Advisory Board
Purpose
The purpose of the ISE Advisory board is to provide input and support for the department. This includes advising faculty and the department chair about all of its programs, students, projects and centers and providing contributions to the department.
Karen LaRochelle ’88 - Advisory Board Director
Karen is currently the Executive Director of the Strategic Transactions Group for Bristol-Myers Squibb, Co.. Her job focus is on focus on biopharmaceutical collaborations on products and mergers and acquisition of new businesses. This includes valuation and negotiation of strategic collaborations, out-licenses and acquisitions across our disease areas of oncology, antivirals, neuroscience and cardiovascular. Karen has also lead post-execution alliance management on two strategic partnerships.
She joined the Advisory Board in 2007 and hopes to provide a voice on behalf of the student’s education and a link for the students and department to the business world. Karen would also hope to see the ISE department grow in the number of interested undergrad students and strengthen its leadership within the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science and Lehigh. With her given pharmaceutical background, she also hopes to influence an increased healthcare focus within the ISE program.
Thomas Cassidy ’87
Tom is currently the Director in the PRO Office for Bayada Nurses in Philadelphia. Prior to joining Bayada, Tom worked at Pricewaterhouse Coopers, UPS, Answerthink and Alliance Consulting. Tom graduated from the ISE Department in 1987 and received his Master’s of Engineering from Penn State.
Katherine Drewes ’06
Katie is currently a Senior Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Advisory in Virginia. As a Management Consultant with PwC, she helps companies anticipate, create, and manage change. Her recent projects include helping companies develop and implement sustainable cost reduction initiatives to improve their business processes while enhancing their overall financial position. Katie joined the board in spring 2008 and wanted to be able to provide her input on how the program can help make today's students be the most successful after their first few years out of school.
Andrew Duffy ’98
Andy started his career at UPS as a co-op in the Philadelphia area during his junior and senior year at Lehigh. He is currently an Operations Business Manager for all pick-up and delivery operations in the southern New Jersey. He graduated from the department in 1998 and received his M.B.A. from Temple in General and Strategic Management in 2006. Andy decided to join the board in 2006, because he wanted to help the department and to have UPS stay connected to Lehigh.
Deborah Halkins ’83
Deborah is Director of Management Engineering Lehigh Valley Health Network in Bethlehem. She is responsible for developing recommendations to produce operational improvements and increase cost effectiveness of hospital activities applying industrial engineering and business management techniques to problem-solving efforts. Deborah received her Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Penn State and a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering and an M.B.A. from Lehigh.
Stephen Senkowski ’73
Steve received his Bachelor’s in ISE in 1973, and just recently retired from Armstrong Industries this past April. He was Executive Vice-President of AWI, and President and CEO of Armstrong Building Products and Asia-Pacific Operations. Steve was responsible for Armstrong's Ceiling business and all Asian businesses. As an advisory board member, he hopes to bring an understanding of opportunity to apply IE principles and tools to manufacturing.
Barry Wexler ’91
Barry has over 20 years of experience in various organizational arenas. He is currently a project engineer with Lockheed Martin-Commercial Space Systems, supporting Operations as a Lean Manufacturing Facilitator. He graduated from the department in 1991 and received his Master’s degree in Management from the Stevens Institute of Technology.
Dr. Gary Whitehouse ’60, ’62G
Gary served as Chair of the University of Central Florida's Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Department and Dean of UCF's College of Engineering. His interests include applied operations research, simulation, and computer applications. He has received a number of awards, including recognition as a Fellow from the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE), the Florida Engineering Society (FES) and the outstanding IIE Publication-of-the-Year Award for his book dealing with computer applications for the industrial engineering field. He has served in a number of leadership roles for the IIE, the FES, INFORMS, and the American Society of Engineering Educators. He is the first recipient of the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department’s 2009 Distinguished Alumni Award for achievements in academia.
Dr. Wilson Yale ’73, ’76G, ’78Ph.D.
Wilson received a BS in Engineering Science with a major in Mathematics in 1973, an MS in Management Science with a concentration in Finance in 1976, a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering with a Major in Operations Research and a Minor in Information Systems in 1978. He currently works for Morgan Stanley as a Senior Institutional Consultant focusing in preparing written Investment Policy Statements, performing Investment Manager Searches, and providing Investment Performance Monitoring to help fiduciaries avoid Personal Pension Liability and to help individuals manage their retirement assets. Wilson’s goal on the advisory board is to assist with keeping the Senior Project Course and Analytical Finance Programs as viable training platforms.