NEW ORLEANS CHAPTER BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President - Dinah Desoto
| Dinah has been a member of APICS since 1999 and has served on the Board of Directors for the New Orleans chapter since 2003. She has worked in various aspects of manufacturing for 30+ years. Dinah will be graduating from the University of New Orleans in December of 2007 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Management and a minor in Management Information Systems. Dinah has also earned her CPIM certification through APICS. She is currently employed by Laitram Machine Shop in Harahan providing support in scheduling, capacity planning and forecasting. |
V.P. of Education - Dr. Kevin Watson
| Kevin Watson is an Assistant Professor of Management and Engineering Management at the University of New Orleans. He received his Ph.D. in Operations Management from The University of Georgia in 2002. His academic and professional interests involve supply chain management, environmental management, and the theory of constraints. He has published a number of articles in leading academic journals including the Journal of Operations Management, the International Journal of Production Research, Production Planning & Control, and Management of Environmental Quality. In addition to his academic work, he has consulted with several Fortune 500 companies designing, reviewing, and evaluating manufacturing and supply chain systems. Along with his wife Jaime, he lives on the Northshore with their three children Eli, Owen, and Wade. |
Webmaster/Secretary - Mary Ann Caruso
| Mary Ann has served on the New Orleans APICS board for 4 years. She has been working in IT related jobs for 27 years. She has worked for the Laitram, L.L.C. in the Information Technology Services department for the past 24 years. She has been involved in varies IT related jobs from Programmer Analyst to Project Manager implementing ERP solutions. Mary Ann graduated from Tulane University and has attended UNO working on her MBA. |
V.P. of Membership and Communication
- David Fahr
| David has served multiple capacities on the New Orleans Chapter Board for the past 10 years. Professionally, he has worked in a number of Supply Chain roles since graduating from LSU with an Operations Management degree in 1997. He currently works at Community Coffee Company in Baton Rouge as ERP Project Manager. More recently, David helped lead a team of Community Coffee employees throughout the SAP implementation and continues to manage and guide the company on use of the new system. David has 8 years of SAP experience consisting of both functional and project management. In 2002, David received an M.B.A from Southeastern Louisiana University. |
Treasurer - Hector Ortega
| Hector is a new member to the New Orleans Chapter Board. Professionally, he has worked in a number of Supply Chain roles since graduating from LSU with an Engineering degree in 2002. Previous positions include Engineer Intern and Packaging Engineer. He currently works at Community Coffee Company in Baton Rouge as a Planning Engineer. Hector helped lead the Production Planning team at Community Coffee throughout their SAP implementation and continues to manage and guide the company on use of the new system. Hector has 2 years of SAP experience and provides support in forecasting, scheduling, capacity planning, and inventory management. |