16th Annual College of Engineering Welcome Event

Thursday, August 18, 2016
Talley Student Union, State Ballroom
NC State University
4:30 p.m.

Keynote Speaker:

Congressman Chris Collins (BSME ’72)
New York’s 27th Congressional District
in the House of Representatives

After graduating NC State in 1972 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Chris began his professional career with Westinghouse Electric. While employed with Westinghouse, he received his MBA from the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

In 1983, Chris engineered a leverage buyout of the Westinghouse industrial gear division he was managing in Buffalo. He subsequently purchased over 20 financially distressed companies and implemented Lean Six Sigma as the key management tool to lead these companies to success.

In 2007, Chris was elected Erie County (NY) Executive with the slogan “Elect a chief executive, not a chief politician” where he promised to implement Lean Six Sigma for the first time in a large municipal government in the United States. Through the implementation of Lean Six Sigma, Chris transformed an effectively bankrupt county into a prosperous one, reducing the county’s debt by over $120 million and creating a cash surplus in excess of $100 million.

Congressman Chris Collins currently represents New York’s 27th Congressional District in the House of Representatives, where he has served since being elected in November 2012. He is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is recognized as the most influential committee in Congress.