January 6, 2020, Greenville, SC – SCMEP is proud to announce and welcome Gene Smith, Regional Vice President, to the team. With 30+ years of manufacturing and consulting experience, Gene enjoys helping organizations improve their operational performance through business improvement strategies. He will cover Clarendon, Darlington, Florence, Horry, Kershaw, Lee, Marion, and Sumter Counties.
A Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Gene was the former Director of Operations at the North Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership. His background and experience have helped businesses to enhance their workplace organization, improve business flows, boost support operations, and reduce redundancy in processes. Gene holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and B.S. in Textile Science from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Regional Vice President, Brian Kuney, adds Georgetown and Williamsburg Counties to his South Carolina territory. With more than 30 years of manufacturing and consulting experience in several industries, Brian is a highly regarded change agent. He loves to transfer his knowledge and experience to assist clients in building sustainable world-class manufacturing system systems. Brian helps companies determine, and then follow, the best path for advancing their businesses to become more competitive and profitable.
An employee with SCMEP for 6 years, Brian initially served as a Process Improvement Coach before moving into the Regional Vice President role in 2016. In addition to Georgetown and Williamsburg Counties, Brian will continue to serve companies located in Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester Counties.
Regional Vice President, Melissa Steinkuhl, adds Richland County to her South Carolina territory. With more than 20+ years of manufacturing and consulting experience, Melissa knows what it takes to successfully assist manufacturing companies and provide them with access to precisely the resources they need.
Melissa’s goals are to help manufacturers save money, find more customers, and speed up their throughput, making business turn faster and more competitive. This in turn retains jobs, adds jobs, and makes them more profitable. Melissa has been a Regional Vice President with SCMEP for 8 years and covers Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Beaufort, Calhoun, Colleton, Hampton, Jasper, Lexington, and Orangeburg Counties, in addition to Richland.
Former Regional Vice President, Adrienne Temple, has assumed a newly created position within the Company, Vice President of Training Programs. In this position, Adrienne will be responsible for SCMEP’s open enrollment training programs and for the launch and management of SCMEP’s new on-line learning platform.