Mentoring Programs

Marcy Alstott

Functional Focus: Operations Leadership, New Product Introduction

Fun Fact: Robotics Maven

Marcy has a 30+ year career as an executive in high growth technology companies and used this experience to help aspiring leaders reach their goals, both personally and professionally. Marcy has a proven track record of architecting change by bringing the best out in her direct and indirect teams. While building global operations capabilities for small and large companies, Marcy consistently mentors top performing leaders; many of them are women who have now risen to VP and CEO levels in global companies. Mentoring has always been a core competency and part of her own formula for personal success. Recently, as Marcy has consulted in the start-up realm, she has mentored multiple founders and executives in the medical, industrial, automation and consumer spaces.

Through her own experiences in executive leadership roles, Marcy helps her clients connect the dots: evolving and increasing job requirements, corporate culture, key functional and corporate deliverables, lifestyle priorities, personal strengths and development areas. Marcy partners with leaders to help them identify their applicable challenges, both real and perceived, and collaborates with them to find actionable solutions. Getting to authentic self-awareness and acceptance of blind spots is a path to achieving leadership breakthroughs. Marcy will help her clients identify areas in which to improve and put a measurable action plan together.

Alison Armstrongopen_in_new

Functional Focus: Manufacturing Leadership and Quality Engineering

Fun Fact: Tesla and Zero (EV Obsessed)

Alison has a 25+ year career that spans both large and small companies. In recent years, she has focused on Electric Vehicles. Alison’s expertise encompasses a spectrum of vital domains within Operations Management. Her strength lies in her knowledge of Design for Manufacturing and Problem Solving. But she can also orchestrate seamless Product Lifecycle Management, as well as steering Process Re-Engineering, Supplier Management, and Quality Management. Her multifaceted prowess is a driving force behind her achievements.

A once-certified ISO 9000 auditor and a 6-Sigma Greenbelt holder, Alison has distinguished herself with dual degrees in Economics and Electrical Engineering and a recent certificate from MIT on Artificial Intelligence. These degrees reflect her deep-rooted commitment to continuous learning and holistic understanding. Her international exposure has honed her aptitude for cross-cultural collaboration and sensitivity, augmenting her adeptness in global business dynamics. In addition, the implementation of Lean Manufacturing concepts is central to her approach, an ethos that pervades every project she does. Alison’s adept engineering finesse and skill in guiding teams have consistently steered organizations toward elevated productivity, reduced costs, and sustainable improvements.

Mary Ann Biancoopen_in_new

Functional Focus: High Growth SaaS, Customer Experience

Fun Fact: Steeped in AI for Customer Service

Mary Ann is a seasoned high-tech executive with over 30 years of experience leading growth in both legacy enterprises and entrepreneurial start-ups. With a strong background in Cloud SaaS Enterprise Applications and AI/ML for B2B and B2C companies, she has consistently driven revenue and customer success across the ecosystem. Her expertise spans sales, business development, customer management and partnership alliances, where she applies a customer-centric approach to scaling businesses. Mary Ann’s operational leadership includes large-scale digital transformations, focusing on aligning business workflows with leadership behaviors to ensure successful cultural and organizational shifts.

Mary Ann is a recognized leader in building and delivering global women's leadership initiatives as well as providing mentorship and coaching to professionals at all career levels. Her commitment to fostering inclusive environments extends to her work on the boards of several high-impact nonprofit organizations where she has played a key role in defining culture and creating mentoring programs to promote leadership and equity across industries.

Ken Blankers open_in_new

Functional Focus: Sales and Operations Planning, Supply Chain Leadership

Fun Fact: Cisco Alum

Ken has more than 35 years of experience in operations at all levels within organizations and as a consultant. He worked in a vertically integrated design and manufacturing company in the aerospace and defense industry early in his career. From there, Ken began working in startup organizations and discovered how rewarding it was to be a mentor to others while also contributing to the mission of the companies.

Ken enjoys working with teams to bring some order to chaos and to raise the skill levels of the talent in place on the team. He understands that most of the companies and teams he is working with are generally needing to do more with very limited resources. Throughout his career, Ken has excelled in this constrained type of environment and has been very successful in bringing a right-sized approach that fits the needs of the organization. As a result, Ken has also been able to work with and mentor team members on how to operate successfully in these challenging environments. In his engagements with organizations, Ken has worked with members of Sales & Marketing, Supply & Demand Planning, Supply Chain, Logistics, Manufacturing, Refurbishment, Product Development, and Quality.

Maggie Durocheropen_in_new

Functional Focus: Program Management, Product Launch

Fun Fact: Lived in four countries

Maggie is a highly accomplished Product Operations Executive, Consultant, and Advisor with a strong focus on hardware companies. She brings a wealth of experience in global leadership, having successfully transformed engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain organizations to enhance performance, productivity, and profitability.

Maggie’s mentorship has been invaluable both cross-functionally in Operations, and cross-organizationally from C-Suite to Individual Contributors. Her primary focal points are teaching structured and methodical approaches to Operation Excellence and Program Management for transitioning HW from Concept Phase to Mass Production. She is especially passionate about helping Women In Technology and has helped numerous females transition from Engineering to leadership roles in Program Management.

Vincent Lafaixopen_in_new

Functional Focus: Logistics, Global Trade Compliance

Fun Fact: Educated in France

With a solid foundation in Systems and Finance and a transition into Operations and Global Logistics, Vincent offers a versatile and impactful approach to leadership. His career spans both global corporations, like Hewlett-Packard (HP), and agile startups, where he has successfully built and guided teams to achieve high-impact results. Notably, Vincent led a Global Logistics team that supported the company’s growth from $300M to $2B, culminating in a successful stock market introduction— showcasing his ability to drive strategic growth and operational excellence. 

Vincent’s mentoring empowers professionals in logistics and operations to navigate complex challenges and scale their careers, whether within large organizations or dynamic startup environments. His approach ensures clients focus on the right areas and implement actionable plans to maximize their impact.

Terry Quinnopen_in_new

Functional Focus: Supply Chain Management, Reverse Logistics

Fun Fact: Masters in Psychology

Terry is an experienced operations executive having managed Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Reverse Logistics for multi-billion dollar tech firms, all with a global reach. Part of Terry's experience includes mentoring at all levels of the organization. He has mentored not only his staff, but also peers and at times, superiors. The mentoring activity has included areas of individual as well as departmental performance, especially in challenging situations of either high growth or business constrictions. Terry excels at this because as a C suite level executive, he has been in most if not all of the roles of those with whom he has mentored. He has a strong behavioral background through academia which contributes to his overall effectiveness. It doesn't hurt that he really likes mentoring as well. Terry's approach uses a combination of technical expertise and an ability to connect with those he is mentoring.

Mark Williams 

Functional Focus: Sales and Marketing Leadership

Fun Fact: Nepal Junkie

Mark’s passion is building: leaders, teams, and companies. A serial entrepreneur, Mark works with leaders at consumer product startups and scaleups to build their go-to-market strategy, grow sales, and get connected to proven experts and resources. Through his role leading the Sales on Tap practice of On Tap Consulting, he’s mentored 100+ high-performing teams including those at Oura, reMarkable, Eargo, Sense, Tile, Embark, and SimpliSafe. Before joining On Tap Consulting, Mark led sales teams for iconic brands including Pure Digital (Flip Video), Kobo, and Anki.

Andre Neumann-Loreck

Functional Focus: Executive Teamwork, Negotiations

Fun Fact: Worked in Japan

Andre mentors entrepreneurs, CEOs, and senior executives in companies large and small, and mentors students and startups affiliated with Fordham University and the Fordham Foundry. Andre is a Managing Partner at On Tap Consulting, which he co-founded in 2013 to support emerging and established hardware companies with strategic operations, supply chain management, and go-to-market expertise. Before founding On Tap, Andre served as Vice President of Engineering & Operations at Cisco Systems' Consumer Products Division, where he led engineering and operations for iconic brands like Flip Video and Linksys. Andre has been promoted to COO at three different startups, recognized for his transformative impact and team-building skills. He has supported the launch of over 100 products and built numerous supply chains from the ground up, negotiating contracts and deals throughout his career. 

What is a Mentor?

Mentoring is a professional development relationship where an experienced individual provides guidance, support, and feedback to someone who is seeking to improve their knowledge, skills, or career prospects.

Speak with a mentor today