Engineers and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

He is a native of Cherry Hill, New Jersey and graduated from Iowa State University with a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering. David and his wife, Joan, have eight children and eleven grandchildren.

Greg Doonan is the Principle Data Scientist for Commercial Insights, Farming Solutions & Digital at Corteva Agriscience.

He was formerly Head of Novel Algorithm Advancement at Syngenta where he held a variety of roles in Research and Development that included platform and protocol development of high throughput systems, soybean trait development and leading Global Genetic Projects in Oilseeds.

Prior to joining Syngenta, Greg held a research position with the University of Iowa, in which his work supported the human genome project. It was there that he gained an appreciation and appetite for platform development and process improvement. He took the experiences he gained while at the University of Iowa and began work at Garst Seed Company, a legacy company of Syngenta. He started Garst’s first sequencing lab and soybean genetic marker platform. Greg then took a role leading Syngenta’s Soybean Trait Introgression program in which he was responsible for the planning, implementation and delivery of Syngenta’s Soybean trait development program. During this time, Greg become interested in modelling and simulations to drive improvement in Syngenta’s soybean breeding programs. His efforts, along with the work of his colleagues in Soybean Product Development were recognized in 2015 when Syngenta won the Frantz Edelman Award for Achievement in Operations Research and the Management Sciences. Syngenta became the first agriculture company ever to be named a finalist for the award, much less win the prestigious honor.

While Head of Novel Algorithm Advancement at Syngenta, Greg was responsible for leading the development of tools and methods focused on process improvement, optimization, and improved decision making in Syngenta’s breeding programs.

Greg holds a BS in biology and a MS in plant breeding, both from Iowa State University.

Shelley Finnestad is a financial advisor at Edward Jones. As an Edward Jones financial advisor, I believe it’s important to invest my time in understanding what you’re working toward before you invest your money. Working closely with you and your CPA, attorney and other professionals, I can help determine the most appropriate financial strategy so you have more options when you retire, regardless of what you decide to do.

I hold insurance licenses and securities registrations in various states. My educational background also includes a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University in industrial engineering. While attending, I enjoyed the experience of being a Big Eight Golf Champion, was on the Academic All-American team three times, and earned a spot in the University Athletic Hall of Fame. After college, I toured the nation playing golf competitively for six years, qualifying and competing in the 1998 U.S. Open. I am a lover of outdoor activities and have hiked the Grand Canyon and Half Dome in Yosemite twice.

My branch office administrator and I are dedicated to providing you with the highest level of service possible. Please don’t hesitate to call her with questions concerning your statement, dividends, stock certificates or your account in general.

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Wayne Flory is the Executive Director of the Supply Chain Strategy & Systems for Collins Aerospace. His responsibilities include running the supply chain organization for the Avionics business. Previously, Wayne served as the VP of Material & Supply and VP of Manufacturing Operations for Rockwell Collins, where his responsibilities included execution of Operations supporting all Government programs globally.

Wayne was also the Senior Director of Advanced Operations and Services for Rockwell Collins with responsibility for the overall leadership for Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Facilities Services, Environmental Safety & Health, and the Rockwell Collins vertical supplier businesses in circuit board and fabrication production. Wayne has also held positions of increasing responsibility within manufacturing including Director of Manufacturing Operations in several locations.

Wayne earned his bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Iowa State University. He earned his master of business administration degree from the University of Iowa.

Dave Gardner is Vice President, Business Improvement & New Capabilities at HNI Corporation, a leading provider of Office Furniture and Hearth Appliances. His responsibilities include continuous improvement activities, new manufacturing capabilities and technology, and facilities. He joined HNI in 1983 as an Industrial Engineer and has held several executive and leadership roles in operations and continuous improvement, including President of one of their operating divisions.

Dave has served on various church and civic organization during his career. He joined the IMSE board in June of 2018. He is a native of Muscatine, Iowa and graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Industrial Engineering. Dave and his wife Judene have 3 children and 2 grandchildren.

Spencer Geisler serves in the role of Director, Quality at Garmin with leadership responsibility for a diverse set of quality and operational functions that work to identify customer and internal process issues, develop a deep understanding of problems, and resolve them. He joined Garmin in the Kansas City area in 2008. With more than 19,000 associates in 34 countries, Garmin brings GPS navigation and wearable technology products that fuel people’s passions to the automotive, aviation, marine, outdoor and fitness markets.

The quality team partners with design, manufacturing, and the supply chain to ensure Garmin continues to deliver products that are sought after for their compelling design, superior quality, and best value. His teams have responsibility for configuration management, calibration, reliability, solving customer product issues, and quality management system functions. These include Garmin’s external quality system certifications to ISO 9001 (Consumer Products), AS 9100 (Aerospace), and IATF 16949 (Automotive OEM).

Spencer graduated from Iowa State University in 2006 with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and lives in the Kansas City area with his wife (Erin) and daughters (Elizabeth and London).

Shane Gydesen is the System Controls Engineering Leader for Trane Technologies. Current responsibilities include Product Growth Team leadership for a $100M business, focused on: Building Controls, Wireless Connectivity, Enabling Sub-systems, and Service and Commissioning Tools. In his 29 years with Trane Technologies, Shane has held a variety of roles. He started his career with Trane as part of the Graduate Training Program for Sales Engineers. Other roles include Marketing Engineer, Applications Engineer, Project Manager, Program Manager, and Building Controls Platform Leader. He holds multiple patents in Building Automation and has received company awards for process and product lifecycle tool development and deployment.

Shane and his wife, Sherry, reside in White Bear Township, MN. They are the proud parents of two adult children.

Shane has a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Iowa State University (1991).

Kara Hobart works for General Mills as an Associate Principal Research & Development Engineer. She started with the company in 2005. She currently works at the global R&D center in Minneapolis, MN, developing global baking products. You may also find her developing new technologies in the lab, running DOEs to test new ingredients in the pilot plant, analyzing data to create manufacturing efficiencies across baking platform plant locations, or interacting with consumers about all kinds of baking products. Prior to her current role, Kara held positions supporting the quality and regulatory organization in General Mills’ Grain Lab in Minneapolis, MN, and plant operations in Lodi, CA, and Cedar Rapids, IA. In addition to R&D work at General Mills, Kara spends much of her time supporting Partners in Food Solutions (PFS), which connects expertise with opportunity. PFS connects small and growing businesses in African countries to learn from experts around the world to create improved business models and processing efficiencies.

Kara received her bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Iowa State in 2003.  She earned her master’s degree also in Industrial Engineering from Pennsylvania State University in 2005.  Kara is also an ASQ Certified Quality Engineer. Kara serves as the current Chair of the IAC

Emily Knight is a Production and Industrial Engineering Manager for Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA). Her main responsibility is a functional leader in Industrial Engineering on the 777 program. In this role she is focused on leading a team that stabilizes and improves the production system. Previously, Emily was the lead Industrial Engineer across multiple teams in Commercial Airplanes. Her responsibilities have included leading diverse engineering teams across different value streams. She started at Boeing in 2016 as an Industrial Engineering Intern.

Emily earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Iowa State University in 2017. She is currently pursuing a Masters of Engineering Management through Kansas State University.

Kelsey Lindemann is the Operations Engineering Manager at Danfoss Power Solutions in Ames, Iowa. Her journey with Danfoss began in 2016 as a Process Engineering Intern while studying Industrial Engineering at Iowa State University – a role she continued throughout her studies. Upon graduating in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and a Certificate of Leadership, she transitioned to a full-time Process Engineer with the company.

As a Process Engineer, Kelsey focused on supporting daily operations, implementing continuous improvement projects, and leading capital projects. Now, as the Operations Engineering Manager, she oversees the technical development of the entire department, including Process and Manufacturing Engineers, interns, and an Engineering Team Leader. She is also responsible for implementing the technical manufacturing strategy for Danfoss Power Solutions in Ames.

Kelsey is passionate about supporting the next generation of engineers. Remaining actively involved with Iowa State’s College of Engineering and its Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering department, she mentors students, participates in networking events, and recruits at career fairs. She is excited to serve on the Industrial Advisory Council and contribute to curriculum development.

Prior to joining Danfoss, Kelsey completed a co-op with a commercial HVAC manufacturer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She resides near Ames with her husband, David.

Douglas Mettenburg finished his BS in Industrial Engineering at Iowa State University in 1998 and pursued a MS degree in Industrial Engineering at University of Arkansas after 6 years of industry work. He graduated from the U of A in 2007. Mr. Mettenburg has over 20 years of Transportation and Supply Chain experience in developing transportation and supply chain solutions. Doug’s work experience includes software development, third party logistics, and supply chain consulting. As part of J.B. Hunt Transport he is responsible for the Operation research Team, Data Science team, Data Modeling, Data Engineering, and Business Intelligence.

Jeff Schick joined Pella as Vice President, Manufacturing in June 2022.  He provides manufacturing excellence leadership and industrial strategy direction for the network of Pella manufacturing facilities. Jeff comes to Pella from Harley-Davidson where he was Vice President, Global Manufacturing responsible for all powertrain and motorcycle production.  Prior to Harley-Davidson he was Vice President, Global Operations and Supply Chain for Kohler’s Kitchen and Bath Group with responsibility for leading the operational excellence transformation at all sites manufacturing and distributing kitchen and bath building products.  Prior to Kohler, he held many operational leadership roles over 11 years with Eaton Corporation.  His last one was Vice President and General Manager, Global Supercharger Product Division.  He started his career in manufacturing and honed his leadership skills at Deere & Company in many roles of progressive operations responsibility over 13 years with the last one being Business Team Leader, South America Tractor Operations.

In addition to over 30 years of manufacturing experience, Jeff holds the following degrees:  Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois; MBA from the University of Iowa; Master of Systems Engineering from Iowa State University.

Jeff and his wife, Dana, are both from the town of Morton, IL and have moved to Pella, IA.  They have a family of 5 grown children – Hannah, Morgan, Makenzy, Maclane, and Meier.  When not traveling to see them, he enjoys fishing, watersports, getting back to the farm, and collecting model trains.