Ralph Gaillard currently serves as Managing Director of the Finance Leadership Community at the Manufacturers Alliance. He is the Council Director for the Tax, Corporate Controller, Treasury, and Financial Planning & Analysis Councils. He has spent over 20 years as a learning and development leader designing and facilitating executive-level educational experiences.

Before joining the Manufacturers Alliance, Ralph served as the Chief Learning Director for the Illinois CPA Society and as the Director of Virtual Training and Education for the National Safety Council. Ralph received a Master’s degree in Education, with honors, from the University of Massachusetts Boston and a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in U.S. History from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

She served as the Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of Commerce from 2013-2015, and as Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisors in 2012-2013.

Her research focuses on this question: When supplies and customers or management and labor collaborate, how does it shape the economy? Currently, she is looking at how global supply chains affect regional development and innovation. She is also examining a paradox in regional economic development. While the world is becoming more “flat” with goods and money flowing ever more quickly around the globe, local “clusters" of production in places such as Silicon Valley remain important. Helper has numerous publications in refereed journals such as Journal of Economic Perspectives, Industrial and Corporate Change, American Economic Review, Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, and Industrial and Corporate Change. She is a member of the editorial review board for Strategic Management Journal.

Over the past ten years, she has served as chair of the Case Western Reserve Economics Department and the AT&T Professor of Economics; International Visiting Fellow at Said School of Management, University of Oxford; and Visiting Scholar, Institute of Industrial Relations, University of California, Berkeley. She received her PhD from Harvard University and her BA from Oberlin College.

Seth is a Principal with Grant Thornton Advisors, LLC in the Technology Modernization group, and the global leader of the JD Edwards practice. Seth leads a team of onshore and offshore functional and technical JD Edwards practitioners, working closely with clients on implementations, optimizations and upgrades, with a focus on business process automation and transformation. He has over 26 years of consulting experience, across a diverse set of industry and public sector clients, with over 18 years focused on JD Edwards projects. Seth’s primary focus in on providing leadership, quality assurance and planning and program management for multi-faceted JD Edwards and Information Technology projects. Seth spent 12 years implementing several of the JDE modules, including Distribution and Manufacturing, Financials, Fixed Assets, Equipment Maintenance, Equipment Billing and Service Billing, before moving into project management and ultimately taking on the leadership of the practice. Seth also has extenstive experience with IT roadmaps / phased rollouts of technology across organizations, business process reengineering and system architecture design.  

Prior to Grant Thornton, Seth started his career with a Big 4 accounting firm in the consulting practice, then joined MarketSphere’s JD Edwards practice and was responsible for leading and delivering projects, practice development, solution design and staff management. MarketSphere was acquired by Grant Thornton in 2013.

Kelly Schindler is the Head of the Manufacturing Industry, and an Audit Partner based in the Saint Louis office. In her leadership role, she oversees the growth and operations of the firm’s Manufacturing industry, which encompass a full range of audit, assurance, tax, and advisory services. She also regularly visits domestic and international offices to meet with manufacturing clients and prospects, providing industry insights, identifying solutions to client challenges, and fostering connections between manufacturing companies to share best practices and network.

Kelly has been with Grant Thornton since 2011 and has more than 20 years of experience in public accounting. Before joining Grant Thornton, Kelly was a senior manager at another large professional services firm, where she managed several domestic and international public and private company engagements. She also worked overseas during the rollout of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and led global trainings on how to implement effective inventory cycle counts at large, international companies.

Kelly plays a key role in educating the firm's professionals on the latest industry developments, including tax regulations, international business practices, workforce dynamics, and supply chain management. Kelly is also a board member of the National Association of Manufacturers, where she works to bolster the association’s leadership in policy advocacy, legal action, workforce solutions and operational excellence.

Kelly is a CPA in Missouri and Iowa and a member of the AICPA. She is also a member of Women in Manufacturing, both locally and nationally, and serves on Missouri State University’s Advisory Board.

A business process transformation strategist with specialization in sourcing, procurement, supply chain planning and negotiation, Amy leverages insights across data, tools, people and processes to recommend changes and lead hands-on transformations. She helps clients with projects involving M&A-related changes, functional redesigns, business leadership for system integrations and change management.

Industries served include manufacturing, consumer business, food and beverage, life sciences and professional services.

Steven Wise is a seasoned Data and AI leader with deep expertise in architecting modern analytics solutions for organizations using the Microsoft Azure suite of tools. He specializes in guiding clients through data modernization, ERP integration, and AI-driven decision-making. Steven has led pre-sales and solution architecture teams, helped align technical strategies with business goals, and execute against those goals. His focus on scalable design, rapid deployment, and measurable impact makes him a trusted advisor for manufacturers navigating digital transformation.

Ralph Gaillard currently serves as Managing Director of the Finance Leadership Community at the Manufacturers Alliance. He is the Council Director for the Tax, Corporate Controller, Treasury, and Financial Planning & Analysis Councils. He has spent over 20 years as a learning and development leader designing and facilitating executive-level educational experiences.

Before joining the Manufacturers Alliance, Ralph served as the Chief Learning Director for the Illinois CPA Society and as the Director of Virtual Training and Education for the National Safety Council. Ralph received a Master’s degree in Education, with honors, from the University of Massachusetts Boston and a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in U.S. History from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.