Anthony Tarantino received his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and his PhD in organizational communications from the University of California, Irvine. He started his manufacturing and supply chain career working first in small and then in large domestic manufacturers, including running Masco's supply chain for the world's largest lockset manufacturing facility. He was certified in purchasing management (ISM), materials management (APICS), and Lean in the 1980s. During the same period he began implementing ERP systems and Lean programs for divisions of Masco Corporation at several facilities. After 25 years in industry, he moved into consulting, becoming a supply chain practice lead for KPMG Consulting (BearingPoint) and later IBM. In the 2010s he led 30-plus Lean Six Sigma projects as a Master Black Belt for Cisco Systems Supply Chain and trained over 1,000 employees in their lunch-and-learn programs. He leveraged his consulting experience to create and deliver executive-level seminars in supply chain and risk management in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

He began as an adjunct faculty member at Santa Clara University in 2010, teaching risk management in finance and supply chain. More recently, he created a Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt training program that introduced students to continuous improvement tools and techniques. Working with Professor Narendra Agrawal, he created and delivered an accelerated Lean Six Sigma Green Belt program. The most recent program was for a leading corporate client of the university. The five live projects in that program generated an estimated annual savings of $3 million.

Over the past five years he has supported Smart Manufacturing startups focused on computer vision identifying the most attractive industry verticals and accounts to pursue. He has also acted as a client-facing advocate for the new technologies to improve operations, safety, and competitiveness. His work with these startups was the inspiration for Smart Manufacturing: The Lean Six Sigma Way, his fifth book for John Wiley & Sons over the past 15 years.