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.
Stephen Senkowski ’73 - Advisory Board Chair
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.
Jen Bodenstab ’08
Jen graduated with her Bachelor’s in Industrial Engineering with a minor in Leadership in 2008. She is currently an Associate in PricewaterhouseCooper's Mergers & Acquisitions practice, where she focuses on improvement and assessment of Information Technology, back office, and supply chain processes. She also performs buy-side due diligence to help identify key pre-deal issues and post-deal opportunities. Jen joined the Board in Fall 2010 and looks forward to providing input on how students can best prepare themselves to enter today's job market.
Anthony Hillman ’01
Anthony is a partner at PHARMAnalysts, a company that he founded in 2007. PHARMAnalysts is a consulting firm specializing in sales and marketing in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. In 2010, Anthony co-founded Lumad Medical Systems, an Electronic Medical Records software company, with three other Lehigh Alumni. Anthony has previously worked at marketRx, General Motors, and Accenture.
Keith Krenz ’79
During the early stages of his career after graduating in 1979, Mr. Krenz focused on applying computer simulation, planning, and optimization technology to traditional industrial production environments. In 1983 Mr. Krenz joined Lehigh University to develop and lead its Manufacturing Systems Engineering research initiatives. In early 1987, Mr. Krenz founded an independent industrial engineering firm (Technology Systems Corporation - TSC) that took on challenging business issue in the automotive, pharmaceutical, construction equipment, aerospace, consumer appliance, light metals, plastics, and industrial electronics sectors throughout North America, Europe and South America. Under Mr. Krenz’s leadership, TSC grew to over 200 engineers focusing on multi-year projects involving such issues as supply and value chain design, product portfolio planning and management, and advance product development process design. Mr. Krenz retired from active management of his firm in 2001 while staying on as vice chairman and member of the board of directors through 2004. One of the results of his seventeen years at TSC was his development of an advanced management methodology know as Market-Cash-Capacity-Speed or MCCS. Since retiring from TSC Mr. Krenz has helped launch a radio frequency identification (RFID) company, supported various company acquisition and divestiture efforts, is an active member of the board of directors and advisory boards of various companies, and remains active in new venture development projects.
Kurt J. Lesker III ’71
Kurt grew up in Pittsburgh Pa, and attended Lehigh from Sept 1967 till graduation June 1971 with his bachelors in Industrial Engineering. He joined the Navy as an Officer thru OCS. Served on Destroyers while in the Navy and had excellent training in management. Kurt completed tour of duty in August of 1974 and then attended the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, receiving my MBA in June of 1976. He later joined Rockwell International from 1976 thru 1979 working in finance at both the corporate headquarters and in a truck axle plant in Newark Ohio. In 1979, he joined the Kurt J. Lesker Company and became its President that year. The company grew from $4 million in sales and a regional market to over $70 million in sales with Global presents in North America, Europe and Asia. The Kurt J. Lesker Company grew from a regional distributor of High and Ultra High Vacuum Products to a global supplier with not only distribution, but also Engineering, Assembly and Machining.
Kurt joined the advisory board, because he believes that this is a critical time in the country for manufacturing. "In order for the USA to compete, we need leadership and institutions, like Lehigh, to teach students how to be a competitive manufacturer in a global economy."
Barry Levine ’81
Barry Levine graduated from Lehigh in 1981 with a degree in Industrial Engineering. He was recruited by Arthur Andersen to work in their consulting division, where he worked until 1984. He worked with Andersen clients on using technology to improve communications between the shop floor and management. During that time, Barry joined a task force to explore personal computers as a new business area for Andersen. In 1984, Barry and two other senior people from Arthur Andersen formed Microcomputer Consulting Group, Inc (MCG). The company focuses on helping small/medium businesses by developing custom, personal computer software and utilizing small computers cost effectively throughout the firm across many industries. Although the technology has changed, the company’s focus has stayed the same to this day. Barry continues to be a principle in the New York City-based firm.
During the start of the Internet craze, MCG opened a web development firm in 1994 called Image 9, where Barry was President. During that time they successfully implemented early concepts of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and early techniques for doing online Business-to-Consumer catalog sales for firms such as Brookstone.
Today, Barry works with companies to implement MCG’s unique proactive outsourced technology service they branded a ‘Computer HMO’, which has become very popular among professional services companies all over the NY tri-state area.
During his time at Lehigh, Barry was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa and played on the lacrosse team for 3 years.
Barry lives on Long Island with his wife Susan of 24 years and 3 children Max 21 (senior at Penn State), Jacob 17 and Brenna 15.
Scott McKay ’78
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.