Bio
Barbara provides direct support to the statewide director of the North Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NCMEP). In this role she provides strategic direction to the field operations staff consisting of Regional Managers (RM) and Improvement Specialists (IS). RMs are our clients’ first point of contact for tailored business and industry solutions. The goal of the RMs is to become trusted advisors to our clients. They have geographical territories and live in the communities they serve. The ISs are our subject matter experts. They are well versed in areas such as advanced manufacturing (automation, robotics, sensors); business growth and innovation (product ideation, business strategies, international business); management systems and quality (ISO 9001, AS 9100, IATF 16949, ISO 14001, ISO 45001); and process optimization (lean, six sigma, industrial engineering, leadership and organizational development). Barbara has over 30 years of manufacturing and engineering experience with 22 of those years directly related to training, auditing and implementing quality management systems (ISO 9001, AS 9100, etc.). Before joining IES, Barbara worked for the United States Department of Energy (DOE) as a nuclear safety engineer, where she led teams that improved safety at three nuclear materials processing facilities. After leaving DOE, Barbara started as an ISO 9000 consulting business and served companies in the metal fabrication, industrial painting, rubber products, medical/industrial gases and textiles industries. Barbara is a trained auditor in ISO 9001:2015 and AS9100D. She holds certifications as an ASQ certified quality auditor (CQA), an exemplar global Quality Management Systems lead auditor (QMS-LA) and as a PLEXUS Quality Systems trainer for ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. Barbara has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.
