ATAS International, Inc. had two employees graduate from the Manufacturers Resource Center’s Manufacturing Leadership Institute certificate program earlier this year. The class included over 20 other area manufacturing professionals. 

“MRC has been developing strategic leaders and promoting growth and innovation since 2006 when we recognized the need for executive training.  Since we partnered with the Iacocca Institute at Lehigh University to establish this top-line certificate program, MLI has become one of our signature offerings,” Manufacturers Resource Center President and CEO Jack E. Pfunder.

MLI educates the region’s current and up-and-coming leaders in all aspects of strategic leadership to strengthen their company’s competitiveness, drive growth, and create sustainable business models.  Over the course of five months, the curriculum consists of 11 intense days of 12 program topics on growth and innovation led by eight industry experts with real world experience and exceptional teaching skills.  The MRC has graduated more than 200 participants from over 80 companies through the MLI, including 11 employees from ATAS.

Patrick Reinhart, the process engineering technician at ATAS International, is a graduate of the MLI program this year. He said, “Attending MLI provided me with a great opportunity to learn about a number of important skills and principles that help support a successful and profitable manufacturing environment. Being able to interact with individuals from a diverse range of companies was also a very helpful way to learn about various methods and systems that could be implemented at ATAS.”

In addition to the MLI graduates, Joseph Dominguez and John Fenstermacher completed MRC’s Sales Pro Boot Camp program. This is a four-day developmental program for sales and business development professionals, and is based on the idea that sales training is a process and not an event. The training is spread out over several weeks so that sales professionals can learn a concept, apply it, and then come back and learn some more. Sales Pro training covers every aspect of the sales process.

“After completing the Manufacturers Leadership Institute last year, I was inspired to continue building upon the valuable knowledge and skills that I learned, and had asked the MRC for information on a course tailored for business development and sales professionals.  Sales Pro Boot Camp was then developed as a course to cover everything involved in the sales process.  Being a career Marine Corps veteran, I developed many of these skills before transitioning to the private sector, but the skills I learned, the course discussions, and the instructor’s guidance have already proven invaluable to me in my role at ATAS in the few months since completing the course”, said ATAS Director of Government and Military Business Development, Joseph Dominguez.