John R. Black

John Black, MBA, president and CEO of JBA, has served his country and corporate America throught a career spanning five decades. He is one of the nation’s leading authorities on Lean operations, becoming known as a Lean expert through four decades of first implementing Lean at Boeing and then consulting for industry and major healthcare systems, including Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health. In the 1980s, while with Boeing, Black helped innovate with the first moving assembly line in aerospace and was subsequently appointed to President Reagan’s White House Council on Productivity. Prior to his Boeing career, Black served two military tours during the Vietnam War and the Cold War, with a decade split between the Republic of South Vietnam and U.S. Armed Forces Europe. His military awards included two Meritorious Service Medals, two Bronze Star Medals for Meritorious Achievement, among others. He was raised in a family known for its military service in everything from the U.S. Revolutionary War through World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam, as well as during the Cold War era. Having been raised by a professional musician, Black cut his first vinyl album in 1959, signed a recording contract in 1962, and was on his way to a music career prior to commissioning as a Distinguished Military Graduate, Regular Army Second Lieutenant, Infantry in 1963. Today he uses music to heal from his war experiences and connects with military veterans around the world through his website, MeetMeinVietnam.net and his albums on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/artist/2QVW9siWMKhzIHB8CmSj6J and CD baby at https://store.cdbaby.com/Artist/JohnRBlack. Black is the author of four books on Lean as well as his memoir, Tears and Triumphs. In addition to his MBA, Black holds Bachelor of Science and Masters degrees as well as a diploma from the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College.