Leadership Team

Peter A. Bilello

President & Chief Executive Officer
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Peter Bilello has more than 40 years of experience in the development of business-enabling IT solutions for research, engineering, and manufacturing organizations worldwide. He has participated in PLM analysis, selection, implementation, and training; CAD/CAM/CAE/CIM implementation and management; synchronous and lean manufacturing consulting; software engineering; and general data management strategy development and support. He has authored numerous papers and research reports on PLM and related topics, and his articles, commentaries, and perspectives have appeared in publications throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

Peter has been directly involved with consultation on the selection, integration, and implementation of large-scale PLM solutions. He has spoken on a number of different PLM-related topics in Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

Peter holds a BS in Computer Science with a minor in Physics from California State University, Fullerton, and an MSE in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from The University of Michigan.

John MacKrell

Chairman
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John MacKrell has over 50 years of experience in the application of computer-based solutions to engineering and manufacturing, with more than 30 years at CIMdata. He has held senior positions in product management, marketing, research and development, and consulting.

John’s experience includes marketing and product management, market analysis, solid modeling, and data management systems.

John consults on PLM strategies; best practices; collaboration and knowledge sharing; PLM ROI and benefits; and developing end-user plans for the acquisition and implementation of PLM technologies – including PDM, data visualization, collaboration, CAD, and digital manufacturing.

John is a frequent speaker at conferences, trade shows, and seminars throughout the world. He is author or co-author of numerous technology guides and has authored a number of books and articles related to PLM.

John holds a BS in Naval Architecture from The University of Michigan.

James R. Watch

Chief Financial Officer
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James Watch has over 40 years of experience in corporate finance, operations, and administration. After serving as a commercial loan officer for Comerica Bank, he worked for a medium-sized privately held industrial-machine builder, as well as for a Detroit-based distributor of factory automation equipment. Prior to joining CIMdata, James spent 13 years as Director of Finance and Administration for the United States subsidiary of a Mexican-based tier one automotive supplier. During that time he was responsible for all US administration including treasury, tax, multi-plant and multi-state accounting; information systems; human resources; fleet management; warehouse operations; and JIT import/export logistics.

James holds a BBA in Marketing and an MBA in Finance from The University of Michigan.

Alan Mendel

Chief Strategy & Operations Officer
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Alan Mendel is the Chief Strategy & Operations Officer of CIMdata. In this role, he is responsible for strategic planning and operational execution, including revenue-generation strategies and initiatives and the direction of sales and business development efforts to achieve company objectives. Alan has over 36 years of experience developing, marketing, selling, and implementing business-enabling information technology (IT) solutions and methodologies for research, engineering, discrete and process manufacturing, and services organizations worldwide.

Over his career, he has participated in numerous Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), digital transformation, and process improvement-related projects, including organizational, process, and enabling technology education, evaluation, roadmap development and business justification, business process re-engineering, solution planning and implementation, and training; sales and marketing of PLM software and services; establishment and management of a global integration and services organization; technology transfer and entrepreneurial startups and acquisition; and competitive intelligence and analysis.

Most recently, Alan served as the Vice President of Business Development at Aras Corporation, responsible for Aras’ Defense business, analyst relations, defining a global coverage model, Go-to-Market strategy, and sales operations model. During his first four years at Aras, Alan was the Vice President of North American Operations, responsible for all North American revenues.

Before Aras, Alan co-founded LeverX, a professional services company and integrator focused on SAP PLM solutions and custom software for global discrete and process manufacturers.

Alan previously worked for CIMdata (1993-2001), where he led global consulting services, supported the nd market presence, developed a multistage PLM selection process and education program, and grew CIMdata’s business for industrial organizations worldwide.

Earlier in his career, Alan worked for Schlumberger CAD/CAM, Groupe Bull, and Adra Systems in various product marketing and product management roles.

Alan has a Bachelor of Science degree in Design Engineering Technology from Brigham Young University.

Cheryl Peck

Chief Marketing Officer
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Cheryl Peck has over 35 years of project management experience and is responsible for CIMdata's marketing and customer support activities. She also manages the annual PLM Road Map conferences. Cheryl joined CIMdata following the acquisition of CPDA in May, 2011. Cheryl has been associated with CPDA and its predecessor, D.H. Brown Associates, since 1997.

Previously, Cheryl was head of North American Training for NatWest Markets (NatWest), a global financial services firm. Other assignments with NatWest included positions in London, San Francisco, and New York, where she managed relationships and structured transactions for that firm’s energy, insurance, and public finance clients.

Cheryl has a BSc (Hons) in Policy Studies from the University of Kent at Canterbury and is a Chartered Associate of the Institute of Financial Services.

Laurent Finck

Vice President EMEA
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Laurent Finck is CIMdata’s Vice President, EMEA, a position he assumed in January 2025. In this role, he develops revenue-generation strategies and initiatives for CIMdata in the EMEA region and delivers consulting projects for CIMdata globally. Previously, he was CIMdata's Director General for France.

Laurent has over 30 years of experience developing, selling, and implementing Business Transformation Programs enabled by technologies. Over his career, Laurent has participated in numerous digital transformation and process improvement-related projects, working for consulting firms and leading software providers.

Laurent previously worked as an IT Strategy consultant for Accenture and Gartner, helping CIOs of large worldwide corporations align their IT Strategies with Business Strategies and design and deploy IT governance frameworks.

Laurent then held various executive positions at several large software providers (CA Technologies, VMware, Dassault Systèmes, Citrix, and MessageBird). He designed and deployed Go-to-Market strategies and operated solution selling and value realization organizations. In particular, Laurent served as vice president at Dassault Systèmes, heading the company's worldwide partnerships with leading consulting firms and system integrators.

Laurent is a civil engineer who graduated from the École des Mines de Saint-Étienne and holds an MBA from the Political Studies Institute of Paris.

James L. Roche

Vice President, Aerospace & Defense Practice
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James Roche is CIMdata’s Vice President, Aerospace & Defense Practice. In this role, he oversees the practice's growth and ensures that CIMdata continues to deliver world-class insights into the complex requirements of the aerospace and defense sectors. His role includes the administration of CIMdata’s Aerospace & Defense PLM Action Group (www.ad-pag.com).

James has over 40 years of experience in transforming and enabling IT for product development and manufacturing processes. He has been a strategic advisor and program manager for PLM programs across the United States, Europe, and Asia.

James was PLM Practice Manager at CSC Consulting and at A.T. Kearney. During that period, he led development and delivery of PLM offerings and consulting services for international clients in the aero, auto, consumer products, high-tech, and medical devices industries.

Previously with EDS, James served as chief architect for General Motors' worldwide engineering systems modernization and as head technical negotiator for strategic supplier contracts. He went on to manage EDS' business development and delivery resources for PLM, leading a team of over 100 professionals that provided PLM solutions to General Motors and other large manufacturers. Earlier, James was a Project Manager at the GM Technical Center for advanced manufacturing engineering programs in Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, Automotive Composites, and Metal Casting.

James holds a BS in Physics from Worcester Polytechnic Institute; as a post-graduate, he studied Mechanical Engineering and Materials Engineering at Wayne State University and the University of Rochester.

Janie L. Gurley

Data Governance & Success Practice Director
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Janie Gurley, Data Governance & Success Practice Director at CIMdata, has over 40 years of professional experience demonstrating broad experience in understanding and supporting strategic business execution with broad-based expertise in product development solutions within manufacturing. Janie is responsible for leading CIMdata’s Data Governance Practice, as well as the management and execution of CIMdata’s services delivered to PLM solution providers, including the coordination and execution of CIMdata’s global Community and associated solution provider strategic management consulting activities.

Prior to joining CIMdata, Janie worked on projects in numerous industries, including aerospace, steel, steam engineering product solutions, engineered flow solutions (pumps, valves, and seals), mechanical and industrial engineering (oil and gas, power, chemical, water, pharmaceuticals and bio-based consumer goods), in-store and retail bakery ingredients/food production, coffee and brewers, fiberglass yarn, and casino slot games. Janie comes to CIMdata from Capgemini as Senior Consultant/Manager where she was part of the North America PLM consulting team and was responsible for helping Fortune 500 clients and consulting team support strategic processes and software solution implementations.

Janie holds a MS in Management and BS in Business Administration from Southern Wesleyan University, Columbia, South Carolina, as well as being certified for Scrum Master, Pragmatic Marketing, Business Analysis, and CIMdata PLM certification Program for PLM Technologists.

Sandeepak Natu

Co-Director, Simulation-Driven Systems Development Consulting Practice
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Sandeepak Natu is Co-Director of CIMdata's Simulation-Driven Systems Development Consulting Practice.

With industry experience of more than 30 years, Sandeepak has a strong background in multi-physics-based modeling and simulation technologies, including the development and application of hybrid digital twins. Sandeepak started his career with Fluent India (now part of ANSYS Inc.) and has been associated with several engineering consultancy and simulation software organizations. He has worked with various industrial organizations helping them adopt simulation technologies and has deep application expertise in the automotive, aerospace, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food, consumer products, and healthcare sectors. More recently, he has been involved in multiple technology and management consulting roles encompassing digitalization, simulation, sustainability, and business management, including a key role in helping a global vaccine manufacturer scale up its production facilities at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mark Reisig

Sustainability and Green Energy Practice Director & Executive Consultant
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Mark Reisig is an Executive Consultant and Practice Manager at CIMdata, focusing on Sustainability and Green Energy enablement.

Mark has over 40 years of experience in digital transformation, information technology, and engineering. He has led digital initiatives in product lifecycle management (PLM), plant design, computer-aided design (CAD), and master data management (MDM) for global businesses.

Mark joins CIMdata after an extensive career in PLM with GE, Federation, Oracle, Auto-trol Technology, Kraft-Heinz, Catalytic, Day & Zimmermann, and most recently, Aras, where he was the Vice President of Product Marketing.

His experience spans major global enterprises' engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and operations. He has held leadership roles related to the successful transformation and delivery of PLM solutions. He has also led sales, pre-sales, post-sales, and product marketing efforts that have delivered the value of these solutions.

Mark's industry experience includes energy, aerospace, defense, automotive, industrial, shipbuilding, high-tech electronics, medical devices, and food & beverage.

Mark has been a member of several industry consortiums such as the Aerospace Industries Association and standards bodies such as PDES, Inc. (STEP) on both the advisory and executive boards. Mark has spoken at several PLM conferences and has had numerous articles published.

Mark holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Technology and Management from the University of Maryland.

Diego Tamburini Ph.D.

AI Practice Director & Executive Consultant
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Diego Tamburini is an Executive Consultant at CIMdata, where he leads the AI Practice. In this role, he helps CIMdata's clients understand the true potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in PLM and adjacent technologies, guiding them toward practical, high-value applications and use cases that drive innovation and deliver measurable business results. He is a recognized leader in leveraging AI to drive digital transformation in the industrial sector, with over 25 years of deep experience in PLM, CAD, CAM, CAE, and digital manufacturing.

Diego’s recent experience at Microsoft provides a strong foundation for his role at CIMdata. As Director of Engineering Agility, he pioneered the use of AI to enhance developer productivity, streamline engineering processes, and enhance agility through AI integration across the Microsoft Marketplace Engineering organization. Previously, he led the product strategy and roadmap for Microsoft Commercial Marketplace, with a focus on Generative AI. He was also instrumental in aligning partner AI offerings and monetization plans to streamline integration and support consistent growth.

Previously at Autodesk, Diego served as a Design & Manufacturing Industry Strategist, shaping the company’s strategy in digital manufacturing, generative design, and simulation. Earlier in his career, he implemented PLM solutions at Siemens Digital Industries Software (then SDRC) and conducted research at Georgia Tech’s Product and Systems Lifecycle Management Center.

Diego holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. As a recognized thought leader, he frequently speaks at industry conferences, contributes to PLM and manufacturing publications, and is a strong advocate for applying AI to transform how products are designed, built, and supported.

Donald Tolle

Co-Director, Simulation-Driven Systems Development Consulting Practice
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Donald Tolle (Don) is the Co-Director, Simulation-Driven Systems Development Practice, for CIMdata—an internationally recognized authority on Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) technology and best practices. Mr. Tolle brings to CIMdata and his clients more than 40 years of industry experience in the disciplines of virtual product design, development, and performance validation working with global manufacturing companies in the automotive, aerospace/defense, industrial equipment, marine, consumer products, medical products, and high-tech electronics industries.

Don has been intimately involved in the development and application of virtual prototyping processes and tools since the early days of the SDRC consulting business, where he was involved in the application of both computer-aided test (CAT) and computer-aided analysis (CAE) tools to solve product development issues across a wide range of industries. He subsequently used this hands-on knowledge of industry requirements and technology gaps to guide the development of next generation tools and processes at SDRC/UGS/Siemens PLM to enable the adoption of virtual prototyping techniques earlier in the product design cycle before costly commitments are made to physical prototyping and manufacturing tooling.

His current areas of focus and interest center on the definition and adoption of model-based engineering methodologies and tools to connect the disparate and “loosely connected” disciplines involved with systems engineering and conceptual design (requirements and system architecture definition, mechanical, electrical, software, controls) and the persistent use of robust system models throughout the product development lifecycle.

Don holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from the University of Cincinnati.

Thomas A. Gill

Principal Consultant & Practice Manager, PLM Enterprise Value & Integration
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Tom Gill has over 40 years of experience applying computer-based solutions to engineering and manufacturing. Before joining CIMdata he worked as an independent PLM consultant, after spending over 20 years at high-volume manufacturing companies.

Tom has worked on projects in numerous industries, including fabrication & assembly, food & beverage, defense, chemical, and medical devices. He has executed PLM strategy projects, solution evaluation-and-selection projects, deployment planning, and training development for industrial clients. He delivers solution providers competitive and technical product analyses, white papers, and case studies.

Tom led a team that developed and deployed a PLM system to manage engineering and quality processes, and has participated in enterprise system projects including RFQ management, material development, and environmental systems. He has presented papers both nationally and internationally.

Tom holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maine, and is Configuration Management certified.

Ken Amann

Executive Consultant
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Ken Amann has over 50 years of experience in the development of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Product Data Management (PDM), information technology (IT) architectures, program management, aerospace engineering, and technology-based business solutions, including computer-based engineering applications, enterprise systems management, and document and content management systems. He has held senior positions in PLM marketing, solutions development, consulting, program, and group management. Ken served as the Director of Research for CIMdata for 10 years and is currently an Executive Consultant.

His experience includes evaluating corporate engineering and manufacturing operations, managing PLM programs, recommending collaborative and concurrent engineering and product information management solutions, implementing PLM solutions, and developing and evaluating requests for proposals. Ken has developed and delivered PLM competitive analysis seminars, training and certificate classes, executive management education, and has reviewed and evaluated PLM solution suppliers’ programs and product suites. He has served as a PDM Marketing Manager and Architect, Program Manager for PLM/PDM implementations and Computer-Aided Acquisition and Logistic Support programs, and has defined, developed, and implemented a United States Department of Defense-compliant configuration management system.

As Managing Director of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting Technology Leadership Group (TLG)—the “consultants to the consultants” organization responsible for identifying, evaluating, and introducing new technologies and solutions to PwCC’s staff and its clients—Ken was a senior technical architect, conducted research into and evaluated emerging technologies and products, and defined and described how emerging technologies may be applied to enable leading-edge business solutions. Further, he was responsible for TLG management including staffing, budget, and utilization. He also was a member of the PwC’s staff career development team with lead responsibility for defining how consultants should be evaluated and rewarded.

Ken has defined and implemented tactical and long-term strategies for distributed technical architectures, evaluated current and future IT needs, and researched and recommended standards and products to be used to implement IT infrastructures. He has developed implementation plans and schedules and managed implementation teams, including risk-assessments of applications, projects, and architectures and the development of risk-mitigation strategies. Mr. Amann has developed new product introduction strategies, including both organizational and technology changes. He has developed and supported IT practices and has defined strategic emerging IT markets and programs for developing those markets.

As an aerospace engineer, en developed solutions in the fields of astrodynamics, missile guidance and control systems, and hypervelocity intercept vehicles. Ken holds a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology.