John Hensley

Global Operational Excellence Professional

John Hensley is the Vice President of Manufacturing Operations for ILLUME in Minneapolis, MN where he is responsible for Safety, Maintenance, Engineering, Inbound, and Manufacturing Operations. He also serves on the Executive Team deploying Operational Excellence principles throughout the organization.

John began his career with twenty years at Duracell, Gillette, and Procter & Gamble where he held positions in Manufacturing and Supply Chain. After beginning his career as an operator and forklift driver, he assumed the roles of Global Continuous Improvement Manager within the Duracell Strategies & Initiatives Group, P&G Integrated Work Systems (IWS) Internal Consultant, and member of P&G’s IWS Global Renewal Team. John played a critical role in establishing core Lean and Operational Excellence principles across the United States, Europe, and Asia. He continued his work in continuous improvement by joining Coty, Inc. in 2009 as Global Lean Director to lead development and deployment of the company’s Lean initiative for North America, Europe, and United Kingdom. Within Coty he went on to lead integration of the Sally Hansen Nail Lacquer business into the Sanford, NC manufacturing operation, doubling the site’s annual production output.

John spent a brief stent outside of consumer-packaged goods as Continuous Improvement Director of the Windows Division for Ply Gem, Inc. and lead development of the company’s continuous improvement initiative. He returned to the beauty industry in 2014 with Revlon as Senior Director of Continuous Improvement where he built the company’s first continuous improvement program, Revlon Operational Excellence (ROX). John then transitioned to Adidas as Director of Distribution and Performance Management where he led the company’s largest US distribution campus.

Prior to joining ILLUME John partnered with SLKone on a Manufacturing Stabilization assignment at ILLUME to stabilize the newly consolidated operation and began establishing a foundation for sustainable results.

John has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and a Lean Manager Certification from Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University.