SAS Manufacturing Executive Conference
Trump the Guessing Game with Predictive Analytics:
Looking Ahead with Demand Planning and Service Excellence
SAS World Headquarters | Cary, NC
- John Engler, President and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers
- Ken Austin, Senior Master Black Belt, Whirlpool Corporation
- Michael Kozlowski, Director of Sourcing and Engineering, Sears Home Services
- Chad Storlie, Regional Sales Manager, Intermodal Group, Union Pacific Railroad
- Jim Goodnight, Chief Executive Officer of SAS
- Jim Davis, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of SAS
Keynote Speaker
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John Engler
President and CEO
National Association of Manufacturers
John Engler is President of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the largest industry trade group in America, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. A former three-term governor of Michigan, Engler became NAM president on Oct. 1, 2004.
As NAM President, Engler is a leading advocate for the more than 14 million Americans employed directly in manufacturing, educating the public and policymakers on issues that affect this critical sector of the US economy. He promotes a broad-based agenda for maintaining US competitiveness by lifting unnecessary burdens on manufacturing: excessive taxation and regulation, the high cost of health care, expensive litigation and soaring energy costs.
Recognizing that manufacturing provides the bulk of US exports, Engler promotes opening of foreign markets to this country’s manufactured goods. Under his leadership, NAM helped win adoption of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in 2005 and actively promotes other trade agreements. Engler was appointed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to serve on the Advisory Committee on Transformational Diplomacy, developing new approaches to diplomacy that reflect the globalized economy. In September 2005, Engler was named Vice Chairman of the President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations (ACTPN), the US government’s senior trade advisory panel. US Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez appointed Engler to serve on the Deemed Export Advisory Committee in August 2006, reviewing technology transfer policies to promote US competitiveness while ensuring national security.
During his tenure at NAM, Engler has emerged as one of the nation’s top advocates for developing the nation’s abundant domestic energy supplies to meet the needs of a growing economy. NAM helped create the Consumer Alliance for Energy Security to promote exploration and development of natural gas and oil resources in the outer continental shelf, and Engler is a strong supporter of expanding renewable energy and clean-coal technology and revitalizing America’s nuclear power industry.
Featured Speaker
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Ken Austin
Senior Master Black Belt
Kenmore Quality Special Projects
Whirlpool Corporation
Ken Austin is a Senior Master Black Belt for Whirlpool Corporation. He has held various engineering and management positions in a wide variety of functions, including manufacturing, product development, supply base management, operations and Six Sigma deployment.
In 2002, Austin was named the Director of Quality for North America, responsible for the global quality reporting systems and the quality of products. In 2005, he returned to the MBB role to lead broader deployment in North America and an aggressive global expansion to Whirlpool’s other major regions in Latin America, Europe and Asia. In 2006, Austin assumed the leadership of Whirlpool’s Product Quality strategy and execution initiatives with Sears Holdings.
Austin holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Michigan Tech and a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Michigan.
Featured Speaker
Michael Kozlowski
Director of Sourcing and Engineering
Sears Home Services
Michael Kozlowski is the Director of Product Quality and Support for the Homes Services business in Sears Holdings Corporation. Sears Home Services is the nation’s largest provider of home services, with more than 14 million service calls made annually.
Kozlowski is responsible for leading a team of 275 employees who are focused on improving the quality of Sears Holdings brands, while supporting the technical needs of the Sears Home Services supply chain. His team works in conjunction with suppliers of Sears’ products to identify product quality issues on serviceable merchandise and ensure that solutions to quality issues are developed by the suppliers and communicated through the organization.
Prior to joining Sears, Kozlowski worked for 17 years in the power generation industry with Siemens Power Generation and held the position of Director, Hydro Generation Services.
He is a graduate of Marquette University, where he earned a bachelor’s of science in mechanical engineering.
Featured Speaker
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Chad Storlie
Regional Sales Manager, Intermodal Group
Union Pacific Railroad
Chad Storlie holds the position of Business Director, Premium Sales, in the Union Pacific Railroad Intermodal Group.
Storlie has held previous positions at Union Pacific supervising and designing the Intermodal Gate Reservation system, which books freight reservations; as the Asset Director of 23,000 rail-owned containers; and designing and implementing a statistical forecast process. He has also worked for General Electric in marketing roles in the Transportation Systems and Aircraft Engine divisions.
Storlie began his career as a US Army officer in a variety of roles. He holds an MBA from Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University. Storlie is also an Adjunct Professor of Marketing at the Creighton University College of Business Administration and works with military units to apply operational assessments to their operations.
Featured Speaker
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Jim Goodnight
Chief Executive Officer
SAS
Since he co-founded SAS in 1976, Jim Goodnight has served as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. A worldwide leader in enterprise intelligence solutions and services, SAS has more than 10,000 employees in 53 countries. In 2007, the company’s revenue was $2.1 billion, its 32nd consecutive year of growth and profitability.
In 2004, Harvard Business School named him as one of the "20th Century’s Great American Business Leaders," citing his impact on "the way people have lived, worked and interacted in the 20th century." Jim has a PhD in statistics and speaks internationally on leadership, education and innovation.
Featured Speaker
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Jim Davis
Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer
SAS
As Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Jim Davis provides worldwide marketing direction for SAS solutions and services. He is responsible for managing product direction, professional services, education, advertising and communications.
A respected thought leader, Davis co-authored the book Information Revolution: Using the Information Evolution Model to Grow Your Business.
Since joining SAS in 1994, Davis has pioneered many key initiatives, including global projects that incorporate customer feedback in the development process.
Today, he continues to refine the model for continuous collaboration and innovation among engineers, marketers and customers, enabling SAS to meet the global demand for enterprise intelligence.
