3×
Production capacity scaled at R.M.Williams, in under three years, without losing the hand finish
03 / The lens
Who you are working with
Tara Moses
I am an industrial engineer who became a Chief Operating Officer. In any setting I do two things: I find the problem underneath the problem, and I connect systems that were never built to talk to each other — process, technology, supply chain, people — so the whole thing runs cleanly and can scale without breaking. Twenty years of Lean, Six Sigma and structured problem solving, across Australia and the United States. The method is the spine of everything I do.
At R.M.Williams I led operations for an Australian icon: six hundred people across manufacturing, supply chain, IT and retail, four hundred of them craftspeople. I put automation and robotics into a hand‑made process without losing the hand. I built three functions from nothing — quality, sourcing, and concept to consumer — replaced the core systems while the business kept shipping, and co‑authored Australia’s National Manufacturing Strategy with the Australian Fashion Council.
Before that, in the United States, I held a seven hundred person manufacturing organisation together through COVID, a cyber attack, vaccine mandates, three union negotiations and raw material shortages. We stood up a new facility in ninety days. We never missed a customer order.
The systems were never the point. Every process I have ever fixed, I fixed because somebody was fighting it every day. What I love is the puzzle — the trial, the fitting, the moment a thing finally comes together — and then watching the person standing in front of it realise they can do the hard part themselves. Making things easier for people, and unlocking what they are already capable of, is the thread through all of it.
And for twenty years I mastered that outer world while quietly splitting from the inner one. I performed in both. I left a C‑suite role I had moved my family across the world for, because I finally understood what the split was costing. The split was never a flaw. It was the price of excelling in a world that only rewarded one half.
Success on the outside, split on the inside. I lived it, I left it, and now I help people close the gap.
And most days still end with a look at the horizon, which has a way of telling you everything is going to be alright.
700+
People led through simultaneous crises — COVID, a cyber incident, union negotiations — without missing customer supply
2,000+
People trained in structured problem solving — capability that stayed behind after I left
20 yrs
Manufacturing, supply chain and retail operations, across two countries
The gift runs both ways
Rigour inward
An operator’s structured thinking, brought to the inner work — where almost nobody brings method. Inner work is usually all feeling and no spine. I give it one.
Wholeness outward
Wholeness brought into the boardroom — where almost no operator brings it. I have run the crises and scaled the plant. I also know exactly what performing through them costs.
B.Sc. Industrial Engineering · Iowa StateLean · Six Sigma · DMAICRagtrader Top Leader in Sustainability 2025Co-author · Australia’s National Manufacturing StrategyBoard member · SA Gender Equity Board