MIT Leaders for Global Operations (LGO)

A great start to the LGO Partner Introduction Series on June 10 with Nissan presenting to the LGO Class of 2028. Many thanks to alumni JS Bolton (LGO ’14), Fiona Gouthro (LGO ’23), and Alex Davis (LGO ’24) for joining the conversation and sharing your perspectives with our students.

LGO alumni from across four decades of the program returned to Sloan Reunion to share their leadership journeys and reflect on the lasting impact of the LGO experience.

Cheryl Stokes ’96, Wendy-Kay L. ’11, Kerry Weinberg ’16, and Caitlin Braun ’21 spoke about the power of the LGO “getting stuff done” mindset and toolkit across their careers, and how deeply the program continues to shape their leadership in practice.

We’re grateful to these alumni for sharing their experiences and insights with the LGO community!

LGO is so very happy to celebrate our amazing Emma Shortall and her contribution to our community through the MIT Excellence Awards, and recognizing Emma’s energy, brilliance and pizzaz through her receiving the Outstanding Contributor 2026 Award! Thank you, Emma, for all that you do! We are so lucky to have you making LGO awesome!

This May, Taylor Pearlman '27, Thara Konduri '27, and Panayiota Petrou-Zeniou '27 officially launched the MIMO Manufacturing Club as a new student-led organization at MIT.

The kickoff event featured a panel with W.H. Teh of Nvidia, Davide Marini of Inkbit, and Darby Dunn of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, drawing over 80 students. Open to all MIT students, the club will be a hub for those interested in building the next generation of physical technologies and products.

We were proud to celebrate the LGO Class of 2027 at this year’s Harrison Smith '99 Award celebration in early May.

Presented by last year’s recipient, Paisley Tarboton '26, the award recognized six outstanding nominees: Rosario Astudillo, Steve Kim, CJ Taglienti, Panayiota Petrou-Zeniou, Steph Xu, and Claudia Mezey.

Congratulations to Rosario Astudillo, this year’s recipient, recognized as “a huge positive force in LGO” and “the beating heart of the class,” always making others feel at home.

Last week at EWPTE 2026, Steph Xu LGO ’27 launched Import AI with Re:Build Cadonix, a product developed through her MIT LGO thesis research in AI for manufacturing design.

The work was supervised by Lauren Heintz (LGO ’23), Head of Product & Business at Cadonix, and addresses the manual workflows that currently drive manufacturing lead times upward of 20 weeks. The project demonstrates that integrating AI into the design-to-production lifecycle can eliminate the traditional bottlenecks hindering industrial speed and precision.

By removing these non-value-add steps, the research provides a scalable framework for leveraging AI innovations to fundamentally accelerate manufacturing lead times.

We’re proud to share that Sparsh Bansal, LGO Class of 2027, completed the 2026 Boston Marathon. Congratulations to Sparsh on an outstanding achievement.

As part of the LGO International Plant Trek (IPT), Steph Xu (LGO ’27) and Shane Pornprinya (LGO ’27) led a visit to Mingzhi Technology in Suzhou, China. Hosted by Jerry Wu (LGO ’21) at his family’s business, the group got a firsthand look at advanced manufacturing and what it takes to run an international business serving the U.S. manufacturing industry.

A great example of the strength of the LGO alumni network and the community’s commitment to global operations and learning.

Panayiota Petrou-Zeniou (LGO ’27) brought together a 42-person Sloan group to trek to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, guiding the team through an experience grounded in leadership, resilience, and collaboration.

During Sloan Independent Period (SIP), LGO students Matt Averill, Chloe Brown, Flor Ojeda, and Becca Sholler traveled to Malaysia to work with Petronas as part of Operations Lab.

Through this experience, student teams partner with companies to tackle real operational challenges. During SIP, the team went to the gemba to observe operations firsthand and collaborate directly with their partner on-site.

They visited a carbon capture and sequestration construction site and spent several days at the Petronas Towers, where they participated in a panel and engaged with company leaders.

Beyond the project work, the group explored Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, and Malacca, and even spent an afternoon in Singapore.