Lale Lovell
Lale Lovell, Ph.D. is the Vice President of Transformance Advisors. She is a chemical engineer with over 20 years of engineering and management experience in a variety of technology companies in Colorado, including Lexmark and Seagate. Lale brings a wealth of expertise to her role, specializing in Lean thinking and coaching.
Her dedication to continuous improvement and community service underscores her commitment to professional excellence for her clients.
As time permits, Lale likes baking, reading historical fiction, going on walks/hikes, and traveling to new places.
Experience Summary
Current
Vice President of Transformance Advisors
- Coach for on-line course offerings and trainer for in-person engagements
- Spearheaded strategic partnership with Manufacturer’s Edge, Colorado’s official Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Center
- Developed Lean course content focused on Sustainability
- Based on extensive research, created Top 50 links, acronyms, and definitions lists
- Working on new course content for Project Management and Lean Today
Academic Coach for MBA Courses
- Lean Transformation, Process Improvement, Data Visualization for Business, and Organizational Strategies & Policies (LSU-Shreveport)
Women in Manufacturing (WiM), Colorado Chapter
- Award winning chapter with over 600 members statewide
- Support a strong community of manufacturing enthusiasts by hosting monthly events and professional development webinars
- Multiple board roles including Board Chair (2022-24)
University of Colorado, Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, External Advisory Board
- Participate in recurring board meetings with department to provide industry perspective and advice on curriculum and other department offerings
- Serve as guest speaker for professional development course and mentor undergraduates/recent alumni
- Co-creator of ChemE Buff Chats - alumni/student professional development events (2020-23)
- 2022 Alumni Engagement Medal Recipient, Univ. of Colorado, College of Engineering
Previous
Senior Engineering Manager and Agile Consultant at Seagate Technology
- Internally recruited to transform Systems Firmware DevOps and Lab to a modern, enterprise-level, organization. Served as functional manager in addition to Agile coach.
- Co-led a change initiative that implemented a 20 team, 3 geography, Agile Release Train (ART) during COVID.
- Led cross-functional teams through structured problem solving deep-dives.
Senior Engineering Manager and Lean Coach at Lexmark International
- Held a wide variety of managerial positions, from test and analytical lab manager to worldwide photoconductor manager (a key component of laser printer cartridges). Also served as R&D budget coordinator and site host.
- Championed lean methodologies & structured management systems (A3, VSM, Shingo, Gemba) to create a Lean culture of sustained continuous improvement. Within 1-year, increased OEE (availability x performance x yield) by 7% versus 2 previous years.
- Trained and coached various teams in Problem Solving methodologies
Research and Development Engineer at Lexmark and Agilent Technologies
- Spent first ten years of career working as a chemical engineer, implementing new photolithography processes, developing toner formulations, and characterizing polymeric materials.
Academic Background
- PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado – Boulder. Research focused on an in-depth study of photo-initiated dimethacrylate copolymer systems.
- BS in Chemical Engineering, Summa Cum Laude, from Virginia Tech
- Engineering Management Certification from the University of Colorado
- Certified Lean Master, International Supply Chain Education Alliance (ISCEA)
- Scaled Agile 6 Practice Consultant (SPC) with 6 additional certifications including Lean Portfolio Mgmt, Product Manager, and DevOps Practitioner
- Certified True Alignment Practitioner
- Completed Six Sigma Brown Belt training
Awards and Honors
- Undergrad and graduate outstanding student awards and NSF fellowships
- Lexmark Executive Leadership Development Program (Strategic Leaders Program at the University of Michigan)
- 2022 Alumni Engagement Medal Recipient, Univ. of Colorado, College of Engineering
Presentations
- Breakout speaker at Women in Manufacturing National Summit - "The Power of Cohorts to Advance Women in Manufacturing" – 2023
- Led panel discussion on "Building Diverse Work Communities" at the American Society of Engineering Management Conference – 2023
- Alumni Panelist at Univ. of Colorado’s Women in Engineering, International Women’s Day Event – 2023
- Featured speaker at three internal Project Management conferences at Seagate
- Research work at Lexmark led to 7 invention disclosures, 1 patent, and a presentation at company-wide R&D Symposium
Articles and Videos
- Critical to Quality
- Trail of the Month: Monhegan Island, Maine
- Trail of the Month: Cape Perpetua
- Trail of the Month: Gila Cliff Dwellings
- Trail of the Month: Topsail Hill State Park
- PhD research was published in 11 peer-reviewed journal articles and presented at 8 national materials conferences
- Co-hosted an internal sales video that showcased Lexmark-Boulder’s manufacturing capabilities
Connect with Lale on LinkedIn.
