Lauren Dunford

Lauren is the co-founder and CEO of Guidewheel (formerly Safi), on a mission to empower all the world's factories to reach sustainable peak performance. As the daughter of a data scientist, Lauren grew up measuring and graphing things for fun. She once got sensors in her Christmas stocking. No surprise that she has brought that passion for making data intuitive to the manufacturing space, helping make real-time insights visual and useful so the team can easily see at a glance what to act on. Lauren did her BA and MBA at Stanford and found her passion building and leading teams. She researched supply chain efficiency and managed a team of data collectors as a Fulbright Scholar in New Delhi, then brought this perspective to five years in sales and operations working out of Revolution Foods' East Oakland plant as they produced and delivered millions of units a week. There, she led a team managing $65M in revenue and might have lowered the error rate to zero had the operation not involved fresh food and real people. ;) But she did achieve the highest-ever customer retention, and developed expertise in building teams and systems for rapid growth. She realized how much impact a profitable, scalable model can have when tackling a big problem, and what a difference great tools can make in achieving operational excellence. Lauren’s happiest times include trail running with friends, and Zumba dancing with her husband, Jason, where they are known for enthusiasm more than skill.