John Fontanella is the Vice President of Research for AMR and has over 25 years of business experience in supply chain, manufacturing, and marketing in the high-tech, consumer products, and third-party logistics industries. At AMR Research, he is responsible for studying RFID technology and applications, the wholesale distribution industry, global trade, supply chain visibility, supply chain security, and supply chain event management. Through his vast industry knowledge John will open the conference and explore supply chain practices today. His research enables John to forecast strategies to create optimum supply chains and share his thoughts on the future of supply chain processes. Previously, John was director of worldwide logistics for Microsoft Corporation, responsible for developing global strategies for manufacturing, distribution, and program management in support of Microsoft's OEM, retail, and solution-provider channels.

Robert J. Bowman, Senior Editor of Global Logistics & Supply Chain magazine has more than 20 years' experience writing about logistics, the supply chain, transportation and international trade. Mr Bowman will be lending his industry knowledge to the conference and chairing each presentation providing his unique perspective on the session topics. Prior to joining Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies, Bob was former editor-in-chief of Pacific Shipper, and senior editor of Distribution. In addition, he has written for numerous journals including Traffic World, Journal of Commerce, Shipping and Trade News of Tokyo, Lloyd's List, Lloyd's Maritime Asia, Warehousing Management, Cargovision and Area Development. For six years, he authored the entry on international trade for Collier's Yearbook and Funk and Wagnalls’ New Encyclopedia Yearbook. He is a regular speaker at industry conferences and seminars.

Bill Wissing is Senior Vice President Operations for B.D.I. Wissing is responsible for US operations supporting 5,500 company-operated and franchise stores. Wissing has more than 20 years of supply chain experience including positions with several retailers such as Wards, Woodward and Lothrop, May Company and the Broadway Department Stores. Wissing earned his B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Wichita State University. He is a member of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), The International Recording Media Association (IRMA) and on the Board of Directors for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Collin County.

Maureen Strahan has spent the majority of her time over the last 10 years leading HP's Service Supply Chain and Procurement. HP was the first major corporation to outsource it warehouse and transportation organization under Maureen's leadership. Her Global organization dealt with many different product lines requiring unique solutions design and implementation. This required a delicate balance to service unique customer requirement while delivering exceptional cost reductions.

Leggett & Platt Global Services (LPGS) manages the international supply chain umbrella for Leggett & Platt, a Fortune 500 company, with 160 domestic and 60 international diverse manufacturing operations. LPGS is responsible for managing the international supply chain including 8 global Supplier Development and Sourcing offices transacting business in 22 countries, US Customs and C-TPAT Compliance, Quality Assurance and International Supplier Accounting. Prior to LPGS, Wally was Vice President of Operations for an L&P division with responsibility for five domestic manufacturing facilities, which were successfully converted to 100% import operations including relocating one operation to Mexico. Prior to L&P, Wally held senior GM positions in two green grass plant start-ups and one conversion for Allied Signal, Gates Corporation and Hamilton Industries respectfully. Wally will discuss the L&P path from a decentralized international purchasing function to a sustainable and compliant centralized supply chain.

Noha Tohamy is responsible for the research and analysis of market trends and technologies in supply chain risk management, strategic network design, inventory management and optimization, demand planning and collaborative forecasting, and price management and optimization. Noha has over fifteen years of experience in supply chain management. Before joining AMR Research, Noha was an independent supply chain consultant, helping various vendors and user companies with messaging, competitive landscape analysis, and technology selection decisions. Prior to that, Noha served as a principal analyst at Forrester Research, where her coverage areas included global supply chain management, trade management, inventory management, transportation management, collaborative demand planning, price optimization and others. Before Forrester, Noha held various senior management and technical positions at supply chain technology vendors including Syncra Systems, ProfitLogic, Logistics.com and The Sabre Group. Noha is currently an adjunct professor at Emmanuel College, where she teaches operations and supply chain management. She is a frequent lecturer on global supply chain management topics at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and Georgia Tech’s Supply Chain and Logistics Institute. Noha graduated from Emory University with a BS in mathematics and from Georgia Institute of Technology with a MS in operations research with a focus on optimization.

Wayne is currently the Sr. Director of Procurement at DHL, the global market leader of the international express and logistics industry. His career in procurement spans more than 20 years in which he has held senior level procurement and consulting positions at Lockheed Martin, Unisys, CBS, Bearing Point, and Accenture. His current responsibilities include the sourcing of more than $1 billion in network supplies, fleet, and transportation. He has recently completed a series of sourcing workshops around the globe entitled “Leave No Stone Unturned”. He has been published by the Procurement Strategy Council and been a featured speaker at several supply chain forums. Wayne is currently working on a book that provides the customers perspective on selling

Dave Malenfant brings over 25 years in Supply Chain Management. After graduation from the University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, he worked as Distribution Manager and Director of Materials, Canadian Operations for Wyeth Ayerst Canada. In Canada, Dave was Co-founder and President of Signature Consultants, Inc (1973), a business, finance and economic consulting firm. Signature was sold in 1993. Dave implemented and operated several other business initiatives that are still profitable in Canada. Dave has worked for Alcon Laboratories, Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas since 1993, holding positions as Purchasing Manager, Materials Operation Manager and Director, Global Supply Chain. Dave is currently Vice President Global Supply Chain. As VP he provides strategic direction for the company's Global Supply Chain initiatives which includes execution of all Global Supply Chain Projects, Global Standards, physical distribution and Global Data Management. Over the years, Dave has been responsible for the implementation of over 24 different computer systems - ERP, Finite Scheduling, and Order Entry among others. At Alcon, Dave's group continues to manage Global initiatives that will ensure that Alcon has a world-class supply chain

Chris Sieburg is Vice President of Transportation for Tree of Life, Inc.- a leader in Natural, Organic, and Specialty foods distribution and is responsible for US inbound and outbound transportation operations. Sieburg has more than 18 years of supply chain experience including positions in Trucking, Rail, Intermodal, and Distribution Organizations including the US Air Force, D.M. Bowman Trucking, Maines Paper and Foodservice, and Florida East Coast Railway. He is a member of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) and the National Private Fleet Council. Sieburg holds a B.S. from the University of Maryland and M.A. from the University of Oklahoma.

David Parsley is Senior Vice President of Supply Chain Management for DineEquity, Inc., based in Glendale, California. DineEquity, Inc. franchises and operates restaurants under the Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar and IHOP brands. With more than 3,300 restaurants combined, DineEquity is the largest full-service restaurant company in the world. Mr. Parsley was appointed to his current position with the acquisition of Applebee’s International, Inc. by DineEquity in November 2007. He joined Applebee’s in April of 2000. Mr. Parsley is responsible for the procurement of food, paper and disposable products as well as procurement for equipment products and services that support all company and franchise restaurants for both the Applebee’s and IHOP brands. The team also manages a third party distribution network that supports the restaurants. Prior to joining Applebee’s, Mr. Parsley was the Senior Vice President of Quality and Supply Chain Management for Prandium, Inc., operator of El Torito, Chi-Chi’s and Koo Koo Roo. He has also held purchasing positions with The Panda Management Company, Carl Karcher Enterprises, Proficient Food Company, Inc., and Baxter Helathcare Corporation. Mr. Parsley received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics degree from California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) and a Master in Business Administration from the University of Southern California (USC). After graduating from USC he served two years as the president of the USC Executive MBA Association. He also holds a lifetime certification as a Certified Purchasing Manager (C.P.M.) from the Institute for Supply Management (formerly the National Association of Purchasing Management). He lives in Overland Park, Kansas with his wife Gloria.

The Supply-Chain Council (SCC) is a global non-profit consortium whose methodology, diagnostic and benchmarking tools help nearly a thousand organizations make dramatic and rapid improvements in supply chain processes. SCC has established the supply chain world’s most widely accepted framework for evaluating and comparing supply chain activities and their performance. The framework—the SCOR® process reference model—lets companies quickly determine and compare the performance of supply chain and related operations within their company or against other companies. SCC continually advances its tools and educates sponsors about how companies are capitalizing on those tools. By using its tools, SCC sponsors are able to rapidly overcome the first difficult step in supply chain improvement: determining what processes to improve first and how much to improve them. The Supply-Chain Council was organized in 1996 by Pittiglio Rabin Todd & McGrath (PRTM) and AMR Research, and initially included 69 voluntary member companies. The Supply-Chain Council now has closer to 1,000 corporate members world-wide and has established international chapters in North America, Europe, Greater China, Japan, Australia/New Zealand, South East Asia, Brazil and Southern Africa. Development of additional chapters in India and South America are underway. The Supply-Chain Council's membership consists primarily practitioners representing a broad cross section of industries, including manufacturers, services, distributors, and retailers.

Mark Servidio is the Vice President – Logistics & Environmental Supply Chain Planning for Sharp Electronics Corporation. In his five years with Sharp he has been very active in Environmental issues. Sharp is a member of the US EPA SmartWay Program and they have won the SmartWay Excellence Award 2 years in a row. Mark has 23 years experience in the supply chain area. Mark has a B.S Degree in Business Administration from Southern Vermont College in Bennington, Vermont and a MBA in Marketing from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut.

Stephen P. Crane, Director Supply Chain, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. Steve is responsible for global supply chain management for the Global Performance Polymers Business, which includes supply chain strategy, network design, planning, and overall supply chain performance. He began his career at Air Products in 1980 in Research & Development. After holding numerous Technology and Operations management positions, he moved into supply chain management in 1995. Since that time he has worked primarily on the development and implementation of supply chain processes such as Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP), Advanced Planning Systems (APS), and Supply Chain Network Optimization models. He is currently the Global Process Owner for Sales and Operations Planning and Demand Management processes at Air Products. Steve holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of New Hampshire, is a member of the Board of Directors for the Supply-Chain Council, and has received his APICS CSCP certification.

Nick Delany is an executive business leader with multinational experience in Supply Chain Management and in all facets of business management. Nick is currently President directing the Sales, SCM, Logistics, HR, Administration, Customer Support, BI & IT operations in the USA for VTech Communications Inc. Previously Nick served as VP and SVP Supply Chain for VTech Communications. He has over 9 years of Supply Chain Management experience in the retail and consumer industries and 23 years sales and management experience in the industrial, construction and mining industries. Nick has a Bachelor degree majoring in Marketing and Financial Management. His sales experience includes the establishment and management of distribution networks with international business experience (USA, Europe, Asia and Africa) in sales and business management. Nick's management experience includes supply chain and operations management, sales, sales training, administration, process improvement, accounting and personnel management skills. Nick is experienced in designing and implementing supply chain processes, business plans, business processes, marketing strategy, preparing and establishing new business strategy within Balanced Scorecard.

Chris Hare heads Sourcing for the Central Business Unit for Sony Ericsson. Chris is responsible for supplier technology incubation – driving the front end of the sourcing activities within Sony Ericsson to provide a framework and pipeline for new technologies to enter our development cycle. The global sourcing team establishes, negotiates and controls supply and logistics for all components/subassemblies used by Sony Ericsson in their mobile handsets business. His team is based in Japan, China, Sweden and the US. Prior to this Chris was President of Digit Wireless a Boston company that launched the FastapTM technology. He has over 20 years experience in a range of management roles in the wireless industry. Chris has received awards including the IBM Design & Innovation Award. Throughout his presentation Chris Hare will demonstrate how Sony Ericsson have created a consumer driven supply chain, reacting to customer demands. Chris focuses on the challenges and variables Sony Ericsson had to consider when developing this dynamic and flexible supplychain.

Rashid Shaikh is the Senior Director of Global Supply Chain for Nypro, a $1.2 billion contract manufacturer with heavy focus on injection molding and sub assemblies for consumer electronics, healthcare, automotive, and packaging industries. Rashid has over 20 years experience in lean operations and supply chain development. He has designed, developed, and coached lean and matrix manufacturing and supply chain organizations in Americas, Europe, and Asia for the consumer electronic and healthcare industries. With the consultation of plant managers and regional VP’s he realigned global organization’s objective and created goal measuring tools that saved tens of $ millions in material cost while enhancing firm’s speed, efficiency, and leverage. Rashid initiated “Front to Back” communication strategy that ensured improved working relations among cross functional teams, increased profit margin, and shorter response time to customers. The “Back End Branding” effort successfully helped mitigating steep raw material price increases in the recent years.

Tom Murray is a senior biologist with the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Tom has over 36 years in government service. He currently manages several key components of the agency’s pollution prevention and toxic substances program including the agency’s effort to address the cross-media human health and environmental issues associated with priority persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) chemicals. He is a founding partner of the Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E) program, a partnership with the American Hospital Association that is improving the environmental footprint of the healthcare industry. More recently, Tom and his staff created the Green Suppliers Network. This partnership program works with large manufacturers to engage their suppliers in low-cost technical reviews to identify strategies for improving process lines and using materials more efficiently. The lean and clean advantage offered through this program targets and eliminates the root causes of waste resulting in improved environmental performance and a stronger bottom line.

Casey Chung is Director of Production Planning at Blockbuster where he is responsible for Production Planning, Engineering, Quality and Inventory Control for the U.S. Blockbuster store operations, supporting 5,500 company-owned and franchise stores. Casey has 20 years of supply chain experience with organizations such as the U.S. Army, Wal*Mart, Technicolor, CellStar and Blockbuster. Casey earned his B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and both his MBA and Masters in Supply Chain from the University of Texas at Dallas. Casey is currently pursuing a PhD in Management Science at the University of Texas at Dallas.

IPL Inc. is a leading North American producer of injection - and extrusion - molded plastic products. The Company grows by bringing to market innovative, value-added products. The engine that drives this innovation is the sharing of knowledge and technologies across the Company’s six market sectors. Founded in 1939, it employs more than 1,000 people and manufactures and markets over 400 products.

Dave Northcutt is an IBM Distinguished Engineer and a thought leader on the Delivery Excellence LEAN team within IBM's Integrated Supply Chain. Dave has been involved in quality for over 20 years, and holds Masters degrees in Statistics (Rutgers), Economics (Northwestern), and Computer Science (Univ. of Illinois at Chicago). Dave is a Senior Member of ASQ and a Certified Quality Engineer.

Robert J. Bowman, Senior Editor of Global Logistics & Supply Chain magazine has more than 20 years' experience writing about logistics, the supply chain, transportation and international trade. Mr Bowman will be lending his industry knowledge to the conference and chairing each presentation providing his unique perspective on the session topics. Prior to joining Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies, Bob was former editor-in-chief of Pacific Shipper, and senior editor of Distribution. In addition, he has written for numerous journals including Traffic World, Journal of Commerce, Shipping and Trade News of Tokyo, Lloyd's List, Lloyd's Maritime Asia, Warehousing Management, Cargovision and Area Development. For six years, he authored the entry on international trade for Collier's Yearbook and Funk and Wagnalls’ New Encyclopedia Yearbook. He is a regular speaker at industry conferences and seminars.

Jim Varilek is the Vice President of Supply Chain for Dow Chemical Company. In the ever-evolving global landscape where new technologies, communication mediums and operating solutions appear each and every day, business leaders are expected to manage the complexity of global growth, while demonstrating the ability to quickly, efficiently, and flexibly adapt to change without disrupting the value chain. While globalization is nothing new for Dow, which operates in 30 countries and plans to further expansion in India, China and Saudi Arabia, its executives are staying ahead of the curve by successfully leveraging supply chain management to achieve overall business objectives, namely expanding the company’s international reach. Jim Varilek, Vice President of Supply Chain, The Dow Chemical Company, will discuss how global expansion has been and will continue to be at the forefront of Dow’s business plan. Jim will explain how Dow enables flexibility and global growth through the utilization of best-in-class technologies and innovative work processes that foster integrated and seamless supply chain management.

Darin Herring is Vice President of Purchasing Services and leads the New Business Development team responsible for purchasing services product strategy and marketing, business development and partnerships, and acquiring strategic merchant partners. A significant amount of time and resources goes into finding the right suppliers and negotiating great rates. But how can you be assured your contract terms and preferred pricing are applied at the point of purchase? Mr Herring will share how American Express has utilized technology to incorporate preventative and detective controls to eliminate contract discrepancies, identify non-compliant pricing, and recover monies owed; while also addressing contractual and process gaps to eliminate future savings leakage. You will come away with new insights you can apply right away to enhance your own purchasing control, compliance and contract management processes.

Bill is the VP of Distribution for Blockbuster and will be addressing Blockbuster's distribution roadmap and discussing their challenges and reasons behind change. In the current business environment organizations are constantly undergoing change due to operational and financial challenges. As the environments change, we must likewise be fully committed to adapt or perish. Confronting this need for flexibility is the fact that typical organizations are not designed for change nor are people prepared for this level of dynamics. However, Blockbuster has found that by existing in a state of renewal, they can become the "future ready" organization that is needed to meet these challenges with decisively positive results. Get a chance to review the road map used by Blockbuster Distribution on this path to renewal and learn some of the practices they have adopted.

Maureen Strahan has spent the majority of her time over the last 10 years leading HP's Service Supply Chain and Procurement. HP was the first major corporation to outsource it warehouse and transportation organization under Maureen's leadership. Her Global organization dealt with many different product lines requiring unique solutions design and implementation. This required a delicate balance to service unique customer requirement while delivering exceptional cost reductions.

Chris Hare heads Sourcing for the Central Business Unit for Sony Ericsson. The global sourcing team establishes, negotiates and controls supply and logistics for all components/subassemblies used by Sony Ericsson in their mobile handsets business. His team is based in Japan, China, Sweden and the US. Prior to this Chris was President of Digit Wireless a Boston company that launched the FastapTM technology. He has over 20 years experience in a range of management roles in the wireless industry. Chris has received awards including the IBM Design & Innovation Award. Throughout his presentation Chris Hare will demonstrate how Sony Ericsson have created a consumer driven supply chain, reacting to customer demands. Chris focuses on the challenges and variables Sony Ericsson had to consider when developing this dynamic and flexible supplychain.

Antonio Galvao is the Vice Global Plan Deliver for JohnsonDiversey Inc. and has more than 16 years of experience encompassing planning, logistics, sourcing, engineering, product portfolio management and marketing operations. He is currently focusing on improving service performance to best-in-class standards around the world and leading the development of a Global Sales and Operations Planning process. He served as the Global Supply Chain integration manager during the acquisition of DiverseyLever in 2001/02, working on due diligence and developing a detailed manufacturing integration and synergy plan to support the acquisition. During his presentation, Antonio will describe the importance of environmental sustainability at JohnsonDiversey and how the Value Chain is integrated into the company’s green programs. Environmentally conscious actions taken by the logistics and transportation platforms are already making a positive impact. As a case study to illustrate JohnsonDiversey’s commitment to environmental sustainability, Antonio will discuss the company’s new state-of-the-art distribution center. He will explore the various environmental efficiency options available to logistics planners, how to prioritize the projects, and the expected ROI.

Troy Roesslein is vice president of the Strategy and Business Operations team within Motorola’s Integrated Supply Chain, which encompasses the global operations associated with procurement, new product introduction, manufacturing, customer fulfillment and repair. He is responsible for leading the business continuity, strategy and transformation efforts on a global basis. Prior to assuming this role in September 2007, Troy served as director of finance for the Mobile Devices Supply Chain. Before that, he served as director of business operations for Mobile Devices 3GSM product line management. Troy joined Motorola in 1986 and holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Illinois State University.

Larry Maye is the senior director of reverse logistics at Palm and responsible for the development, implementation and management of the company’s global reverse supply-chain initiatives. Larry brings to the conference more than 19 years of successful reverse logistics and operational experience both within the military and the private sector. His presentation explores how to develop internal risk management protocols whilst maintaining cost management. Prior to joining Palm, Larry served as director of reverse logistics strategy and operations planning for Motorola, managing reverse logistics, wireless reverse logistics strategy and technological improvements in reverse logistics operations. Before Motorola, Larry held multiple reverse logistics management positions at 3Com/US Robotics, where he oversaw the successful establishment, implementation and expansion of the company’s contract service support and reverse logistics operations.

John Fontanella is the Vice President of Research for AMR and has over 25 years of business experience in supply chain, manufacturing, and marketing in the high-tech, consumer products, and third-party logistics industries. At AMR Research, he is responsible for studying RFID technology and applications, the wholesale distribution industry, global trade, supply chain visibility, supply chain security, and supply chain event management. Through his vast industry knowledge John will open the conference and explore supply chain practices today. His research enables John to forecast strategies to create optimum supply chains and share his thoughts on the future of supply chain processes. Previously, John was director of worldwide logistics for Microsoft Corporation, responsible for developing global strategies for manufacturing, distribution, and program management in support of Microsoft's OEM, retail, and solution-provider channels.

Wayne Evans is the Director of Procurement at DHL, the global market leader of the international express and logistics industry. His career in procurement spans more than 20 years in which he has held senior level procurement positions at Lockheed Martin, Unisys, and CBS. In addition he was a Senior Manager for a “Big Five” consulting firm where he performed supply chain consulting services for industry leaders such as Boeing, Carnival Cruise Lines, Federal Express and BP. Wayne has encountered unique experiences and challenges in his career from negotiating land use rights with an Indian Chief to moving tons of material across the frozen tundra. His presentation will focus on DHL's innovative inbound supply chain, that sets improvements in transportation logistics and management systems. He has been published by the Procurement Strategy Council and is currently working on a book that provides the customers perspective on selling.

Steve joined the IQS team in 1997 and focuses on ensuring proper use of statistical techniques within the software offerings and application in the customer base. He helps companies from all industry segments implement real-time production for Statistical Process Control (SPC) and advanced statistical tools. He is also responsible for software calculation validation and helps with the technical aspects of demonstrating the software to potential customers.Steve received his BS in Industrial Statistics from the University of Tennessee and began his career as an industrial statistician at Honeywell Aerospace (formerly AlliedSignal Aerospace) and the Boeing Airplane Company. While at Boeing, he co-authored an industry standard, “D1-9000 Advanced Quality System (1991)”, for Boeing Suppliers as well as co-authoring the book “Innovative Control Charting”, published by ASQ Quality Press in 1997.

Responsible for RFID business development of applications and products to support RFID data collection in manufacturing, transportation, logistics, field service and supply chain for Intermec Technologies Corp. Developed indirect channel RFID training and certification program for systems integration partners to incorporate RFID with bar code, mobile computing and wireless networks. Over ten years experience working on RFID implementations and applications with over 250 RFID installations into production. Previously held executive level sales, marketing and business development positions in the semiconductor, telecommunications and aerospace industries.

Rashid Shaikh is the Senior Director of Global Supply Chain for Nypro, a $1.2 billion contract manufacturer with heavy focus on injection molding and sub assemblies for consumer electronics, healthcare, automotive, and packaging industries. Rashid has over 20 years experience in lean operations and supply chain development. He has designed, developed, and coached lean and matrix manufacturing and supply chain organizations in Americas, Europe, and Asia for the consumer electronic and healthcare industries. With the consultation of plant managers and regional VP’s he realigned global organization’s objective and created goal measuring tools that saved tens of $ millions in material cost while enhancing firm’s speed, efficiency, and leverage. Rashid initiated “Front to Back” communication strategy that ensured improved working relations among cross functional teams, increased profit margin, and shorter response time to customers. The “Back End Branding” effort successfully helped mitigating steep raw material price increases in the recent years.

Kerry McNair is currently the Global Supply Chain Director for the recently created Premium Brewed Beverages business of The Coca-Cola Company. Premium Brewed Beverages include FAR COASTand its sister brand CHAQWA: "cafe's in a box" that serve an array of premium-brewed coffees, teas and cocoas inside hotels, theaters,bistros and other foodservice locations through equipment that utilizes proprietary, pre-packaged filters called "pods". As the former Director of Supply Chain Customer Integration, Kerry led the development of customer supply chain strategies and global best practices sharing amongst the divisions and 300 + bottlers in the Coca-Cola system. Kerry will lead a discussion that asks and answers the question " Why collaborate on supply chain?", a question asked by supply chain leaders in a Coca-Cola system that represents over $80 billion in revenue at retail annually worldwide. What resources will be required? What is the work? What can I expect as a return on this investment ? In answering these challenges Kerry will share some of Coca Cola's internal best practices from around the world.

Bob Brescia is a compelling and visionary leader with senior executive experience in operations, value & supply chain, logistics and customer satisfaction. Bob recently served Volkswagen of America (VWoA) as its Chief Logistics Officer. In that capacity, he was responsible for profit and loss over a billion dollar-plus after-market parts operation, including supply chain planning, forecasting, demand planning, and physical distribution. He was also responsible for the planning, import, and distribution of finished vehicles from global plants to North America dealers for both the VW and Audi brands. Shortly after arrival, the EVP Volkswagen brand asked him to lead Volkswagen brand customer service operations in total, including customer care, parts & accessories marketing, and the Volkswagen Academy, leading over 750 people. Prior to assuming these responsibilities, he served as Vice President for Logistics at Michelin North America, the $7,200,000,000 U.S. subsidiary of Group Michelin, a global manufacturer and distributor of tires, inner tubes, wheels, and maps & guides. Bob is a well-known automotive supply chain and logistics leader who has worked on OEM collaboration since the beginning of Covisint in Detroit to the most recent efforts of the “Detroit Four” (GM, Ford, Chrysler, VW). He will share his thoughts on these issues, as well as provide a “report card” on the automotive industry’s current supply chain achievement levels.

Joseph (Joe) Francis is Chief Technology Officer for the Supply Chain Council (SCC). In this capacity, Mr. Francis supports the design and delivery of education and training in use of the Supply-Chain Operation Reference model (SCOR™) and related business process models. Mr. Francis is a former chairman of the Supply Chain Council SCORBoard and managing director of a business process company focused on process team development, business process management programs, and business process management research and education.

Ken Stuparyk is the Director of Global Manufacturing, Corporate Functions in Cincinnati. In this capacity Mr. Stuparyk oversees the execution and renewal of manufacturing strategy for P&G as well as development of new capabilities and manufacturing governance. Mr. Stuparyk has been employed by Procter & Gamble for over 32 years and has worked in Canada, Mexico, and the US. His work experience includes Human Resources, Plant Management, Production Operations, Director of Product Supply Operations for Global Snacks. Mr. Stuparyk’s approach to his work has been driven by three values 1) the operator at the center and in the most important role in the supply chain 2) principles and data based problem solving as a means to grow the organization and 3) systemic approach to work and to continuous improvement.

A recognized ERP and supply chain management industry expert, David F. Ross spent the first thirteen years of his career in manufacturing and distribution. During this time he held corporate and operations management positions at such companies as McMaster-Carr Supply Company and Illinois Tool Works. For the past twenty years he has been in the Enterprise Business System (ERP) industry with companies such as Computer Sciences Corporation, SSA, DataWorks, Intentia, and, currently, Lawson Software. Of those years, six were spent in ERP consulting. For the past fourteen years he has focused on ERP education program development, internal professional development, e-learning tools development, and education administration deployment. For the past nine years Dr. Ross has been responsible for all Lawson M3 U.S. education and training for customers and internal professional development. Besides numerous articles, Dr. Ross has published three books in logistics and supply chain management. Currently, he is working on a new book, The Intimate Supply Chain: Leveraging the Supply Chain to Manage the Customer Experience, which explores how supply chains can be constructed to provide total value to the customer.

Lorcan Sheehan is Senior Vice President of Marketing at ModusLink – a global leader in the provision of supply chain business process outsource solutions to companies in the computing, software, communications, storage and consumer electronics markets. His responsibilities also include leadership of ModusLink’s global supply chain solutions team which works with clients to optimize their supply chain strategies and shape the requirements for future supply chain solutions in this space Headquartered in Waltham, MA, USA ModusLink has 41 operations in 13 countries servicing clients’ supply chain needs from pre-manufacturing sourcing to postponed configuration of product to end market requirements and post sales support. ModusLink provides a “knowledge led – operationally enabled” set of solutions that are designed to align with client supply chain goals and deliver these goals through world class execution facilities. A consistent account engagement and management approach ensures that client supply chains continue to adapt to changing market conditions.

The decision to change warehouse management systems is fraught with anxiety. Choosing the right system and the right vendor can pay dividends for a decade or longer. The wrong system or the wrong partner can spell disaster, in the form of operational strife, poor morale, even financial demise. Many of the legacy systems used by 3PLs provide tight controls over inventory; strike the proper balance between sound functionality and ease of use; and have a low total cost of ownership. So what is the must-have functionality that warrants converting to a tier one WMS? And how do you identify the right system and partner, before taking the plunge? In this session, the presenter will describe the process his company followed in selecting a tier one WMS, including a forward thinking implementation plan that forged a successful partnership with the software developer. The presentation will build from the business needs of the warehouse operation and include the RFP, a demo script, selection process, through to the implementation plan. Our speaker, Arthur Barrett, has 25 years' experience in warehouse operations, and has been a member of WERC and IWLA since 1987.

In January 2004, Dan Purtell joined First Advantage as President of the Supply Chain Security Division when the company he founded, Quantitative Risk Solutions (a global supply chain risk consultation company), was acquired by First Advantage Corporation. Prior, he worked for Intel Corporation for seven years where he managed Investigations and the Global Freight Security Program. He served eleven years in the United States Air Force as a Counterterrorism and Investigative Manager. Mr. Purtell served as Chairman of the Technology Asset Protection Association (TAPA), a high-value cargo security group with 750 members from Asia, Americas, and Europe. He is considered one of the top supply chain security experts in the world having conducted transportation infrastructure risk analysis in 34 countries. He serves as a Research Associate at MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics. His expertise is frequently used to educate corporations, government, and insurance underwriters.

Tom Murray is a senior biologist with the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Tom has over 36 years in government service. He currently manages several key components of the agency’s pollution prevention and toxic substances program including the agency’s effort to address the cross-media human health and environmental issues associated with priority persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) chemicals. He is a founding partner of the Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E) program, a partnership with the American Hospital Association that is improving the environmental footprint of the healthcare industry. More recently, Tom and his staff created the Green Suppliers Network. This partnership program works with large manufacturers to engage their suppliers in low-cost technical reviews to identify strategies for improving process lines and using materials more efficiently. The lean and clean advantage offered through this program targets and eliminates the root causes of waste resulting in improved environmental performance and a stronger bottom line.

Rock Rockwell is the CEO and President of eTurns, Inc. For the last 15 years, eTurns, Inc. has focused on the last 10 feet of the supply chain called the Point-of-Use (POU). VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory), kanban, cycle counting, or visual replenishment techniques can be used at the POU to manage indirect material like MRO supplies or direct material like fasteners, electronic components, truck parts, or food service items. eTurns Software-as-a-Service (SAAS) productively and cost effectively minimizes inventory while maximizing service levels at the remote stockroom, store, or service van. While many items at the POU are inexpensive, the cost of a production line shutting down from a stockout or an inoperable machine is prohibitive. This workshop will demonstrate the best-of-breed techniques utilized by eTurns, Inc.’s Fortune 50 clients to achieve “lean supply chains” and maintain full visibility of their processes while doubling revenues year over year where these techniques were implemented at their customers’ POU.