Douglas Woods is president of AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, a position he has held since 2009. A lifelong manufacturing technology leader, Doug’s passion for the industry began when he was an apprentice toolmaker at Alliance Tool & Die - in his hometown of Rochester, New York and progressed as he held positions in manufacturing engineering, quality management, operations, product development and international sales.

Doug developed his passion for manufacturing technology in the 1980’s at Alliance Automation supporting the development of robotic disk drive assembly and circuit board insertion cells. Later as the president and owner of Liberty Precision Industries he transformed a small tool and die company into a recognized leader in thin film coating systems, complex mold manufacturing and flexible machining systems.

Doug was AMT’s chairman of the board in 2005-06 and served as a director from 2000-2008. Currently, he serves on the boards of the National Center for Defense Manufacturing & Machining, The MTConnect Institute, The Coalition of Manufacturing Associations and Reshoring Initiative. He was also active in the National Tooling & Machining Association and was awarded their Distinguished Service Award. In 1994, he was named Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year for Manufacturing Turnarounds. Doug holds a B.S. in Business from Syracuse University.

In his time at AMT, Doug has led the effort in developing MTConnect, the industry-wide interoperability standard that has grown in usage and implementation across a wide scope of manufacturing operations around the world; he is currently president of the MTConnect Institute. Additionally, he has overseen the development of MTInsight, a customized manufacturing business intelligence platform, as well as an expansion of AMT’s Global Technology Centers and the growth of IMTS, the largest manufacturing technology event in the western hemisphere.