BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – More than 100 key strategic and operational executives from companies around the world are coming to Bloomington Sept. 23-25 for the 2025 Global Lean Summit, which is being hosted by the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.
The three-day conference will feature nearly 20 speakers from companies such as GE Aerospace, Toyota and Intel, as well as leading experts in Lean Management, an organizational strategy that focuses on maximizing customer value by eliminating waste, streamlining workflows, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
In addition to those coming from across the United States, managers and executives from Canada, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United Kingdom are expected to attend. A select group of Kelley students also have been invited.
The Global Lean Summit program will help attendees create a “Lean culture,” learn how to facilitate Kaizen Improvement Events, and craft a customized Lean Management System roadmap for transforming their organizations.
Katie Votolato
In addition to summit sessions at IU Bloomington, participants will tour the Toyota Material Handling plant in nearby Columbus and IU Health Bloomington Hospital, to see examples of how Lean thinking have been employed as best practices. The concepts behind Lean Management originated within the Toyota Production System.
Students in the Master’s in Healthcare Administration program — which is delivered jointly by the Kelley School and the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs – will join those touring IU Health Bloomington Hospital.
Among the conference presenters will be Katie Votolato, senior lecturer of operations and decision technologies at Kelley. Before joining the school’s faculty full-time in 2016, she was part of management teams at Boston Scientific, General Electric and Toyota that promoted the continuous improvement principles at the heart of Lean principles. Kelley student Lora Simakova, will be moderating a panel discussion.
Pam Manhart, clinical assistant professor of operations and decision technologies at Kelley, is helping to coordinate the summit.
Kyle Cattani, chairperson and professor of operations and decision technologies and the Ming Mei Chair in Business, said hosting the Global Lean Summit demonstrates Kelley’s commitment to teaching Lean principles.
Kyle Cattani
“We are excited to host the 2025 Global Lean Summit. The Kelley School of Business has a strong curriculum in Lean Management as part of our highly ranked operations management major,” Cattani said. “This is a wonderful opportunity for our students and faculty to interact with leaders in the field.”
Jared Thatcher, a leading expert on applying lean principles in both business and family settings, organizes the annual event.
“We chose to partner with the Kelley School of Business because they share our belief that learning should turn into doing. Their culture of applied learning and leadership development matches our mission at the Global Lean Summit to send people home with the knowledge and skills they can use on Monday morning to improve their lives and the lives of those around them,” Thatcher said.
Thatcher was introduced to Lean Management more than 20 years ago when he was manufacturing plant administrative manager at Kimber of America. Later at Daimler Trucks North America, he was part of the global effort to bring Lean thinking into the office side of the business. The team saved Daimler over $1.1 billion dollars over three years. As a consultant, he has worked with Nike, Mercy Corps, Portland General Electric and other companies. He was the business transformation designer at Alaska Airlines.
“In the 1990s, we chased tools,” Thatcher said. “Today, Lean is a people-centered learning system. What has made companies like Toyota so successful goes beyond the formulaic tools and principles of Lean. Their success is in the interconnection between tools and how essential respect-for-people is to create the kind of culture where it is safe to show red, where failure is seen as an opportunity for improvement. In today’s exponential, tech-driven environment, the ultimate advantage is an agile learning organization that reacts fast and leads the way; Lean culture builds that capability.”
One of the Global Lean Summit speakers, Nix Juban, general manager of communications, chief of staff and senior technical leader at Intel, will speak to students in Kelley’s Women Impacting Supply Chain Excellence club.