Kelly Olischefski's Board Candidacy
Board Biography
Kelly Olischefski is an accomplished business executive and strategic advisor specializing in operational excellence, P&L oversight, and sustainable growth for manufacturing companies. She combines strategic financial leadership with deep operational expertise to help organizations unlock hidden value, strengthen competitiveness, and scale intelligently. Kelly specializes in maximizing asset utilization through targeted capital investment, minimizing overhead through enterprise-wide Lean initiatives, and fostering smarter, leaner growth. She is drawn to companies that embrace a growth mindset and are seeking innovative strategies to navigate market uncertainty, tariff pressures, and supply chain resilience.
With over 25 years of experience spanning business operations, engineering, product development, sales, and marketing, Kelly brings broad-based general management and P&L expertise to the boardroom. She has led and advised cross-functional teams in both low-volume and high-volume/low-defect environments, optimizing strategic planning, streamlining quality management systems, and building data-driven operational frameworks. At Senga Engineering, Kelly directed a full operational overhaul—transforming finance, quality, production, purchasing, and HR systems—which resulted in over 50% revenue growth in three years and positioned the company for continued double-digit expansion. At Racepak (now part of Holley), she introduced a cross-functional product launch framework that accelerated time-to-market by three months and successfully directed a facility relocation while leading a full MRP system implementation. Her technical fluency, financial discipline, and operational rigor have consistently delivered transformational results.
Kelly currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Southern California Chapter and previously served as an elected councilor for the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Manitoba. She has been active in initiatives promoting STEM education and career pathways for students, and has led numerous youth sports programs and fundraising efforts in her community.
Kelly holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Manitoba, as well as an MBA with an emphasis in Marketing from the University of Redlands. She is a Six Sigma Yellow Belt and has completed advanced certifications in Lean manufacturing, business intelligence, and enterprise resource planning systems.