Taylor is an American business executive, dynamic speaker and transformation & change management guru. He is the founder and president of LinkedXL, a business operating systems architecting firm, and the author of “The Winning Link.”
He spent 30 years with The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT), serving as director of North America manufacturing and chief diversity and inclusion officer. During his tenure at Goodyear, Taylor started on the plant floor and retired as global head of diversity and inclusion and executive director of commercial, off-highway, and support manufacturing in North America, where he led world-class operations. During his 30-year tenure at Goodyear, Billy spearheaded several manufacturing plant turnarounds, significantly enhancing their performance and contributing to the company's remarkable financial turnaround—from a loss of $38 million to over $1 billion in earnings.

Ian has been described as a “Serial entrepreneur”. His working career is lined with a number of entrepreneurial start-up businesses.
These include:
A retail chain called Super Mart which was sold to Edcon in 2003 and rebranded to Jet Mart;
A record company called Priority Records which was sold to Jive Records of the UK;
A race relations and customer service consultancy called Labour Link which consulted to public companies between 1991 and 1997;
A national chain of beauty salons called Sorbet which he launched in 2005.
The Sorbet business has subsequently grown to 225 franchised salons and is the largest chain of salons in Africa. In 2017, Sorbet was sold to Long4Life, a listed company. Ian subsequently left Sorbet in February 2019 and set up a new coaching and consulting organisation called The Hatch Institute which is aimed largely at helping business leaders with the issues of self development, culture, leadership, customer service and racial healing. Ian is the author of several books, including "The Soul of Sorbet" and "Cultureneeering".

Treven is a Technical Specialist at Polyoak Packaging, bringing 15 years of expertise in stretch blow molding and 12 years of experience in steam injection within the polystyrene industry at Hebcooler.
Currently pursuing his N5 qualification in Mechanical Fitting, he also holds an N3 qualification in Building and Plan Drawing. Over the years, Treven has developed a diverse skill set, enabling him to share his knowledge and experience with his team.

Polyoak specialises in the design and manufacture of environmentally responsible rigid plastic packaging for food, beverage and industrial applications. As a proudly South African company with over 40 manufacturing plants and extensive distribution networks across Southern Africa, they strive to be a sustainable packaging partner of choice.
Treven will co-present this case study alongside Tanya Hulse, Director of Training Leadership Consulting, who facilitated and coached Polyoak through their SMED journey, supporting their action learning projects.

Hilton is a seasoned financial expert with over 18 years’ experience in the financial services industry. Hilton oversees a team of portfolio managers, guiding them to achieve targets while maintaining the highest standards of service. Hilton holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree (Management and Economics), Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning attaining the Certified Financial Planner designation and is a registered Stockbroker with the South African Institute of Stockbrokers.

Jozef is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, author, business coach and accomplished business transformation leader with a passion for helping CEOs achieve successful business results. With over two decades Lean experience in multiple industries, he specializes in reducing project implementation time while minimizing resistance to change. Over the past year Jozef has engaged with the Montego teams as a Lean facilitator and coach building the problem-solving capability internally at both the Graaff-Reinet and Centurion facilities, driving operational excellence.
With extensive experience in building high-performance teams, Jozef combines deep expertise with a sense of humour to bring a unique approach to every project.

Graham has devoted more than a decade to the development of SMEs, guiding over 350 businesses and conducting over 3,500 one-on-one consulting sessions. He has pioneered the use of Generative AI in the SME development space to transform SME operations, funding strategies, and business growth for large corporate sponsors and business incubators. Graham has developed Generative Ai tools for leading company’s and recently developed the Generative Ai Business Diagnostic tools used by a leading Business Incubator to assess the funding requirements of their SMEs.

Mark is a high capacity, innovative hands-on executive manager with more than 30 years experience in industry. He has a genuine passion for Lean Manufacturing and a proven track record of continuous improvement in complex environments. Mark has exceptional change management skills and has experience leading workforces and management teams through cultural change, empowerment and the implementation of best practices. Mark developed Eddels Shoes “Quick Response System” using various first world manufacturing systems and techniques and adapting them to the South African context.

As a Chemical Engineer by background, Tanya has over 25 years’ technical and leadership experience in Supply chain and People capability development within global FMCG businesses. As a facilitator she draws on the insights from her career to enrich the learning experience, helping people see how concepts can be applied in practice. Tanya will co-present with Treven Naicker, as she facilitated and coached Polyoak through their SMED journey, supporting their action learning projects.

Ashanth has been employed at Somta Tools since 2014 and worked his way up from CNC Setter to Business Unit Leader. As a Team leader his primary objective is to support the functioning of business operations by managing staff, coordinating operations, programming machines, problem solving, driving lean manufacturing, meeting month end sales, managing departmental costs and ensuring exceptional customer service.

Melanie is a feisty advocate for business, equality and justice, and is driven to contribute to meaningful societal change. Melanie has been the CEO of the Pietermaritzburg & Midlands Chamber of Business since February 2011. She holds a B. Comm degree in Industrial & Organisational Psychology, is people-focused and cause-driven. She is the current Chairperson of the Association of South African Chambers (ASAC). ASAC is an alliance formed by the largest chambers in South Africa to give voice to shared business challenges and represent the mandated and agreed common interests of members on national issues of a policy and/or regulatory nature.
She serves as the Treasurer of the KwaZulu-Natal Business Chambers Council (KBCC) and is a business representative on the KZN Economic Council. She is also the chair of the local South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) branch and she sits on the SAIIA National Council.