Keynote Speakers

Ajani Dunn, FACHE

Chief Administrative Officer
Mayo Clinic in Florida

Ajani (AJ) Dunn, FACHE, is the chief administrative officer of Mayo Clinic in Florida. In partnership with Kent Thielen, M.D., CEO of Mayo Clinic in Florida, Dunn provides leadership and oversight for Mayo Clinic in Florida.

Dunn began his career at Mayo in 2002 as an administrative fellow and most recently was chair of the Advanced Care at Home. He holds the academic rank of assistant professor of health care systems engineering, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, and is a member of the Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees, Board of Governors, and the Mayo Clinic Executive Operations Team. He is the secretary of the Executive Operations Team at Mayo Clinic in Florida.

Dunn earned his bachelor’s degree in physical therapy and a master’s degree in health care administration at the University of Florida. Board certified in healthcare management as a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, Dunn is passionate about education, leadership development and civic engagement.

Dunn has deep roots in local, regional and national nonprofit service. He serves on the Board of Governors for the American College of Healthcare Executives, the board of the Nonprofit Center of Northeast Florida, and the Board of Directors for the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville.

Caroline Russell

Director for Business Development
Mayo Clinic in Florida

Caroline Russell serves as the Associate Administrator for the Clinical Practice, as well as the Director for Business Development at Mayo Clinic in Florida. She is responsible for leading strategies and initiatives supporting clinical practice priorities, and for developing and evaluating new business opportunities for the Florida campus.

Russell's journey at Mayo Clinic began in 2016 when she joined as an Operations Administrator, providing leadership for multiple departments and divisions. From 2021 to 2024, she served as the Associate Administrator overseeing Surgery, Surgical Specialties, and Transplant. Her previous experience includes serving as the Administrative Director for the Brain Tumor Center and the Thoracic Oncology Program at Duke University Medical Center, after completing her Administrative Fellowship there in 2013.

Russell earned her bachelor’s from The University of Alabama and her master’s in health administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She holds the academic rank of Instructor of Healthcare Administration in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science.

Passionate about mentorship, leadership development, and community engagement, she is board certified as a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and serves as Director-At-Large for the North Florida Chapter Board. Russell is also a Carol Emmott Foundation Fellow, which focuses on accelerating the leadership capacity and impact of women leaders in health. She is a member of the 2025 Leadership Jacksonville Program class and in 2024, was selected as a 2024 Jacksonville Business Journal 40 Under 40 awardee.

Three Questions with Ajani Dunn

Jianjun (Jan) Shi

Carolyn J. Stewart Chair and Professor School of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology

Jianjun Shi is the Carolyn J. Stewart Chair and Professor in H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, with joint appointment in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology. Prior to joining Georgia Tech in 2008, he was the G. Lawton and Louise G. Johnson Professor of Engineering at the University of Michigan.

Shi is a pioneer in the development and application of data fusion for quality improvements. His In Process Quality Improvements (IPQI) and Stream of Variation (SoV) methodologies integrate system informatics, advanced statistics, and control theory for the design and operational improvements of manufacturing and service systems by fusing engineering systems models with data science methods. He has produced 44 Ph.D. graduates, 30 of which have joined IE department as faculty members. He has served as PI and co-PI for projects totaling more than $25 million, which were funded by the National Science Foundation, NIST Advanced Technology Program, Department of Energy, General Motors, Daimler-Chrysler, Ford, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell, Pfizer, Samsung, and various other industrial companies and funding agencies. The technologies developed in Shi's research group have been widely implemented in various production systems with significant economic impacts.

Shi was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering (2018), and an Academician of the International Academy for Quality (2013). He is a Fellow of American Society of Mechanical Engineering (2007), the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (2007), Institute of Operations Research and the Management Science (2008), Society of Manufacturing Engineering (2021). He received the ASA Deming Lecturer Award (2025), the ENBIS George Box Medal (2022), the Statistics in Physical and Engineering Sciences (SPES) Award (2022), the ASQ Walter Shewhart Medal (2021), the SME/NAMRI S. M. Wu Research Implementation Award (2021), the ASQ Brumbaugh Award (2019), the Horace Pops Medal Award (2018), IISE David F. Baker Distinguished Research Award (2016), the IIE Albert G. Holzman Distinguished Educator Award (2011), Forging Achievement Award from Forging Industry Educational and Research Foundation (2007), Monroe-Brown Foundation Research Excellence Award (2007), the 1938E Award (1998) at The University of Michigan, and NSF CAREER Award (1996).

Shi served as the Editor-in-Chief of the IISE Transactions (2017-2020), the flagship journal of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers. He also served as the Focus Issue Editor of IISE Transactions on Quality and Reliability Engineering (2007-2017), editor of Journal of System Science and Complexity (2008-2020), and advisory editor of Journal of Quality Technology and Quantitative Management (2016-present).

Shi received his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Beijing Institute of Technology in 1984 and 1987, and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1992.

Three Questions with Jan Shi

David Reid, PE

Director, Production Design
Chick-fil-A

David Reid, PE leads a team of industrial and Lean engineers who innovate and improve processes at Chick-fil-A. He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech but found his passion for industrial engineering at Michelin Tire Corp.

Reid is a business-minded IE manager with the heart of a teacher and a passion for process improvement. He loves to spark the same passion in the next generation of leaders. He is available to teach introductory to advanced Lean and IE training for all levels of organizations.

His blog can be found at www.leanu.info and he welcomes new connections via LinkedIn.

Three Questions with David Reid