The Iowa Lean Consortium, a program of the Center for Industrial Research and Service at Iowa State University, announced the appointment of Emily Betz as director. She succeeds Tracy Schuster. Betz has been a member of the ILC and CIRAS teams and most recently served as ILC assistant director since September 2024. In that role, she helped shape programming and strengthen member engagement. “Emily has consistently demonstrated leadership, creativity, and a deep commitment to helping organizations thrive through Lean principles,” Schuster said  in a prepared statement.