Biography

José Pires serves as the Global Excellence & Innovation (E&I) Leader for Andeavor Corporation, where he oversees the global identification, prioritization and execution of mission critical business improvements and innovations that add value to the company, business partners and external clients in multiple markets.

Prior to his current role, Pires held Excellence and Innovation leadership positions in large, global companies in the electronics (Sony), semiconductor (Cymer-ASML), food (Nestlé) and infrastructure (Black & Veatch) industries. Throughout his career, Pires developed and refined E&I as an award winning program for innovation, leadership development, strategy execution and value creation globally.

Pires is an advisory board leader and keynote speaker for several global conferences on innovation, operational excellence, leadership development, strategy execution, business transformation, customer engagement and growth acceleration.

He holds a Bachelor in Engineering Physics from the University of Kansas and a Master in Business Administration focused in Investment Banking and Entrepreneurship from the University of San Diego.

Biography

Cliff Tironi is Executive Vice President - Strategic Accounts. Thinaer is an IoT platform that integrates actionable data from highly-calibrated sensors and real-time employee and client feedback to give their clients unparalleled insight into their operations, predictive analytics to see the future, and consultative business process redesign to get improved results. (https://thinaer.io/)

Prior to working with Thinaer, Cliff was the Manager of Performance Analytics at the Fox School of Business at Temple University.  At Fox, Cliff was the chief architect and co-creator of RoadMap™, a Microsoft-supported tool for students to visualize their progress on competencies across courses. 

Cliff understands the challenges of harnessing never-ending data—and the need to leverage it in imaginative yet impactful ways.  He regularly conducts data visualizations workshops to business professionals across all industries, coaching others to embrace a humanized mindset as a means to making data more relatable and, most importantly, actionable. 

Fluent in Spanish, Cliff earned his M.B.A. from Arcadia University and his B.S. in Marketing from Siena College. 

Biography

A former Research Director at leading IT industry analysis firm Gartner, Mark has an extensive background in enterprise architecture, business process management and change management, having held executive positions with a number of technology companies.

Mark has authored or co-authored four books on business and process management, including “Thrive! How to Succeed in the Age of the Customer” and “In Search of BPM Excellence” and  “People Centric Process Management.  Widely respected for his knowledge and views on business change, he is the creator of “Next Practice” and has variously been described as a ”BPM Guru”, a “Thought Leader” and a “Master of Mindset”. 

Mark is passionate about the people aspects of change, he has spent much of the last ten years travelling the world, learning, teaching and researching the cultural aspects of change and how executives perceive business and process improvement In this capacity he has literally taught hundreds of people and been fortunate to interview and interact with many CEO’s .

Biography

Rias Attar is an accomplished operational excellence and project management professional. He is recognized for his ability to help strategize business architecture, identify areas to improve processes and outcomes, turn around businesses from deficient to profitability, champion continuous improvement efforts, deliver challenging cross-functional programs while working collaboratively with diverse types of stakeholders, lead and coach winning teams, and inspire staff to deliver ambitious results.

Mr. Attar has planned and executed transformational projects (Business and Technology) that contributed over $500M of combined EBITDA impact and is managing a portfolio of initiatives that adds between $200 and $300M of EBITDA annually. He established PMOs, led Lean and Six Sigma efforts, championed Change Management, ensured proper Governance while reducing Bureaucracy, and has set proper business directions while staying focused on motivating staff, inspiring trust and confidence, developing people’s skills, and generating enthusiasm.

Mr. Attar worked for different companies at a variety of industries such as: Michelin (Tires), Friede Goldman Halter (Oil & Gas) , DHL Express (Courier), and General Electric/Genworth (Mortgage Insurance), and Maple Leaf Foods (Food Processing and Supply Chain). Prior to working at Caesars (Entertainment/Hospitality), he spent a few years in the consulting business working with companies such as Danone Dairy (Food Processing), Steel Tech (Steel Manufacturing/Rolling Mill), Sport Master (Clothing/Retail), and dipndip (Chocolate F&B). 

Mr. Attar started his professional career in Finance as an FP&A analyst then moved to project management and operational excellence about 18 years ago. During that time, he worked/lived in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, The Middle East, Toronto-Canada, and now in Las Vegas. 

Mr. Attar has a bachelor degree in Finance, got his MBA from University of Texas, and have a few certifications in project management such as (PMP) Project Management Professional, (ACP) Agile Certified Practitioner, and (CSM) Certified Scrum Master. He is also a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (LSSBB).

Outside of work, Rias is a devoted family man with a wife and 3 kids. His best time is when he spends it with his kids playing board games, riding bikes, swimming, or just watching movies. Rias loves sport, tries to work out often, practiced Jiu Jitsu and Kick Boxing for years, and enjoys lap swimming every once and a while. He also loves music and plays the classical guitar.

Biography

Eric Fisher is a Senior Solutions Architect at Micro Focus. With over 10 years of industry experience at Micro Focus, (and HPE, HP, and Opsware by heritage), he works with some of the largest Fortune 500 companies in the US to evangelize automation, promote Micro Focus' cloud and automation solutions, and help to translate technology into business value.

Based in Phoenix, AZ, he has a passion for technology and over 20 years’ experience working with data center engineers and IT experts, both as a consultant and a customer. 

Biography

Experienced Strategy & Corporate Development Executive with a track record of delivery across strategy development, business performance improvement, BD and M&A, with a passion for the application of digital technology to enable business performance and for driving renewable technology projects to support the Energy Transition 

Biography

Jan Minnis is a graduate of Georgetown University, and has extensive experience as an executive in the private sector, education, and non-profit organizations. She is the former Chief Information Officer of the National Education Association (NEA).  Jan has deployed full life cycle change management and project management methodologies for a large customer list of non-profits such as National Education Association, Fannie Mae Foundation, Sukyo Mahikari, and Federal clients such as the CDC, NIH, and Dept. of Health & Human Services. She has spent many years as a technology leader delivering innovative solutions and providing operational efficiencies and process management. 

She is ITIL and Change Management/Prosci certified. She has deep experiences in fast-paced environments, managing multiple priorities and deploying enterprise level changes for strategic and critical multi-million-dollar programs.  Jan is originally from Washington, DC.  She currently lives in Lake Spivey, GA with her husband and four children. Following her work as an executive, she had provided consulting services around the greater Atlanta area as an organizational change consultant. She helps many Atlanta based companies with technology and enterprise-wide changes. Her commercial list includes SunTrust, Newell Brands, McKesson, Time Warner, Quintiles, and Freddie Mac.  She continues to work in the education sector as a board member of the SAT/ACT Leadership Enrichment Academy. Currently she is a Global Change Manager at WarnerMedia.