James Roche & Sandeepak Natu

James L. Roche, Practice Director, Aerospace & Defense, CIMdata

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

Jim was PLM Practice Manager at CSC Consulting and A.T. Kearney. During that period, he led the 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, Jim served as chief architect for General Motors' worldwide engineering systems and as head technical negotiator for strategic supplier contracts. He went on to manage EDS' business development and delivery resources for PLM, with a team of over 100 professionals providing PLM solutions to General Motors and other large manufacturers. Earlier, Jim was a Project Manager at the GM Technical Center for advanced manufacturing-engineering programs in Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, Automotive Composites, and Metal Casting.

Jim 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.

Sandeepak Natu, Co-Director, Simulation-Driven Systems Development Consulting Practice, CIMdata

With industry experience of more than 25 years, Sandeepak Natu 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.