Ms Ivy Leung holds a BSc and a Master of Chemistry degree. She has worked in GlaxoSmithKline for over 17 years, having held management roles including Compliance, QC, Quality Systems, Tablets Manufacturing & Dispensary. Over the last 6 years, Ivy has been working as an Operational Excellence Expert, leading & influencing continuous improvement, generating insights, managing change, coaching & mentoring. Ivy is a certified Lean Sigma Master Black Belt.

Ivy was awarded the Glaxo Manufacturing Services Site Director Award in 2008 for her productivity improvement work in QA. The QC Laboratories in Boronia was certified as “Class A Laboratories” in May 2008, 2nd in the GMS network and the 1st including a Microbiology Laboratory.

David is currently supporting the establishment of a Continuous Excellence culture at Nestle with a specific focus in their Business Services Support centre – GLOBE.

Following a variety of pharmaceutical sales, sales management, marketing and business development roles in New Zealand, Singapore, US, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Australia, David began his Lean Six Sigma journey here in Australia with Eli Lilly, first as a Black Belt and then Master Black Belt. Since then he has held roles at Bartter Enterprises and Optus where his expertise was utilised to not only support and mentor teams through their DMAIC projects but also work with the business leaders on the strategic integration of this approach to business improvement and operational excellence activities.

He is an experienced lean six sigma trainer having facilitated programs for Executives, Sponsors, Black Belts and Green Belts.

David has a BSc in Physiology and a Masters in Pharmacology from the University of Otago, New Zealand.

Crispin Powis is a Mill Manager with Kimberly-Clark Australia (KCA), manufacturer of household brand names such as Kleenex facial and bath tissue, Huggies and Snugglers nappies and Viva kitchen towel. Trained in mechanical engineering, he spent his early years with KCA and previous employers in engineering roles. He braved the perilous move into management with a period as a front-line supervisor supplemented with further training in management and subsequently progressed into Technical, Production, Operations and full site responsibility roles.

Areas of interest and focus have been in designing teams to suit plant and business needs and then designing and implementing development programs for individuals comprising those teams. The key to success in operations he has run has been to equip and liberate the capability which most employees bring to the workplace every day. Pride in achievement brings hunger for new learnings, new responsibilities and, inevitably expectations for advancement. Strategies employed by KCA have included a progression from technical expertise to leadership management; leadership of self recognised as no less important than leading others. What starts out for young engineers as an exciting program of an international profile in a multinational manufacturer matures into a program of increasing self-awareness, personal growth and an even deeper appreciation for and contribution to the company.

Sean Thomas has had a long term interest in motivation, particularly motivation in the workplace. He has developed an understanding of the factors that influence motivation and what an organisation can do to ensure that it's employees are optimally motivated and appropriately focused.

While working with Tima Consulting Sean has been involved with developing and implementing systems to increase motivation in the workplace, particularly in manufacturing organisations. These systems, which include both a consulting and software component, broke new ground in the application of psychology on the factory floor.