Our Consultants

Susan Clapham founded Clapham Consulting in 1997 after spending a decoade in industry. Clapham Consulting is located in the greater Charlotte, NC area and has ~50 global partners to support our clients in 12 languages.
clientuploads/photos/Susan Clapham Photo (Small Dimensions).jpg Susan Clapham (Founder)
Susan spent 10 years in industry (United Technologies, ABB & The Hon Company) where she held operational leadership roles. During these years, Susan was trained/mentored by former Toyota & Danaher executives.  She has spent the last 20+ years in consulting (including 4 years at McKinsey & Company) supporting businesses that aspire to drive impact in many industries - manufacturing, aerospace, energy, oil & gas, hospitaility, mining, medical, software, retail, food and entertainment.  Susan has an industrial engineering degree from Lehigh University and a Masters from Purdue University.  Susan periodically teaches at UNC and Queens University and enjoys playing the piano, hiking, surfing, and traveling.
Email: susan@claphamconsulting.com
Michele Nichols
Michele spent most of her career with industry in Engineering and Plant Management (General Motors, Toyota and Textron).  She was trained/mentored in Toyota Production System as part of the NUMMI startup and has spent the last 2 years in consulting, supporting the strategic improvement of sties and facilities, predominantly in the Southeast.  Michele has an Industrial Technology degree from Purdue University. She has been a Faculty Member at Union County Technical Education Center, now called South Piedmont Community College. 
E-mail: michele@claphamconsulting.com

clientuploads/photos/Robert Gates (Small Dimensions).jpg

Robert Gates
Robert has 3 parts to his career; he spent 6 years in the Army, 6 years at McKinsey & Company and 15 years in industry (Honeywell, Colfax, Boral Industries, and Amazon). He has expertise in supply chain, logistics, manufacturing, IT, maintenance and reliability, production planning, and scheduing. Robert has led operations, turnarounds and merger integrations; he has worked in mining, a variety of manufacturing, including equipment, petrochemicals, pharm chemicals, freight and logistics. Robert has a BS in Civil Engineering from the Virginia Military Institute and a MBA from Boston University.