Nick Adler

Nick Adler is Vice President of Value Streams for Wabash, an innovation leader of connected solutions for the transportation, logistics, and distribution industries. In this role, he is responsible for a $2.5B+ operating plan and increasing value for customers throughout all Wabash business segments. Nick has a varied and extensive experience in the automotive and commercial transportation industries leading a wide range of business functions including IT, Supply Chain, Procurement, Strategy, Program Management and Enterprise Lean. Nick is a proud Chemical Engineering graduate from Purdue and has served on the Management Advisory Board for DCMME since October 2022.

Stephan Robert Biller

Stephan Biller is the Harold T. Amrine Distinguished Professor in the School of Industrial Engineering and the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr School of Business at Purdue University and serves as Director of the Dauch Center for the Management of Manufacturing Enterprises at the Daniels School of Business and the co-director and founder of Purdue's national initiative in eXcellence in Manufacturing and Operations (XMO). His expertise includes Smart Manufacturing, Digital Twin, Industry 4.0, and Resilient Supply Chain Management. He focuses on AI and IoT integrated with lean Six Sigma manufacturing processes to facilitate the Digital Transformation of large and especially small and medium manufacturing enterprises @ scale. Previously, he served as Founder and CEO of Advanced Manufacturing International, Vice President of Product Management for AI Applications & Watson IoT at IBM, Chief Manufacturing Scientist & Manufacturing Technology Director at General Electric, and Tech Fellow & Global Group Manager for Manufacturing Systems at General Motors. He is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt, an IEEE Fellow, and an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering.

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Alex Capone

Alex Capone is a digital transformation advisor who provides business and technology consultation with a strong affinity for client relationships and leadership role management. Among his areas of concentration are artificial intelligence, aerospace, manufacturing, global strategy, and robotics. He has worked with the Ford Motor Company, ExactSolid, Capgemini, Tesla, and Michelin. His industry experience spans product and software development processes, product lifecycle management services, enterprise resource planning and smart factory, new product development, and introduction and product information management from ideation to end of life. Some of the projects he has led include: creating a 3D rendering dataset to speed up the learning of static vision systems for assembly lines; leveraging 3D rendering simulation videos with kinematics to speed up the learning model; and using physics-based modeling to accelerate recognition for quality inspection prediction models.

Fred Cartwright

Fred Cartwright, former General Motors executive and past executive director of the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR), has been named president and CEO of Conexus Indiana, a statewide organization dedicated to strengthening Indiana's advanced manufacturing and logistics industries. Cartwright succeeds retiring president and CEO J. Mark Howell, who has led Conexus since late 2017.

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Ajay Malshe

Ajay Malshe, the R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering, has been appointed as a President's Fellow by Purdue University.

Malshe joined Purdue University in January 2020. He has gained a national and international reputation in academia, entrepreneurship and industries for advanced manufacturing, bio-inspired designing, functional multi-materials, and system integration and productization. Over the decades, application areas of his interest and contributions have included heterogeneous microelectronics for high-density systems; nanomanufacturing for extreme machines; in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM) at the point of need; and biomanufacturing for future foods and farms for equity.

He is co-directing a new initiative, the eXcellence in Manufacturing and Operations Purdue Engineering Initiative (XMO PEI), positioned to strengthen the U.S. advanced manufacturing industry's adaptability for the 21st century across multiple sectors, such as semiconductors, aerospace, defense, biomanufacturing for agriculture, and transportation. XMO recently held its first Purdue manufacturing summit in Washington, DC. Purdue is also establishing a state-of-the-art manufacturing research facility called the Manufacturing and Materials Research Laboratories (MMRL); Malshe serves as the MMRL's first director.

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Elisabeth B. Reynolds

Elisabeth B. Reynolds, Ph.D., is Professor of the Practice in the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning. She was Special Assistant to President Biden for Manufacturing and Economic Development at the National Economic Council (NEC, 2021-2022) where she helped lead the Administration's work on national manufacturing strategy, supply chain resilience and industrial strategy. Before working at the NEC, Reynolds was a Principal Research Scientist and executive director of the MIT Industrial Performance Center (2010-2021), an interdisciplinary research center focused on systems of innovation and industrial transformation. She also co-led the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future (2018-2021) which examined the relationship between emerging technologies and work. Reynolds' work and research focus on systems of innovation and manufacturing including growing innovative firms to scale and digital technology adoption.

Reynolds has worked on rebuilding manufacturing capabilities in the U.S. in a number of capacities including advising three Massachusetts governors. She is on the board of the non-profits, Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) and the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI) as well as an advisor to the Special Competitive Studies Project, a Washington think tank focused on national security and critical technologies.

Craig Sutton

Craig Sutton is the Vice President for Industry 4.0 at Eaton Corp. He is driving the development and adoption of industry leading technologies to drive value and competitive advantage to their global manufacturing footprint which builds power management solutions. He has a passion for new manufacturing technologies such as additive manufacturing, robotics, lightweight materials, digital manufacturing, Industrial 5G, and Internet of Things (IoT) for manufacturing.

Prior to Eaton, he worked for over 23 years at John Deere with roles ranging from customer support, quality engineering, product engineering, product validation, and advanced manufacturing & innovation.

Along with experience in product design and advanced manufacturing, he currently serves on the CESMII (Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute) executive council, Girl Scout of NorthEast Ohio board, Quad City Manufacturing Lab board, and has previously served on the Western Illinois University College of Engineering advisory board, Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Corp (IMEC) board, the Iowa Innovation Council, and MxD institute's tech advisory council.

Craig received his bachelor's degree in agriculture engineering from the University of Illinois, an executive MBA from the Tippie School of Business at the University of Iowa, and a Strategic Innovation Leadership certificate from Northwestern Kellogg School of Management. He currently works at the Eaton Center based out of Cleveland, OH.