Jeff Puma

Jeff Puma has served as Content Director for the Manufacturing Leadership Council since 2022. As a member of the content team, Puma curates event, social media and online thought-leadership content that helps manufacturing leaders understand the technological, organizational and cultural needs of digital transformation.

Prior to his time with the MLC, he led marketing and communications for the Association for Manufacturing Excellence, increasing AME’s profile as a lean, continuous improvement thought leader. He previously served as account director at the Lipman Hearne agency where he oversaw branding, advertising and marketing for clients including Obama Foundation, University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football, University of Iowa Law, and Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. His career also includes time in the education space leading communications and marketing for both public and private schools in Chicagoland.

Puma began his career with Siemens USA. He created Siemens’ first executive outreach program, working with six C-level executives to establish them as thought leaders on industry, infrastructure, and technology. Prior to launching this ambitious program, he worked in the company’s Washington, DC office for Siemens Transportation Systems, Inc. (STS) and directed STS’s marketing and communication department in Sacramento, CA.

He is a sought-after speaker on AI, digital transformation and the intersection of technology and organizational culture, often delivering engaging keynotes or participating on industry panels where he shares insights from his career and industry backed by related data.

A University of Notre Dame graduate, Puma earned a bachelor’s degree in government and international studies. He also completed Notre Dame’s Hesburgh Program in Public Service and earned a Notre Dame Monogram and Big East All-Academic Team recognition as a member of the Fighting Irish Track & Field team. During his time in college he interned in Washington, DC, for both Senator Richard J. Durbin’s office and the Federal Communications Commission’s International Bureau. More recently, he achieved a certificate in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace from the University of South Florida and earned his Enterprise Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt.

An avid music enthusiast, he has seen more than 400 concerts by 300 different bands (a tally that has only slowed because of children and a pandemic), written songs that you can find on iTunes or Spotify (if you’re really sleuthy), and contributed music reviews and stories to the Tribune Company newspapers. In fact, Jeff got his start creating online content in the mid-1990s when he designed a band’s website, writing copy and HTML code in SimpleText and then FTPing each webpage to a server. Beyond his career and interest in music, Jeff has also volunteered as a coach in youth soccer, travel baseball, and middle school and high school track and field. He resides in the Chicago suburbs with his wife and two teenaged children.