N.E.W. LEAN Conference Speaker Bios

Dr. Becky Andree, Vertical Leadership Consulting & University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point

Dr. Becky Andree has over 30 years of experience helping organizations and leaders navigate complex change. She has designed and led global change initiatives for Fortune 100 companies, including leadership development programs, performance management transformations, and lean manufacturing efforts. She collaborated with the Lean department to develop a training program that shifted supervisors from reactive to proactive leadership, translated into 13 languages and deployed across 20+ countries, reaching over 7,000 leaders.

A former faculty member at the Federal Executive Institute, Dr. Andree specializes in developing leaders’ capacity to manage complexity. Her research and consulting focus on adaptive leadership, cognitive development, and behavioral change. She applies insights from the SWITCH model to help leaders move from resistance to readiness, ensuring continuous improvement and sustained change.

Roni Bach, NEW Water

Roni Bach, Administrative Services Supervisor at NEW Water, the brand of Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District, has been with the organization since 2022. Passionate about continuous improvement and employee engagement, she has played an active role in promoting Lean principles throughout the organization through creative events, team collaboration, and process-improvement initiatives. Roni enjoys finding innovative ways to make Lean approachable and engaging while helping teams identify opportunities for growth and efficiency.

Joe Brittnacher, Robinson, Inc.

Joe Brittnacher is an operations executive with a proven track record of leading transformation, driving profitable growth, and building high-performing teams within the manufacturing sector.  Joe has held senior leadership roles at several Northeast Wisconsin manufacturers, representing multiple industrial sectors, where he has delivered measurable improvements in productivity, cost structure, and organizational effectiveness. Joe’s leadership style blends high expectations with a strong focus on people development. He is passionate about coaching teams, developing future leaders, and creating environments where individuals and organizations can thrive. His ability to drive change while maintaining operational discipline has made him a trusted leader in complex and fast-paced manufacturing environments. With a deep expertise in multi-site operations, continuous improvement, and P&L leadership, Joe specializes in turning operational complexity into understandable, scalable, efficient, and performance-oriented systems.  He is known for his ability to align strategy with execution—leveraging Lean and Six Sigma principles to optimize processes while fostering a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

Beth Clausen, NEW Water

Beth Clausen, Director of Business Services, has been with NEW Water, the brand of Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District, since 2019.  Beth joined NEW Water’s Lean Team Committee in 2022 and held the chair position 3 of those years. Beth enjoys being an agent of change, finding improvements in everything she works on along with partnering with her team to identify opportunities.

Heidi Jackson, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College

Heidi Jackson is a talent and organizational development professional with the Corporate Training & Economic Development team at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC). Heidi brings 20 years of experience in program design/facilitation and actively engaging large, medium or small participant groups. She has partnered with and supported a vast space of industries – healthcare to agriculture, manufacturing to non-profit and education to leisure just to name a few. Prior to joining NWTC, Heidi supported the design, development, management and delivery of learning and development initiatives on a global scale. She also delivered career planning and leadership programs on a national level. In addition to her Business degree, Heidi holds professional certifications from The Ken Blanchard Companies, AchieveGlobal, Linkage, Langevin Learning Services, Personnel Decisions International, True Colors, NWTC, and The Association for Talent Development. Today, with NWTC, Heidi’s specialties include partnering with businesses and industries for initiatives like talent development, curriculum design, and the creation and delivery of interactive programs around leadership and improved performance results. In the classroom, Heidi facilitates all programs and workshops in her signature and approachable style: professional, engaging and fun. She is relatable and effective “across the business” – from leading strategic planning sessions for the leadership team to leadership development for mid and frontline supervisors.

Cheryl Jekiel, Lean Leadership Center

Cheryl Jekiel, Founder of the Lean Leadership Center, works with visionary organizations that require strong people strategies and systems to achieve their business vision. She and her team help leadership teams increase the capability of their people to create limitless organizational value.

Ms. Jekiel has developed an expertise in lean manufacturing with a particular focus on lean cultures in leadership roles at Sweetheart Cup, Parco Foods, and Flying Food Group.

Ms. Jekiel has held a variety of senior leadership roles covering operations, human resources and as a chief operating officer for a number of years.

As the author of “Lean Human Resources: Redesigning HR Practices for a Culture of Continuous Improvement”, Ms. Jekiel is committed to building Lean HR as a recognized field of work. She lives in the Chicagoland area with her husband and two dogs, Sid and Ginger.

Katie Labedz, Learning To Lean

Katie Labedz is the President/CEO of a process improvement consulting. Learning to Lean helps companies to embrace the concepts of continuous improvement, leading to REVOLUTIONARY results through coaching, training and kaizen events.

Katie is a certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, Project Management Professional (PMP), certified Emotional Intelligence Coach, and sought after keynote speaker. She has been practicing Lean, Six Sigma and Project Management concepts for over 20 years. Katie is the epitome of perseverance. She has also authored two books, "How to Improve Absolutely Anything-Continuous Improvement in Your Home, Office and Family Life" and "How to Improve Absolutely Every Process-Kaizen for process improvement and fun."  You can reach Katie on LinkedIn, via her website www.learningtolean.training or via email info@learningtolean.training.

Trista Loritz, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College

Trista Loritz is a strategic project and process improvement leader at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) where she helps leaders and teams make complex, knowledge‑based work visible, manageable, and actionable in order to translate strategy into delivered value.

In her current role, Trista leads large, organization‑wide initiatives and grant‑funded work, supporting leaders by turning strategic priorities into clear, visible plans and shared views of work. She uses visual approaches to connect goals, scope, ownership, and progress, helping teams understand not just what they are doing, but why it matters and where value is at risk. This visibility supports informed decision‑making and creates the conditions for change adoption.

Earlier in her career, Trista led process redesign and implementation efforts across healthcare and higher education settings, working at the intersection of people, systems, and change. Across roles, she has seen that the value of well-designed plans is only realized when work is understood, adopted, and used, shaping her belief that effective delivery and change management are inseparable. She is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and Prosci Change Management Practitioner, and is committed to helping organizations improve how value is defined, communicated, and realized through visible work.

Raisa M. Ramos, MBA, SHRM-CP, Joy Off The Path, LLC.

Raisa M. Ramos, MBA, SHRM-CP, is an engineer-turned-HR Advisor with over 20 years of experience leading teams at Global 500 and private equity companies. Her results-driven, human-centered approach simplifies the often-overcomplicated world of management, helping leaders find clarity and confidence without sacrificing authenticity. As the founder of Find Joy Off The Path, LLC, Raisa helps companies transform overwhelmed managers into confident leaders. Clients hire Raisa to deliver leadership workshops, Spanish business translations, and fractional HR support. Her new book “Now You’re Leading! Navigating Your First Days as a New Manager” oƯers practical steps new leaders can apply immediately without feeling overloaded. Learn more about Raisa and how she helps organizations and individuals at www.findjoyoffthepath.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/raisamramos/