Congratulations to our six alumni members from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), for being celebrated in honor of 40 under 40, class of 2023.

Karan Agrawal, Chris Carter, Jing Li, Kaibo Liu, Kendall Tyson, and Tuba Yilmaz Gozbasi were all recognized for their great achievements. This annual program showcases how Georgia Tech alumni impact every field worldwide and work to improve the way we live through their diligence and expertise from an early age.
 

Karan Agrawal, IE 19
Senior Manager, Supply Chain | Peloton Interactive

An award-winning supply chain practitioner and thought leader with four years of experience across the U.S., U.K., and Canada in Fortune 500 companies and tech startups, Karan Agrawal currently serves as senior manager, supply chain at Peloton. He has led multiple strategic supply chain initiatives, focused primarily on manufacturing and sourcing with multimillion-dollar scale and impact. Prior to Peloton, he worked at Dell, where he played a critical role in its supply chain digital transformation journey and strengthened the corporate brand through numerous external academic and industry partnerships. Passionate about building diverse communities from the ground up, Agrawal initiated the American Production and Inventory Control Society, or APICS, at Georgia Tech, launched an innovative TED-like storytelling platform at Dell called “Talks @ Dell,” and recently founded Toronto’s first supply chain community.

Favorite Tech Memory: Emceeing the largest cultural show on campus in front of 1,200 attendees at the Ferst Center for the Arts.

Chris Carter, IE 07
Chief Engineer, Executive GM | Toyota Motor North America (HQ)

Chris Carter has 15 years of experience in portfolio management, leadership, instruction, team building, and people development worldwide. Through Georgia Tech Professional Education, he became a Project Management Professional (PMP) & Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP). As chief engineer for Toyota Motor North America, Connected Technologies division, Carter is responsible for portfolio management for all Toyota and Lexus new model infotainment systems, including various technology life cycle management activities. He facilitates a team, leading tech strategy, market research, and global tech life cycle planning. During his tenure, he also worked abroad in Japan for Lexus International, leading midsize segments model years for RX, NX, and ES. Carter is also the academic program director over Project Management and Professor of the Practice candidate at Georgia Tech.

Favorite Tech Memory: Junior’s Grill. I used to have the French Toast Special and chicken finger basket every week.

Jing Li, IE 10
Product Management Sr. Principal | Accenture

With a non-traditional journey from Peace Corps Ukraine to product innovation, Jing Li blends her unique skills and experiences to lay the foundation for the next generation of leaders through education, technology, sustainability, and diversity. She founded the nonprofit Project Ollie to provide Ukrainian educators and learners with humanitarian support and tools to thrive. She helped reduce food waste through IoT sensors, and she advocates for inclusion and diversity in the workplace as well as in the open water swimming community. She was a four-year letterwinner in swimming at Georgia Tech and the former president of the NorCal GT Alumni network.

Favorite Tech Memory: Standing on the 50-yard line as a finalist for Ms. Georgia Tech in fall 2009.

Kaibo Liu, MS Stat 11, PhD IE 13
Professor | University of Wisconsin–Madison

Kaibo Liu is a professor at UW–Madison’s ISyE department and associate director of UW-Madison IoT systems research center. He received a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and a master’s in statistics and PhD in industrial engineering from Georgia Tech. His research focuses on system informatics and industrial big data analytics for quality improvement in complex engineering systems. He has won prestigious career awards, including the Innovations in Education Award and the Award for Technical Innovation in Industrial Engineering from the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

Favorite Tech Memory: I cherish having earned two degrees in four years and having my first child during my Georgia Tech PhD program.

Kendall Tyson, IE 11
SVP, Finance and Business Intelligence | Seattle Kraken

Kendall Tyson is the senior vice president of finance and business intelligence for the Seattle Kraken, the city’s professional ice hockey team. She oversees the strategic planning, data management, and financial affairs of the Kraken and its affiliates. Before joining the Kraken, Tyson led corporate development at Topgolf, where she evaluated mobile apps, entertainment venues, and golf technology. Earlier in her career, she advised state government agencies on business transformations as a management consultant at Accenture. In addition to her degree from Georgia Tech, Kendall holds a bachelor’s from Emory University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. She currently resides in Seattle, Washington, with her husband and two children.

Favorite Tech Memory: Walking on the Great Wall of China while studying abroad in Beijing and Singapore.

Tuba Yilmaz Gozbasi, MS OR 11, PhD IE 13
COO & Cofounder | Optiyol

Tuba Yilmaz Gozbasi worked as an operations research consultant at Solvoyo and an assistant professor of operations management at Özyeğin University Faculty of Business. She is currently cofounder and COO of Optiyol, a delivery management SaaS, offering a route optimization engine and a mobile driver app with live tracking capabilities to increase delivery efficiency and improve customer service.

Favorite Tech Memory: I started dating my husband (and partner at Optiyol) while studying for a comprehensive exam in the grad lab.