Carlos Rojas

Carlos has more than 20 years’ industrial and business operations experience working for international organizations. Within Cisco he leads activities for mapping and customizing the company’s technology portfolio to the business issues and opportunities facing manufacturing and mining enterprises today and into their futures. He is responsible for supporting executive relationships within strategic accounts, partners and business units and he engages thought leaders in the industry for future initiatives.

Carlos Rojas earned his BS in Industrial Technology in 1985, graduating from the College of Industrial Technology at Western Illinois University.

In June 2001, Carlos earned his MBA from the Executive MBA program at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA.

In July 2002, Carlos earned his 6 Sigma Black Belt Certification from Motorola University.

He joined Joseph T. Ryerson and Son, Inc., an Inland Steel Company, as Industrial Engineer where he several positions with increasing responsibility in production, industrial engineering and quality assurance over his six year tenure with Ryerson.

As Operations Manager for the second largest steel distribution company he drove turn around projects and instituted Lean Manufacturing practices across 10 metal processing facilities for the Edgcomb Metals Company. This positioned Edgcomb as a premier supplier in the steel service center industry. Manufacturing improvements in the areas of productivity, quality, safety and preventive maintenance were all part of his accomplishments. He was also instrumental in leading one facility through a successful ISO 9000 UL approval.

In 1995 Carlos joined Scott Specialty Gases (now Air Liquide) and directed the installation of state-of-the-art chemical gas blending systems throughout the US and Europe. In 1996, Carlos was promoted to General Manager where he created a start-up company selling custom gas distribution solutions. While under his management, this business achieved record sales and profitability.

Also while as Scott, Carlos lead the turnaround for a high pressure vessel manufacturing business and returned the business to profitability by implementing a Total Demand Driven Supply Chain System and developing a new line products that penetrated new markets. To accommodate doubling the business, Carlos drove business and manufacturing process improvements using Lean and Six Sigma best practices.

In January 2003, Carlos was promoted to Vice President of Six Sigma for Scott Specialty Gases, Worldwide, reporting to the CEO. In this capacity he developed a full Six Sigma roll-out strategy and led its deployment by completing several Six Sigma projects and returning hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits back to Scott Gas.

Carlos is a member of the Board of Directors for the Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement (HACE). H.A.C.E. is a non-profit organization dedicated to nurturing the careers of Hispanic professionals from high school to college, university and throughout the career continuum.