Advisory Board Members
David Barker
Dave has more than 30 years experience in technical and product design fields. His skills include conceptual product design and development. In addition to product design, development and project management, his areas of expertise are concept generation sketching, 2d and 3d computer design and visualization, user-centered design and ergonomic analysis. Dave is located in North Carolina.
Key Accomplishments
Created and licensed a new patent-pending invention for an ergonomic, user-friendly wine opener
While at Diebold, he represented the needs of the Differently-Abled communities by recommending accessibility compliance, ADA and other global accessibility standards. Performed end-user research, accessibility and usability assessments of all Diebold product lines.
Named on 57 Patents, Design & Utility
Experience
Over 26 years experience at Diebold, Incorporated, a global leader in providing innovative self-service technology, security systems and related services where he provided innovative, ergonomic and user-friendly designs during his role as manager of Human Factors and Usability within the Strategic Design Group.
He also carried out conceptual product designs as per marketing and consumer research with particular consideration to human factors and ergonomic analysis, product graphics, corporate image, model building. He also project managed the design of new products and product solutions including product concepts for trade shows.
Early experience at Diebold included the generation of 2d and 3d drawings for service technicians and bank tellers and technicians
Illustrated technical manuals for service and customer documentation, including exploded, isometric, perspective and assembly views.
Worked with teams of technical writers, engineers, and technical specialists to develop documentation for product manuals.
Dave has degrees in Industrial Design and Graphic Design, graduating with honors in both and is passionate about his faith in Christ, his love for his wife and two sons and interest for inventing new product ideas that enhance and facilitate healthy living.
Jesse Bechtold
Jesse Bechtold is the Founder and Principal Consultant of By the Numbers, LLC located in Kansas City, Missouri. Jesse has thirty-five years experience in identifying, developing and executing financial, M&A and growth strategies in diverse industries from Fortune 50 to startups. His strengths are in applying an innovative systems thinking approach to complex issues and he is willing to “break a few eggs to make an omelette.” Jesse is located in Kansas City.
Experience
Jesse has served as Chief Accounting Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Executive Officer in both for profit and not-for-profit organizations. These companies have been engaged in international agriculture, manufacturing, transportation and engineering businesses around the globe.
Since 2008, Jesse has led well over a hundred innovation projects seeking innovative growth solutions through new products, services, business models and capabilities. He uses the dynamics of an innovative mindset to lead teams to unique solutions. Jesse is motivated by Russell Ackoff’s statement, “If an organization is not unique, there is not a good reason for its existence.”
He has been actively involved in acquisitions not just in the United States but in Central America, West Africa and Asia. In 1998, Jesse executed a startup concept using early internet technology to scale engineering services with worldwide resources. Jesse has participated on or led more than 10 M&A teams during his career.
As Principal Consultant for By the Numbers, LLC, Jesse has been a testifying expert witness in four litigated corporate business transactions. These have included failed acquisitions, and intellectual property disputes. He has also been retained by boards of directors and executive leadership to work with organizations experiencing distress, disruption or transition to identify and execute strategies to grow back to profitability.
After graduating cum laude from the University of Missouri’s Trulaske School of Business, Jesse began his career as a Certified Public Accountant with Peat, Marwick & Mitchell. During his six years at Peat Marwick Jesse worked primarily with large, multinational companies having complex structures with active M&A strategies.
Background
Jesse has a well-deserved reputation of being able to not only design innovative business model and process changes but to actually START and lead the changes to implementation. He is not afraid of “getting his hands dirty” and he will stay with the project as the results start coming in.
Jesse and his wife of nearly 37 years, Yvonne, live in an empty nest in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. They have three grown children. He is an Honorably Discharged Veteran of the United States Air Force. His professional designations include Certified Public Accountant, Chartered Global Management Accountant and Innovation Engineering Black Belt.
Ajay Garg
Ajay is an engineering operations and innovation executive with 26 years of industry experience of which 7 are in Asia Pacific. Ajay is skilled in disruptive innovation and new product development in industrial and consumer space in emerging and global markets. He has a successful record of leading large technology teams and delivering market differentiating multi-million dollar growth platforms with speed. He has extensive experience in leading functional teams across engineering, product management, supply chain, operations and services.
Ajay is located in Charlotte, NC.
Experience
Ajay has worked at multi nationals such as Diebold, Ingersoll Rand, Stanley Black & Decker and Dresser Rand. The sizes of these corporations range from $3B – $14B in revenues & 8,000 – 50,000 employees worldwide. Ajay has established 4 offshore R&D centers: 2 in China and 2 in India. He has held positions of increasing responsibility from Senior Engineer to Senior Director and managed up to 150 employees with an operating budget of $20M.
Ajay and his teams have developed and released 30 new products to market. Ajay has travelled extensively worldwide and has business experience in Europe, Asia Pacific and North America. He has a broad business perspective with assignments in R&D, Product Design, Advanced Engineering, Product Management, Manufacturing, Reliability & Quality, & Services. Ajay has authored 8 technology papers and holds 4 US patents.
Ajay’s Experience includes
Change Management Leadership
Program Management
Coaching & Mentoring
Employee Engagement & Talent Retention
Work load & Capacity Management
Open Innovation & Value Innovation Processes
Product Cost Reduction methods
Supplier Quality & Cost Management
Manufacturing BOM and Quality Management
Reliability & Quality Processes
Risk Assessment Analytics
Service Delivery & SLA Management
Customer Loyalty & Satisfaction Platforms
Product End to End Life Cycle Management
Annual Budgets and Strategic Planning Processes
Areas of Expertise
New Product Development
Voice of the Customer
Speed to Market
Technology/IP Generation
Failure Analysis & Prevention
Product Cost Reduction
Off Shore Design Centers
Emerging Market Strategies
Big Data Analytics
Industry Experience
Industrial, Professional, DIY
Compressors, Engines, Refrigeration, HVAC, Tools, Self Service ATMs
Hardware, Software
Mechanical, Electrical
Manufactured Products
Regulatory, Compliance
Brand Management
Product Management
Education and Certificates
Executive Management
MS in Mech. Engineering
Six Sigma, Green Belt
Market Driven Product Development
Value Innovation
Target Costing
Toyota Knowledge Mgmt.
Advanced Business Leadership
Lee Thomas Herge
Lee Thomas Herge, is an Advisory Team member with 25+ years experience in Automotive and High Tech manufacturing. He is an expert at operational analysis and continuous improvement and an advocate for innovation in manufacturing. As COO at Local Motors he led the effort of 3D printing the world first car live at IMTS 2014; he helped institutionalize the use of Lean Six Sigma at Vantage Mobility and Diebold incorporated, and led the restructuring of global Supply Chain at Diebold Incorporated including the startup of operations in Central Europe. Lee is located in California.
Experience
Lee has worked with companies from a 30 person startup to multi-billion dollars in revenue and market capitalization.
His experience includes:
- Director of Supply Chain – Divergent 3D
- Chief Operating Officer – Local Motors Incorporated
- Director of Supply Chain – Vantage Mobility
- Manager Supply Chain Operations and Business Transformation – Diebold Incorporated
- Materials Manager and Purchasing – Honda of America Manufacturing
Background
As an Advisory Board member with the Innovation Garage I hope to implement the use of best practices in Lean Six Sigma, Innovation Systems Education and accelerate the use of additive manufacturing to create companies that can operate efficiently, be locally relevant and adaptive to market needs. As someone that has created both global and local supply chains my passion is in creating the right value proposition for the customer.
Areas of Expertise
Supply Chain Management
Strategic Sourcing
Lean Manufacturing
Business Strategy
Industry Experience
Start-up
Automotive
High Tech Manufacturing
3D/Additive Manufacturing
Contract Manufacturing
Logistics
Education and Certificates
Certified Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt
Lean Logistics and SCM
MBA- International Business
BBA – Finance
Innovation Engineering Blue Belt
Aaron Matta
Aaron Matta is an advisory team member of the Innovation Garage®; bringing 15+ years of supply chain experience with a focus in Indirect and Services strategy, sourcing, and supplier excellence. This knowledge was acquired through 6 years spent as a consultant along with 8 years working in various contributor and management roles. He is passionate about change management, organizational design and solving complex, systemic problems. Aaron is located in the greater Boston, MA area.
Experience
Aaron has worked directly for FreeMarkets, Ariba, and Diebold and is currently with American Tower. Additionally as a sourcing consultant, Aaron has supported many companies spanning a wide range of industries including: Alcan, GSK, Palm, Schering Plough, Sun Microsystems, TJX, and many others.
Aaron’s Experience includes:
Currently managing a sourcing team responsible for supplier strategy related to $200M+ in wireless construction and maintenance spend.
Designed and managed a multi-phased org redesign to improve productivity, drive results, and increase internal customer satisfaction of his team.
Has deep sourcing category expertise in the following:
Installation, Construction & Maintenance Services
Facility Mgmt. Services, Janitorial Services, Real Estate Leases
Service Parts, Repair, Warranty, and Asset Recovery
Marketing, Advertising, and Communications Services
Call Center Services, Consulting & Professional Services
Temporary Labor and IT Labor Staffing
Previously managed a sourcing team responsible for $100M in service parts and $110M in construction and service spend.
Supported M&A due diligence efforts to assess supply chain synergies of several possible acquisition targets.
Has led and/or participated in 100’s of cross-functional improvement efforts.
Background
Aaron has participated in sourcing activities from many angles; having first managed e-Auctions, then progressed into a consultative role where he developed and managed sourcing pipelines for clients, finally put his theoretical knowledge into practical application in various corporate sourcing roles that further exposed him to real implementation challenges such as politics, and day to day management (i.e. supplier failures). He has even supported sales on negotiation strategy in competitive and online environments from a supplier’s point of view.
Aaron enjoys challenges where objectivity and subjectivity collide; for instance, in cases where accurate data is critical to decision making but often doesn’t tell the whole story or hasn’t been collected in a meaningful enough way.
Areas of Expertise
Service Supply Chains
Strategic Sourcing
Supplier Performance and Risk Management
Opportunity Assessment
P2P Systems Design
Process Improvement
Industry Experience
REIT / Wireless
High Tech Manufacturing
Industrial Manufacturing
Pharmaceutical
Financial Services
Retail
Education and Certificates
B.S. Finance
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt
ISM certified in Foundations of Negotiations and Advanced Negotiations
James Petroski
James (Jim) Petroski is the founder and Principal Consultant of Design by Analysis Technical Consulting, with 35 years experience in thermal and mechanical engineering of diverse and difficult problems across a broad range of fields. Jim’s strengths lie in developing key insights into engineering analysis so that unique innovations and designs become part of a client’s product development. Jim is located in northeast Ohio.
Experience
Jim has worked with companies in the LED lighting field extensively and with local industrial companies since formally launching his firm in 2014. His designs have been part of NASA space shuttle experiments, naval nuclear propulsion equipment and state- of-the-art LED lighting systems.
Electronics packaging for harsh environments
LED (light emitting diode) lighting systems design and analysis NASA space flight experiments
Naval nuclear propulsion instrumentation & control equipment Hand held ruggedized gear
Computer systems for ATMs
Specialized graphite materials and applications for LED lighting
Industry-academic partnerships
Background
In August 2014, Jim launched Design by Analysis Technical Consulting to provide key thermal/mechanical analysis and design services to clients in a variety of industries, formalizing a consulting business that had been in place since 1997. Prior corporate experience includes naval nuclear propulsion equipment design and testing, NASA space experiments (SAMPIE, PHaSE) thermal and mechanical design, hand-held and rack- mounted electronics equipment design, and extensive LED lighting system thermal and mechanical design (including 29 issued patents in the field). Former companies have included Weston Controls, Sverdrup Technology, ADF, Telxon, Diebold, General Electric, GrafTech and Rambus. Jim is a member of the ASME K-16 Subcommittee “Heat Transfer in Electronics,” an author of several technical publications in peer reviewed conferences and journals, and a co-author of the book Thermal Management for LED Applications published in 2014.
Areas of Expertise
Thermal and mechanical engineering
Engineering simulations of products and complex systems
Correlations of testing to engineering simulations
Design of Experiments
Innovative design
Industry Experience
LED lighting systems
Electronics packaging
NASA space experiments
Ruggedized electronics
Computer systems
Naval electronics gear
Graphite materials
Education and Certificates
Bachelor of Science in Engineering Science & Mechanics, Georgia Tech
Master of Science in Engineering Mechanics, Cleveland State University
Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) Green Belt
Innovation Engineering Blue Belt
Alan Rothenbuecher
Alan Rothenbuecher is an advisory team member at The Innovation Garage® and an attorney with 30 years’ experience in building assets and businesses, and then protecting them from capture by others. He has extensive experience in prosecuting and defending trade secret misappropriation claims in the design, manufacture, sale and marketing of numerous products and technologies. His trade secret practice is a nationwide practice, leading to Alan having been selected to chair the American Bar Association’s trade secret subcommittee for several years. Alan has developed a particular expertise in the plastics and additive manufacturing industries, enabling him to assess business trends and provide proactive advice.
Experience
Alan has been a partner at Benesch for over two years. He also serves as general counsel to the Manufacturers Association of Plastic Processors (MAPP) and American Mold Builders Association (AMBA) and serves on both organization’s board of directors. He represents companies of all sizes; from Fortune 100 small to mid-market companies.
Alan’s depth of experience includes:
- Prosecuting and defending against patent infringement and false advertising claims.
- Prosecuting and defending against trade misappropriation and breach of contract claims.
- Counseling on how to best reduce or eliminate risks when hiring personnel subject to non-compete agreements or formerly employed by a competitor.
- Providing guidance on how to prevent competition by former employees.
- Defending against ICE audits.
- Developing unique business immigration strategies.
Background
Alan is actively involved in trade associations. In addition to serving on the MAPP and AMBA board of directors and as general counsel of these national associations managed by business leaders, Alan is a Fellow of the American Bar Association, is fluent in German and is recognized by Martindale-Hubble as an AV Peer Review Rated attorney and by Thomson Reuters as an Ohio Super Lawyer.
Areas of Experience
Intellectual Property
Litigation
Strategic Planning
Start-ups
Corporate Governance
Contract Negotiations
Business Strategy
Product Development
Industry Experience
Plastics/Polymers
Additive Manufacturing
Food & Beverage
International Private Client
Energy/Vegetation Management
Health Care
Education and Certificates
J.D., Case Western Reserve University School of Law
B.A., German, University of Michigan
Carl Shotwell
Carl is an advisory team member at The Innovation Garage®. Carl is a passionate advocate for creating great user experiences. His diverse experience includes application development experience across many platforms. Carl is an active player in the regional startup community, starting his own consulting practice, and has lead efforts to help others in the startup ecosystem. Always keeping focused on understanding the customer problem, then solving it as elegantly, simply and quickly as possible. Carl is located in Washington, DC.
Experience
- Start-Up Ecosystem coordinator and developer.
- Mobile Apps across various platforms
- Software development across various platforms.
Background
Carl has Fundraised, recruited, marketed, planned, and executed a 3 day road trip across the midwest on a charter bus for 25 strangers. Along the way, 4 brand new hardware based startups were formed, each producing a viable prototype by the end of the first day. This bus has the honor of being the first in StartupBus history to send every person on board to the semi-finals of the national competition, and produced the runner-up for 2015. Conducted with the magnificent Chris Bue of Chicago, Illinois.
He has Co-lead the Cleveland branch of Kauffman Lab’s startup ecosystem development program.Worked on a variety of projects utilizing a multitude of languages, including: Ruby, Python,Objective-C, Java development, and numerous frameworks, platforms, and libraries. Alongside a co-director, organized, raised sponsorship for, and produced the 2016 North American StartupBus competition, gathering 150 entrepreneurs for a three day journey culminating in a pitch competition in Boulder, Colorado. Represented were teams from Canada, USA, and Mexico. StartupBus is a people accelerator and a thriving community of doers, designers, and developers.
Carl also participates in The Global Shapers Community, a network of city-based Hubs developed and led by young leaders between 20 and 30 years old who want to develop their leadership potential towards serving society. Shapers are highly motivated individuals who have a great potential for future leadership roles in society. They are selected on the basis of their achievements, leadership potential, and commitment to make a difference.
The Global Shapers Community is one of several multi-stakeholder communities at the World Economic Forum. Other communities include the Young Global Leaders, the Global Agenda Councils, and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs.
Areas of Experience
- Lean Startup
- Agile Development
- Leadership
- Public Speaking
Industry Experience
- Software Engineering
- 3D Modeling
- Linux
- Ruby on Rails
- JavaScript
- Android
- CSS
- Sharepoint
- C++
Education and Certificates
- Bachelor of Science (BS), Computer Science and Engineering from The Ohio State University
Chuck Somers
Chuck is an advisory team member at The Innovation Garage®. He is an experienced Technical Consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the computer software industry at various executive level leadership roles. Chuck has Strong information technology professional skilled in Operations Management, Sales, Professional Services, Management, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Most recently Chuck served as Vice President of Product Development reporting to the CEO of DRB Systems, LLC. Chuck is located in Northeast Ohio.
Experience
Global Leader and Team and Talent Development
Integrated System Security and Encryption
Global Program and Project Management Organizational Development Experience
Background
Chuck has created Global Development organizations to deliver comprehensive self-service software products set for Global distribution. He has Integrated eight development labs, which were assets / liabilities from previous acquisitions (two in North America, five in EMEA, and one in Brazil). Defined and delivered new Product Architecture, based on best-of-breed assets and emerging technology. Re-structured organizations for concurrent non-collocated development. Created and enforced Global Development standards, achieving SEI CMM Level 2 certification.
Chuck has Opened Offshore Outsourcing relationship with international organizations to build greater capacity and flexibility for product and project deliverables and initiated new India Development facilities. He has had Total organizational staffing included 235 full time associates. Integrated eight development labs, which were assets / liabilities from previous acquisitions (two in North America, five in EMEA, and one in Brazil).
• Defined and delivered new Product Architecture, based on best-of-breed assets and emerging technology.
• Re-structured organization for concurrent non-collocated development.
• Created and enforced Global Development standards, achieving SEI CMM Level 2 certification.
• Opened Offshore Outsourcing relationship with global organizations to build greater capacity and flexibility for product and project deliverables and initiated new India Development facilities. Total organizational staffing included 235 full time associates.
Developed and evangelized ATM Security Architecture and program management of technicalsolutions aimed at Fraud, Physical, and Logical Threats.
Chuck has been responsible for creation and lifecycle management of processes and systems utilized R&D organizations that drive consistency, repeatability, agility, speed, and robust design.
Chuck has also served in roles to effectively lead and develop the functional leaders of Systems and Software Design, Project Management, Programming, Quality Assurance, Product Documentation and Configuration Management.
Areas of Experience
- Leadership
- Software Development
- Technology Roadmaps
- Sales and Organizational Support
- Creation of Global Design & Development Teams
- Global Integrated Organizational Development
Industry Experience
- Financial Self Services
- Security & Encryption
- SaaS
- PMO Deployments and Build Outs
- Design and Delivery of Professional Services
Education and Certificates
- B.A., Economics, University of Massachusetts Boston
- Hydrology, University of New Hampshire
Greg Warder
My name is Greg Warder and I am Vice President and General Counsel at DRB Systems, LLC. My previous roles have included Senior partner at the law firm of Black, McCuskey, Souers, & Arbaugh, LPA, and I have served as Vice President and General Counsel of Diebold Incorporated’s $1.5B North American business unit. I have served in leadership roles in supply chain, sales operations, the CFO organization, and legal. These opportunities have provided a unique perspectives working with thousands of customers and suppliers globally. I am passionate about innovating deals to leverage benefits well beyond the typical vendor/supplier relationships.
Greg is located in northeast Ohio.
Experience
Vice President & General Counsel – DRB Systems, LLC 2019-Present
Partner – Black McCuskey, Soures, Arbaugh 2017- 2019
Diebold, Incorporated 1991- 2017
Supply Chain Management and Director level leadership roles 1991-2005
Attorney and VP level General Counsel and Chief Contracting Office roles 2005-present
One of Diebold’s Top 100 global leaders (16,500 employees)
Also serve as General Counsel of Diebold’s Phoenix Interactive Software Company in London, Ontario. Responsible to help build out software business globally.
Lead Attorney on Diebold’s largest outsources deals in history: Wal Mart and Toronto Dominion.
Lead Attorney on significant multimillion deals with Bank of America, PNC, KeyBank, Bank of Nova Scotia, BB&T, BBVA Compass, Cardtronics, JPMC, HSBC, Regions, and many other major financial intuitions in the world.
Lead Attorney helping to create a business within Diebold that grew from nothing to over $1B in TCV in 5 years.
Standardized Diebold’s Agreements for simplicity and speed
Led Diebold’s global cost reduction initiatives. Developed supply chain for global product launch across 4 continents, led outsourcing initiatives with Celestica, Sanmina, and Flextronics.
Led the commodity management work of the Charters of Freedom Vaults and Displays protecting the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Hope Diamond
Developed global deal structure templates and positions
Currently serve as a board member of a for profit start up representing Diebold’s investment in an Internet of Things start up company based near Boston
Served as a board member of a for profit start up representing Diebold’s investment in a logical security company based in Omaha. Served in this role until the company was sold.
Background
I am passionate about helping businesses create innovative relationships. When I started negotiating 25 years I was told: “You win and make sure they lose”. Although well intentioned and there is always a healthy competitive need to “win”, the best deals I have been a part of have defined winning by much more than dollars and cents. The best deals I have been a part of create incentive for each party to wake up every morning with enthusiasm and incentive to innovate, improve, and deliver more than what was originally thought possible. I desire to help companies get past the risk sharing and pricing debates and move toward value creation in contractual and deal structure.
Areas of Expertise
General Counsel
Supply Chain
Cost Reduction
Board of Director
Leadership
Management
Mergers and Acquisitions
Outsourcing/Insourcing
Industry Experience
Banking
Security
Software
Technology
Electromechanical Devices
Contract Manufacturing
Education and Certificates
BS in Purchasing and Supply Chain Management and Operations Management from Miami University in Oxford, OH
MBA – Kent State University Graduate School of Management
JD – The University Akron School of Law
Admitted to the practice of law in the State of Ohio
Diebold Management Training – Indiana University Graduate School of Management
Michael B. Washington
A 17-year veteran trial attorney experienced in criminal prosecution, criminal defense and all manor of public sector law. Michael coordinated with law enforcement agents concerning investigations and evidence analysis. Michael negotiated resolutions in thousands of criminal matters and civil matters including; road use maintenance agreements, oil and gas leases, pipeline agreements, property leases and sales.
Michael has extensive litigation experience in civil matters; including but not limited to compliance with administrative rules, employment law, public records law, environmental law, and compliance with corporate statutory-requirements.
Michael is also an NRA Firearms Instructor certified in several disciplines. The Civilian Marksmanship Program certified Michael as a Master Instructor. Mike is located in Northeast, Ohio.
Experience
Michael worked for the Harrison County Prosecutor’s Office; Washington Law, LLC; Hired Gun Tactical, LLC; and the Innovation Garage.
His experience includes:
- Criminal and civil trials
- Administrative hearings
- Government Law
- Contracts
- Children Services cases
- Child Custody
- Family Law
- Business formation
- Innovation Education
Background
Michael spent 13 years as an assistant county prosecutor and County Prosecuting Attorney in southeastern Ohio. He tried hundreds of criminal cases in various courts. Michael also represented and advised all county-level public office holders.
Areas of Experience
Litigation
Public Sector Law
Criminal Law
Corporate Compliance
Industry Experience
Private Practice
Former County Prosecutor
Former Village Law Director
Innovation Black Belt
Chief Firearms Instructor
Education and Certificates
Juris Doctor, University of Akron School of Law
Innovation Engineering Black Belt
NRA Firearms Instructor Certifications
Civilian Marksmanship Program GSM Master Instructor