CMTC Leadership Team

James Watson is the CEO and President of CMTC.  He started at CMTC in 1999 as Vice President of Business Development and transitioned to the position of Vice President of Operations in 2001, which he held for the past 10 years until he assumed his role as CEO in 2011. 

Mr. Watson has extensive experience in developing and leveraging public/private partnerships to expand both outreach and services to assist Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturers (SMMs). He is founding member of the California Network for Manufacturing Innovation (CNMI), a partnership designed to foster innovation and facilitate the transfer of technologies to SMMs.

With over 30 years of management experience in areas of strategic planning, operations management, organizational design, sales and marketing and cultural alignment, Mr. Watson brings a wide range of knowledge to his position as President and CEO. He started his career with Western Airlines advancing to Vice President Passenger and Cargo Sales and then was Vice President and General Manager of SuperShuttleInternational before moving to Anchor Audio as the Vice President of Sales and General Manager Europe.

Mr. Watson holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from California State University, Northridge.

Julie Mandell joined CMTC in 2021 and provides strategic and operational leadership for the Field Operations, Strategic Partnerships, and Advanced Manufacturing Teams.

With over 35 years of manufacturing industry expertise, Ms. Mandell literally grew up in the manufacturing industry — in a small family-owned business — and went on as a transformational senior leader to hold C-suite roles in Fortune 500 and privately-held organizations. Ms. Mandell brings a unique perspective to operational change and high-performing teams and has a consistent record of positioning organizations for success, spurring sales growth, opening new revenue streams, expanding business capabilities, and delivering technology innovations. 

Ms. Mandell has extensive non-profit board and legislative experience; and, as a former SMM, she understands the value and role CMTC plays in advocating and representing the voices and needs of SMMs across the state.  

Ms. Mandell holds Doctorate, JD, and Bachelor’s Degrees in Business and Investigative Journalism. 

Patrick Billiter brings over 20 years of experience as a pro-active and results-oriented executive leader to CMTC and its California’s Manufacturing Network. His diverse background includes positions with Fortune 500 companies in the financial services, computer hardware and quick service restaurant industries. Patrick’s expertise in identifying technologies and systems that continuously improve service and collaboration helps to advance CMTC and its California’s Manufacturing Network’s expansion in serving more than 1,100 small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) annually.

Mr. Billiter earned a Master of Accounting degree from the University of California, Irvine; Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership and  Master of Business Administration degrees from Pepperdine University; and a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of California, Riverside.

Doug Garnee is the Director of Human Resources & Administration and Recruitment for CMTC. Mr. Garnee started with CMTC in 2002 as Director of Human Resources.

With over 40 years of management experience in the areas of Human Resources and Recruitment, Operations Management, Training and Compensation he is a valuable leader for CMTC employees. He is leading CMTC’s newest Recruitment effort, focusing on CMTC’s client’s workforce selection needs.

Mr. Garnee started his career in Personnel while serving in the US Army during the Vietnam era. Moving from the military to Southwest Leasing & Rental, Inc. as Manager of Personnel; advancing within his 20 year tenure to the position of Director of Operations & Human Resources. He moved to the consulting firm of Primary Management Services as Vice President, to co-manage the program-level management of the $9B Northridge earthquake recovery project for Los Angeles County. Upon completion of this project, he moved to Spherion Outsourcing as National Director of Workforce Selection, building a team of 100+ recruitment specialists and managers to serve the Human Capital needs of Fortune 100 companies.

Mr. Garnee holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture, graduating with honors, from California Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA.

Peter Burkevics has over 35 years of hands-on experience bringing a strategic and tactical skillset to implementing Lean, Six Sigma, Organizational Development, and High Performance Teams through manufacturing and enterprise value stream transformations. He has initiated, developed, deployed, and managed continuous improvement / lean programs at major and midsized companies.

Mr. Burkevics is experienced in project leading ERP system implementations, new production line introductions, and facility consolidations. He has developed Lean, Six Sigma, HPT training programs at multiple companies as the first steps in leading companies along a proven Lean Transformation Roadmap.

Mr. Burkevics holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and an M.S. in Engineering Management from California State University Northridge.

Gregg Profozich is a manufacturing, operations and technology executive who believes that manufacturing is the key creator of wealth in the economy and that a strong manufacturing sector is critical to our nation’s prosperity and security now, and for future generation.  He is a skilled leader with over two decades of experience across manufacturing, operations, supply chain, strategy execution and information technology. Drawing on his background across fortune 500 companies, start-ups and consulting, he is experienced in pioneering new tools, approaches and services to assist SMMs to improve their global competitiveness.

Mr Profozich currently serves as the Director of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies and the Director of Communications, providing executive leadership in the program areas including; advanced manufacturing technologies, supply chain development, growth strategies, energy, and corporate communications. 

Mr. Profozich has a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Business Economics.