University of St. Thomas

Interests and expertise

Making Change Happen -- Quality systems, quality management, continuous improvement (Baldrige, Shingo, Lean, and Six Sigma), organizational change, internal assessments, supplier quality, applied ergonomics, and psychology.

Career

An optimization professional -- expert at finding and fixing what stands in the way of quality, productivity, efficiency, and reduced costs. Experienced in working with executive management to link strategic objectives --> to projects --> to goals --> to results. Proficient in delivering lean and six sigma improvements. Whether leading, teaching others, or working with management, breakthrough performance improvements happen        ...consultant ...teacher ...public speaker ...moving chaos to clarity.

Currently leads a consulting practice, Better Business Results, LLC.

At Medtronic, Inc., he was Deployment Leader and Master Black Belt in Operations. In Honeywell Information Systems he was vice president of Quality and Customer Satisfaction, and at KeyCorp he was senior vice president for Quality, Education and Training. Early in his career, he worked as an engineering research psychologist for the U.S. National Bureau of Standards (now NIST - National Institute of Standards and Technology www.nist.gov).

Fechter has served on the Board of Examiners for the U.S. Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and has been a judge for the Massachusetts Quality Award. He has taught at the universities of Southern California (Pentagon Branch), Minnesota, and South Dakota as well as at St. Thomas. He was an officer of the Minnesota Section of ASQ 2002-2004.

He is an ASQ Certified Quality Manager and Certified Quality Auditor.

Education

B.S. Psychology, Montana State University
M.S. Applied Science, Montana State University
Ph.D. Psychology (Ergonomics Specialty), University of South Dakota