Tony Rizzo -- Product Development Institute, owner

Tony began his career as a mechanical engineer, with AT&T Bell Laboratories, in 1983. After a few years, Tony created his own job within Bell Labs, as an internal finite element analysis consultant. Tony specialized in the creation of parametric finite element models, with which he and client engineers often optimized the mechanical and thermal aspects of many of the company's products.

It was during this phase of his technical career that Tony successfully combined his parametric finite element models with the body of knowledge known as Design of Experiments (DOE). With this extremely powerful combination of technologies, Tony and his internal engineering clients consistently developed the designs at hand from initial concepts to optimally working prototypes in a single hardware step. Just as often, Tony and his internal clients would optimize not only the functional aspects of the products but also their quality, by applying Dr. Genichi Taguchi's robust design strategy.

In 1994, Tony Rizzo was introduced to the Theory of Constraints (TOC). Since then, he has spent considerable effort in adapting TOC to product development operations, all the while doing so in a way that made sense continually to client management teams.

Tony launched the very first product development implementation in the world, of the TOC Multi-Project Management Method, with one of the smaller businesses of Lucent Technologies. He is responsible for bringing this powerful management system successfully to a number of Lucent Technologies businesses.

In March 23, 2000, Tony Rizzo left Lucent Technologies and launched the Product Development Institute, Inc. (PDI). This entrepreneurial endeavor already promises to be stunningly successful. The success is due largely to the extreme value of the re-engineering services, outstanding training, and the extensive experience in the TOC Multi-Project Management Method that PDI brings to clients.

Scott Button -- Senior Leadership Consultant

A former U.S. Navy officer, Scott joined Boeing Commercial Airplane Group in 1989 and has spent most of his career providing manufacturing process improvements, design for manufacturing guidance, project management, and R&D services as a lead engineer for the Interiors Responsibility Center. He also was assigned to Boeing's Customer Services and the Teledesic satellite project. Scott is a Professional Engineer who holds a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington and a Master's Certificate in Constraints Management from Washington State University. Scott is also a WSU/AGI Theory of Constraints Jonah, Class of 1998.

Scott, who is co-inventor for U.S. Patents 6,164,477 & 6,325,568, on the assembly of stowage bins, presents regularly at technical conferences and has published numerous articles with SPE, SAMPE, SAE Aerospace, APICS, and Polymer Composites (a refereed journal).

In 1999 and 2000, Scott was the internal TOC expert, Project Manager, workshop leader, software expert, internal consultant, and all around handyman in a TOC Multi-project management implementation at Boeing. He was formally recognized by the management team as providing the installation and maintenance of an invaluable tool for selecting, prioritizing and managing their projects. Scott helped to launch a second TOC Multi-project management implementation, and was also instrumental in analyzing a Boeing fabrication plant and demonstrating the benefits of a measurement change and a Drum-Buffer-Rope implementation.

From 2000 to 2002, Scott worked for the Product Development Institute, Inc. (PDI). In his capacity as Senior Leadership Consultant, Scott has led executive, management, and developer level training sessions. He has facilitated implementation planning sessions and project planning sessions with clients in aerospace, telecom, software, and silicon wafer manufacturing. Scott has led several program-planning sessions, has provided valuable system design recommendations, and has contributed to the organizational review of a TOC implementation in a multi-billion-dollar aerospace program. Scott currently makes his home near Seattle, Washington.