Membership

Join the KC IIE Board

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Do you: …love Industrial Engineering…want to dedicate time learning more about the Industrial Engineering field…want to participate in facility tours at companies in the KC Metro area and beyond…want to help further the Industrial Engineering discipline in the KC Metro area…

Join the Kansas City Institute of Industrial Engineer’s board!

Current open positions include but are not limited to:

  • President Elect
  • Secretary
  • Corporate Relations

Contact Co-President: Anita Noller, Anita.Noller@hallmark.com or Co-President: Keith Johnson, Keith.Johnson@hallmark.com

 

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KCIIE Membership Reception

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Kansas City IIE Chapter’s 2015 Membership Reception and Social Media Advice for Career Management

Tuesday, April 28, 2015 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM (CDT)
Art Factory
5621 W 135th St #2630
Leawood, KS 66223

RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kciie-membership-reception-and-social-media-advice-for-career-management-tickets-16414984661?ref=enivtefor001&invite=NzgwNDg1Mi9hcmFuaG8yQGhhbGxtYXJrLmNvbS8w&utm_source=eb_email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=inviteformal001&utm_term=eventpage

Are you interested in some tips on how to manage your career and leverage social media to do so?                  Have you wondered what your KCIIE chapter has been up to and what they have planned this year?                   Are you intrigued by the lastest trendy art gallery in Kansas City, located in the new PrairieFire district?              Did you let your membership with IIE lapse?

If you answered YES to any of these questions, then you should join the KCIIE chapter and Dan Chojnacki and Ann Mann of Lee Hecht Harrison for an evening of networking, renewed and new social and professional connections, and some career tips!  Please come out at join us at the trendy new Art Factory in PrairieFire!

Event Details
  • We will serve heavy hors d’evours, water, soda, and a cash bar will be available
  • Register by April 17th and receive a complimentary drink ticket when you arrive
  • KCIIE members who bring a non-IIE member will receive a complimentary drink ticket for both themselves and their guest!
  • Door prizes will be available to members and to nonmembers who join IIE that evening
  • One free Membership to IIE
  • 2 – $100 Amazon Gift Cards
  • $50 Quiktrip Gift Cards
  • $25 Panera Gift Cards
Event Schedule

6:00-6:30    Check-in and Networking
6:30-7:30    Welcome and Speaker Presentation
7:30-7:45    Wrap up from sponsor, Chris Benson of AXA Advisors
7:45-8:00    Door Prize Drawings

Event Sponsor

The event is sponsored by Chris Benson of AXA Advisors

About Our Speakers

Dan Chojnacki
Senior Vice President, Area Director

Dan Chojnacki is Senior Vice President for Lee Hecht Harrison’s Midwest Region. Dan brings over 20 years of direct business experience to this consulting and managerial position including 17 years at Hallmark Cards, Inc. where he held positions of increasing responsibility including the National Accounts Manager and Regional Sales Manager (where he managed the largest region nationally in sales and personnel). He also held various training manager positions where he instituted management development programs and then coordinated their implementation on both local and national levels. Dan currently has market leadership responsibility for corporate clients and client-facing teams in Kansas City, Omaha, St. Louis and Denver.
Throughout his career, Dan in a direct managerial role has been actively involved in one-on-one in-depth career counseling developing human resources into key managerial level positions while building effective, cohesive, productive and positively focused teams.

Ann Mann
Regional Account Manager, Sales Support and Marketing

Ann Mann brings over 20 years of Human Resources, Learning & Development and Retail Sales Management experience to Lee Hecht Harrison in her role as Regional Account Manager, Sales Support and Marketing.
Throughout her 20 year career with Saks Fifth Avenue, Ann had responsibilities in Human Resources, Learning & Development, and Sales Management. Her strong background in service, selling and training enabled her to travel to other Saks locations throughout the country participating in new store openings and training events. Ann also supported Department Managers with coaching, team building, employee retention & engagement and organizational skills to develop their business unit and improve customer satisfaction.
As a Lee Hecht Harrison certified facilitator, Ann is able to deliver the Milestones Material, What’s Next, Moving Forward with Change, and Developing Personal Resilience to all levels of clients and employees. Ann assists in the faciliation of Job Search Work Teams and conducts weekly Linkedin training.
Ann is a member of several Human Resources Organizations and serves on committees and boards including:EPN—Board Member; SHRMJC—Board Member; and SHRM.

Membership Update

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Membership Update:

95 members, up 4 from the previous quarter

Member Profile: Luke Gardner

Where do you work/what do you do?

Currently I work for Blount International, one of the world’s leading manufacturers and distributors of farm, ranch, forestry, lawn and garden, and agricultural parts and implements.  I am the Inventory Manager for the new Distribution Center for all of North America near the KCI Airport.  I am responsible for 40,000 different SKUs worth over $51,000,000 in a 350,000 sq. ft. distribution center.  We are planning on expanding to 1,000,000 sq. ft. with the integration of other Blount product lines.  We currently house 2 of the 5 product lines Blount has acquired.  Right now we are in the start up phase, creating and controlling processes, integrating systems, and merging business cultures.  Exciting stuff!

Where did you go to school? Are you new to the area? If so, where did you, move here from?

I am originally from the Kansas City area.  I went to K-State for both my undergrad and graduate degrees in Industrial Engineering.  I was a former member of the KCIIE chapter and K-State student chapter, and have recently rejoined to reconnect with old peers and friends.

Is there anything about you or your family that you would like to share?

Married my wonderful wife Sarah last September.  No kids yet. 

Any other tidbits of information that you might like our members to know about you?

Love to travel and eat new things.  Of course, being from KC, I am a BBQ connoisseur.

IIE Annual Conference blogging – Advocacy of the Profession

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One of the most commonly asked questions about IIE membership is “What am I getting for my dues?” And if you’ve ever talked to an IIE staff member or a volunteer leader you’ve heard the standard spiel – professional networking, leadership development opportunities, job searches, education and training, licensure, etc. One thing that I have a passion for (and I may have written about it once or twice before) is something that occasionally gets overlooked: advocacy of the profession.

Think about these questions for a minute – why did you become an industrial engineer? Why should we be directing high school students to study IE in college? How do we build the STEM skills in K-12 so that those kids are prepared for any of the engineering disciplines? I’m only scratching the surface, but you get the idea about the issues we face on a daily basis to promote the profession of industrial engineering, despite making some career top 10 lists over the past few years. As you may have surmised from the title of this post, this is an area that IIE is working in.

IIE CEO Don Greene gave a quick status update to the RVP’s Friday morning (as a sneak preview to the State of IIE address on Tuesday). He shared some information on what IIE is doing to advance the profession.

  • ABET – IIE provides guidance on what ABET should be looking for when accrediting programs, as well has having members serve as trainers & reviewers (we have a chapter member doing this).
  • NCEES – Similar to ABET, IIE provides guidance on content on the FE and PE exams and licensure.
  • National Engineering week – IIE work with other associations, such as ASEE, to sponsor e-week.
  • Future City – IIE is a sponsor.
  • New Faces of Engineering – IIE selects the representative for IE to be highlighted in USA Today and elsewhere.
  • Public Policy Symposiums – As a 501(c) non-profit, IIE is not allowed to get involved in lobbying. However, we do work with the National Academy and 30+ engineering organizations sponsor & participate in these symposiums, educating Congress on key engineering issues.
  • Today in America with Terry Bradshaw – This is a new program that produces 5 minute featurettes on differing industries. They recently decided to do an episode on industrial engineering, and in their research they discovered IIE and reached out to the organization. They will be filming part of the episode during the annual conference. (Stay tuned for more information!)

On top of all these opportunities, my former “boss” on the Regional Operations Board is starting to expand IIE’s role in K-12 outreach, such as mentoring with BEST Robotics. Our chapter has also been presented with K-12 opportunities in the past few years, which I expect to continue based on the volunteering principle that people will get involved with things their children are involved with. That should allow us even greater opportunity to provide mentoring, leadership and education about industrial engineering.

If you have any questions about or want to get involved with the topics above feel free to reach out to me. If I don’t have an answer I have 2-3 contacts that I can put you in touch with. I think that my continued involvement with IIE on the national level (now that my RVP term is over) will drift in this general direction.