Ross Farrelly, Commercial Sales Representative, Minitab

Ross Farrelly has held the position of commercial sales representative at Minitab since January 2008. Previous to that he worked as a SAS analyst in the publishing and commercial cleaning industries. He also has 17 years experience in education and training at educational institutions in Australia and the UK . As a part-time freelance writer he has published three books and numerous articles on a variety of topics. He has a BSc (Hons) in pure mathematics from Auckland University, a Masters of Applied Ethics from the ACU and is currently completing his Masters of Applied Statistics at Macquarie University . Go to Program or Go to Abstract

Kerri Gill, National Business Improvement Manager, Coca-Cola Amatil

Kerri is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt and Registered Psychologist with 6 years business improvement experience. She is a founding member and current President of the Australasian Association of Six Sigma Practitioners, Inc.

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Nigel Grigg, Senior Lecturer, Massey University

Dr Nigel Grigg is Senior Lecturer in Quality and Industrial Statistics at Massey University and coordinates Massey's postgraduate programmes in Quality. He is a Director of the New Zealand Organisation for Quality, a Chartered Quality Professional and member of the Chartered Quality Institute, ASQ and NZ Institute of Directors. His publications in the quality field have received various national and international awards including the 2004 Annual National Award of the Institute of Quality Assurance .

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Roger Hilton, Principal, Six Sigma Academy and Chair, Lean Six Sigma Division, AOQ Qld

Roger Hilton is currently workplace trainer and assessor with Skillup Australia, with responsibilities with training in Lean and Six Sigma at workshop, supervisor and senior levels.

Previously, Business and Quality Improvement Manager with PPG Industries responsible for Quality Systems Improvement in Australia & NZ.

Holds qualifications in Applied Statistics, Business Management and Operations Research. Currently completing a doctorate in business administration specialising in lean six sigma research.

Is the chairperson of the Six Sigma Division of AOQ-QLD with an interest in training and competency of six sigma facilitiators in Australia.

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Peter John Martin , Senior Lecturer in Statistics, University of Ballarat

Peter Martin has over 30 years experience as an educator, consultant and industrial training facilitator. He spent 14 years with the Victorian Education Department where he worked as a teacher, statistical research officer and consultant. He joined the University of Ballarat in 1986 where he currently holds the position of senior lecturer in statistics in the School of Information Technology and Mathematical Sciences.

An avid proponent of activity-based learning approaches, and adult centred learning, Peter has spoken and published at many conferences and seminars in Europe, Australia , South Africa and New Zealand . In 1996 Peter was invited to assist and participate in the Six Sigma Black Belt program at Bendix Mintex (now FMP) in Ballarat. He quickly established a unique relationship with the Six Sigma industry by providing training and support for companies such as Six Sigma Consultants, Six Sigma International, Six Sigma Qualtec and BCEL6. These experiences involved him in providing training and support for Six Sigma programs in Singapore , UK , South Korea , China , Australia and Japan

Peter has written several books on Six Sigma, Statistics, Minitab and other Mathematics related subjects. He has also developed training materials for Six Sigma Black Belt and Green Belt programs. He was the primary architect behind the development and linking of the post-graduate award from his University with approved Green Belt and Black Belt training programs thereby providing trainees with the opportunity of earning nationally accredited tertiary awards in conjunction with their industrial based Six Sigma training.

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Mario Pennisi, Chairman, Australian Organisation for Quality Queensland Inc, and Managing Director, World Conference Systems

Mario Pennisi is the Chairman, Australian Organisation for Quality Queensland Inc (AOQ-QLD). He is a former President of the Australian Organisation for Quality Inc (the National AOQ Body) and former Chairman of AOQ Inc. He is a MJ Ahern medallist, Fellow of AOQ-QLD (FAOQ), a Fellow of the Institute of Metal Finishing (FIMF), a Senior Member of the American Society for Quality (SMASQ) and an Honorary Life Member of the Australasian Institute of Metal Finishing (now the Australian Institute of Finishing). Mario Chairs the Gold Awards committee for AOQ-QLD. He also edits and publishes Progressing Business eZine for AOQ Inc and Coatings and Fabrication, a trade magazine for the coatings and fabrication industries.

Mario has trained and consulted in quality systems for many years, particularly in the Coatings industry. He chairs 7 Standards Australia Committees and sits on a further 7 committees as well as being a member of the Management and Business Standards Sector Board of Standards Australia.

In previous years he managed an electroplating shop, a University Department's laboratory staff, facilities and budget and built up a conference management organisation. Go to Program or Go to Abstract

Ian Ritchie,Director, Process2Customer (P2C).

Ian Ritchie is a director of Process2Customer, a process improvement company that delivers improved customer service, capacity, efficiency, and continuous improvement capability to clients in the financial services industry.

He started his career in financial services in Newcastle and Brisbane, before moving to London and getting involved with IT projects, specialising in inter-bank switching networks. Now "reformed" from the IT world, Ian is a Lean Six Sigma coach, and his work involves taking unnecessary effort out of key processes, thereby freeing up capacity and reducing wait times.

Ian's process improvement programs have delivered over 200 projects, where the average turnaround time reduction is 51% and capacity / efficiency gains of 35%. Most of these projects are delivered without IT expenditure, and the typical project duration is from 4 to 20 weeks.

Ian's passion is building a customer service ethic and continuous improvement capability in the teams that he works with; solving problems based on data. His training courses provide a fun and powerful learning environment.

Ian's "out of the comfort zone" project a couple of years ago was to sail across the Atlantic Ocean on a 41 foot yacht with his brother and two other crew. He says this gave him a new perspective on "teamwork" and "fear".

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JP Santosh, Vice President, Re-Engineering - AN&Z, Genpact

JP Santosh has over 15 years of work experience out of which the last 10 years have been with GE and Genpact. An Engineer by profession, Santosh has handled International Sales, Marketing and Quality during his stint with GE's industrial businesses. He is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt and a certified Green Belt and Black Belt trainer.

Gary Warden has been involved in Six Sigma for almost a decade. For more than four years he was head of BHP Billiton's global Six Sigma program which has delivered hundreds of millions of dollars in benefit to the company.

Since resigning from BHP Billiton in late 2006, Gary has been consulting in the areas of Six Sigma, Change Management and Facilitation. In September 2007 he was trained by Al Gore to help deliver his climate change message to Australians

He has delivered many lectures on climate change and has been working with a number of organisations and businesses to help them develop effective strategies to reduce their carbon footprint, mitigate their climate change risks and adapt to changes imposed by climate change.

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