keynote speakers

MBC is pleased to feature these keynote speakers for the 2009 conference:

› Peter C. Hawthorne, Vice President, Strategy & Business Development, Cargill Incorporated
› Philip W. Knisely, Executive Vice President, Danaher Corporation
› Conrad Winkler, Vice President, Booz & Company
 

speaker profiles

Peter C. Hawthorne
Vice President, Strategy & Business Development
Cargill Incorporated

Pete Hawthorne was appointed Vice President in Cargill’s Strategy and Business Development group in August 2006. He is responsible for assisting Cargill’s business units, platforms, geographies, and corporate center with their strategy, corporate development (mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, alliances), and business development activities.

Prior to rejoining Cargill in August 2006, Hawthorne was the corporate Vice President–Strategic Planning and Corporate Development for Carlson Companies, a Minneapolis-based private company engaged in corporate and leisure travel services, hotels, resorts, cruises, restaurants, and marketing services. He was elected to this role in November 2002, and was responsible for Carlson’s strategy development, mergers and acquisitions, joint venture, and alliance activities.

Hawthorne joined Cargill initially in August 1990 and served 12 years in various strategy and business development and line management roles across the different businesses, culminating in a position as Director–Corporate Development in the Minneapolis headquarters.

Prior to joining Cargill, Hawthorne was Vice President with The Churchill Companies in Minneapolis, Consultant with Bain & Company in San Francisco, and Assistant Treasurer in the global petroleum division of The Chase Manhattan Bank in New York.

Hawthorne graduated from Brown University in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in Economics. In 1985, he earned his MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. Hawthorne serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Minnesota International Center and Minnesota Dance Theatre & The Dance Institute.

Philip W. Knisely
Executive Vice President
Danaher Corporation

Philip Knisely is an Executive Vice President and Corporate Officer of Danaher Corporation, a $12B leading manufacturer of Medical Technologies, Professional Instrumentation, and Industrial Products. He is a member of the Office of the Chief Executive, managing the performance, corporate strategy, and organizational evolution of the corporation.

Knisely’s entire career has been in manufacturing businesses. His time at Danaher has included responsibility for their Aerospace, Motion, and Sensor businesses in addition to his current $3B+ responsibility for Danaher’s Dental businesses and Product ID businesses.

Prior to joining Danaher, Knisely was Co-Founder, President, and CEO of Colfax Corporation, where he managed portfolio companies totaling $900 million in revenue, with $200 million in equity capital investments. Colfax is now a NYSE company. From 1988-1995, he served as President of AMF Industries, a privately held diversified manufacturing firm, and before AMF, he had a 10-year career with Emerson Electric.

Knisely earned a BSIE from General Motors Institute in 1976 and his MBA in 1978 from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. Knisely was a 1977 Shermet Award winner while at Darden and currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Darden. Knisely resides in Chicago with his wife Pattie and their three daughters.

Conrad Winkler KSM MMM ’95
Vice President
Booz & Company

Conrad Winkler has assisted companies with Product Strategies, Manufacturing Strategies, Supply Chain Management, Lean Manufacturing, and Strategic Sourcing. He has recently co-authored Make or Break: How Manufacturers Can Leap from Decline to Revitalization, published by McGraw Hill last year based on 14 years of working with manufacturers in auto, aerospace, foods, building products, consumer durables and fashion goods.

Winkler has also authored several articles on manufacturing and building an advantaged supply base. Most recently, he published an article called “The Seven Ways Forward” in Strategy+Business magazine, describing how manufacturers can respond to the economic crisis.

Prior to joining Booz & Company, Winkler was a nuclear trained officer on board a fast attack submarine in the United States Navy. He received his Masters degree (MBA) from Northwestern University’s Masters of Management in Manufacturing (MMM) program, a joint program between the Kellogg School of Management and the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Mechanical Engineering.