Kingshuk K. Sinha, Director, Joseph M. Juran Center for Leadership in Quality
Kingshuk K. Sinha is the Curtis L. Carlson Family Foundation Professor of Management Science at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota. Dr. Sinha joined the Carlson School in 1991 after receiving a Ph.D. in management from The University of Texas at Austin. His other degrees include a master degree in engineering also from The University of Texas at Austin and an undergraduate degree in engineering from the Indian School of Mines. Prior to entering the graduate school, he worked for the offshore production and engineering planning groups of Dubai Petroleum Company (operated then by Conoco/DuPont) in United Arab Emirates. Dr. Sinha’s scholarly interests lie at the intersections of management of technology, quality management, operations strategy and supply chain management. He conducts his research projects in partnership with industries. High-tech, health care/medical, retail, food, energy/oil and gas industries have served as the empirical settings for his research. His papers have appeared in top academic journals. Among the recent recognitions of Dr. Sinha’s research include the 2005 Decision Sciences journal’s Best Paper Award, and the 2006 IBM Best Paper Award from the Production and Operations Management Society. Dr. Sinha served as the Founding Academic Director of the Carlson School’s Medical Industry Leadership Institute and as the Ph.D. Program Coordinator for the Operations and Management Science Department. He serves as the Senior Editor of the Production and Operations Management journal and edited the journal’s special issue on high-tech industry (Summer 2005). He also serves as an Associate Editor of the Decision Sciences journal and is currently editing a special issue of the journal on decision making in the health sector supply chain; and as an Area Editor of Operations Management Research journal that is committed to advancing practice through research.

James F. Buckman, Executive Director, Joseph M. Juran Center for Leadership in Quality
Prior to this appointment in 1993, Jim Buckman was the President of the Minnesota Council for Quality, a non-profit organization devoted to helping "Minnesota" mean "Quality Second to None" (1989-1993). In that role, he was a spokesperson for Minnesota's "Quality Movement" and developer of the Minnesota Quality Award, the Quality Service Award, Community Quality Councils, and the Partners for Quality Education Initiative. Before his service with the Minnesota Council for Quality, Jim was a consultant for a number of firms. Clients served include Inland Steel, Georgia-Pacific, Marquette Banks, Hartzell Manufacturing, Honeywell, the City of Minneapolis, and numerous other public and private clients. Jim has also written extensively on issues of quality, productivity, and leadership for publications such as Minnesota Business Journal, City Business, and Corporate Report. He is a member of the Board of Examiners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Jim attended the U. S. Naval Academy and St. Mary's College in Winona, Minnesota.

Kevin Linderman, Academic Co-Director, Joseph M. Juran Center for Leadership in Quality
Kevin Linderman has bachelors’ degree in mathematics and philosophy from Minnesota State University, master degree in mathematics from Miami University, master degree in management science and PhD in operations from Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Linderman is a recipient of the Academy of Management Chan K. Hahn Distinguished Paper Award, Elwood S. Buffa Doctoral Dissertation Competition Winner (Co-Advisor), Graduate Dean's Instructional Excellence Award, and the Dean's Award for outstanding academic achievement. He has received two National Science Foundation grants to study quality management – Knowledge creation and diffusion in organizations using the Six Sigma approach and Sustaining High Quality Performance in Organizations. His research in quality management has been published in several leading journals including Management Science, Journal of Operations Management, and Production and Operations Management to name a few. He currently teaches quality management at the undergraduate, MBA, and PhD levels and is actively engaged in research on quality management, process improvement, and innovation. Dr. Linderman has been a consultant for several organizations including: Select Comfort, General Electric Fleet Services, Schwan's Foodservice, PCC Airfoils, GEON Corp, MacMillian Bloedel, and TBN Holdings, Inc.
 

 
M. Johnny Rungtusanatham, Academic Co-Director, Joseph M. Juran Center for Leadership in Quality
M. Johnny Rungtusanatham joined the faculty of the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities in 2006. Prior to this, he was a faculty member of the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University (ASU). Dr. Rungtusanatham is an award-winning faculty member in both teaching and research, having been selected in 2000 to be the first recipient of the John Teets Outstanding Graduate Professor Award from the W. P. Carey School of Business and, in the same year, having received the distinction of Foreign Professor of High Qualification from the Università di Padova, Italy. His research has also been recognized with the 2005 Best Paper nomination from the Journal of Operations Management, the 2005 E. Grosvenor Plowman Award from the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, the 2004 Best Paper Award from Production and Planning Control journal, the 2004 Best Paper Award from Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, and with a 2003 Senior Research Fellow award from the Institute of Supply Management. At ASU, he founded and directed the W. P. Carey MBA – Online Program. He has conducted research with, consulted with, and provided executive training for Arizona Public Services, Chevron Corporation, Deere & Company, e-Bags.com, E-Source, Honeywell, Intel, LG Electronics, Medtronics, ON Semiconductor, Phelps Dodge, Seaquist Closures, United Technologies, and Zytec.

 

 
Jill Pearson-Wood, Program Associate, Joseph M. Juran Center for Leadership in Quality
In her role as Program Associate, Jill oversees the execution of the Joseph M. Juran Center’s programs and manages the day-to-day operations of the Center. This includes managing the Juran Fellows program for doctoral students and Juran Scholars program for faculty. In addition, she coordinates the Center’s research project activity and prepares, submits and administers grants for the Center. Jill has a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications from Minnesota State University—Mankato. She started her career as a staff writer for daily newspapers in Austin, Minn., and Marinette, Wis., where she covered local government beats, including business and education stories. Prior to joining the Juran Center, Jill was Communications Coordinator for the Minnesota Land Trust. In that role, Jill worked with staff to increase awareness of the Land Trust’s programs through events, media relations and member recruitment efforts. In addition, Jill has done freelance writing for a number of nonprofit organizations and publications, including Friends of the Minnesota Valley and the Minnesota Women’s Press.