Ericka serves as the Human Resource Manager of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) at BMW Manufacturing Co., in Greer, South Carolina. She started her employment with BMW in 2002 and has worked in various departments over the years. With over fifteen years of experience in HR, she demonstrates excellent leadership skills which have contributed to the success and well-being of those around her. Ericka has implemented creative strategies to increase employee retention, talent development and succession planning. Process improvements implemented by Ericka have helped management teams identify leaders, promote diverse candidates, and create talent pipelines. She also led a successful project to implement a new Portfolio Performance system at BMW.

Ericka is a proud graduate of Alabama State University, where she obtained her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. She also earned a master’s degree in human resources from Webster University and Walden University in Leadership. Suber has also completed the Diversity Leadership Institute Program at Furman University.

Ericka is dedicated to giving back to her local community, mentoring others, and supporting other social responsibility activities. Her work and community involvement includes BMW STEM Day for students, Clemson University’s Men of Color event, active member of Greenville (SC) Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Habitat for Humanities, and various church activities.

Kelvin Byrd holds a pivotal role as the academic dean for the School of Advanced Manufacturing & Transportation Technology programs at Greenville Technical College in Greenville, S. C. His significant contributions to educating individuals and preparing them for the global industry are instrumental in shaping the academic landscape.

Kelvin's journey is a testament to his thirst for knowledge and growth. He served in the United States military, graduated from the prestigious Greenville Technical College, Clemson University, and further honed his skills by earning a Master's in educational leadership from Jones University.

With over 25 years in education, his teaching philosophy is to provide education in cooperation with the local community, which prepares students for lifelong learning and productive participation in society and the community.

Shane Long is the Vice President of Global Supply Chain for GE Vernova’s Gas Power business. In this role, he leads a global team focused on sourcing, manufacturing and repairs of gas turbines, generators, steam turbines and heat recovery steam generators (HRSG).

Shane has more than 25 years of experience running operations, leveraging his depth of knowledge in lean, manufacturing, and quality in the Power Industry. Prior to his appointment in his current role in July 2023, Shane was the Gas Power Lean & Business Operations Leader in which he led a global team focused on the Lean transformation strategy across Gas Power. Shane previously held roles of Gas Power Materials Leader and Demand Planning Leader in Zurich, Switzerland. In those roles, he led a team focused on driving world-class material planning practices while leading inventory optimization across the supply chain, cross business demand planning and cross-functionally to formulate and execute a strategy to optimize the complete value stream, focused on improving product delivery, lead time, inventory, and cost.

Previously, Shane was the Plant Manager for the GE Gas Turbine Manufacturing facility in Greenville, SC, the world’s largest Industrial Gas Turbine manufacturing facility. In this role he led more than 1500 production associates with the support of more than 200 professional staff. Shane joined GE in 1999 as a production engineer and moved to roles of increasing responsibility including roles as an Operations Leader, Wind Turbine Cell and Production Leader and a CEO Leader.

Shane holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University and is based in Greenville, South Carolina.

Jason is a manufacturing leader with over two decades of experience in operations and continuous improvement, primarily within
Michelin. Throughout his career, he has honed a remarkable ability to harness both talent and technology to enhance processes and drive value creation.

In 2006, Jason relocated to Greenville, South Carolina, alongside his wife and daughter, establishing deep roots within the community. Since then, he has been an integral part of several Michelin facilities in the upstate region, contributing his expertise to various operational and continuous improvement roles.

Currently, Jason leads the Continuous Improvement operations at the Greenville manufacturing facility. In this capacity, he develops the manufacturing strategy and leads a dedicated team focused on implementing various progress platforms such as LEAN methodologies, robotics, automation, and materials optimization. Jason has also led the integration of advanced analytics, including AI technology, into the facility's operations, further enhancing efficiency and performance.

Outside of work, Jason enjoys spending quality time with his family, cooking, traveling, and engaging in activities that fuel his curiosity and creativity.

Mr. Estevez is a Venture Partner with Accel, one of the most successful venture capital firms in Silicon Valley of the last 40 years. Either as an executive or investor, he has been involved in the creation of 8 software unicorns ($1B+ in value), and he currently serves as a board advisor to 10 companies and funds.

Before his current roles, Mr. Estevez served as Chief Financial Officer of Atlassian (Nasdaq: TEAM), a global leader in team collaboration software valued at over $40 billion. Prior to Atlassian, Mr. Estevez served as CFO of Silicon Valley-based BigFix (sold to IBM) and President & CFO of South Carolina-based Datastream (Nasdaq: DSTM, sold to Infor).

He earned an MBA with distinction from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management and a bachelor's degree with honors from Harvard College. In 2014, Mr. Estevez relocated from Silicon Valley to Greenville, South Carolina, his wife's hometown and his new springboard for investment and advisory opportunities outside of the Bay Area.