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Frank Degar
is the president of Pillar Management Associates, a process improvement
and consulting firm. Frank's varied background gives him a unique
perspective in the consulting and training process. Frank started his
career as an electrical engineer for a large tier one automotive
supplier. He then joined Whirlpool Corporation as a Senior Development
Engineer. He left to start his own plastic molding company that grew to
three facilities in ten years and also became a tier one automotive
supplier. After selling his firm he spent ten years as a management
consultant specializing in reestablishing troubled companies. In
conjunction with this activity he has owned a construction firm, a
distributorship and a computer systems reseller.
Frank
then joined the University of South Carolina as the Associate Director
of a NIST sponsored program called the Southeast Manufacturing
Technology Center (SMTC) which helped small manufacturers become more
competitive. He subsequently was asked to create an accredited
registrar and was the co-creator of American Quality Assessors (AQA),
a ANAB accredited registrar. He was the Executive Director of AQA
until early 1997 when he and his partner formed Pillar Management
Associates.
Frank
is a RABQSA certified management systems lead auditor with over 600
audits, 60 of which were TS16949 and 100 are ISO 14001. Frank is
recognized as an international expert in his field and has audited,
consulted and trained in 12 countries including Italy, Greece, Lebanon,
Egypt, China, Japan, Bulgaria, Costa Rica and India plus in North and
Central America. He speaks regularly at several universities around the
world. He was instrumental in establishing two additional accredited
registrars for whom he conducts audits. In addition, he has created and
conducts accredited lead auditor courses for ISO 9001, OHSAS
18001/Z10 and ISO
14001. Frank has a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University
of Syracuse.
Carol Whinham Robinson
is the vice president of Pillar Management Associates, a process
improvement and consulting firm. Her background is primarily
in quality systems and manufacturing engineering. Carol
started her career as a manufacturing engineer for Dana Corporation, a
Fortune 500 tier 1 automotive supplier where she also held the position
of Quality Assurance Manager. She then joined AMBAC International as a
Senior Quality Engineer. Carol then joined the University of South
Carolina as the Associate Technical Director of a NIST sponsored
program called the Southeast Manufacturing Technology Center (SMTC)
which helped small manufacturers become more competitive. She
subsequently was asked to create an accredited ISO registrar and was
the co-creator of American Quality Assessors (AQA), an ANAB
accredited registrar. She was the Director of Registration at AQA until
early 1997 when she and her partner formed Pillar Management Associates.
Carol
is a RABQSA certified quality systems lead auditor with over 500
audits.
She is a TS16949 and ISO 9001 qualified lead auditor and ASQC CQE and
CQA. In addition, she is a qualified trainer for ISO 9001, OHSAS 18001/Z10 and ISO 14001
lead auditor courses and has facilitated the registration of a large
firm with over 5000 employees in twelve international locations.
Additionally she has assisted over 100 firms in attaining registration.
She has a B.S. Industrial Engineering from the University of Toledo and
an MBA from the University of South Carolina. She is a Ph.D.
candidate in Management Science studying environmental practices at the
University of South Carolina.
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