About the Lean Beans Creator...

Sue Sondergelt is the creator and facilitator for the innovative new 'Lean Beans' program on Lean Accounting. She is an accomplished presenter, and has delivered her highly respected seminar "Lean Thinking for Accountants: Sustaining Corporate Growth" in more than 20 major US cities.  For two years, while Sue was an author/presenter for CPE Inc. (Center for Professional Education,) this seminar was approved to fulfill the continuing education requirements for CMA's and CPA's.  Her new and improved seminar includes new 'hot' topics such as Lean Sigma, Transactional Lean, and Lean SOX.  Sue is much in demand as a guest speaker on Lean Accounting. In 2003, she addressed a Financial Executives Conference in Philadelphia, and was a keynote speaker on Lean Accounting at the IMA (Institute of Management Accountants) National Convention in Chicago in June 2004 and in Las Vegas in June of 2006. Sue has taught "Advanced Cost" as well as "Change Management Leadership" for four years in the MBA Program at the University of Phoenix.  She has been an Instructor at Northern Michigan University, in Marquette, Michigan, where she implemented web-based accounting courses to assist in growing the enrollment at the university.  While at NMU, Sue facilitated two-day Lean Accounting continuing education seminars for the AICPA of Northern Michigan, as well as a "Hot Topic" course in Lean and Lean Accounting at the university.

Sue has expertise in World Class Cost Management techniques, Leadership of Teams, Lean Manufacturing, Change Management, Cost Containment, and Supply Chain Management. She has 15 years of Lean financial experience in industries ranging from healthcare to aerospace to consumer products. With her experience as a proactive financial manager in the manufacturing sector, Sue believes that hands-on shop floor experience is fundamental to building the appropriate measures of business productivity.

While at United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney, Sue was the member responsible for finance on a 12-person Administrative Team that successfully reduced the cost of a new product in development by 40%. Her first experiences in Lean accounting came while she was working for The Wiremold Company, a textbook case company in Lean and Lean Accounting. Sue will tell you that everything she knows about Lean Accounting she first learned from Orry Fiume, CFO (retired) of The Wiremold Company.  Besides her roles at United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney, and The Wiremold Company, she has also held positions at UTC Otis Elevator, Black & Decker, PepsiCo, and the consulting firm Lean Advisors, Inc. (LEAD)

Sue has earned degrees in Mathematics/Statistics from Indiana University, a Masters in Accountancy from the University of Hartford, and she is a CMA (Certified Management Accountant.)  She is Lean Certified by the University of Michigan, College of Engineering, and is a Six Sigma Greenbelt.  Sue makes her home on a barrier reef island off the southwest coast of Florida.