Manufacturing

Tim Waldo is a Workforce Consultant with the University of Tennessee Center for Industrial Services (UT CIS), assisting Tennessee manufacturers with workforce and workplace development opportunities. His passion for helping people discover their potential has been a primary motivator over a career including more than 17 years in the manufacturing sector and multiple years in the service sector. Through those years, Tim has had the opportunity to recruit, train, and manage multiple teams. 

In 2012, he shifted his career focus exclusively to workforce development, first in the nonprofit sector, then in 2017, joining UT CIS. In these roles, he has helped to launch new initiatives; a pre-apprenticeship training program for marginalized audiences; and, with UT CIS, a strategic shift toward workplace development efforts. Tim earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Tusculum College and from the University of Tennessee, a master’s degree in Educational Psychology focused on adult education. Living in east Tennessee affords Tim and his wife, Carol, plenty of opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors.

Misty DePriest is a Manufacturing Program Manager for the Tennessee Manufacturing Extension Partnership housed in the University of Tennessee Center for Industrial Services. DePriest started at UT CIS in 2003 as a Manufacturing Consultant and has over twenty years of experience managing manufacturing operations and continuous improvement projects across a broad range of industries. Ms. DePriest currently leads the TMEP resource consultant team, helps write and manage several Federal grants, and coordinates marketing outreach and new program development.  

DePriest holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Master of Science in Engineering Management from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. She is a Tennessee Certified Economic Developer, certified National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) lean trainer, and a SME Bronze level lean certified sensei.