Managing Partners

		David W. Drinnon David W. Drinnon is founder and Managing Partner of Design Management Alliance. His diversity of experiences throughout his working career provided the inspiration and foundation to build a full service performance-based consulting firm that delivers a range of services to manufacturing, healthcare, industrial, educational and governmental concerns. more >>
The Associates

David W. Drinnon

David W. Drinnon is founder and Managing Partner of Design Management Alliance. His diversity of experiences throughout his working career provided the inspiration and foundation to build a full service performance-based consulting firm that delivers a range of services to manufacturing, healthcare, industrial, educational and governmental concerns.

Design Management Alliance's success is contributed to David's extensive working knowledge of manufacturing; lean manufacturing methods, inventory management and organizational development. Through David's experience in plant turnarounds, and startups he has acquired a keen understanding of how to make systems work, when to revamp processes and how to assemble internal resources to create functioning processes out of seemly chaotic situations.

Growing up on a farm in East Tennessee, David learned the importance of education, urgency, involvement, values, and hard work. David's career began with a tour in the United States Army, stationed in Korea. He spent eighteen years with TRW, Inc. in several managerial positions. Hired by Tuff Torq Corporation in 1989, he had the privilege and opportunity to work in Japan to learn Japanese manufacturing philosophies and application.

Believing simple can be better, David's business philosophy is to be on time, do what you say you are going to do, finish what you start and say please and thank you. He firmly believes in investing in the client, employees and the process for developing high performance. Building long-term relationships with each customer, meeting challenging opportunities head on, and providing value that obtains the desired results for his clients has proven to be a successful formula for David and his company. His personal satisfaction comes through helping others do their best.

Customers describe David as having a relentless passion to meet their needs and exceed their expectations. David values each customer and nurtures that relationship. He wants the customer to feel that they can call on Design Management Alliance as an immediate resource at their moment of need. David appreciates the relationships and trust of past and current customer.

David is an avid private pilot and has a soft spot for his two granddaughters.

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Mickey Barbely

Mickey is known for her flexibility and willingness to adapt to the client’s needs. She enjoys “changing people’s lives,” whether through teaching them computer skills that they were certain they couldn’t master, or through helping them find new ways of meeting the daily challenges of their jobs. She says, “Seeing people’s faces light up, hearing someone say ‘This will make my job so much easier!’—that makes it all worthwhile for her.”

Ten years ago Mickey formed KeyBoard Services, where she concentrates on performing computer software training, desktop publishing, editing, and specialized business services. Mickey’s relationships with clients are long-term. She has served as editor of one national publication for 10 years, compiling and editing the document, developing graphics, and interfacing with authors. Her classroom computer training in Microsoft Windows, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access has resulted in consistently high marks on student evaluation forms. She has also provided individual training and troubleshooting.

Mickey has delivered teambuilding, leadership skills, and corporate ethics seminars. A team member in outplacement projects for groups as large as 350, Mickey counseled people on job and interview skills and developed resumes. She has managed the design and creation of brochures, presentations, and manuals, with a specialty of maintaining consistency and quality of corporate image. She has also developed custom databases to track training, scheduling, and scoring, product availability and purchases by client, and conference attendees.

Prior to forming KeyBoard Services, Mickey was publications manager for a government-contracting firm in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, responsible for scheduling work and managing the publications department. She completed more than 200 documents, including proposals, reports, presentations, and newsletters.

Mickey has an M.A. in Mass Communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a B.A. with a double major in English and Psychology from Tusculum College.

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