Induction Class of 2022

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Marco Barker

Marco Barker (BSIE 2000)

Marco is the Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. He is also the Principal Consultant and Founder of Barker Diversity Consulting. He also holds an MBA from Webster University and a PhD in Philosophy, Educational Leadership and Research from LSU. He began his career in the telecom industry with AT&T and after a few years moved into research and consulting working in areas of workforce strategy, equity, inclusion, and community outreach in places such as LSU, UNC Chapel Hill, Westminster College and now University of Nebraska. Marco has authored articles and book chapters and provided numerous keynote speeches and consultations over his career. His work has been recognized in his communities with receiving the Forty Under 40 by Utah Business, Leadership Utah Class of 2018, North Carolina Goodmon Fellow, and many others. Marco currently resides in Lincoln, NE with his partner Brian.

Marco’s Introduction Video

 

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Cristin Groce

Cristin (Glover) Groce (BSIE 2005)

Cristin has been with Johnson & Johnson over 17-years in the Consumer Health / CPG sector working with a portfolio of products including brands such as Tylenol, Zyrtec, Listerine, Neutrogena, Aveeno, Band-Aid. She started in Supply Chain supporting the Walmart account in NWA and then moved cross functionally into the Sales Organization. Here career has seen her take on roles across the country form New England to Los Angeles leading teams associated with many major retailers. Within the last six months Cristin and her family, husband David and two children (Nolan, 6 and Mae, 3), have relocated from Southern California to Northwest Arkansas. Cristin is in a leadership role with the J&J Walmart Team, heading up Category Development. Cristin is a Kappa Kappa Gamma Alumni, member of the Junior League and attends St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church. She looks forward to getting integrated back into the community!

Cristin’s Introduction Video

 

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Roger Ha

Roger Ha (BSIE 2005)

Roger has held various roles across Tyson, Walmart/Sam’s Club, and Marshalltown. He has placed his fingerprints on huge transformational programs around the world. Some of these programs include standardizing SAP preventive maintenance programs at Tyson, launching the first Sam’s club self-checkouts, many efforts to improve supply chain and logistics operations, facilitating the divestiture program for business in Brazil (Walmart International), and recently he worked across Global Tech to stand up the first workforce in Chennai, India. Roger has recently accepted a director of project engineering role with Marshalltown, where he will be responsible for the company’s portfolio of engineering projects. When not working, he enjoys many outdoor activities from golf to hunting.

Roger’s Introduction Video

 

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Ilyas Iyoob

Ilyas Iyoob (BSIE 2003, MSIE 2004)

Dr. Ilyas Iyoob is chief data scientist and distinguished engineer at IBM-Kyndryl. He pioneered the seamless interaction between machine learning and operations research in the fields of autonomous computing, space tech, and blockchain. As a successful entrepreneur at Gravitant, a start-up focused on optimizing the cloud journey, he helped build and sell the company to IBM in 2016. Dr. Iyoob currently advises over a dozen venture funded companies and serves on the faculty of the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He has earned several patents and industry recognition for cloud intelligence and was awarded the prestigious World Mechanics prize by the University of London in 2001. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial engineering from the University of Arkansas and a Ph.D. in operations research from the University of Texas at Austin.

Ilyas’ Introduction Video

 

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Douglas Mettenburg

Douglas Mettenburg (MSIE 2007)

Mr. Douglas Mettenburg finished his BS in Industrial Engineering at Iowa State University in 1998 and pursued a MS degree in Industrial Engineering at University of Arkansas after six years of industry work. He graduated from the U of A in 2007. Mettenburg has over 20 years of Transportation and Supply Chain experience in developing transportation and supply chain solutions. Doug’s work experience includes software development, third party logistics, and supply chain consulting. As a member of the J.B. Hunt Transport, he is responsible for the Operation research Team, Data Science team, Data Engineering, and Business Intelligence.

Doug’s Introduction Video

 

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David Storms

David Storms (BSIE 1997)

David is a Senior Director II of Business Analytics and Insights for Wal-Mart. He has been with them since 2005. Prior he worked in project management and logistics for companies such as JB Hunt, ClickLogistics, and Williams-Sonoma. His dedication to the growth and development of his teams and others has led to enabling business execution and growth throughout his career. When not working his time revolves around family (wife Courtney and daughter Whitley) and friends. He enjoys traveling, snow skiing, US history, and is an avid fan of the Razorback sports.

David’s Introduction Video

 

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Carol Wolf

Carol (Choi) Wolf (BSIE 2003)

Carol joined Walmart in 2013 as a Replenishment Manager before transitioning to Facilities Maintenance in 2015 as a Plumbing Assistant Facilities Manager, driving escalation communications to leadership and supporting proactive plumbing initiatives. In 2017, Carol was promoted to Facilities Manager initially supporting the Pacific Northwest followed by the Southwestern states. She has assisted with Hurricane Harvey and preparing Las Vegas, NV stores for the analyst tour last Spring. Prior to joining Walmart, she worked in metal and aerospace manufacturing with roles in including quality assurance engineering and project management. Carol has lived in Northwest Arkansas since age 8 and is a former Washington County Spelling Bee champion. She currently resides with her husband, Sean, in Springdale. They enjoy time in the great outdoors biking, hiking, and traveling.

Carol’s Introduction Video