SAS Institute. The Power to Know

Learning Center

Meet the Experts

SAS brings 30 years of experience, a history of unsurpassed quality, and a commitment to excellence to its Six Sigma and Performance Excellence by SAS program. We have built a world-class team of Six Sigma experts and consultants, including Master Black Belts, to guide you along the way. With their experience in Six Sigma methodology and practice, they'll bring a unique business perspective to your organization and provide the leadership and guidance that you need to succeed with you Six Sigma projects.


Todd Cook Todd Cook has extensive experience in the areas of production, advanced manufacturing, and R&D, where he's held a variety of positions in engineering, engineering management, and production management. Some of his areas of expertise include Process Development, Process Characterization, Metrology Development, Statistical Process Control (SPC), and SPC software development. Todd performs classroom instruction in the topics of SPC, Design of Experiments (DOE), Defect Analysis and Reduction Methods, Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA), Partition of Variation (POV), Six Sigma, and others. In addition to training, he works closely with clients to characterize and control new and existing processes and products, performs process control audits and Six Sigma benchmark studies, and mentors Black Belt candidates.

Wayne Levin Wayne Levin is a professional engineer, consultant and trainer in Six Sigma who brings enthusiasm to the task. Wayne has worked extensively with a variety of industries in consulting, training and supportive roles for Six Sigma including automotive, semi-conductor, consumer products and bio-sciences.

Wayne comfortably deals with questions and concerns with staff at all levels. He provides important leadership advice as well as technical assistance and direction during the initiation and deployment of Six Sigma. He's seen a lot over his 15 years of training and consulting in Statistical Process Control (SPC), Design of Experiments (DOE), Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA), Six Sigma, as well as Project Management and Deming's approach to management.

Wayne recognizes that you cannot impart knowledge on those who are not motivated.

To that end, Wayne goes the extra mile in his training by developing and deploying innovative learning tools in the form of JMP-based dynamic illustrations in his training sessions (these tools are left behind as reference materials for staff). With these tools, students grasp sophisticated statistical concepts more readily putting them to effective use with greater confidence. This is part of Wayne's overall strategy to activate learning and make it stimulating, even fun.

Thomas A. Little Thomas A. Little, Ph.D. is President of Thomas A. Little Consulting (TLC) and has extensive experience nationally and internationally in Six Sigma program design and deployment, managing quality and process organizations and curriculum development for analytical statistics, Statistical Process Control, Design of Experiments and performance improvement. A former professor from San Jose State University, Tom is a contractor and strategic partner of JMP and SAS and assists major corporations to integrate JMP into their operational and product development activities. Tom has published papers in numerous publications and at national conferences. He has received several awards, including the In Pursuit of Excellence Award granted by Lockheed for his work on statistical applications for machine tool characterization and process control, the Certified Quality Engineer Award from the American Society of Quality, and the Meritorious Performance and Profession Promise Award from San Jose State University.

David Pfeiffenberger David Pfeiffenberger is a Six Sigma Black Belt with Duke University Health System. He received his MS in Engineering Management from the University of Kansas and his BS in Electrical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University. David has been involved with Process Improvement initiatives within vary industries including telecommunications, software, health care, and aerospace. For the past 7 years, David has been involved with developing and teaching the Six Sigma methodology at numerous institutions including Nortel, Lucent, and Honeywell International. Most recently, he has been active in developing Six Sigma tools to improve processes within the health care industry.

Heath Rushing Heath Rushing is a former professor from the Air Force Academy, Heath Rushing holds a Master's degree in Operations Research from the Air Force Institute of Technology and has used JMP since 2001. After teaching at the Academy, Heath was a quality engineer and Six Sigma Black Belt in both biopharmaceutical manufacturing and R&D where he designed and delivered training material in Six Sigma, Statistical Process Control (SPC), Design of Experiments (DOE) and Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA) using JMP. In addition, Heath has been a symposium speaker at both national and international pharma and medical device conferences. Heath is an American Society of Quality (ASQ) Certified Quality Engineer. He is a triathlete and avid skier and loves to travel. He resides in Raleigh with his Weimaraner, Newby, named after female triathlete Paula Newby-Fraser. Heath is the Program Manager for both Six Sigma and Performance Excellence by SAS and JMP Training.