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The Future of Advanced Manufacturing

October 6, 2021 @ 11:30 am - 1:00 pm

October marks Manufacturing Month! MassEcon and the Middlesex3 Coalition have partnered to bring economic development professionals, business leaders, experts in construction, and more together for a virtual discussion on “The Future of Advanced Manufacturing.”

  • 11:30: Virtual Networking
  • Noon: Featured Speaker, Panel moderated by MassDevelopment President and CEO Dan Rivera, followed by a Q&A segment.

Watch the event recording here.

View Christine Nolan’s presentation here.

Featured Speaker

Christine Nolan, Director, Center for Advanced Manufacturing, Massachusetts Technology Collaborative
As the director of the Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CAM) at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the agency focused on growing the tech and innovation sectors across Massachusetts, Christine is tasked with fostering a dynamic ecosystem from innovation through production. Her focus is in three areas: driving innovation, developing a workforce that meets the needs of the manufacturing industry, and providing a business environment that helps to drive the success and growth of manufacturing statewide. She oversees advanced manufacturing initiatives, leads targeted grant programs, drives thought leadership, and facilitates working groups and projects statewide. To this role, Nolan brings a wealth of senior level experience from manufacturing and technology organizations in Massachusetts. A graduate of WPI, she spent the first half of her career in increasing roles at manufacturers including Augat, Inc., a maker of connectors and sockets, and Parker Hannifin Corporation and Kollmorgen, both global leaders in motion and control technologies, where she saw progressive roles in manufacturing engineering and strategic account management.  Nolan also brings an expertise in marketing following customer-focused roles with Virtual Inc., the Mass. Technology Leadership Council, and Bedford-based RSA Security, a provider of intelligence-driven security solutions. She is also a co-founder of Boston TechJam, an annual event to celebrate the region’s technology sector that attracted over 8,000 attendees from the Massachusetts tech community.

Moderator

Dan Rivera, President and CEO, MassDevelopment
Dan Rivera comes to MassDevelopment after serving seven years as Mayor of the City of Lawrence. During his time as Mayor, the city saw significant commercial development, record new units of housing, and tens of millions of dollars invested in economic development planning and projects. Dan’s focus on economic and community development as Mayor included investments in housing, job creation, downtown redevelopment, transit-oriented development and equity, infrastructure, brownfields redevelopment, placemaking, and quality-of-life improvements, and establishing professional, transparent, modern, and streamlined permitting and licensing processes. Dan was an invaluable member of the Baker-Polito Administration’s Reopening Advisory Board, bringing the municipal viewpoint to the group tasked with developing the Commonwealth’s strategy to reopen the economy during COVID-19, and the COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group. In 2017, Governor Baker tapped Rivera to serve on the newly established Latino Advisory Commission charged with addressing concerns of the Massachusetts Latino community and promoting economic prosperity and well-being. Prior to his two terms as Mayor of Lawrence, Dan held various positions in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Dan is a veteran of the U.S. Army, where he served in the first Gulf War, Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and a graduate of the UMass Amherst and Suffolk University’s Sawyer School of Management, where he earned his MBA.

Panelists

Jessica Levesque, Director of Human Resources, Werfen
Jessica Levesque is the Director of Human Resources at Werfen in Bedford, MA, a major player in the medical diagnostic instrumentation field (formerly known as Instrumentation Laboratory Company). Werfen is a privately owned company headquartered in Barcelona, Spain. Jessica has been in the HR field for over 20 years, predominantly in biotech and high-tech startups in the Boston area, and is primarily focused on talent acquisition and leadership development. Jessica holds a BA degree from Stonehill College, a certificate in Leadership and Development from WPI, and a certificate in Diversity and Inclusion from Cornell University.

 

Tina Gaud, HR Generalist, Sheaumann Laser
Since joining Sheaumann Laser, the Billerica-based manufacturer of laser diodes, Tina has been responsible for the HR needs of the growing tech company. Tina consistently demonstrates leadership and a team-oriented approach when dealing with her employees and her co-workers. Tina previously worked at a staffing agency called Operon and discovered that HR is where she wanted her career path to go. Tina has two kids and spends all her free time with family and friends enjoying the lakes of New England.

 

Stephen Horan, Vice President, Leasing, Farley White Management Company
Since joining Farley White in 2016, Steve has consistently demonstrated superior leadership and a team-first, customer-centric approach while meeting the diverse needs of our customers in the office, lab, and high-tech manufacturing space. Most recently at Farley White, Steve was directly responsible for the brokerage strategy and leasing transactions of 1.5M SF of office, flex, and lab buildings along the highly visible Route 3 corridor and played a leading role in strategy and brokerage operations for an additional 3M SF of property in key locations across New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Florida.

Lynn Tokarczyk, Government Tax Incentives Consultant, Business Development Strategies, Inc.
BDS is a leading government tax incentives consulting firm in Massachusetts. Celebrating 18 years of success, BDS has helped growing companies in Massachusetts identify, negotiate and secure state tax credits, Tax Increment Financing (TIFs), and other state and local tax incentives that stimulate business investment and job creation. BDS founder and President Lynn Tokarczyk is a former regional director of the Massachusetts Office of Business Development and senior manager for Ernst & Young’s State and Local Tax Incentives Practice. A graduate of Lasell College, Lynn currently serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM), the Milford Regional Medical Center Foundation Board of Trustees and is a member of several Chambers of Commerce.

Kevin Quinn, President/CEO, Dacon Corporation
Kevin is responsible for developing and implementing strategic business plans and guiding the corporation toward efficient and successful operations. He is also responsible for developing new business, maintaining client relations, and coordinating Dacon’s resources for the successful implementation of each project. His expertise is in strategy, new business development, client relationship management, and general management.

 

Wayne Bates, Vice President, Industrial Sector Leader, Tighe & Bond
Wayne Bates has 34 years of experience providing consulting services to manufacturing clients ranging from facilitating high-level discussions on operational improvements to engineering design solutions. He regularly assists clients with complex issues by developing new and creative methods for success and gains great satisfaction from seeing improvements from even the smallest process modifications. He is an adjunct professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), serves on the WPI board of directors for the Center for Business Sustainability, is a sustainability facilitator for the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, and serves as the Ghana travelling mentor for the UMass Amherst’s student chapter of Engineers Without Borders.

 

Thank you to event sponsors Werfen and Dacon Corporation

Have questions? Contact Annie O’Connell at aoconnell@massecon.com

Thank you to Event Co-Host Middlesex3 Coalition

 

 

Details

Date:
October 6, 2021
Time:
11:30 am - 1:00 pm
Event Categories:
,

Venue

Virtual