Celebrating our 25th Anniversary: Reaching the Next Peak
Russ Agrusa is the Founder, President and CEO of ICONICS, Inc., a world-leading software developer of open-connectivity and standards-based visualization software, HMI/SCADA, and MES solutions for energy, manufacturing, industrial, and building automation. With more than 350,000 installations worldwide, ICONICS counts 70 percent of Global 500 companies as its customers.
Agrusa has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo and an M.S. in Computer Science from Boston University. His career began in Pittsburgh, PA, at Westinghouse Electric Corporation, where he developed real-time software for fossil and nuclear power plants. He next joined the Foxboro Company in Massachusetts, leading human machine interface (HMI) product development for the Foxboro Intelligent Architecture series distributed control system, before starting ICONICS in 1986.
ICONICS, a six-time winner of the Microsoft Partner of the Year award, is an independent software solution provider of web-enabled IoT, OPC UA, and BACnet-certified HMI/SCADA visualization, analytics, and mobile software solutions.
Ray Bachelor is the Chairman and founder of Kansas-based Bachelor Controls. BCI is a leading provider of control and systems integration solutions to manufacturers.
With a reputation as an accurate, straightforward economist, Alan has been delivering award-winning workshops and economic analysis seminars in countries across the world to thousands of business owners and executives for the last 25 years. He is co-author of Prosperity in the Age of Decline, a powerful look at how to make the most of the US and global trends over the next 20 years. Alan also coauthored Make Your Move, a practical and insightful guide on increasing profits through business cycle changes, and noted by one reviewer as “simple, yet awesome.”
Alan has been providing workshops and economic analysis seminars to countries and literally thousands of business owners and executives for the last 25 years. He is considered one of the country’s most informed economists. As the chief economist for numerous US and European trade associations, it has been remarked that Alan’s “insight into our business, a track record of accurate forecasting, and unparalleled knowledge of global markets has earned him the respect and appreciation of key business leaders in our industry.” Pronouncements from ITR Economics™ and/or Alan have appeared in/on: the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USAToday, Knight Ridder News Services, Business Week, Associated Press, The Washington Times, CBS Radio, CNN Radio, Sirius talk radio, KABC, NPR affiliate WLRN and numerous other outlets.
Most companies with exceptional products and services chronically under price because they believe customers and competitors limit their pricing power. The truth is you have much more say in your pricing than you may believe. Join Casey Brown in a fast-paced, interactive presentation to learn how to earn what you are worth in the market.
In this talk, Casey will clearly demonstrate the impact of price changes in your business, point you to areas of your business where you are under priced and arm you with confidence to execute a value-based pricing strategy.
Casey Brown is a pricing geek and professional speaker. Her passion is for people to be paid well for their excellence. She is the president of Boost, a firm that helps companies improve profits through better pricing. She speaks at conferences, trade associations and networking groups around the world, and she delivered a TEDx talk with over 2.7 million views. Casey is fluent in Spanish, is a certified GE Six Sigma Black Belt, and holds degrees in Chemical Engineering, Spanish, and Business. She volunteers over 600 hours annually around the world, focused on meeting children’s basic needs.
Jeff Burnstein is the president of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), the parent group of the Robotic Industries Association (RIA), AIA – Advancing Vision + Imaging, and the Motion Control and Motors Association (MCMA). Together these trade groups represent over 1,200 global companies involved in robotics, vision, motion control and motors and related automation technologies. Key A3 activities include an annual Business Forum in Orlando (January 14-16, 2019, certification programs for robotics and machine vision system integrators, content-rich websites, development of standards, collection of statistics and sponsorship of leading industry events including the biennial Automate trade show and conference (April 8-11, 2019).
Burnstein joined RIA in 1983 and has held a variety of senior positions, culminating in his promotion to President in 2007. He is a frequent commentator in the media as well as to Congress on issues such as the impact of automation on jobs and the future of automation beyond the factory floor. Burnstein also serves on the Executive Board of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).
Dick Ciammaichella is Director for Chemicals, Specialty Chemicals and Materials at RoviSys. He has 40 years of experience in process control and instrumentation, at RoviSys and Bailey Controls (now ABB). He has worked with clients in various process industries to take advantage of process control and analysis of information collected from the plant floor to improve quality and efficiency. His background spans technology from sensors to controls to MES, providing a holistic approach to modernization.
Wendy is the CEO and Co-Founder of TREW Marketing, a leading marketing agency serving companies targeting technical markets. Drawing upon her deep experience in marketing within the engineering space, she helps companies connect with customers, build trust and drive sustainable results using a smart inbound marketing and sales approach.
Wendy was named by The Wall Street Journal editors among the Ten Most Innovative Entrepreneurs in America. Prior to co-founding TREW Marketing, Wendy was a member of the marketing leadership team at National Instruments for 12 years.
Jennifer Pharr Davis is a lover of long journeys and good stories. She is an author, speaker, record setter and 2012 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year who has covered over 14,000 miles of long distance trails on six different continents. In 2011, she covered the 2,181-mile Appalachian Trail in forty-six days, eleven hours, and twenty minutes, maintaining a remarkable average of forty-seven miles per day. By doing this, she claimed the overall (male or female) fastest known time on the “A.T.” and became the first woman to set that mark.
Jennifer has authored seven books, including her latest critically acclaimed work, The Pursuit of Endurance: Harnessing the Record-Breaking Power of Strength and Resilience (Viking Press). She has also written three North Carolina guidebooks and two hiking memoirs called Becoming Odyssa and Called Again, as well as articles for The New York Times, Outside magazine, Backpacker, Trail Runner, and Blue Ridge Outdoors.
She is a professional speaker who has shared her trail adventures hundreds of times in the U.S and Europe, including presentations to Fortune 500 companies, schools, libraries, bookstores and conferences. Jennifer is the founder and owner of Blue Ridge Hiking Company, a guiding service that strives “to make the wilderness accessible and enjoyable” for hikers of all ages, genders, and ability levels. She has served as a board member for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and ambassador for the American Hiking Society. lives in Asheville, North Carolina, with her husband Brew, their daughter Charley and son Gus.
Jennifer has been marketing to engineers for 20 years. From developing integrated marketing campaigns to building mutually beneficial partner marketing programs, Jennifer is focused on achieving clients' goals and delivering measurable results. Prior to joining TREW Marketing, Jennifer held content, regional marketing, and corporate marketing leadership roles at National Instruments.
Luigi De Bernardini is the CEO of Autoware, S.R.L. He received his degree in electrical engineering in 1991 from Padua University in Italy. After some years working as R&D manager in an industrial automation company, he started Autoware in 1996. From the beginning he was in charge of managing the company and directing the technical, commercial and financial activity. As the sole owner, De Bernardini says he has the “responsibility to decide the direction of the ship." He works personally with local and multinational companies as a consultant in implementing state-of-the-art solutions and innovative projects for control and MES systems in smart manufacturing and digitization initiatives. He also serves CSIA as treasurer and is a MESA EMEA board member and part of the MESA Smart Manufacturing Workgroup.
Tanya is an accomplished Senior Executive and Entrepreneur, with more than 20 years of success across the manufacturing, energy management, automation, technology, oil & gas, food & beverage, mining & minerals industries. Leveraging extensive experience leading social business transformation for B2B organizations with a global scope, she helps established companies looking to drive growth and expansion through comprehensive digital process transformation strategies.
Her broad areas of expertise include new product development, marketing, supply chain, customer care, HR, and IT.
Adrian Fahey is CEO and Director of Sage Group. SAGE is one of the largest control system integration companies in Australia and a leading provider of industrial automation and control services in India.
Gloria joined ECBM in 1995. During her tenure with the company she has served as marketing director, sales manager and director of operations. Today she is the executive in charge of operations for the company. Gloria has developed many of the client service processes that the company utilizes to bring a consistent excellence in its product and service delivery. In addition, Gloria consults for several large real estate development and management firms and industrial clients providing risk management oversight and brokerage services. Prior to joining ECBM Gloria worked for several large regional brokerage firms in Philadelphia. She became a specialist in the development of risk management and insurance programs for large commercial clients. She has developed expertise in managing the property insurance placements for large portfolios.
Jeff joined ECBM in 2015 working primarily in marketing and business development. Today he is the client advocate assisting clients of the brokerage’s Control System Integrators Association program. As client advocate, Jeff assists clients with their coverage and service needs. In addition to coordinating all aspects of their insurance he assists with contract review and analysis. Prior to joining ECBM, Jeff worked in various aspects of the legal and insurance industries. He spent eight years as a civil litigator in the Denver metro area and maintains and active law license in the state of Colorado. He also has experience in the claims department of an insurance agency.
Chief Strategic Officer and Director of Business Development Burrow Global. Burrow Global is a $140MM, 800 employee EPC company with divisions in buildings, engineering, water/municipal, government, and construction. It has offices in Houston, Beaumont, Angleton, Lake Chalres, L.A., Baton Rouge, and Tulsa.
Nigel is responsible for setting the strategic plan, branding, advertising, and business development aspects of the company and integrating all the divisions into a one stop solution for his clients.
Nigel received his degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas in Austin in 1986. Nigel worked in the refinery industry for 8 years with Fina - three years overseas in Grimsby, England.
Jeff is a 1983 graduate of South Dakota State University with a BS in Electrical Engineering. He is married to his wife Kristi with 3 grown children, and 3 grandchildren. Jeff is currently the Director of Project Management at Interstates Control Systems, Inc. in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for their Project Management Office and has been with Interstates for the past 19 years. He received his Project Management Professional (PMP) certification in 2003 and helped facilitate getting most Interstates Project Managers PMP certified.
Jeff currently serves on the board of directors as Board Chair for the Control System Integrators Association, as Past President of the Sioux Empire South Dakota Chapter of the Project Management Institute, the East River Bible Camp as Secretary/Treasurer, his local church as Secretary/Treasurer, and his local hunting dog training club as Treasurer. Jeff presents on various project management topics at the local PMI chapter events, and annual PMI professional development conferences. Jeff is also an avid upland game hunter and dog trainer and enjoys spoiling his three grandkids, every chance he gets.
Matko is the Chief Technology Officer at Evans and has over 20 years of experience in designing and implementing mission critical facilities. In his engagements, Matko works closely with System Integrators, End Users and Technology Providers to conceptualize, design and implement control rooms from an early planning stage, including technology assessment and operational planning, through to detail design, development and implementation. Through his engagements, Matko has developed expertise and experience in working with multiple aspects of a control room including DCS systems, IT management systems, Human Factors and Ergonomics, strategic planning, global program development, first principles design, development of control room operational models and implementation of control rooms.
Matko works globally with both End Users such as FAA, NASA, Shell, BP, Exxon, Reliance and FedEx, as well as Systems Integrators and Technology Providers such as Honeywell, Schneider, Emerson, Yokogawa, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Leidos. Matko is a Professional Engineer and holds an MBA from University of Calgary and a Leadership program from Queens University. He is also an active member of the Board of Governors for the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. Matko has published several articles and papers on Mission Critical Facilities and is a contributing author for books on the Ergonomics and Design of Control Rooms. He also regularly does speaking engagements and industry shows and educational seminars globally.
Rick Pierro is President/CEO and co-founder of Superior Controls, a 25 year, global, automation company with 135 employees providing custom, validated, automation and IT systems to the biotech industry.
Rick serves on the board of 5 private medical device and power supply companies, serves as the Chairmen of the Board of MindChild Medical (FDA approved Fetal EKG monitoring device), the CSIA board, the Control Engineering magazine Advisory Board, the UNH and UMass Lowell, Chemical Engineering Advisory Boards, and is a past President of Boston, ISPE. He is also been a founding investor in three separate biotech OEMs that successfully sold to publicly listed manufacturers for the biotech industry. Rick is also a frequent guest speaker on automation, cybersecurity, validation and future trends in automation. Rick received an MS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Lowell-Mass in 1983, a Bachelors in Chemistry from Boston University in 1981 and has taken multiple management and finance courses at Harvard Business School.
Lisa Richter is industry director of the Control System Integrators Association, where she helps members grow their business, share industry expertise and advance the industry of control system integration. She is also host of the popular Talking Industrial Automation podcast. Prior to joining CSIA, Lisa was VP of marketing and communications for a commercial cleaning industry non-for-profit, as well as an award-winning consultant to the association industry.
Frank Riordan is the founder and president of DMC, Inc. a system integration company based in Chicago with offices in Boston, Denver, Houston, and New York City. DMC has been CSIA Certified since 2009, having been recertified two times. DMC's company culture has been recognized as one of Crain's Best Places to Work, Crain's Best Places for Millennials and Gen-X Employees, and Chicago’s 101 Best and Brightest Companies. Riordan received his BSME from the University of Massachusetts and his MSME from the University of Illinois.
Jose Rivera has held a successful global career in the automation industry working in six countries, most often with a regional or global role. Prior to his current role as CEO for the Control System Integrators Association, he was senior vice president of strategy and communications, industry business at Schneider Electric in France.
He also spent 11 years with Emerson Electric in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Puerto Rico, involving product line, general and regional sales management roles for the process automation market. Rivera started his career as a sales engineer with Siemens in Costa Rica with later assignments in Germany. He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and a Lic (MS) and BS degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Costa Rica.
 |
Brian Ross |
Brian Ross - Olin MOD5 Migration Technical Lead - has worked in the chemical industry for the last 15 years. The majority of that time has been using various DCS systems to design and commission plants around the world. He has also fulfilled roles in production and maintenance.
Brian is currently working for Olin Corporation as the MOD V Migration Technical Leader. He has a Chemical Engineering degree from The University of Virginia, and resides in Pearland, TX with his wife, Andrea.
Joining Clayton & McKervey in 2000, Sarah is an owner and point person for implementing tax strategies to help reduce tax liabilities and maximizing cash flow, with tools such as the Research & Experimentation tax credit and IC-DISC. She helps owners and executive teams with international tax consulting and compliance, looking for big-picture solutions to advise clients on global operational structuring, foreign tax credit utilization, and tax treaty analysis.
Sarah works with companies expanding both within and outside of the U.S. in a variety of industries, including automation. She values the opportunity to collaborate with both accountants and tax specialists globally on behalf of the firm’s clients.
An award-winning speaker and author of ten books, Lisa works with her clients to develop employee engagement initiatives and strategies that keep their top talent and best
clients from becoming someone else’s. Lisa’s expertise includes: strengthening workplace culture, improving employee engagement, and initiating gratitude strategies (“Grategies”) for personal and professional transformation. Lisa’s participants enjoy her high energy, enthusiastic delivery and quick wit and they leave the session with ideas they are committed to acting on immediately to make positive workplace culture changes. Lisa costars in two films with other experts including Jack Canfield of “Chicken Soup for the Soul.” She is the Past-President of the National Speakers Association, Ohio Chapter and holds an MBA from Cleveland State University.
Ranbir Saini is the business leader for Automation Software at GE Digital. He has 15+ years of experience delivering industrial automation, operations management and media content-creation software to OEM, municipal, and enterprise customers. Ranbir has a passion for designing compelling and innovative solutions in the physical and digital space that make a meaningful difference to customers, human experiences and society.
Outside of work, this passion has led him to venture into architectural design such as residential houses and doors as well as having an ongoing pursuit to create the perfect cup of chai.
Director of Applied Innovation Microsoft Services at Microsoft, Spyros Sakellariadis is an experienced business executive with over 20 years management experience in the IT industry, from running a start-up to managing departments in a global enterprise. Spyros is a skilled IT professional with hands-on experience with most Microsoft datacenter products since 1989, spanning design, deployment, operations, and support. Widely published and industry-recognized.
His specialties include strategic and business planning; IT consulting: operations, deployment, application development, support and training. Key technology skills include features/configuration level understanding of core Microsoft server products, as well as networking, security, messaging, hosting, and scripting technologies, and finally datacenter operations and best practices.
Chris has been with Enterprise Automation for over 10 years. He first began working at Enterprise Automation in August 2007 with a zealous desire to learn automation system technologies and after spending a substantial amount of hours self-learning and dedication to the engineering craft, Chris was promoted to Project Engineer in 2009. With his exceptional organizational skills and fervent focus on managing risk, the management team developed a 2-year fast track program for Chris to take on the position of Project Manager.
Chris excelled in this program and assumed a Project Management position in 2011 and quickly became known for successfully managing numerous projects simultaneously, while also having the rare talent of turning challenging clients into raving fans. In 2015, Enterprise Automation had the pleasure of entrusting Chris but yet again with a new position as Engineering Manager. To this day, Chris continues to shine in this position as he actively seeks to receive coaching in order to help him break down limitations and ingrain new lessons. His personal mission is to accelerate the growth of others (professionally and personally), which has proven to inherently provide lasting value to his organization and its clients.
Tom Sulda is the managing director for Australian-based business transformation consultants ASTAL and lead trainer for LATSA Learning Services. Previously Tom held roles as a project and engineering management executive with Australia's largest independent systems integrator SAGE Automation.
Tom is a certified CSIA best practices and benchmarks auditor and trainer including a certified Agile Project Management and Business Analysis trainer for PRINCE 2 and PMBOK.
Lyman Tschanz was named vice president of Rockwell Automation’s Connected Enterprise Consulting organization in July 2018. In this role, Lyman is responsible for advancing relationships with industry, academic, and governmental institutions for further understanding of the Connected Enterprise, and development of the required manufacturing workforce of the future. He is also responsible for partnering with customers to consult and guide them in developing their digital transformation strategies.
Lyman has 40 years of experience in general management and operations, mergers and acquisitions and global business management in the automotive, automotive aftermarket, electrical equipment and industrial automation industries. He joined Rockwell Automation in 2006 as director of operations and was named vice president of ETO Operations in 2008. He became vice president of global operations in 2016, responsible for over 6,000 employees across all Rockwell Automation’s global manufacturing facilities.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Platteville and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. He is Board Chair for La Causa, a local non-profit organization. He also has completed numerous continuing education programs in management, strategic planning, leadership, and diversity training throughout his career. He lives in Hartland, Wisconsin with his wife Sue. He has three married sons and seven grandchildren.
In 1996, Don Ulrich co-founded Stone Technologies, a five-time CSIA Certified SI, that was named 2010 Control System Integrator of the Year by Control System Magazine and has been listed in INC Magazine’s 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies. During his 30-year career, he has managed, designed, developed and commissioned challenging control and MES solutions for small to very large companies in the food, beverage, consumer products and pharmaceutical industries.
He served as a director on the CSIA board, awarded the CSIA Charlie Bergman “Remember Me” award. founder and past chair of the Automation Alliance Group, and has presented papers on strategies for successful SIs, the benefits of CSIA membership, and automation strategies. He has a BSEE from the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Missouri.
Mark Voigtmann leads the automation and industrial engineering practice of Faegre Baker Daniels LLP, a full service law firm of more than 750 legal and consulting professionals in 14 offices in the United States,United Kingdom and China. He has advised automation providers, OEMs and their end user customers in numerous matters throughout North America, from the structuring of projects and negotiation of contracts to the resolution of insurance coverage questions and other complex automation disputes.
He is the author of The Automation Legal Reference, a Guide to Legal Risk in the Automation, Robotics and Process Industries, published by the International Society of Automation.
Bob Zeigenfuse is President and founder of Pennsylvania-based Avanceon, one of the country’s largest independent system integrators and a two-time chairman of the CSIA.
Return to main page >>