Board of Directors

As President and Chief Executive Officer of SMTC, Mr. Buseman has 40 plus years’ experience and is an accomplished executive with broad experience in global operations, quality, and customer relationship management. He has an extensive background in EMS and related industries.

Prior to joining SMTC, Mr. Buseman served as Zentech’s President and Chief Executive Officer.  Additionally, he also served as Benchmark’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Chief Global Logistics and Operations Officer of Avnet, Inc., a global electronics components company, and was Executive Vice President of Global Manufacturing Operations at Plexus Corp., having served as their Vice President of Global Technology, Quality and Facilities previously.  Mr. Buseman began his career in 1983 with Unisys, Inc., holding positions of increasing responsibility, including Principal Process Engineer and Director of Advanced Design Manufacturing Services.

Mr. Buseman holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from South Dakota State University and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota.

Arizona Public Affairs Manager , Intel

Mark Gaspers serves as Senior Manager, Government Operations at The Boeing Company in the southwest. Prior to this role, Mr. Gaspers was a Trade Control Specialist in support of Boeing’s Space Exploration division.

Before joining Boeing, Mr. Gaspers was a policy analyst for defense, homeland security, veterans, and NASA issues for the Senate Republican Policy Committee (RPC) under the chairmanship of Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ). Mr. Gaspers also served as a senior legislative assistant for Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart and as Senator Kyl’s health care legislative correspondent. He completed the Air Command and Staff College with the Air Force Fellows section while working for Representative Diaz-Balart.

Mr. Gaspers received his master’s degree in national security studies from Georgetown University in 2001. While at Georgetown, he served as an associate editor of National Security Studies Quarterly and worked as a research assistant for the Kennedy Institute of Ethics. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

Mr. Gaspers currently serves as chair the board of directors for the Arizona Manufacturers Council. He resides in Tucson with his wife, Dr. Mary Gaspers, and their two children.

Lucas Narducci has more than 27 years of experience in environmental and natural resources law. Luke regularly guides clients through administrative hearings, litigation and other forms of dispute resolution, striving to protect their assets and keep their business goals in mind. He has extensive experience in acquisitions, divestments, expansions, mergers, ventures, operational compliance, employee work space safety, work place and third-party toxic exposures, audits, risk reductions and control methods. He also advises on policy and legislative developments that affect or could impact his clients and their businesses. He has been a lead counsel in the divestment, acquisition, operation, curtailment, reclamation and closure of several copper, gold, coal and uranium mines.

Luke’s practice has taken him across the United States, as well as to Canada, Mexico and several countries in South America. He participates in many significant business, industry and manufacturing associations in order to advance the interests of those associations and his clients, and to influence rule-making, regulatory, policy and legislative processes.

Luke has extensive experience under all significant and some less recognized federal and state permitting and environmental assessment processes working with the government agencies and regulators to achieve client goals.

Fred joins the AMC from Mercury Systems where he is the Sr. Director of Operations for Microsystems. Fred leads Operations for the Phoenix Advanced Microelectronics Center (AMC). The Phoenix AMC is a DMEA-accredited facility for design, assembly, test and broker services, delivering a trusted and assured chain of custody, processing ITAR and classified work for sensitive Defense and Space programs.

As an Engineering and Operations leader, Fred has more than 25 years of Aerospace, Defense and Space experience in Electronic Warfare (Jammers, Countermeasures & Threat Warning Receivers), Missile Systems (Airborne & Ground-based), Radar Systems (Airborne & Ground-based) and Air Traffic Control & Landing Systems (ILS, VOR & DME). Fred is also an experienced practitioner of OpEx and Lean methodologies and techniques, including immersion training in Japan.

In addition to his experience at Mercury Systems, Fred brings valuable experience from prior positions at Crane Aerospace & Electronics, General Dynamics, Emerson Network Power, Thales and Paratek Microwave. Fred is a veteran of the United States Air Force, including four years of service in Germany. Fred is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), where he earned B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering.

Daniel Barajas serves as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Workforce Development for the Maricopa County Community Colleges District, Phoenix, Arizona.

Daniel has over twenty-three years of experience working in post-secondary education. He has held many positions within both the academic and student affairs areas, with years of service as Dean of Academics and Career and Technical Education, currently serving as Associate Vice Chancellor.

With a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University, Daniel has a passion for marrying educational opportunity and solutions to industry and community need. Daniel has served on many councils and boards during his career. This is exemplified in his past role as the President for the Arizona Occupational Administrators Council, and current role as Board member for the City of Phoenix Business & Workforce Board.

Ed is currently the Sr. Site Director and General Manager of the Dexcom Mesa site which produces the life changing G6 and G7 continuous glucose monitoring devices for worldwide distribution.  With the site approaching 2000 people, the Mesa facility is the largest manufacturing site in the Dexcom family.

Prior to joining Dexcom, Ed was the VP/General Manager of the Nammo Defense Systems (NDS) corporate site in Mesa, AZ.  NDS Mesa provides products and capabilities from shoulder launched weapons and ammunition for the defense market, to propellants and time delay explosives for commercial use.  Ed was responsible for all the operations of the site, as well as leading NDS through a 2X revenue growth and building expansion across the business.

Ed worked at The Boeing Company for 18 years, rising in positions from manufacturing engineering to design engineering, up through management to eventually leading Manufacturing Centers of Excellence across Boeing.  The Centers of Excellence were responsible for the fabrication and operations of electrical, metallic and composite components and assemblies for multiple Boeing Commercial Aircraft programs such as 767, 747 and 777, as well as Boeing Defense Systems programs of F15, F18 and the mainstay product AH-64 Apache built in Mesa.  Ed also served as the Production Operations focal for the AH-6i Attack Helicopter production programs at Mesa and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.   During his time at Boeing, he served as the Sr. Manager of Quality Systems and Processes at the Mesa site. He led all areas of site Quality including ISO 9001/AS9100 compliance and certification, internal audits, root cause and corrective action, and process measurement.

Ed started his career in the U.S. Air Force, serving 6 years’ active duty as an electronics technician. After leaving the military, he worked in several organizations in numerous operational positions including design engineering, manufacturing engineering, and manager of production.

Ed is originally from Philadelphia, earning his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Villanova University, an M.S. degree in Engineering Management from Drexel University.  Aa a passionate believer in lifelong learning, he also has an M.A. in Legal Studies from University of Illinois and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Liberty University.

Ed has been married to Denise for over 30 years and they have two children, Alyssa and Justin.  Ed enjoys hockey, working on home improvement, and is actually a pretty good bowler.

Enrique brings more than two decades of progressive experience developed through line and staff functions in the semiconductor, metalworking, food and beverage, telemedicine, and pharmaceutical industries. For the past 4 years, Enrique has been supporting a Swire Coca-Cola plant in Tempe in the role of business process specialist. His passion for continuous improvement, supply chain experience, and devotion to servant leadership make him a valuable addition to the board.

Enrique’s strength in cultivating a culture of improvement by leveraging the application of Lean Six Sigma, change management tools, and best practices has enabled him to successfully guide companies through complex operational and process improvements. Enrique holds Lean Practitioner, Project Manager, Six Sigma Black Belt, 9001, 14001, 45001, and 19011 Lead Auditor certifications.

Outside of work, Enrique enjoys traveling, watching sports, firing up the BBQ in his backyard, and many other activities with his family. He, his wife Esperanza, daughter Michelle, and son Marcelo reside in Gilbert, AZ.

Steven Corvi joined ASM in 2016 as the Vice President, Global Supply Chain. He oversees the company’s Global Sourcing and Purchasing organization, including commodity management, supplier management, supply chain sustainability, and purchasing. He leads a team of nearly 200 across ten countries. Before joining ASM, Steven had a 16-year tenure at Applied Materials where he held various roles responsible for operations and sourcing. He has vast experience working in the semiconductor industry and supply chain. Steven earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Fairfield University and his MBA from Arizona State University.

Michael “Mike” Cruz is a proud Arizona native and resident of Casa Grande. He holds a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from Arizona State University and has his MBA.

Mike is the Manager of State Public Policy for Lucid Motors where he oversees policy and government relations for the Western United States. Prior to Lucid, Mike served as the County Administrator to Pinal County District 3. During his time there, he was instrumental in shaping favorable policy and economic development for the county. Moreover, he drastically improved their community relations efforts, and spearheaded key Public/Private Partnerships that provided residents with access to enhanced services not previously provided.

As a firm believer in quality education and community service, Mike has dedicated his life to these causes. Currently, he is an elected board member of the Casa Grande Elementary School District Governing Board, President of the Board of Directors for the United Way of Pinal County and is an active board member with the Salvation Army Casa Grande Corp.

Mike currently resides in Casa Grande, AZ with his wife Felicia. When he is not working or volunteering, you will find him traveling, golfing, and staying current with financial news and politics.

Todd Czaplewski is a Senior Manager of the Energy Solutions workgroup for Southwest Gas Corporation.   He has nearly 20 years of energy industry experience.  In his current position, Todd has workgroups in both Arizonan Nevada and California that interface with single-family and multifamily builders to ensure natural gas is considered for their residential projects.  Todd also has experience in commercial and industrial market sectors.

In addition, Todd spends time in Operations as both a Construction and Customer Service Supervisor.  Todd was responsible to oversee both new installations of gas facilities and emergency response.

Current responsibilities:
I am the facility manager at the Caterpillar Tucson Proving Grounds (TPG) and part of the Resource Industries Operations and Products (RIOP) division for Caterpillar. The scope of my responsibilities includes operations, maintenance/facilities, manufacturing engineering, quality, supply chain, safety and lean. I have responsibility for approximately 75 production and 75 support/management employees. TPG is a 6,000-acre campus where we do activities such as product validation, data acquisition for model creation, build validation and customer demonstrations.

Professional experience:
I have twenty-nine years of manufacturing experience with twenty-four of those years at Caterpillar. I have held a variety of manufacturing roles including manufacturing engineer, quality manager, group manager, blackbelt, lean deployment manager, SAP lead, manufacturing engineering manager, assembly factory manager and facility manager. I have worked at four facilities within Caterpillar – fifteen years in Paving Products in Minneapolis, five years in Forest Products in Georgia, four years in Mining Products (Decatur, IL) and recently joined TPG in September. Prior to Caterpillar, I worked for five years in various manufacturing roles for a privately held company. The primary scope was metal manufacturing for aerospace companies and military contracts.

Educational background:
I have a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Madison

Personal information/interests:
I have been married for twenty-nine years to my husband Jon and have two children. My daughter, Megan is twenty-two years old and works in Chicago. My son, Gavin, is twenty years old and a sophomore at the UW-Stevens Point.. I enjoy working in the yard, gardening and taking our dog Dixie for walks.

Alan is a Senior State Government Affairs Representative for SRP, having served the company for three legislative sessions. Prior to SRP he served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the Arizona House of Representatives for eight years. He holds a Bachelor’s in Political Science and Spanish from the University of Arizona and a Master of Public Policy from the University of California Berkeley. Alan is an Arizona native, and in his free time, he enjoys hiking and trail running throughout the state’s mountains.

Laura Franco French serves as Director, State Government Relations, for TSMC AZ Corp. French is the liaison between the leading semiconductor foundry and the state and local government as TSMC continues towards the opening of their new Arizona fab.

French brings over two decades of experience in community relations, government affairs, international relations and communications in the public and non-profit sectors. Most recently, she served as Senior Policy Advisor to Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego. In this role she provided strategic counsel and built community partnerships on issues such as economic development, international affairs, Latino community affairs, water, refugee and asylee issues, as well as arts and culture.

French also previously served as legislative liaison at the Arizona Office of Tourism. Additional experience includes a variety of positions spanning Greater Phoenix Leadership, Unidos US and the International Republican Institute. Early in her career, French worked at CNN at both their Atlanta and New York bureaus.

David Green currently serves as President & CEO for Vitalant, headquartered in Scottsdale. Formerly known as Blood Systems and founded in 1943, Vitalant is one of the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit transfusion medicine organizations employing over 5500 employees. As a licensed manufacturer of biologics, Vitalant provides approximately two million finished blood products annually to over 1,000 hospital customers in forty states nationwide.

Vitalant’s BioCare for-profit subsidiary has wide-reaching distribution capabilities to quickly and efficiently deliver therapeutic biologicals such as albumin, coagulation factors and Rh immune globulin to hospitals, clinics and physician offices. CanyonCARE Rx, part of BioCare, is a full service pharmacy specializing in medications for hemophilia, von Willebrand disease and other bleeding disorders. Vitalant is also a partner in the operation of Creative Testing Solutions, the largest independent blood donor testing organization in the U.S. with six high volume laboratories testing 75 percent of the nation’s blood supply. Additionally Vitalant operates a Research Institute, which is engaged in scientific studies ranging from blood donor epidemiology to cellular therapy to virus discovery with locations in San Francisco, Denver and Pittsburgh. Finally, Vitalant is self- insured with our wholly-owned subsidiary Canyon State Insurance.

Dave is active in industry leadership roles and is past chair for Blood Centers of America (national Co-Op), past President for America’s Blood Centers (industry trade association) is a board director for the American Association of Blood Banks (national accrediting and standards organization), and current board chair for the Alliance of Blood Operators, an international alliance.
Prior to moving to Arizona, Dave was the President and CEO for Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center (MVRBC) where he served in that capacity for nearly 15 years. While in the Midwest he was active in volunteer work serving as Board Chair for United Way, Friendly House, Quad Cities First (economic development company) and the Quad Cities Chamber. He also served as an active duty Army officer in a variety of command and staff assignments.

Dawn Grove is VP/Corporate Counsel for Karsten Manufacturing Corporation, the parent company of PING and related subsidiaries, and has served on the board of directors of Karsten Manufacturing Corporation continuously since 1995.  KMC’s main subsidiary, PING, is one of the top golf equipment brands in the U.S. and exports about half of its products outside the U.S.  In 2015, she was appointed to the U.S. Manufacturing Council, which advised the U.S. Secretary of Commerce on issues related to strengthening U.S. manufacturers and achieving policy solutions that allow them to remain globally competitive.   In  2016, Governor Ducey appointed her to chair the Workforce Arizona Council, the state’s workforce development board pursuant to the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.  Ms. Grove also serves on the board of the National Association of Manufacturers and chaired the Arizona Manufacturers Council from 2016-2020.  In 2020, she became chair of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

She has received many awards including the Manufacturing Institute’s STEP Ahead award for women leaders in manufacturing nationally, Pepperdine Outstanding Alumni/Women in Leadership, the Arizona Manufacturers Council’s inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award, and AZ Big Media selected her as its Private Company Counsel of the Year winner in 2021.

Prior to going in-house with Karsten Manufacturing Corporation, Ms. Grove practiced law in California and Arizona, primarily representing manufacturers. She received her Doctor of Jurisprudence from Pepperdine University School of Law.

Ms. Grove is married to Rawleigh Grove and they have three children.  She serves in non-profit organizations that provide community service, and enjoys songwriting and mentoring young adults.

Matthew Hinck is the Vice President of State Government Affairs at CalPortland Company.  CalPortland is a construction materials company (Sand, Gravel, Cement, Concrete and Asphalt) doing business in most major markets across the Western United States.   Mr. Hinck currently oversees the Government affairs program at the State and Local Level following a long tenure in environmental management.  He also works extensively on sustainability and climate change initiatives within the Company.  Matt has been with CalPortland for 18 years and prior to that worked in the forest products industry in Washington State.   He is a graduate (BSE – Chemical Engr. and MSE – Environmental Engr.) of the University of Washington in Seattle.

Matt is married with two college aged children.    He is an avid skier, hiker and runner completing over 10 marathons.

Russ Knocke heads the government and public affairs functions at Republic Services, a leader in the U.S. environmental services industry and one of Arizona’s most valuable companies. He is responsible for Republic’s strategy and engagement with political and community leaders nationwide, as well as involvement with key industry associations, NGOs and advocacy organizations. In addition, Russ chairs the Company’s Political Action Committee and manages a team of employees, lobbyists and policy consultants across the country.

Russ joined Republic Services from Arizona State University in 2013, where he served as chief of staff and director of communications for EdPlus. Prior to returning to the Valley, Russ led public affairs and served as press secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security during the George W. Bush administration. His tenure included senior public affairs roles at U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement and U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services. Russ is also an alum of Governor Jane Dee Hull’s administration, where he served as executive director of the Arizona-Mexico Commission as well as other policy and communications roles.

Russ is an active member on the board of the Public Affairs Council, and serves on the Arizona Chamber board. He holds a masters of arts from the University of Alabama and a bachelor of arts from Westminster College in Missouri.

Russ and his wife, Julie, reside in Phoenix with their children, Eva and Eastham.

Steve Macias is a co-owner of Pivot Manufacturing and has been the President and CEO since the company’s inception in 2000. Pivot has grown from a small job shop to a company that does machining, assembly, and contract management, which has resulted in a five-fold increase in sales since 2002.

In addition to sales and financial duties at Pivot, Steve is also involved in promoting the small business community and the manufacturing industry. He currently serves on the Governor’s Council on Small Business and helps to explore and examine ways government can help promote and aid Arizona businesses.

Steve has worked with various congressmen and participated in small business roundtables in order to find ways to encourage small business utilization. He has also worked with staff from the Senate Committee on Small Business and the Minority Business Development Agency in Washington DC on issues ranging from cost of healthcare to contract bundling.

A native Arizonan, Steve and his wife Carrie make their home in Central Phoenix with their three boys. He has been involved with his sons as a coach in both Pop Warner football and Little League baseball. Steve earned both his B.S. and his M.B.A. from Arizona State University.

Denise McKeon is the Corporate Safety Director for Seattle Tacoma Box Company, her home office is at SeaCa Plastic Packaging in Surprise AZ.

SeaCa Plastic Packaging provides sustainable polypropylene corrugated packaging with a reliable, innovative, and customer-focused approach.

Her main goal is to develop, coordinate, and implement safety policies and procedures to promote and ensure effective safety operations within her organization.

She has been in the plastic industry for 15 years and has filled many roles within that time, from production management to now Safety Director.

She has a passion for training, implantation of process and procedures, she enjoys seeing employees and the companies grow.

Rob is the General Manager for Delivery Systems and Services for North America and Europe at EMD Electronics. He holds more than 25 years of experience in the semiconductor sector and has extensive knowledge in managing technologies throughout their entire lifecycle.

Rob has conducted business globally for over half of his career. His unique perspective and approach pertaining to different cultures, business relationships, employees, governments, environmental issues, IP protection and negotiations has enabled him to garner trustworthy relationships with hundreds of semiconductor manufacturers and suppliers spread across North America, Europe and Asia. During his career Rob has purposefully worked in varied positions, each with added impact and opportunities to garner a deep understanding of the markets and the capital equipment business operating within those markets.  Early on in his career, he focused heavily on the technology side of the business and held positions as a Chemist, Lab Manager and Test Manager. These roles paved the way for commercial and technology operational roles including, Product Manager, Engineering Manager, and Site Director. Rob holds a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Colorado and a M.B.A from the University of New Mexico.

Tom Schaefer serves as Ecobat’s vice president of global lithium business development. Tom brings diverse experience working with electric vehicle OEMs and most recently with Amphenol, one of the world’s largest providers of high-technology interconnect, sensor, and antenna solutions. He is a proud veteran of the US Navy, serving as a submarine officer before completing his MBA at Kellogg School of Management. Tom’s work further pushes Ecobat, using its decades-long history in battery recycling, as a leader of the circular and sustainable battery ecosystem.

With the rising adoption of electric vehicles and their reliance on lithium batteries, Tom leads Ecobat’s continuous expansion of its lithium collection and recycling management services.

Tom leads RTX’s state government relations and economic development activities across the Southern United States. In his role Tom communicates the company’s business interests to policymakers and organizations and develops strategic partnerships with state and local economic development leaders to support the Company’s site selection and workforce development needs across the South.

RTX is the largest aerospace and defense company in the world with over 180,000 employees. RTX provides advanced systems and services for commercial, military and civil customers worldwide. RTX consists of business segments Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney and Raytheon. RTX was formed in 2020 when United Technologies Corporation, UTC, and The Raytheon Company were merged.

Tom led State Government Relations in the South for UTC from 2011-2020. Tom served as Government Relations Manager for Kidde Fire Safety, a business unit of UTC from 2007-2011 where he was responsible for federal, provincial, state, and local legislative and regulatory affairs.

Prior to UTC Tom held state government relations roles with the National Federation of Independent Business, NFIB, and the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association. He began his career in public policy working on a variety of legislative initiatives as staff to the North Carolina Senate.

Tom graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelors of Arts in Education and earned a Masters of Public Administration from North Carolina State University.

James has over 29 years-experience in the water treatment industry in both Canada and the US. He has a vast knowledge of water treatment systems and programs in many market segments including Data Centers, Semiconductor, Healthcare, Higher education, and Food and Beverage. James’s expertise includes RO and pretreatment, Boiler Systems, Cooling Water applications and Water Safety. James has served in many capacities with Nalco Water including AVP, District Manager, Area Manager and Sales Representative. Prior to joining the local Nalco Water district in Phoenix, James managed the Nalco Water Safety team across North America.

Nathan serves as the general manager of the Bristol Myers Squibb manufacturing facility in Phoenix. In his role, Nathan is responsible for leading all operations, functions and performance of the 280,000 square foot facility to deliver therapies for pancreatic, non-small cell lung and breast cancers.

Nathan is overseeing the expansion of the existing facility in Phoenix that will transform the site to play a key role in delivering sterile biologic drug product to patients globally. Nathan previously served as the general manager at the Bristol Myers Squibb manufacturing facility in Syracuse.

As a leader with over 20 years of experience in global pharmaceutical and medical device laboratory, quality and operations, Nathan’s diverse expertise includes non-sterile, aseptic and terminal sterilization; vaccine and biologics and device manufacturing. He has led complex manufacturing operational turnarounds and operations excellence deployment. Nathan brings outside-of-the-thinking, technical acumen and high-accountability execution to develop a highly skilled and engaged workforce committed to safety and quality.

Prior to joining Bristol Myers Squibb, Nathan oversaw best practices architecture for Quality, Manufacturing and Technical Operations at Merck where he led the adoption of industry 4.0 mindsets for strategic manufacturing facilities expansions in a $7B capital portfolio. His career spans leadership roles for Smith & Nephew, Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline in the U.S., Italy and Australia.

Nathan grew up in Australia and received bachelor’s degrees in biochemistry and chemistry from the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.

About Bristol Myers Squibb

Bristol Myers Squibb is a leading global biopharma company focused on discovering, developing and delivering innovative medicines for patients with serious diseases. Our people are focused on helping millions of patients around the world in disease areas such as oncology, hematology, immunology, cardiovascular, fibrosis and neuroscience. Through the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation, an independent 501(c)(3) charitable organization, we support community-based programs that promote cancer awareness, screening, care and support among high-risk populations in the United States, as well as China, Brazil and sub-Saharan Africa. Our employees around the world work every day to transform patients’ lives through science.

Steve Trussell received a B.A. and Master’s Degree from Arizona State University and a Post Baccalaureate Degree from Ottawa University. He began his career in mining as a consultant for the Arizona Mining Association (AMA) as an advocate of the copper mining industry and later with the Arizona Foundation for Resource Education.

Trussell joined Arizona Rock Products Association (ARPA) in 2002 as Community Relations Director and became the Executive Director in 2007.  He is responsible for the promotion and preservation of the sustainability of the rock & construction materials industry through active involvement with Arizona public officials on the policy, regulatory and community relations challenges facing the rock products industry.

In 2017, Trussell added to his responsibilities by becoming the Executive Director of the Arizona Mining Association where he showcases his advocacy for the mining industry and utilizes his skills in community relations, government affairs, regulatory processes and general legislative processes at the federal, state and local level.

He serves on several boards and committees including the Technical Advisory Board for the Center of Environmentally Sustainable Mining, The Governor’s Regulatory Review Council, Executive Committee for the University of Arizona’s Mining School and the Board of Directors for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry to name a few. Trussell has been nominated for two national instructor of the year awards, was inducted in the Minor League Football Hall of Fame, received the Adjutant General’s Medal from the Arizona National Guard, has been recognized as Policy Leader of the Year at the Arizona State Capitol and was honored by the National Sand, Stone and Gravel Association as the State Association Executive of the Year. In addition, he has served numerous charitable organizations.

His greatest accomplishment is being married to and having the opportunity to support his amazing wife, Ashley.

Dave serves as Benchmark’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, leading the organization’s worldwide manufacturing operations in the United States, Mexico, Asia, and Europe. He is responsible for driving operational excellence and lean methodologies across the entire product lifecycle for Benchmark customers.

Dave has more than 30 years of global operations experience in the aerospace and defense, industrial, automotive, semiconductor, and electronics sectors. Prior to Benchmark, he was at Carrier Corporation, where he was the Vice President of Operations for its Refrigeration segment. Before that, Dave held executive roles at TPG, Celestica, Visteon, and Nissan. While at Celestica, Dave supported the communications, aerospace and defense, enterprise and cloud solutions, renewable energy, health tech, and semiconductor equipment market customers. He was also the executive sponsor of their Lean Six Sigma initiatives globally.

Dave holds a Master of Business Administration from Central Michigan University and a BA in Economics and Management from Albion College.

Rafael has more than 30 years’ experience in EHS compliance in semiconductor manufacturing. For the past 9 years he has been the Sr. Manager for both the Phoenix silicon wafer manufacturing facility and the Albuquerque epitaxial facility. He has extensive experience in ISO14001 compliance as well as Lead Auditor Certification. Rafael has also been responsible for maintaining compliance with EPA Risk Management Program/OSHA Process Safety Management Program at the Albuquerque facility.

From 1993 to 2008 Rafael was a Commissioned Reserved Officer with the United State Navy. Outside of work he enjoys playing golf with his two sons and working with horses at a horse sanctuary with his wife. He received his BS in Civil Engineering from the University of South Florida.

Lauren Wilson is the Senior Manager of Government Affairs for New Markets West at Cruise, an all-electric, driverless car company. In this role, Lauren develops and builds relationships with government officials and city, county, and state leaders in current and emerging markets. Prior to Cruise, Lauren led government affairs in San Francisco for Pacific Gas & Electric Company and spent a decade in Washington, D.C. as a federal lobbyist. Lauren earned a Master’s of Public Policy from Georgetown University and completed her undergraduate education at UC Berkeley.

Mr. Mike Works is the VP of Operations at TYR Tactical Headquarters located in Peoria, AZ; he has over 15 years of experience in the personal protective products industry, all of which has been with Body Armor Companies. Mr. Works overall roles and responsibilities are, but not limited to; overseeing Manufacturing, Planning & Scheduling, Quality Control, Procurement, HR and ISO 9001:2015 Program. On a day to day basis there are scheduled meetings to review Production, QC and Distribution to ensure that internal goals are completed within the teams. This includes all supporting Managers, Supervisors and Leads for information and progress within the departments.  Mr. Works meets with the CFO regularly on financial planning, reports and strategies for current and future requirements as needed and also supports contract submissions or special projects. Mr. Works has over five years of experience working on FBI Body Armor contracts.  Mr. Works main responsibility was in Managerial capacity responsible for Quality Control, Component Assembly and Distribution of Purchase Orders.