MTS people are professionals with ample industrial experience. Our team members come from various process industries in which we have held operating, maintenance and management positions. We are supported by document professionals who are able to create electronic manuals and/or train our customers on electronic conversion.
LEADERSHIP TEAM
Karin Aronson, Director of Operations, MTS World LLC, has a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Missouri – Columbia and an MBA from the University of Missouri - St. Louis. Upon graduation from MU in 1994 she worked in the packaging department at Dial Corporation and transferred to operations manager of the sulfonation unit. She was also a sales consultant in the Design Group of Barry Wehmiller. Karin joined MTS in 2009 and manages the business operations of MTS World.
Ravi Prakash, Director of Business Development, MTS World LLC, has a Mechanical Engineering degree (1992) and an MBA (2000) from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He began his career in 1993 working for Monsanto, then moved to Air Products and Dial Corporation. Most recently he was business director of Eastman’s Specialty Fluids global business unit with profit/loss responsibility. Ravi joined MTS in 2014 and manages the business development activities of MTS World.
Neil Blahut, Chief Learning Officer, MTS World LLC, has a Master’s Degree in Industrial Psychology, specializing in Training and Development. He has over 40 years’ experience in industrial training, mostly in the process industries of oil and chemical processing. Thirty of those 40 year with MTS. He managed a series of projects over a six year span for a major multinational refining company documenting the operations of a large chemical complex and has personally written, or supervised the writing of, hundreds of training manuals and other training materials. He is also a trained ISO Lead Auditor.
COMMERCIAL TEAM
Greg Raeman has a BA from the University of Missouri – Columbia. He has over 20 years of experience training and developing people. His areas of expertise include Executive Management Development, Strategic Business Planning, Leadership Development, Presentation Skills, Financial Benchmarking, Delegating, Teamwork, Flow Efficiency, Regulatory Compliance and Recruiting. In addition to his professional career, Greg has 15 years of practical experience in business start-up and development and has been with MTS since 2015.
Mark Jeffrey has a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Washington University. Mark worked for many years at Solutia and Eastman in business management and market development. Prior to Solutia, Mark was a Vice President for Sales and Marketing at Emerson Electric in St. Louis. He has extensive experience in growing brands by translating insights to increase revenue, improve margins, and grow category market share. He also has had significant experience in market development and lead generation to open new markets as well as experience in advertising and promotions by providing collateral material, including websites, newsletters, brochures, and blogs.
PROJECTS TEAM
Ann McCollum has a Chemical Engineering degree from Virginia Tech and her professional experience includes process engineering and project management at Monsanto and Fru-Con.
David McCollum has a Chemical Engineering degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His professional experience includes technical service and research and development with Eastman/Solutia/Monsanto.
Kathleen Prakash has a Chemical Engineering Degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. She is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Missouri. She has extensive experience in process engineering, plant engineering, front line supervision, Process Safety Management (PSM - OSHA 1910.119), air permitting, environmental compliance, relief systems design and dispersion modelling, all in a complex chemical manufacturing environment with Monsanto/Solutia.
Andrew "Drew" Riebel has a Chemical Engineering degree from West Virginia University. He has been with MTS since 2015.
Gary Usery has a Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Arkansas. His 30 years of experience include roles in plant commissioning and startup, operator training, manufacturing/operations management, engineering management, project engineering and process engineering. His industry experience includes catalyst manufacturing, chemicals manufacturing, biodiesel production and environmental services. He was a customer of MTS while in leadership roles at 3 different chemical plants beginning in 2002. He joined MTS as a consultant in 2016.
Jack Wagner has a Master’s Degree in Instructional Systems design from Indiana University. Jack has over 30 years’ experience in writing training materials for the oil refining, chemical processing industries beginning with the American Petroleum Institute Pilot/Profit Series. More recently Jack worked on the ExxonMobil Chemicals Beaumont project.
Josh Zona has a Chemical Engineering degree from Washington University and a MBA from University of Chicago. He has experience in sales management, commercial management and manufacturing engineering roles across various industries for over 20 years. Market/industry experience include polymers, oil & gas, agricultural chemicals, pharmaceuticals, water treatment, solar, electronic display, medical devices, coatings, paints and pigments, consumer and industrial cleaning products, and personal care products.
PUBLICATIONS TEAM
Donna Dunlap started with MTS in 1982 and is currently the owner of Dunlap Technical Publications, Inc. Donna manages the final production of all manuals to meet MTS standards.
MEMBERS EMERITUS:
Vince Estrada has
a Chemical Engineering degree from MIT and an MBA from Xavier
University. Vince is also certified by The Institute of Management
Consultants. He began his professional career at Monsanto and joined MTS
in 1972. Since joining MTS, he has performed/managed numerous projects
world-wide. Vince’s primary focus has been in the international arena.
Vince is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Ken Taylor has a Chemical Engineering degree from the Indiana Institute of Technology. He worked for ARCO Refining as a project engineer and director of operational training prior to joining MTS in 1976. He has written hundreds of manuals and has managed many MTS projects.
NOTE: MTS is organized on a project basis. Any team member can be assigned to any project as dictated by project needs. Ultimate responsibility for the project and overall management lies with the leadership team.