This is a keynote address about how an 11-year-old girl hitting a homerun in a little league game impacted the rest of my life. It covers the distractions and situations I dealt with while continuing the dream of being a Major League Baseball player. The goal of this presentation is to inspire businesses to keep swinging in the midst of the economy's pitches.

Byron was drafted and signed by the Atlanta Braves at age 19 (1997) and his career took off like a rocket in his first season with the Braves' Rookie League affiliate, the Danville Braves. Byron kept his eye on the ball and ended up being signed with the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Mariners, where he spent two seasons. He has spent 12 years playing baseball professionally. http://www.closingremarks.net

The Five Minutes of Quality handout is available:

Leon Spackman will discuss several related topics related to quality. First, project management is critical to completing successful process improvement projects especially using Six Sigma. He will discuss briefly the steps in successful project management and show how process mapping can increase this process. Finally, Leon will discuss the Failure Modes and Effects Analysis tool and give real world examples. Come with your questions and experiences for all to learn.!

Leon is currently the Senior Vice President for Organizational Performance at Kirtland Federal Credit Union (KFCU). He is responsible for all training, strategic planning, and process improvement efforts within the organization. Prior to joining KFCU Leon was the Director of Business Process Improvement with PMC Solutions located in Albuquerque, NM, where he assisted clients to map and improve their processes. He has worked with the Army Corps of Engineers, Sandia National Laboratories, Quality New Mexico, Kirtland Federal Credit Union, French Family of Companies, University of New Mexico, and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Leon is a certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and has taught and coached teams for over six years.

The Five Minutes of Quality handout is available:

Verne Stuessy has built a new concrete plant in Pueblo for GCC. This new plant has already been audited by CPEx and found to be a PEAK level facility!

He has a lot of experience:
Mining and Manufacturing- 32 years
Leadership responsibilities- 32 years, right out of school
BS- Geological Engineering
BA- Finance
MBA- Finance and Management
Dresser Industries- 3 years, United States and Australia. Mine foreman to Mines Superintendent.
Holcim- 16 years, United States, Europe, and Canada. Mines Manager to US Sr Process Engineer.
Heidelberg- 10 years, United States, Europe, Canada and Australia.
Assistant Plant Manager to VP Logistics, Terminals and Sales Support.
GCC- 3 years, United States and Mexico. Plant Manager

The Five Minutes of Quality handout is available:

Tom Huberty, CQM/OE, is a Senior Quality Engineer with BAE Systems working at the Missile Defense Agency at Schriever AFB. He has extensive experience in leading Organizational Visioning and Strategic Planning, conducting Organizational Assessments, and performing Process Improvement projects. Most recently, he led the Visioning 2010 efforts and developed the Leadership Academy for the Minneapolis Rotary Club 9. He wrote a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award application and a Colorado Performance Excellence (CPEx) Award submission for a unit of the Missile Defense Agency in Colorado Springs. The unit was recognized by the CPEx organization with its Foothills Award.

He is a 5-time Examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. He has also been an examiner for the President’s Quality Award, the Colorado Peak Excellence Award and the Minnesota Quality Award. He served as the Chair of the Education and Training Board of the American Society for Quality.

Topic: Biomedical Auditing
Biomedical auditing is a growing specialized application of auditing techniques geared to the special demands of the biomedical arena and its requirements. Industry standards (FDA-QSR, ISO 9001,ISO 13485) and auditing practice (ASQ*) all come together to enable the biomedical quality auditor to conduct systematic and independent examinations of quality activities and related results of biomedical related entities, manufacturing establishments, clinical research laboratories, testing laboratories, suppliers, and others related to medical devices. With the principal goal being to accurately and objectively report to management on the effectiveness of business processes, including compliance with regulatory requirements.

SANDRA PLATT began her career in Quality in 1984 at Litton Data Systems as an inspector. In 1991, she was hired by Hamilton Standard, where she was a member of a high performance work team, which managed the entire build process for air control supply test units for Boeing. In 2000, she became the 'Out of Box Quality Auditor' for EFI at Sanmina-SCI. Based on feedback and correction from Sandra's audit results, EFI was able to eliminate source inspection entirely. In 2006, Sandra was hired by The Spectranetics Corporation, a local medical device company, where she is presently in charge of the calibration department and is a member of the internal quality team as well as the internal audit team. Being new to medical device regulations, Sandra began studying FDA's cGMP, Regulatory Affairs issues, and ISO 9001:2000, with focus on 13485 auditing, through RABQSA. Sandra successfully obtained her Biomedical Auditor Certification (CBA) from ASQ in 2008. She is now eligible for her RABQSA certification.

Topic: Technology Transfer Fundamentals: Spinouts, Startups, and Corporate Licensing

DUNCAN STEWART is the President and CEO of the Colorado Springs Technology Incubator where he assists high-tech startups in developing business plans and attracting investors, customers, and employees to accelerate their growth. Duncan is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy with a BS in Management, and received his MS in Aerospace Management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and his MBA from the University of Notre Dame. He serves on the board of directors for ConcealFab, Aqueous Biomedical, Colorado Homeland Defense Alliance, FalconWorks, Peak Venture Group, the International Council on Systems Engineering, and the El Pomar Institute of Innovation and Commercialization at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Topic: "Thinking about rock climbing - fun, reward, risk..."
Non-competitive rock climbing is generally done for purely personal and selfish reasons. The goals are typically fun, challenge, fitness, and appreciation of the environment. Success is defined by the individual and the entire process takes place on a neutral, inactive medium. Therefore the elements of achievement, reward, improvement, risk, fear, and assessment are different from those in a team or organizational environment. We will briefly examine these elements and allow comparisons to more common activities.

STEVE ANDRILLA has over 25 years of experience in industry as an engineer, manager, and consultant. His experience has spanned quality, reliability, and process engineering and management of those functions as well as management of business units providing a variety of products and services. As a consultant, he is presently involved in bringing a new product to market. He is a graduate of California State University, Long Beach and holds a Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Arizona. He is also an avid rock climber.