Biography
Dr. Deborah Seifert Nightingale has 27 years of broad-based experience with academia, the government and the private sector. Prior to joining MIT in 1997, she served in a number of key executive positions including Operations, Strategic Planning, Business Operations, and Engineering. Dr. Nightingale has a proven record in strategic leadership and growing and managing the business both domestically and internationally, resulting in outstanding bottom line performance. In addition, she has achieved international distinction for her wide ranging contributions to the field of Enterprise Integration and led a corporate-wide initiative that extended across all aspects of a manufacturing enterprise including operations, engineering, customer support, information systems, and finance. Dr. Nightingale is very actively involved in professional societies such as the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Industrial Engineers, and serves on a number of boards and national committees, where she interacts extensively with both industry and academic leaders.
She holds a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Ohio State University and MS and BS degrees in Computer and Information Science from Ohio State and the University of Dayton, respectively. She also completed the Mahler Executive Leadership Development program and an executive management program at the American Graduate School of International Management.
She is a Past-President and Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers. Dr. Nightingale served on a council of senior industry executives from 30 international corporations who network ideas, trends, and technologies in contemporary management. She has also served on a number of educational advisory boards, including the American Graduate School of International Management?s Management of Technology Program and Stanford University?s Industrial and Management Engineering department. Dr. Nightingale currently is chair of the Industrial & Manufacturing Section Peer Committee for the National Academy of Engineering and is a member of the NRC study team on Defense Manufacturing in the Year 2010.
Dr. Nightingale is currently a Sr. Lecturer in the Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. As part of her role in the Lean Aerospace Initiative she is the MIT lead on the Lean Enterprise Model development and co-chair of the LEM IPT. She interacts extensively with other LAI researchers as well as with MIT faculty in both the School of Engineering and the Sloan School of Management at MIT.
In industry Dr. Nightingale has assumed a number of executive leadership positions. As head of Strategic Planning and Business Development for AlliedSignal, a $14.0 billion Fortune 100 company, she significantly improved Enterprise-wide productivity, profitability and market share. She established globalization strategies and identified new business development and growth opportunities for five major business enterprises. As part of the growth strategy, in 1994 she headed up a major acquisition, resulting in $450 million in increased revenues and consolidation savings of $60 million per year. She also spearheaded international partnership development, including leading delegations to China and Japan.
She led the development of a master plan for manufacturing operations that encompassed manufacturing cells, advanced shop floor systems, a rationalized supplier partner base, and a strong Integrated Product Development process. This plan resulted in significant cycle time and cost savings throughout the manufacturing enterprise, from initial product design through product manufacture, delivery and support. In addition to leading its design, she spearheaded the implementation of this integrated approach to operations modernization. This pioneering work resulted in her being elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1993.
She has also served in key customer-focused roles. She had responsibility for complete P & L as well as customer satisfaction in technical product and program management, delivery performance, and aftermarket support. She also coordinated system and process improvements across the manufacturing and customer support divisions, achieving significant enhancements in customer satisfaction.
Dr. Nightingale has also worked extensively in a variety of research endeavors. Prior to joining AlliedSignal, she worked at Wright-Patterson AFB where she served as program manager for computer simulation modeling research, design, and development in support of advanced man-machine design concepts. In this role she served as a consultant to over 50 governmental and industrial organizations and labs. Dr. Nightingale also supported a number of research projects while employed at the University of Dayton Research Institute.
Dr. Nightingale has published over 40 papers and
articles, has received a number of awards, and is a frequently invited
speaker on Enterprise Integration, strategic leadership, and organizational
effectiveness.
Last Updated: 11/10/98