Auditor and Internal Auditor Training – Management Team

Frank Degar – Pillar Management Associates President

Frank Degar is the President of Pillar Management Associates, a process improvement and consulting firm. Frank’s varied background gives him a unique perspective in the consulting and training process. Frank started his career as an electrical engineer for a large tier one automotive supplier. He then joined Whirlpool Corporation as a Senior Development Engineer. He left to start his own plastic molding company that grew to three facilities in ten years and also became a tier, one automotive supplier. After selling his firm he spent ten years as a management consultant specializing in reestablishing troubled companies. In conjunction with this activity, he has owned a construction firm, a distributorship and a computer systems reseller.

Frank then joined the University of South Carolina as the Associate Director of a NIST sponsored program called the Southeast Manufacturing Technology Center (SMTC) which helped small manufacturers become more competitive. He subsequently was asked to create an accredited registrar and was the co-creator of American Quality Assessors (AQA), an ANAB accredited registrar. He was the Executive Director of AQA until early 1997 when he and his partner formed Pillar Management Associates.

Frank is a  management systems lead auditor with over 600 audits, 60 of which were TS16949 and 100 are ISO 14001. Frank is recognized as an international expert in his field and has audited, consulted and trained in 12 countries including Italy, Greece, Lebanon, Egypt, China, Japan, Bulgaria, Costa Rica and India plus in North and Central America. He speaks regularly at several universities around the world. He was instrumental in establishing two additional accredited registrars for whom he conducts audits. In addition, he has created and conducts accredited lead auditor courses for  ISO 9001, OHSAS 18001/Z10, ISO 50001 and ISO 14001. Frank has a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Syracuse.

Carol (Whinham) Robinson, Ph.D -Pillar Management Associates Vice President

Carol (Whinham) Robinson, Ph.D. is the Vice President of Pillar Management Associates, a process improvement training and consulting firm. Her background is primarily in quality and environmental management systems management, continual improvement and manufacturing engineering.  Her passion is establishing, creating and sustaining a strong manufacturing base in SC and the U.S.  This passion and motivation to pursue manufacturing excellence has taken Carol all over the country to support the use of management systems as an established and recognized tool for organizations to achieve continual improvement and competitiveness.

Carol started her career as a manufacturing engineer for Dana Corporation (Toledo, OH), a Fortune 500 Tier 1 automotive supplier where she transferred to the Columbia SC plant as the Quality Assurance Manager. She then joined AMBAC International as a Senior Quality Engineer and then the University of South Carolina as the Associate Technical Director of an NIST-sponsored program called the Southeast Manufacturing Technology Center (SCMEP) which helps South Carolina-based manufacturers become more competitive, profitable and productive. She subsequently was asked to create an accredited registrar and was the co-creator of American Quality Assessors (AQA), an ANAB accredited registrar in 1992. She was the Director of Registration at AQA until early 1997 when she and her business partner, Frank Degar, formed Pillar Management Associates (PMA).  In this role at PMA, she established two more accredited registrars, IMS (purchased by NQA) and ASR (Michigan).

Carol is an Exemplar Global certified Lead Auditor with over 750 quality, energy, automotive, aerospace, health & safety and environmental audits. She is an IATF 16949 and ISO 9001 qualified lead auditor, energy and environmental management system auditor (Exemplar Global #3814). In addition, she is a qualified trainer for ISO 9001, OHSAS 18001, IATF 16949, ISO 50001 and ISO 14001 Exemplar Global-certified lead auditor courses and has facilitated the registration of a large firm with over 5000 employees in twelve international locations. Additionally, she has assisted over 250 firms in attaining registration. She has a B.S.I.E. (Industrial Engineering) from the University of Toledo and an MBA from the University of South Carolina.  She received a Ph.D. in Management Science (Operations Management) from the University of South Carolina.