About PIVOT Consultants
About Us
Passionate
and sustainable
PIVOT Management Consultants is composed of a number of experienced and accomplished professionals in a variety of industries. Each of our consultants has years of experience in their field of specialty and are ready to bring the best-practices of their industry to help you achieve success and unlock the potential of your organization. Our consultants also work together in teams to enhance their capabilities forming a cross-functional team.
Akhilesh Gulati is the Principal of Pivot Consulting, is well recognized for his strategic and tactical application of lean and six sigma and now for his articles on application of TRIZ. His specialties include: process excellence through Lean & Six Sigma, Productivity Improvement, Cost and Waste Reduction, Business Process Development/Enhancement and Customer Satisfaction, Change Management and application of the Balanced Scorecard. He was among the first to add TRIZ to these systems. He has over 20 years of experience in team leadership, and coordination, problem solving, lean manufacturing and kaizen events, process and productivity improvement. Experienced in a wide variety of industries:ship building, oil and gas, aerospace, insurance, healthcare, distribution, hi-tech and manufacturing. His graduate education includes MBA from UCLA; MS in Naval Architecture from University of Michigan Ann Arbor; past California Quality Award Examiner; Senior Member and past ASQ Section chair. Provides training and consulting in problem solving through lean, six sigma and TRIZ.
Rolf Biernath, PhD. brings over 30 years of experience in creating innovative solutions for customers in a variety of industries. He has authored 55 US patents and excels at integrating science, technology, and engineering to deliver practical solutions. His expertise includes product development, intellectual property, product line strategy and physics-based models. As a PIVOTMC Senior Team Member, he guides client project teams to bring innovations to market within budget and on time, focusing on solving complex problems related to IoT optical sensors, optical films, microfluidics, and related technologies.
Dr. Biernath helps clients create innovative process and product solutions using science, technology, and engineering by helping define and solve complex problems and anticipating the impact of new technology trends. He checks to see if AI, automation, or robotics fits your needs while helping keep employees secure and involved. His approach of “Smart Manufacturing Solutions: Designed with Your People” it focuses on enhancing the workforce’s quality of life and productivity.
In addition to consulting, Dr. Biernath is also open to a variety of roles such as Technical Advisory Boards, and Fractional Roles including CTO, Innovation Leader, and Senior Technical Leadership.
Dan Brown has been a quality professional for over 30 years in a variety of industries, including chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, nuclear suppliers, sales incentives, warehousing/distribution, and machinery rebuilding/repair. He has held a variety of positions, starting with Quality Control Laboratory Technician and progressing to Quality Assurance Coordinator, Quality Assurance Manager, Operations Manager, Quality Systems Auditor and Management Representative for Quality.
As an active member of the American Society for Quality since 1987, a Senior Member of ASQ since 1993, and an ASQ Certified Quality Auditor since 1989, Dan has held numerous positions on the Board for the Chicago Section, ASQ. He served as Chairman of the 2009 Northern Illinois Quality Conference and the ASQ Chicago Section 1201.
Most recently, Dan has partnered with Eagle Registrations in delivering ISO 13485 Registration Services.
Specialties
Alfredo Romero is a subject matter expert in marketing, sales, operations, and product management. His goal is to help businesses improve their organizations and grow profitably using practical solutions and common sense problem solving and analytical business solutions his experience ranges from cultivating well known global brands to helping small entrepreneurial businesses take the next step towards growth. His work around the globe has resulted in success accross the Market Effectiveness path: From customer knowledge and segmentation to product development and product launch through lead generation and sales training.
Alfredo holds a degree in Economics form Pomona College in Claremont and an MBA from The UCLA Anderson School. In addition to working with PIVOT, he is also a lecturer at the College of Business Administration at Loyola Marymount University where he teaches Operations and Supply Chain Management Analytics.
Donald Wood has spent his entire career in performance excellence, process improvement, problem solving and quality management. As a tenured consultant he engages organizations in change initiative planning and execution—with particular strength in the areas of value stream opportunity assessment, strategy alignment, executive education and executing process transformation.
Don is a proven Six Sigma master black belt and Lean master who can work dexterously in healthcare, transactional, and traditional manufacturing environments. Don is also ambidextrous as he incorporates innovation tools into his process improvement work—finding new ways to solve problems and meet performance targets.
Don has an MBA from Regis University in Denver, Colorado. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in International Management with a minor in Economics from the same university. Don’s training includes certifications as a Master Black Belt, Project Management Professional (PMP), PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP), and PROSCI Change Practitioner. He is also an ASQ-certified Six Sigma Black Belt, Certified Quality Manager, and Certified Quality Engineer. In addition, Don has contributed as an author to two books: “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Lean Six Sigma” and “A Team Leader’s Guide to Lean Kaizen Events”.
Industries Served:
- Petroleum
- Automotive
- Aerospace
- Paper
- Retail Goods
- Industrial Machinery
- Pharmaceutical / Nutraceutical
- Food and Beverage
Nik Porfyris is a mission driven leader, coach, mentor, and educator skilled in solving strategic and tactical organizational challenges. Pragmatic, resilient, effective, and resourceful. With over 30 years of experience, excels in identifying business opportunities and innovative solutions to enhance organizational and individual capabilities and traits. Accomplished in mergers and acquisitions, turn-arounds, start-ups and continual improvement in corporate, non-for-profit and entrepreneurial environments.
Nik has consulted with multinational organizations on a wide range of mission critical organizational challenges, delivered multimillion dollar initiatives and trained hundreds of professionals on Lean Six Sigma, Statistical and Project Management tools and techniques.
He is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt, Quality Manager / Organizational Excellence, Quality Auditor, Quality Engineer, PMP and Adult Educator and holds a Masters in Applied Professional Studies from DePaul University. His research focus and post-graduate studies concentrate in crisis decision-making and related frameworks.
Additionally, he serves as the ASQ Chicago Section Chair, is an active ASQ ConnEx Expert, teaches Lean Six Sigma, Continuous Improvement and SPC classes, he enjoys life with grandkids, and is an avid flyer.
Accomplishments
- Trained / Mentored / Coached over 500 professionals in Lean Six Sigma, Project Management and Continuous / Continual improvement.
- Facilitated the planning and delivery of complex strategic initiatives, often with budgets of over $20MM, for multinationals such as Chase, Motorola, Abbott, Discover, and mid-size enterprises.
- Served as Vice President at Northern Trust for 4.5 years.
- Serves as the Chair for the ASQ Chicago Section and is a member of the Project Management Institute