Get To Know Our COO

Michelle Ryan

Our Chief Operations Officer (COO) and Quality Assurance & Food Safety Technical Lead is Michelle Ryan. Michelle has a Masters Degree in Biochemistry, has studied Microbiology at the Masters level, and has diverse industry experience. She has over 20 years of experience in manufacturing in the areas of food & beverage, pharmaceutical, chemical and packaging manufacturing. She has also worked for 3rd Party Testing Laboratories. Previous roles held by her include Quality Manager, Technical Manager, Consultant, Trainer and Auditor. Through full-time, contract and sub-contracted services, Michelle has supported more than 100 companies in the USA, Canada, and the Caribbean.

Career Highlights

  • Contributing author for a whitepaper published by the Professional Evaluation & Certification Board (PECB ) on ISO 22000 Transition, which was included in the PECB ISO 22000 Toolkit (April 2019).
  • Project Manager and Technical Lead for Canadian Vintners Association (CVA) project (2010-2013) to develop a food safety model for Canadian wineries, primarily funded by the Government of Canada.
  • Contributing Consultant during the initial development of the PACSecure Standard by the Packaging Association of Canada (PAC).
  • Presenter at the Canadian Bottled Water Association (CBWA) 24th Annual Convention & Trade Show – Presentation Title: CBWA Food Safety & Quality Materials & Technical Training Tools (2012)

Photo Note: – Taken from an article published in the Jamaica Observer December 1997. Michelle successfully led this team to achieving ISO certification.

More highlights…

  • Contributing author for an Article in the CBWA Waterpower publication Fall/ Winter 2010 Vol 22-Issue 2 – Title: CBWA Bottled Water Food Safety Program (2012)
  • Technical Lead for first Canadian-owned winery (Pilliteri Estates Winery) to achieve Advantage HACCP Plus certification under the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) program (2008).
  • QA Manager & ISO Coordinator for ingredient and flavor company that received initial ISO 9001 certification (1997).
  • Founder of MACH Laboratories Limited (Kingston, Jamaica), MACH Global Solutions Inc. (Ontario, Canada) and Co-founder of Onazry LLC.

Professional Designations & Memberships

Michelle has earned many professional designations throughout her career. She has also maintained memberships with recognized organizations to further enhance her competence in her field. Below is a list of some of these achievements:

  • Certified Manager of Quality & Organizational Excellence (CMQ/ OE) by the American Society for Quality (ASQ) – https://asq.org/
  • Certified HACCP Auditor (CHA) by the American Society for Quality (ASQ) – https://asq.org/
  • Quality Management System Auditor (QMS-A) by Exemplar Global – https://exemplarglobal.org/
  • Project Management Professional (PMP) by the Project Management Institute (PMI) – https://www.pmi.org
  • SQF Auditor (2015- 2018) by the Safe Quality Food Institute (SQFI) – https://www.sqfi.com/
  • Member of the International Association for Continuing Education (IACET) – https://www.iacet.org/.
  • Preventive Controls Qualified Individual (PCQI) – Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance (FSPCA) – https://www.ifsh.iit.edu/fspca
  • Certified ISO 9001 Auditor by the Professional Evaluation & Certification Board (PECB) – https://pecb.com/
  • Certified ISO 9001 Trainer by the Professional Evaluation & Certification Board (PECB) – https://pecb.com/
  • Certified ISO 22000 Auditor by the Professional Evaluation & Certification Board (PECB) – https://pecb.com/
  • Certified ISO 22000 Trainer by the Professional Evaluation & Certification Board (PECB) – https://pecb.com/

The Trainer

Michelle is the daughter of an accomplished educator (former school Principal) and it would appear that she has inherited a passion for both learning and teaching. She is always looking for ways to improve her knowledge, as is evidenced by her numerous designations and certifications. Early in her career, Michelle taught students at both the Primary and Secondary levels. As a Consultant, she has delivered numerous training sessions to clients and is now a certified trainer for ISO courses. At Onazry, Michelle leads the Continuing Education Services (CES) Team, where she helps to design and deliver training courses.

The Auditor

Michelle has acquired auditing skills that has made her one of the best systems auditors you will find. She has worked as a Contract Auditor for companies such as NSF International, Perry Johnson Food Safety Registrars, Merieux NutriSciences (Silliker) and Intertek. Michelle assists companies with assessing their current status as compared to an appropriate standard or benchmark. Some commonly used audit standards for which she has received auditor training are listed below:

  • ISO 9001 Certified Lead Auditor
  • ISO 17025 Internal Auditor
  • ISO 17065 Internal Auditor
  • ISO 17024 Internal Auditor
  • ISO 17021 Internal Auditor
  • ISO 22000 Certified Lead Auditor
  • ISO 14001 Lead Auditor Trained
  • FSSC 22000 Lead Auditor Trained
  • SQF Certified Lead Auditor
  • Gluten-Free Auditor

Family & Community

Michelle believes in supporting others whenever we have the capacity to do so. She has been involved in organizing a community support group which assisted Jamaican immigrants to adjust to their new life in Canada. She has started the Model2Mentor program, in an effort to give back to the profession and the community.

Most of all, Michelle is a mother, daughter, sister, wife and friend. You will find her to be easy to talk to and, as she likes to say, she is firm but fair in her approach to business.

For more information about our COO, check out her LinkedIn page or contact us.