NATIONAL BOARD AND MANAGEMENT TEAM
Meet our Team
Tim Odokeychuk
AME President
Founder of TWO Consulting & LEAN dot Group, Director at Transformation HQ
Tim is an experienced business excellence professional who cares deeply about challenging the status-quo in pursuit of business excellence and sustainable growth. With extensive end-to-end experience using proven continuous improvement, innovation and organisational development methodologies, Tim is as proficient as he is passionate. Spending his pre-entrepreneurial career with a global industry leader, Tim worked his way up from the shop floor to leading improvement projects in over 25 independent operations resulting in millions of dollars in savings and increased levels of quality, safety and customer satisfaction. Tim holds a leading professional certification, ASQ Certified Manager of Quality / Organizational Excellence, demonstrating his knowledge, proven application and operational excellence leadership abilities to a global standard.
Barry McCarthy
Immediate Past President
Explicador at Protyponous
Barry's career highlights include Plant Manager and Continuous Improvement Manager at Goodman Fielder and his most recent position with Toyota. Barry has worked with the Manufacturing, Sales and Corporate Arms of Toyota in Australia. With a grounded engineering background Barry has also implemented continuous improvement in food processing, manufacturing, packaging, printing, and front of house food service and management. In addition to the practical experience Barry has completed a Master degree in Applied Positive Psychology, Graduate Diploma in Business, Diploma of Training and Assessment, Diploma in Competitive Systems and Practices. Interestingly Barry’s first degree was civil engineering.
Laura Robertson
AME National Manager
Laura has more than 25 years experience in business and event management with expertise in office management, event management, membership, marketing and account management. Her experience has covered a broad range of industries including sports, healthcare, education, not for profit and hospitality. As the National Manager Laura plays a critical role in managing the day-to-day running of AME. Laura is responsible for the general management of the Association, including membership development, communications, events, partnerships, and special projects. This includes overseeing the operations of the Association's Board.
Andrew Brown
AME National Treasurer
Principal Consultant at Business Improvement People, Teacher at RMIT Business
Andrew commenced his career in accounting before moving into more diverse roles like business planning, business strategy, capability development and training. As a Toyota certified trainer in TBP he had the privilege to train many team members and management in Toyota Australia. The training focused on improving business processes, employee capability and organisational capability.
Rebecca Michalik
AME Secretary
Director - Niwaki
Rebecca has over 20 years’ experience in facilitating and supporting organizational transformation. She has particular interest and expertise in working with leaders to understand and improve their impact on culture, enabling sustainable, people-centric outcomes for organizations. With a Masters degree in Organizational Psychology, and advanced study in lean, Rebecca has worked in Senior Management roles in the Food Industry, and most recently as a Director of niwaki. This role has taken Rebecca around the world, working with organizations in enterprise-wide transformation across various industries, including manufacturing, retail apparel design and supply chain, education, warehousing, and food processing.
Paul Deane
AME QLD State President
Business Improvement Practitioner
An innovative continuous Improvement practitioner, with strengths in operationalising LEAN systems, ISO9001, manufacturing best practice and DMAIC projects. CSSC/ISSP certified 6 Sigma Black and Green Belts. Over 10+ years implementing OPEX systems from zero base within global organisations with strong insight into engaging front line staff. Paul has 25+ years working with large global organisations in Australia, NZ, Malaysia and UAE leading manufacturing and service operations of small and large teams, successfully deploying business improvement methodologies, working cross-functionally with sales/marketing, engineering & R&D teams. His operational, service and manufacturing experience has covered chemical, industrial and food industries.
Chris Dawson
AME VIC State President
Managing Director at AQVA Luxury and Medical Baths
Ishan Galapathy
AME NSW President
Productivity Expert, Speaker, Author
Ishan Galapathy is a renowned Operational Excellence expert in the food industry. He provides straight talk to leaders in the food sector who are challenged with the task of driving their company’s profitable growth. Ishan has worked with global ‘big boys’ such as Campbell Arnott’s and Kellogg’s for over a decade, harnessing hidden opportunities and making the most of their existing people and processes. He has demonstrated with these food giants, simple and effective ways to maximise profitability. He now shares his expertise and insights with businesses wanting to grow and become a dominant player in this sector.
Ross Kennedy
AME NSW Committee
Principal Director – Ross Kennedy & Associates
Ross, a fitter & turner by trade with a Science Engineering Degree and Commerce Degree along with a Cert IV in Training & Assessment, is Wollongong NSW based. He has more than 20 years of manufacturing and operational experience covering maintenance, production, operations, and executive roles along with 30 years of international consulting experience. Ross has been actively involved with Lean since 1985 and the application of TPM since 1990. In 1998 he developed and launched the Australasian TPM Methodology. He is recognised as Australasia’s leading authority on TPM and Operational Excellence. He has assisted over 150 sites throughout Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Thailand, and China to strive for and achieve TPM & Operational Excellence. Ross is the author of 2 internationally acclaimed books published by Routledge / Productivity Press: Understanding, Measuring, and Improving Overall Equipment Effectiveness and Understanding and Measuring and Improving Daily Management.
Nathaniel Sopelario
Nathaniel is an accomplished professional with 25 years of experience in risk management, specifically in the areas of food safety, biosecurity, sustainability, and ethical sourcing. He has a strong track record of ensuring compliance with food safety regulations and quality standards in large multi-site operations.
Throughout his career, Nathaniel has worked in various industries such as dairy, brewing, carbonated beverages, chemicals, and horticulture. In these roles, he has been responsible for implementing technical training programs and overseeing the monitoring and control of microbiological, pest, and disease issues.Nathaniel holds certifications in Frontline Management, Project Consulting, Auditing, and Training & Assessments. He also has a degree in Industrial Microbiology and is a member of the Australian Society for Microbiology.
Although recently retired from active employment, Nathaniel continues to expand his knowledge and apply his expertise to solve complex problems. He remains engaged in the industry by providing mentorship and coaching to friends in the not-for-profit community sectors.