LANSDALE, Pa. — Keystone Technologies announced two additions to its management staff.
Regina Guarracino, a veteran executive with experience in industries including industrial IOT, office furnishings, and telecommunications, has joined Keystone Technologies as its new Chief Operations Officer, Keystone CEO Ira Greenberg announced.
“I’m thrilled to announce that Regina Guarracino is joining Keystone,” said Greenberg. “Not only does Regina bring outstanding technical skills in a variety of operational areas including logistics, manufacturing, and supply chain, but she also has an impressive track record of building trust with all employees, customers, and suppliers, empowering teams within and across the organization to grow and succeed, as well as effectuating positive change with a focus on customer experience, productivity, and safety.”
Guarracino comes to Keystone from Anova, an industrial data solutions firm. Prior to Anova, she was with Knoll (now MillerKnoll), the noted office furnishings company, and the telecom giant Motorola.
Guarracino said she was excited to get started.
“There are fantastic people here, and everybody is focused on doing the right thing and solving problems,” she said. “I’ve been extremely pleased with the culture here of collaboration, camaraderie, and balance. It’s aligned with my values and my goals.”
Those goals include helping Keystone manage its ongoing growth, as the 75-year-old company has risen from a small maker of ballasts to a full-scale manufacturer and supplier of lighting products, including LED fixtures, wireless controls, a range of lamps, and power supplies.
“Identifying the people processes and continuous improvement opportunities for Keystone are central to my objectives,” said Guarracino. “And, in fitting with Keystone’s Light Made Easy philosophy, they all have to be focused on the customer.”
Greenberg has high praise for Guarracino’s capabilities.
“Regina is someone with whom you can connect quickly: she’s an excellent listener, a creative problem solver, a patient mentor, and a positive-energy leader,” he said. “I look forward to working with her in streamlining and expanding Keystone’s capacities and maintaining us as a lighting industry leader.”
Guarracino received her bachelor’s in Business Logistics from Penn State and an MBA from Mercer University in Georgia. She lives in suburban Philadelphia.
Meanwhile, Jake Alpert will take on the newly created position of Chief Data Officer at the company, heading a new DataWorks department.
“There is tremendous opportunity to become even smarter, more efficient, more transparent, and more progressive across our entire business by investing much more substantially in our data capabilities and assets,” said Greenberg. “Jake’s extensive experience and background make him the ideal leader of the DataWorks team.”
The position of Chief Data Officer has become commonplace only in the last decade, as companies have realized data strategy and analytics are integral to their overall business plans. Alpert, an 11-year veteran of Keystone who previously served as Operations Director and Chief Operations Officer of the company, likens the role of managing data to that of managing inventory.
“Both are valuable assets,” said Alpert, who’s known for employing a data-centric approach to optimizing operations. “Just like our physical product, data needs to be handled with care, securely stored and safeguarded. It needs to be readily available, easily accessible, and delivered to the end user in a way that is easy to receive.”
Alpert earned a bachelor’s in mathematics from Cornell University and obtained actuarial credentials prior to joining Keystone. He looks forward to his new responsibilities.
“It will be the DataWorks’ mission to give Keystone’s teams and stakeholders easy access to the data and analytics they need to make good decisions,” he said. “We’ll get in deep with our people to ensure we’re leveraging data to our fullest advantage and fostering an organization that is data-literate and data-curious. And we’ll emphasize best practices as we lay the foundation needed to capitalize on rapidly emerging technologies.”
Greenberg agreed.
“Launching DataWorks will be transformative for Keystone,” he said. “With Jake as CDO, we aim to foster a culture of data-driven decision-making and create an ecosystem that empowers every team member to leverage data effectively to accelerate growth, increase efficiency, and enhance our competitive advantage.”
Greenberg continued, “We are confident that Jake’s expertise, passion, and collaborative spirit will make a profound impact on our organization, and we look forward to witnessing the positive changes that lie ahead.”
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