Nate Shepardson
Provo,UT
Summary
Visionary Activator and proven Intrapreneur who specializes in rapidly igniting stalled initiatives and transforming disengaged technical teams into highly accountable, self-governing units. Expert in achieving cultural adoption and exponential momentum where others fail. Seeking a Director/VP-level role requiring maximum autonomy to launch critical internal movements, fix systemic stagnation, and build the cultural foundation for massive scale.
Overview
16
16
years of professional experience
Work History
Maintenance and Culture Leader
Innovative Labs
05.2025 - Current
- Shifted team mindset from reactive “firefighting” to proactive improvement, reducing breakdown response time and empowering ownership.
- Built cross-functional alignment with production leadership, co-creating an Operator 2 role to unlock workforce advancement and improve engagement.
- Revamped inventory flow with a Kanban-based system to support uptime and reduce dependency on emergency orders.
- Led coaching efforts that reduced technician stress, improved confidence, and expanded problem-solving capability.
- Played a key leadership role during multi-facility consolidation, providing direction, structure, and cultural stability through rapid change.
Founder
Manalizing
03.2025 - Current
- Launched and led multiple men’s groups, growing a movement of over 30 men across several tribes in the first six months.
- Developed the leadership board from the ground up and established operating cadence, accountability systems, and strategic priorities.
- Built essential systems that created momentum and belonging for new members.
- Elevated group culture through rituals that build identity, psychological safety, and deep connection.
- Recognized as the “Dark Horse” leader for behind-the-scenes influence, emotional intelligence, and activation of human growth.
Maintenance Engineer
Ultra Safe Nuclear
05.2022 - 01.2025
- Drove a first-of-a-kind process from 0% to 80% yield through continuous improvement and data-driven problem solving.
- Authored and standardized new operational procedures that reduced variability, downtime, and rework.
- Shortened equipment turnover time by optimizing workflows and eliminating waste using Lean methodologies.
- Designed and implemented equipment upgrades that increased efficiency with limited resources.
- Maintained team morale through organizational instability, demonstrating resilience and reliability under pressure.
Senior Technician
Texas Instruments / Micron
11.2016 - 05.2022
- Served as the cultural heartbeat of the team, improving morale, trust, and psychological safety through mentorship and representation of crew concerns.
- Championed critical safety and equipment upgrades, influencing leadership action and preventing hazardous incidents
- Protected and developed overlooked talent, transforming discouraged teammates into confident, committed contributors.
- Became the “go-to” influence for clear communication across teams, earning recognition from leadership for cross-functional collaboration
Sales Professional
RC Willey
06.2009 - 11.2016
- Provided advanced product knowledge and senior team support in customer relations and troubleshooting
Education
Associate of Science - Electrical Automation And Robotics
Utah Valley University
Orem, UT07-2017
Skills
- Transformational Leadership
- Executive Mentorship and Coaching
- Movement and Cultural Activator
- Vision Transfer
- Continuous improvement (TPM/Lean)
- Strategic Relationship Architect
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Process improvement
- Incident Mangagement
Timeline
Maintenance and Culture Leader
Innovative Labs
05.2025 - Current
Founder
Manalizing
03.2025 - Current
Maintenance Engineer
Ultra Safe Nuclear
05.2022 - 01.2025
Senior Technician
Texas Instruments / Micron
11.2016 - 05.2022
Sales Professional
RC Willey
06.2009 - 11.2016
Associate of Science - Electrical Automation And Robotics
Utah Valley University
Key Achievements
Movement Activator
- Challenge: Identified a critical gap in authentic male connection, lacking structure, conviction, or momentum to begin.
- Action: Founded and activated a grassroots men's development movement, leveraging deep conviction and personal vision transfer to build instant cultural buy-in and accountability.
- Result: Grew the movement from a small few to over 30 deeply committed, self-governing members within 6 months with zero marketing budget, successfully establishing the core culture and proof of concept necessary for future scaling.
Talent Activation & Bottleneck Elimination
- Challenge: Inherited an environment of acute operational stagnation ("fighting fires") with a hiring freeze, limited direct reports, and a single machine bottleneck costing 3-4 daily man-hours in changeover and repair.
- Action: Adopted a temporary frontline role to stabilize operations while simultaneously diagnosing the core systemic issue. Identified a non-reporting, eager employee and successfully activated his potential by assigning him ownership of a high-leverage, changeover kit standardization project, bridging language barriers (English/Spanish) through shared purpose.
- Result: Created the first proof-of-concept for proactive culture by empowering an informal leader to 5S and rebuild critical machine assets, directly targeting the largest operational constraint. Established a clear pathway to eliminate the daily 3-4 man-hour bottleneck using activated internal talent, demonstrating the ability to drive significant improvement with zero external resources.