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Katie Takacs is the marketing and operations manager for the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) at Georgia Tech. She leads the marketing strategy and outreach efforts for the GaMEP, and oversees the operational structure supporting GaMEP’s reporting and administrative functions. Prior to her work at GaMEP, Katie was the marketing manager in Georgia Tech’s Professional Education department. Before joining Georgia Tech, she worked at a variety of marketing agencies. Katie holds an MBA from Nova Southeastern University and a B.S. in Business Administration and Marketing from the University of Florida.

Paul Neves is a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park. He plans to obtain a Ph.D. in condensed matter physics and become a professor. Besides classes at UMD and research at the NCNR, Paul enjoys making and listening to music, playing tabletop games, volunteering with STEM outreach, watching sci-fi, and tinkering. As a tinkerer, Paul tries anything from car repair to chainmail weaving and is the proud owner of a chainmail tie (though he has no idea where to wear it).

Andrew Nobleman is a Grants Management Specialist at NIST, where he manages a diverse portfolio from the Center for Neutron Research to the Manufacturing Extension Partnership programs. He enjoys taking in the extracurricular activities offered at NIST's main campus, including soccer, ultimate frisbee, gardening and, most recently, volunteering for the NIST blogs. In his free time, Andrew and his family are attempting to visit all the National Parks in the United States. 

CONNSTEP is Connecticut’s premier business consulting firm, helping manufacturers and other businesses for over 25 years. We provide strategic leadership and operational methodologies that make companies more competitive in today’s challenging economic climate.

Our consultants implement advanced business and technical solutions, as well as workforce strategies, that help organizations to grow, improve profitability, and create sustainable competitive advantages in the marketplace.

CONNSTEP’s multidisciplinary team of experts use a holistic approach that generates bottom-line improvements for your business and produces innovative, results-driven top line growth for enterprise-wide impact.

David Boulay, Ph.D., is the president of the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC, Illinois MEP). His leadership has developed from diverse settings that extend from a family-owned business to manufacturing, universities, and nonprofits. These various experiences help guide IMEC’s strategic direction to serve as a catalyst for small- and mid-sized company competitiveness. 

Boulay grew up in a family-owned business where he learned first-hand about the trials, challenges, and pride that is experienced by the owners and leaders of the companies IMEC works with. He has worked in various manufacturing roles from food plant sanitation to maintenance supervision to production, plant manager, and business unit manager in companies such as Frito-Lay and Pillsbury. Through these experiences, Boulay learned how company success is reliant on the skills and talents of its workforce. This has driven his passion in human resource development. 

His Ph.D. included a primary focus on high-performance work practices in small- and mid-sized companies and career pathways for workers. He brings a diverse blend of expertise in performance management, small business development, and organizational growth strategies to IMEC. Boulay has helped create and implement several initiatives to increase the flow of state and federal funding to manufacturers for projects, update worker skills, and help smaller manufacturers adopt new technology and business practices to improve energy efficiency.

The Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC) is a team of improvement specialists and technicians dedicated to providing organizations in Illinois with the tools and techniques to create sustainable competitive futures. The experienced hands-on team at IMEC works closely with its clients to plan critical business improvements in the areas of Leadership, Strategy, Customer Engagement, Operations, and Workforce.

With more than 50 full-time staff and partners positioned statewide, IMEC delivers the local expertise to not only plan and strategize, but to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of client improvements. In fact, IMEC assists more than 500 companies each year with successful business improvement projects.

As a result, IMEC has demonstrated a return on investment that exceeds 19:1. This is made possible as organizations become more effective and efficient – and together with IMEC – excel toward enterprise excellence.

The Nebraska Manufacturing Extension Partnership provides expert consulting, diverse training programs, industry events and workshops, and customized assistance to enrich the productivity, technological performance, and competitiveness of the state's small- to medium-sized manufacturers.