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Dr. Mark Gershon

Project Management and Process Improvement Specialist
Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt | Project Management Professional (PMP)
Mark is a project management and process improvement specialist. For over 30 years he has been certified as a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and as a Project Management Professional (PMP), and has been advising organizations and educating practitioners in both disciplines. His teaching capability has also been cited and used as a model by both ESI and IIL, the two largest project management training groups. They have sent their instructors to his classes to learn his teaching techniques.

What I Focus On

Both these methodologies are really aimed at getting things done better and/or faster. They work well together to reduce time, reduce budget and increase the quality of the outcomes. Optimization of resources is the goal

What's Important to Me

The measure of success in what I do is how much I see these techniques used at the places I have been and how much improvement they achieve. The primary objective of training is to see it applied.

What Motivates Me

My joy from this work comes from knowing that when I go to an organization, they are better off for my having been there.

Corporate Experience

  • Meaningsphere
    Acted as external project manager to organize their Learning Circle program. The project made a lot of progress while their other projects were at a standstill. It made a convincing case for the value of a structured project management approach.
  • GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
    Conducted series of trainings to prepare project managers for their PMP exams.
  • Sonny’s the Car Wash Factory, Tamarac, FL
    Conducted LSS Green Belt training, certified the staff, and coached the project teams to successful improvements
  • Philadelphia Gas Works
    Conducted series of training courses to prepare project managers for their PMP exams
  • IMTT Bulk Storage, Bayonne NJ
    Trained staff to use Microsoft Project and apply it to their project planning activities
  • Graphic Packaging International, Macon GA
    Provided advanced training in the use of Microsoft Project

Government Experience

  • NY State Dept of Transportation

    Provided LSS Black Belt training and guided some of their project work

  • New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS)
    • Since 2021, facilitated training workshops for employees of New York City through an open enrollment catalog and for specific NYC agencies who have specifically requested his courses, including:  
      • Department of Environmental Protection
      • City University of New York 
      • Department of Design and Construction
      • The Department of Education
      • Mayor's Office of Contract Services 
      • New York City Housing Authority
      • Department for the Aging

    The courses that have become his specialties are:

    • Lean Six Sigma Introduction to Process Improvement, White/Yellow Belt
    • Process Mapping for Process Improvement
    • Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
      •  
  • City of Philadelphia
    • Provided training in project management
  • City of Morrow, GA
    • Provided LSS Green Belt training and coached improvement project teams

CREDENTIALS

  • Master Black Belt
  • Certified PMI ATP Instructor
  • IASSC accredited Lean Six Sigma training provider/ IASSC certified LSS program.
  • U. of Pittsburgh, BS (Industrial Engineering)
  • Stevens Institute of Technology
  • University of Arizona, MS (Mechanical Engineering), PH.D. (Systems Engineering)

PUBLICATIONS

  • Techniques for Multi-objective Decision Making in Systems Management, co-author, 1986 
  • Production and Operations Management, co-author, 1993
  • World Class PMP Practice Exams, 2009
  •  Project Management for PMP Certification, 2008
  •  “Using Earned Value Analysis to Manage Projects” Journal of Applied Business and Economics. 2013
  • “How Many Steps to Quality?  From Deming to DMAIC” co-author, International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2013
  •  “Evaluating and Selection of Key Performance Measures for Business Process Management Using a Neighborhood Rough Set Methodology” co-author, Information and Management, 2013
  • “Double LEAN: A New Approach to Implement Lean Six Sigma Projects” Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 2011
  • “Identification and Classification of Intermittent Demand Patterns,” co-author, International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2010

TEACHING POSITIONS

  • Temple University, Department Chair
  • Gadjah Mada University (Indonesia)
  • Ben Gurion University
  • MIT