Industrial Engineering Advisory Council

Kathy Kilmer

As Senior Vice President of Integration & Operational Excellence at UES, a Geotechnical, Environmental and Materials testing engineering consulting firm, Kathy is focused on ensuring seamless and effective integration of acquired companies (35+ to-date), in addition to creating and implementing business transformation systems that enable the company to achieve its growth goals. Prior to joining UES, she spent 4 years as SVP of CRM, Consumer Insights, and Analytics for Wyndham Destinations where she oversaw a team responsible for representing the voice of the Customer, knowing their actions, developing and integrating Customer engagement strategies and products, and having the most effective CRM systems. For 25-years before that, Kathy had a career with Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. She held a variety of roles, including maximizing Sales and Marketing efforts that drive business to Disney theme parks and resorts around the world as well as overseeing the world-wide, 120-person Industrial Engineering team who served as internal business consultants by applying the IE skill set to a multitude of business challenges. A graduate of Purdue University, Kathy received a B.S. in industrial engineering. During her time at Purdue, she spent five terms in the co-operative engineering education program working at General Electric. She also holds two master’s degrees from the University of Central Florida (UCF): a Master of Science degree in Operations Research and an Executive Master of Business Administration. She has served on Purdue University's Engineering Advisory board and INFORMS Analytics Certification Board. Kathy is a recipient of IIE’s UPS Excellence Award for Minority Advancement, Disney's Partners In Excellence lifetime achievement award, Outstanding Industrial Engineer Award, Distinguished Engineering Alumni award, and IIE’s Fellows Award. She is also an inductee in Purdue University’s Engineering Cooperative Education Hall of Fame and participated in Purdue University’s Old Masters Program. She was a member of Purdue’s engineering advisory board for 9 years and has been on the industrial engineering advisory council since 2019.