Miriam Keogh, Head of Supply Chain, Lean and Human Resources at Dawn Farm Foods, has been appointed to the judging panel for the Operational Excellence Awards 2026, bringing over 30 years of operational leadership, people strategy, and continuous improvement expertise to the evaluation process.

As a member of the Senior Leadership team at Dawn Farm Foods, Europe's premier B2B specialist supplier of cooked and protein ingredients, Keogh oversees supply chain operations, Lean implementation, and human resources strategy for a business exporting to over 50 countries. Her role combines operational discipline with workforce development, ensuring that process excellence and organisational capability advance in tandem across complex manufacturing environments.

Keogh's career spans operational leadership, people strategy, and continuous improvement in complex manufacturing settings. She is passionate about building resilient supply chains, developing high-performing teams, and embedding Lean as a practical, human-centred way of working. This philosophy positions operational excellence not as a technical discipline isolated from people development, but as an integrated approach that drives sustainable performance through engaged, capable workforces.

She is a graduate of University College Cork and Technological University Dublin, holds an MSc in Supply Chain, is a certified Lean Black Belt, and is also a qualified Coach. This combination of academic credentials, technical certification, and coaching qualification enables her to assess entries through multiple lenses: operational rigour, strategic supply chain design, process maturity, and the human factors that enable or constrain excellence initiatives.

Keogh brings a grounded, real-world perspective shaped by leading change at scale within a global food business. Her experience navigating regulatory complexity, food safety requirements, customer quality standards, and international logistics challenges ensures her judging criteria reflect the practical realities of implementing operational excellence in asset-intensive, compliance-driven environments.

For the complete judging panel, category criteria, and past winners, visit the Operational Excellence Awards website and subscribe to the newsletter for updates and insights.