Bio
Barbara provides strategic direction to the field operations staff who engage clients and provide technical services. Barbara is also responsible for engaging university, state and national leaders in economic development and business growth opportunities and serves as a key liaison between IES and stakeholders of state and federally funded programs. Barbara provides direct support to the statewide director of the North Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NCMEP). Barbara’s role includes leadership of the statewide client development team and the technical specialization programs including process optimization, quality and management systems, industrial engineering, performance excellence and technology management. Barbara is a senior facilitator with over 23 years of manufacturing and engineering experience with 19 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) for seven years 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 has a B.S. in mechanical engineering. She 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.