Team Members

Brandon Kerkstra has worked with hundreds of companies in a wide range of industries during the past 14 years as president of MSG. In addition to building the successful business, Brandon has facilitated the implementation of ISO 17025, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 13485, APQP, CMMI, & SPICE (ISO 15504). Brandon has also trained on Project Management, Time Management and Lean Concepts, and more recently implemented and trained on AS 9100 and AS 9115 as well as DO178B requirements.

Before launching MSG, Brandon Kerkstra was responsible for business development at the North American division of the British Standards Institution Inc., the world's largest registrar of quality management systems, and for technical business development at Entela, Inc., the world’s leading automotive and manufacturing registrar. Kerkstra also held positions as a lead trainer for both organizations.

Lisa Hemmer has worked in the sales, customer services and overall management in our industry for some time. Lisa has worked for leading registration companies in the past and has a real knowledge of the registration, training and consulting industry.

In addition, Lisa has recently worked as a quality manager, implementing and managing an ISO 9001 certified quality management system. This has also given her the insight and understanding of the efforts and struggles that many of our clients experience on a daily basis. Lisa will be answering our phones every day, with a goal that we are more accessible to our clients, as well as assisting with our training and scheduling. Lisa is also qualified and may assist clients with internal audits, corrective actions and other related work.

Lead Internal Auditor & Trainer

Sherryl Acey has over 28 years in quality including laboratory management (17025) for A2LA accredited labs in the US, Canada, and China. Sherryl is currently providing consulting, training, and auditing services to ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 17025.

Sherryl has successfully lead & conducted hundreds of Internal & External audits, prior experience writing numerous quality documents including compliance manuals and internal operating procedures as required, management reviews at the Corporate level focusing on continuous improvement and business development goals.

Sherryl has a real expertise in driving improvements through the internal audit process and with value focused training. In addition to consulting Sherryl is an active accreditation body and accredited registrar auditor.

PROFESSIONAL CREDENTIALS & AFFILIATIONS

• ANSI International Conformity Assessment Council - Nominating Committee Chair
• ASTM - Subcommittee Chair E-36.40 Conformity Assessment and Laboratory Accreditation
• American Society for Quality
• ISO 9001: 2015 Certified auditor
• Approved Product Certification Body Auditor (ISO 17020 and ISO 17065)
• ISO 17025 Approved internal auditor
• ISO 14001 Approved internal auditor

Karl has extensive experience as a 3rd party lead auditor for a registrar working with organizations in many different industries with many different standards. In addition, Karl has been a Quality Manager for an ISO 9001, Aerospace, and Automotive Registrar. Karl was responsible for project dealing with the conversion of systems for Aerospace and Automotive certifications, recruitment of auditors and internal witness audits, as well as the liaison with the Accreditation Bodies that oversee registrar qualification for certification audits. Karl is also certificated as an auditor in the Aerospace (AS 9100) and Automotive (IATF 16949) standards. More recently, Karl has worked as an adjunct Professor for a local university.

Prior to his registrar experience, Karl worked for Plexus developing and delivering training for some of the world’s largest organizations using his previous operations and quality experience in the Aerospace, Automotive, Heavy Truck and Tooling industries. This provides Karl base of expertise to use in assisting organizations continue to optimize and drive improvements in their management systems

Robert has extensive experience as a 3rd party lead auditor for a registrar working with organizations in many different industries with many different standards. This gives Robert direct experience with the requirements and expectations of organizations that are or want to be registered to these standards.

Prior to auditing, Robert worked in several different industries performing functions such as Value Stream Managing, manufacturing Engineering, distribution, and industrial engineering, along with production supervision, safety, quality and six sigma. This provides Robert a base of expertise to use in assisting organizations continue to optimize and drive improvements in their management systems

Jeanette Clark comes to MSG with over 30 years of experience with ISO 9001, ISO 13485 & ISO / TS 16949, and IATF 16949 implementation and internal audits along with Supplier Development within the medical and automotive industry.

Before joining MSG, Clark served as Lead auditor, Operations Quality Manager, and Program Manager in various organizations. Past experiences at Intertek (Entela Inc.), the world’s leading automotive and manufacturing registrar along with her other top management positions in the Quality field has given Jeanette the insight and knowledge of implementing & maintaining a certified quality management system and continuous improvement of the organization.

Amy Ip Tran is an APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional and a PMI Certified Project Management Professional, with 7 years of work experience in supply chain management and 20 years in product development and engineering management. She worked in Caterpillar Inc., a leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment for 30 years. Some of the key positions that Amy held were Supply Chain Manager, Engineering Manager, Managing Director of China R&D Center, 6 Sigma Master Black Belt, and Senior Design & Project Engineer.

Some of Amy’s key accomplishments include numerous process improvements using 6 Sigma DMAIC methodology, improvement in supply chain related metrics required for Oliver Wight Class A Certification, ISO9001 certification and Silver Award for Lincoln Business of Excellence, business process optimization for a newly formed product validation solutions division, start up of a China R&D Center, successful axle design for a new medium wheel loader, and start up of an employee resource group for the company.

Lead Internal Auditor & Trainer

As an active member of Management Solutions Group Tom has assisted companies with ISO 9001 and IATF 16949, ISO 17025, ISO 14001 implementation and internal audits along with the core tools (APQP, FMEA, PPAP, MSA, SPC) and lean improvement projects necessary within the automotive industry.

Tom’s Background includes quality systems (QS 9000, ISO 9000, TS 16949, IATF 16949, ISO 13485, ISO 14001, ISO 17025, and Baldrige), new product development, lean manufacturing, and direct customer satisfaction. Tom has over thirty years of quality experience in automotive and furniture industries with process and product knowledge in lean manufacturing, plastic injection molding, painting, plating, metal processing, electronics, lighting, assembly, adhesives, and wood processing along with the core tools and laboratories that support these industries and suppliers. Tom has excellent Abilities to strategize, lead, and implement in both large and small organizations to improve quality and increase customer satisfaction while achieving strategic objectives.

Tom holds his Bachelor of Science in Automotive Engineering and Management from Western Michigan University, is a member of the American Society for Quality and has extensive training supporting the standards and systems listed above.

As a senior project manager for MSG, Linda Schoonerman has worked with hundreds of companies. Linda conducts internal audits and implementation projects for ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 13485, ISO 17025, IATF 16949, IATF 16949 and the related core tools, and AS 9100. Linda has applied her extensive skills at both large and small companies.

Linda brings a very commonsense approach to the internal audit, management system implantation, improvement, and training projects that she manages. Linda works to coach her clients as they accomplish the project tasks.

As a senior project manager with MSG, Rocky Kimball has assisted hundreds of companies with ISO / TS 16949 implementation and internal audits along with the core tools and lean improvement projects necessary within the automotive industry. Rocky has also worked with ISO 9001, AS 9100, ISO 14001, ISO 17025 and many related topics. Rocky's skill and expertise have positively impacted the bottom line of many companies.

Before joining MSG, Kimball served as lead auditor, operations manager, certification manager and business development manager at Entela Inc., the world’s leading automotive and manufacturing registrar. While at Entela, Kimball achieved certification to conduct QS-9000, Tooling & Equipment Supplement and ISO 9000 assessments.

Kimball has given presentations at professional and international conferences and trade association meetings about the benefits of ISO 9000, QS-9000 and ISO 14000 registration and internal audit training. He also has published several articles about ISO 9000, ISO/TS 16949, Error Proofing, and internal auditing.

Diane has led hundreds of teams through complex process improvements and change.  She is an Industrial Engineer (PE) from UW-Madison. Her passion is creating elegant solutions to process problems through teamwork and data.  Accomplished leader with both Quality and Training experience in manufacturing and service organizations.

University of Wisconsin-Madison BS-Industrial Engineering - 1981

Cher Xiong is a quality management professional with more than 26 years of experience in manufacturing, specializing in management system auditing, quality improvement, and operational excellence. His expertise includes developing, implementing, and maintaining management systems aligned with international standards such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 13485 and AS9100 along with the Automotive IATF 16949 and Core tools.

Melissa is an experienced quality management systems auditor, consultant, and trainer specializing in industrial Quality, Environmental and Safety standards (ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001) and utilizes her extensive Lean and Continual Improvement experience to ensure effectiveness and efficiency of these management systems.

Melissa Sherman, MBA, is a Lean and continuous improvement leader with more than 30 years of experience advancing operational excellence, organizational change, and management system performance. She specializes in integrating Lean methodologies with formal auditing and compliance frameworks to strengthen organizational effectiveness and accountability.

Hyram has extensive experience as a 3^rd party lead auditor for a registrar working with organizations in many different industries with many different standards including IATF 16949, ISO 9001, AS9100, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 / ISO 45001 and several others.  Hyram understands the minimum requirements needed to meet these standards and the benefits of addressing issues in organizations through the application of these standards to drive continual improvement.

Prior to his registrar experience, Hyram worked in Quality and Laboratories implementing and applying these same standards in the management systems and operations.  Hyram has worked in both the quality / management system side and the operations side of organizations which helps him understand the requirements and the challenges for effective and efficient management systems implementation and maintenance. Hyram has conducted 1000s of audit days for 3^rd party certification.

David Chartrand is a senior management systems and quality professional with more than 30 years of experience developing, implementing, auditing, and improving management systems across the automotive, medical device, manufacturing, and laboratory sectors. He has extensive expertise in ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 13485, IATF 16949, and ISO/IEC 17025, helping organizations establish effective management systems that improve operational performance, ensure regulatory compliance, and meet customer expectations.

David holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan and maintains Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. He has earned IATF 16949 Internal Auditor certification and has previously held ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) certification.