Lynn Kelley

Following a career highlighted by leadership roles in engineering, supply chain, continuous improvement, and quality in various industries, including healthcare, academia, and manufacturing, Kelley retired from Union Pacific Railroad in 2018. Now serving as a senior advisor to BBH Capital Partners, she assists in sourcing, investment evaluation, transaction execution, and providing post-investment value-added oversight to the private equity and banking firm’s portfolio companies.  

At Union Pacific, she was executive co-owner of the company’s innovation program and responsible for sourcing, logistics, warehouse operations, fuel and water infrastructure, industrial engineering, and continuous improvement. Before joining Union Pacific, Kelley was vice president of operational excellence and an officer and a member of the executive leadership team at Textron. In addition to corporate six sigma/quality councils, she was responsible for engineering, integrated supply chain, and procurement. 

As a professor, department chair, and director of the master’s degree program in Quality and Operations Management at Madonna University, Kelley taught undergraduate and graduate statistics courses. Before becoming a professor, she held the positions of executive vice president and chief operating officer of Doctors Hospital in Detroit. 

Kelley holds a PhD in evaluation and research from Wayne State University, a master’s in business administration from Michigan State University, and a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of Detroit-Mercy. She completed post-doctoral fellowships with the U.S. Census Bureau and the American Society of Engineering Education. In addition, Kelley has published many articles and three books on statistics and operational excellence.