2022 Speakers

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  Jay Koganti
  Vice President - Supply Chain COE, Estée Lauder

  
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  Jay Koganti

  

  Jay Koganti
  Vice President - Supply Chain COE

  

  Jay Koganti has more than 22 years of experience building and transforming complex Global Supply Chains as a source of strategic and competitive advantage for enterprises. Jay’s Professional expertise includes developing global supply chain strategies and Global SC Operating models. Extensive Enterprise Transformations from strategy to Operationalization. Enterprise Value creation by Breakthrough Process innovations, solving complex Supply Chain problems by leveraging the new breed of Digital Technologies by nurturing the partnerships and Technology incubation. Operational experience in Global Supply Chain Planning, Distribution, Integrated Business Planning, Supply Chain Analytics & Intelligence, and Execution for fortune 100 companies.

  Jay has a unique vision of improving Operational efficiencies of Global Supply Chains by building next-generation sustainability and social equity practices at its core. Jay is a Thought leader and Keynote speaker for numerous Global Supply Chain leadership gatherings and a leading voice of advocacy for Digital Transformation and Process Innovation in the Global Supply Chain community.Jay has a BS in Metallurgical Engineering and graduated from Harvard Business School in General Management (GMP), APICS & SAP SCM Certifications, and completed Value Chain Transformation Program at Wharton.

  AI Powered Supply Chains – The New Paradigm for Efficient , Equitable and Sustainable future.

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  Adrienne Palermo
  North America Oral Care Supply Network Operations Senior Director, Procter & Gamble

  
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  Adrienne C Palermo

  

  Adrienne C Palermo
  North America Oral Care Supply Network Operations Senior Director

  

  Adrienne Palermo, Senior Director of North America Oral Care Supply Network Operations for Procter & Gamble, is a seasoned Supply Chain Leader. Ms. Palermo has experience across multiple CPG businesses and Supply Chain domain across her 20+ years experience. Ms. Palermo has been a key global leader in Procter and Gamble’s supply chain demand and planning digital transformation recognized by Gartner’s Supply Chain Master designation for the last seven years. Ms. Palermo was recognized by Supply and Demand Chain Executive as a 2019 Inaugural Woman of the Year for her leadership of Procter and Gamble’s Global Supply Chain Citizen Developer Digital Fluency program to create over 1000 global supply chain professionals digital upskilling to create digital solutions in days for the most critical business opportunities.

  Accelerating Business Value through Digitally Upskilling Supply Chain Professionals

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  Stephanie Silvestre
  Senior Vice President, Supply Chain & Operations Strategy, Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits

  
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  Stephanie Silvestre

  

  Stephanie Silvestre
  Senior Vice President, Supply Chain & Operations Strategy, Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits

  

  Stephanie Silvestre is Senior Vice President, Supply Chain & Operations Strategy for Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits (Southern Glazer’s), the world’s preeminent distributor of beverage alcohol. In her role, Ms. Silvestre leads Southern Glazer’s Supply Chain & Operations transformational vision and strategy. She also manages the deployment of a fully integrated and streamlined supply chain to provide world-class capabilities for customer and supplier partners with an emphasis on sustainability and value creation.

  Ms. Silvestre began her career with Southern Glazer’s in 2011 as Director of Logistics and has since held multiple roles of increasing responsibility within Supply Chain, most recently serving as Senior Vice President, Supply Chain.

  Prior to joining Southern Glazer’s, Ms. Silvestre worked for General Electric for five years. She is also an inaugural member of Southern Glazer’s Exceptional Leadership Program, the Company’s flagship leadership development program. Ms. Silvestre graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Engineering.

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  Jonathon Karelse
  CEO, NorthFind Management

  
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  Jonathon Karelse

  

  Jonathon Karelse
  CEO, NorthFind Management

  

  Jonathon Karelse is the CEO of NorthFind Management, and is a global leader in demand planning, operations, predictive analytics and IBP. He combines extensive experience with the latest best practices to improve supply chain operations, optimally leveraging people, processes and tools.

  Jonathon is leading the conversation that Behavioral Economics represents the next big idea for demand planning in most companies. He believes that by understanding the causes of biases and heuristics in planning, organizations can make rapid improvements in real-world performance. As a frequent contributor to the Supply Chain Council of Canada, the Association for Supply Chain Management, and the International Institute of Forecasters (IIF), Jonathon tracks trends and directly influences best practices in Demand Planning and Integrated Business Planning (IBP). His work with NorthFind was recognized in 2021 by Supply Chain Brain – Top 100 Great Supply Chain Partners – and by Supply and Demand Chain Executive: Top 100 Supply Chain Projects.

  He has been cited for his work on Forecast Value Add (FVA) analysis; the integration of Judgment and Business Intelligence into statistical forecasting; and Conflict Resolution in consensus forecasting. Jonathon is the author of an Amazon #1 Best Seller for his book, “Histories of the Future: Milestones in the Last 100 Years of Business Forecasting” . He is a graduate of the MIT Sloan School of Management, a member of the 2019 Management Excellence cohort at Harvard Business School, and is a member of the Harvard Business Review’s Advisory Council.

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  Jessica Robledo Garcia
  North America Supply Planning & Analytics Senior Director, Procter & Gamble

  
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  Jessica Robledo Garcia

  

  Jessica Robledo Garcia
  Senior Director, Procter & Gamble – North America Supply Planning and Analytics

  

  Jessica Robledo Garcia has 17 years experience in Supply Network Operations at P&G. She has worked in multiple business units and has divided her career between Cincinnati and Puerto Rico.

  She is currently P&G’s North America Supply Planning and Analytics Leader, with responsibility developing capability in digitization and automation, leading the company’s governance and innovation in work process and tools/systems across the areas of service, supply planning and product deployment. She is a leader of the Hispanic Leadership Team for Market Operations and Supply Network Operations, helping drive capability and empowerment opportunities across for the company’s Latin and Hispanic employees in North America.

  Previous assignments include packaging manufacturing, enterprise program leadership, supply network planning, and material supply management. She has led impactful supply chain process transformations, including Regulatory Work Processes that have been inducted into the Corporate Quality Hall of fame, she has led supply chain supply planning across P&G’s Beauty, Respiratory and Paper sectors. She has led manufacturing operations to benchmark levels of reliability.

  Jessica is a graduate of the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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  Jerome Dubois
  
  North America Supply Planning &

  
  
  
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  Jerome Dubois

  

  Jerome is the co-founder and former Co-CEO of 6 River Systems (6RS), a collaborative robotics and software solutions provider for the warehouse industry. With over 25 years of supply chain technology experience, Jerome was also a key early contributor at successful supply chain technology companies Yantra Corporation (now part of IBM) and Kiva Systems (now Amazon Robotics). While at 6RS, Jerome led all commercial and product activities including marketing, sales, customer success, and product management. Operating as an independent company within Shopify, 6RS is the leading provider of warehouse automation solutions using collaborative mobile robotics, with installs in over 100 warehouses worldwide. In 2019, 6RS was acquired by Shopify, the global commerce technology company. After recently transitioning from his duties at 6RS, Jerome is now responsible for scaling Shopify's logistics offerings as Vice President. Jerome holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering degree from UNH (1996) and graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern University with an MBA in Supply Chain and Finance (1998). He is a frequent presenter at industry conferences and guest lecturer in supply chain, technology, and entrepreneurship programs..

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  Steven A. Melnyk
  Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management, Michigan State University

  
  
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  Steven A. Melnyk

  

  STEVEN A. MELNYK (Ph.D., Western –1981) is Professor of Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University. He has co-authored 21 books, over 100 refereed journal articles and numerous practitioner articles. His research focus includes supply chain risk and resilience, strategic supply chain management, supply chain cyber security, and certified management standards. Dr. Melnyk sits on the editorial review board for numerous journals, including the International Journal of Production Research, and the International Journal of Operations and Production Management. From 2014 to 2016, Dr. Melnyk was a member of the APICS Board of Directors. From 2017 to 2019, Dr. Melnyk had a joint appointment from the University of Newcastle (Australia) where he was the Newcastle Global Innovation Chair in Supply Chain Management. In 2017, the Academy of Management - the Operations and Supply Chain Division -- recognized Dr. Melnyk as a Distinguished Scholar in the field. Dr. Melnyk is recognized for this ability to bridge the gap between theory and practice. In 2018, Dr. Melnyk received the Withrow Teacher-Scholar Award from the Eli Broad School of Business, Michigan State University, in recognition of his work as both a researcher and a teacher. His recent work has included a study for a branch of the armed services addressing the question of how good a customer was the branch was and a study for the National Defense Industry Association regarding supply chain cybersecurity.

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  Craig Moss
  Director of Data and Change Management, Digital Supply Chain Institute (DSCI)

  
  
  
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  Craig Moss

  

  Craig Moss Director of Data and Change Management, Digital Supply Chain Institute (DSCI)

  Craig Moss is Executive Vice President of Ethisphere and Director of Content for the Cyber Readiness Institute. Craig is a leading expert on using management systems to improve compliance and risk management performance within companies and across supply chains.

  Craig is also a Director of Data and Change Management at the Digital Supply Chain Institute and Chairman of the Licensing Executives Society committee for developing an ANSI global standard for IP Protection in the Supply Chain.

  He has designed and led numerous programs helping Fortune 500 companies around the world to implement management systems to reduce supply chain risk and improve performance. He has developed guides on implementing management systems to improve compliance for organizations including the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation and the United Nations.

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  Paula Dart
  Vice President, Global eCommerce, Diageo

  
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  Paula Dart

  

  Paula Dart is a 30-year veteran in the food and beverage industry.  For the past two years, she has been at Diageo leading the global eCommerce efforts which have included both the direct-to-consumer and business-to-consumer models. She set up the global eCommerce Center of Excellence setting the 5-year ambition and strategy, creating performance management processes, and building cross-functional capabilities which have led to growth at twice the rate of the industry. Prior to Diageo, most of her career was spent at The Coca-Cola Company where in her last role, she led Global Commercial Leadership within the Corporate Growth Function. Her team was responsible for innovation and transformation across revenue growth management capabilities, new routes to market for portfolio expansion, data and analytics, and technology and digital enablement focused on driving improvements in marketplace execution to generate growth and operational efficiency.

  Paula began her career on the agency side working with large multi-national restaurant, retail, and media & entertainment clients.  From there, she joined The Coca-Cola Company where she spent 15 years in a variety of roles in the Coca-Cola North America business unit including shopper and customer marketing, channel marketing, business strategy and development, and category management and operations. 

  For the past 9 years, Paula has worked in global roles leading to a keen understanding of broad business and cultural geographic differences and expertise building networks and partnerships for profitable and sustainable growth.

  Paula lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband of 29 years and her four children.  She has a Bachelor’s degree from Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN.

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  Jay A. Senatra
  Director of Supply Chain, HNI Corporation

  
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  Jay A. Senatra

  

  Jay A. Senatra Director of Supply Chain, HNI Corporation

  Jay Senatra is the Director of Supply Chain at HNI Corporation, where he is responsible for the development and implementation of supply chain strategies that support customer fulfillment models. He is also responsible for leading the Integrated Supply Chain team in daily execution activities and maintaining the network inventory planning and execution framework.

  Jay grew up in Rock Island, Illinois and earned his BA from Western Illinois University. He has a solid background in manufacturing, logistics, finance, and supply chain with large companies such as Roadway Express, Schneider Logistics, and Case New Holland prior to coming to HNI in 2007.

  Jay has held multiple distinct roles within the HNI organization ranging from Transportation Engineer to Plant Manager and now as Director of Supply Chain. He has led well over one hundred continuous improvement events and large transformational projects that have delivered improved quality, delivery, member safety, and millions of dollars of cost savings.

  Jay enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters. He is an avid hockey fan who also plays hockey recreationally and is at the ice rink 2-3 times per week. Jay is a die-hard Chicago sports fan who supports the Cubs, Bears, Bulls, and Blackhawks.

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  Jordan Howard
  Director of Sales, ConverSight

  
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  Jordan Howard

  

  Jordan Howard Director of Sales, ConverSight

  Jordan Howard is the Senior Director of Sales at ConverSight, a decision intelligence platform providing businesses in the supply chain ecosystem with AI-powered insights and recommendations into production planning, forecasting, inventory optimization and more. Jordan has led successful partnership programs in manufacturing to leverage AI to enable visibility into ERP and CRM systems allowing optimal operation efficiency and building resilience. He has played various roles in Solution Architecture, Business Development, Customer Relationship, Delivery and Operations management.

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  Bill Good
  Vice President of Supply Chain, GE Appliances, a Haier company, a Haier company

  
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  Bill Good

  

  Bill Good, Vice President of Supply Chain, GE Appliances, a Haier company

  Jay Senatra is the Director of Supply Chain at HNI Corporation, where he is responsible for the development and implementation of supply chain strategies that support customer fulfillment models. He is also responsible for leading the Integrated Supply Chain team in daily execution activities and maintaining the network inventory planning and execution framework.

  Jay grew up in Rock Island, Illinois and earned his BA from Western Illinois University. He has a solid background in manufacturing, logistics, finance, and supply chain with large companies such as Roadway Express, Schneider Logistics, and Case New Holland prior to coming to HNI in 2007.

  Jay has held multiple distinct roles within the HNI organization ranging from Transportation Engineer to Plant Manager and now as Director of Supply Chain. He has led well over one hundred continuous improvement events and large transformational projects that have delivered improved quality, delivery, member safety, and millions of dollars of cost savings.

  Jay enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters. He is an avid hockey fan who also plays hockey recreationally and is at the ice rink 2-3 times per week. Jay is a die-hard Chicago sports fan who supports the Cubs, Bears, Bulls, and Blackhawks.

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  Jeffrey Whitford
  Head of Sustainability & Social Business Innovation, MilliporeSigma, the U.S. and Canada Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

  
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  Jeffrey Whitford

  

  Jeffrey Whitford Head of sustainability & social business innovation, MilliporeSigma, the U.S. and Canada Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

  Jeffrey Whitford serves as the Head of Sustainability & Social Business Innovation at the Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a $10 billion global supplier of tools, chemicals and equipment, employing more than 26,000 employees. He is responsible for developing and implementing strategic programs in green chemistry, product recycling, environmental sustainability and social responsibility. When Sigma-Aldrich was acquired by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, in 2015, he was named Head of Corporate Responsibility for the Life Science business. Prior to that, he was Head of Global Citizenship, held several marketing roles and completed a rotation in procurement. In 2020, Fast Company named Whitford among the Most Creative People in Business, and the 2020 PRNEWS CSR & Nonprofit Awards selected him as its Professional of the Year. He was also named a 2022 CSR/ESG Professional of the Year by Ragan & PR Daily and honored as Assent Compliance’s Top 100 Corporate Social Responsibility Influence Leaders in 2019. His work, in collaboration with his team, has also led to several other accolades for the company’s groundbreaking work in sustainability and CSR. Whitford earned his bachelor’s in journalism and strategic communications from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and his master’s in business administration at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a board member of MyGreenLab and has previously served on the board of the International Institute in St. Louis and the St. Louis chapter of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

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  Abhinav Agrawal
  Managing Director, AlixPartners

  
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  Abhinav Agrawal

  

  Abhinav Agrawal Managing Director, AlixPartners

  Abhinav has more than 20 years of experience delivering large scale digitally-enabled business transformation for clients in consumer products industry. His experience includes designing and delivering digital programs with a budget of $500 million. He is a pioneer in applying agile principles and digital technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence, machine learning, IIoT, augmented reality and digital twin) to improve client's operations and deliver over $1 billion bottom line impact.

  Abhinav is a regular contributor to digital publications such as CIO Insight, Information Management and Supply Chain Management Review.

  He has MBA from McCombs School of Business, Austin, TX and masters in computer science from a leading engineering school in India.

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  Jeff Potts
  Chief Revenue Officer, AutoScheduler.AI

  
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  Jeff Potts

  

  Jeff Potts Chief Revenue Officer, AutoScheduler.AI

  Jeff joins AutoScheduler with over thirty years of experience within the supply chain industry and proven success in business development and sales leadership.

  Jeff was one of the founders of LeanLogistics, the first transportation management system in the industry offered as a true Software as a Service (SaaS) platform. He served as a corporate office and Board Member until LeanLogistics was sold to Brambles Limited in 2008 and later acquired by Kewill Systems in 2016. The company was rebranded as BluJay Solutions, where Jeff served as Vice-President of Client Services.

  In 2021, BluJay was acquired by E2open, where Jeff served as the Vice President of Strategic Accounts. He currently is on the Supply Chain Management Advisory Board at Quinlan School of Business at Loyola University Chicago. Jeff graduated from Michigan State University with a BA Degree in Material & Logistics Management. He received Merchant Mariner Credentials for the U.S. Coast Guard and has Transportation Workers Identification Credentials with the Transportation Security Administration. Jeff received a patent in 2000 for Methods and apparatus for connecting shippers and carriers in the third-party logistics environment via the Internet.

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  Claudia Freed
  President & CEO, EALgreen

  
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  Claudia Freed

  

  Claudia Freed President & CEO, EALgreen

  A native of Argentina, Claudia is President and CEO of EALgreen, a non-profit organization that uses a “circular economy model” to transform excess inventory from businesses into college scholarships for students.

  Since its founding in 1982, EALgreen has transformed the lives of thousands of students attending colleges nationwide. Under Claudia’s leadership, EALgreen has provided scholarships to 21,073 students and prevented more than 200,000 tons of surplus materials from becoming landfill. Corporate donors have contributed more than $30 million in product donations to help students in need. In 2016, EAL rebranded by becoming EALgreen to celebrate the environmental benefits of this innovative program.

  Claudia and the EALgreen team oversee a portfolio of strategic partnerships which represent the best of the best companies who want to be recognized as sustainable brands. College partners include leading institutions in higher education helping students with financial need. These students have gone on to fortify our workforce as medical doctors, veterinarians, welders, elementary school teachers, and more.

  EALgreen and Claudia share a unique story. In 1982, she was the first low-income student to receive an EAL scholarship whiles studying Economics at North Park University. Claudia began her professional career in risk management at Chicago Research and Trading Group, an options contract and commodities trading firm that is now part of Bank of America. She worked closely with the firm’s institutional trading counterparts to develop business opportunities in global financial markets including New York, Chicago, and Tokyo.

  Prior to joining EALgreen, Claudia was Senior Consultant at the Financial Research and Advisory Committee (now the Civic Consulting Alliance) where she led a supply chain team focused on delivering cost-savings and service improvement to the 642 schools in the Chicago Public School System serving more the 300,000 students.

  In 1995, Claudia became EALgreen’s Executive Director. To increase the impact of EALgreen’s mission, Claudia led the funding and implementation of the EALgreen Cash Scholarship Program in 2009. This program, funded entirely by EALgreen’s self- sustaining circular economy business model, has distributed more than $6 million in cash scholarships to college students who are helping build our future workforce. Today, she is EALgreen's CEO.

  Claudia is an   active   member   of   the   civic community of Chicago.              She has served with distinction at Chicago Public Media (WBEZ) and is     Past   Board   President of Social

  Responsibility Chicago. Claudia is   a    member of    Washington-based        Global    Summit of Women     and  has participated                 in      summits in Brazil,     Poland,   Australia, Switzerland, and Portugal.

  Claudia has earned a Professional Certificate from Harvard University T.H.           Chan School of Public Health in Sustainability Leadership and graduated   from   The   Institute   for   Corporate Responsibility              at                  Johns Hopkins   University Certificate program. In 2019, Claudia was elected to the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) technical panel to develop standards for the circular economy (UL 3600) and became a committee  member   in   the Reverse Logistics Association.

  Claudia is a sought-after speaker and a thought-leader in    social               media participating   in       podcasts, lectures      and global      events      for      social      impact, education, and the environment.

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  Arun Kochar
  Partner, Kearney

  
  
  
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  JArun Kochar

  

  JArun Kochar Partner, Kearney

  Arun Kochar’s experience on a six-month project with a wine industry client in many ways mirrors his trajectory as a consultant at Kearney, where he began as a business analyst in 2004 and worked his way up to partner.

  On that project, Arun learned just how intensive wine-making was—from acquiring the grapes to selling the wine derived from those grapes, the entire process could take more than five years. 

   “The beverage alcohol industry is a relatable yet complicated industry, driven by its multi-tier value chain. That’s why I enjoy it so much,” Arun says. “You talk to everybody, including the brand owners, distributors, retailers—even the farmers supplying grapes and malts. Something that seems quite casual and ordinary—a bottle of wine or whiskey—is actually quite fascinating and involved to make, distribute, and sell.”

  Working on such engagements—both short- and long-term—during his tenure at the firm has allowed Arun to develop a unique knowledge of the operations value chain, from planning and procurement to manufacturing, distribution, and customer service. His experience allows him to advise on very specific cost take-out or growth challenges, as well as on large-scale transformations such as mergers and acquisitions integrations. 

  “Most big transformations fail because people don’t like to change,” Arun says. “We put together a case for change that everybody is energized about."

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  Mary Kate Love
  Director, GTM Strategy & Execution, Verusen

  
  
  
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  Mary Kate

  Mary Kate Love, Director, GTM Strategy & Execution, Verusen

  Mary Kate Love is currently the Go To Market Direct at Verusen - a materials intelligence company that is transforming materials management. Mary Kate has a variety of experiences in supply chain start-ups and building innovation initiatives from the ground up: she previously helped lead the build out of the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific and prior to that, MxD (Manufacturing times Digital): the Department of Defense’s digital manufacturing innovation center. Mary Kate has a passion in taking complicated ideas and turning them into a reality: she was one of the first team members at MxD and the first team member at the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific.

  In addition to being an avid 16-inch softball player, Mary Kate was one of the founding Board Members for Women Influence Chicago and led an initiative for a city-wide job shadow day for young women across Chicago tech companies. Mary Kate has also held positions on the Young Irish Fellowship Board, Women in Technology Atlanta and the UN Committee for Women. Mary Kate currently lives in her hometown Chicago, enjoys traveling for both work and fun and holds a BS in Political Science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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  Guru Bandekar
   Global Vice President, Supply Chain, Carrier Corporation (NYSE: CARR)

  
  
  
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  Guru Bandekar

  

  GURU BANDEKAR is Global Vice President of Supply Chain at Carrier Global Corporation (NYSE: CARR) where he is responsible for the Strategic Sourcing, procurement and supply chain for Direct materials, Indirect material, Logistics and Warehousing services since May 2022.

  Prior to his current role, Guru was the Chief Supply Chain Officer for Global Tools & Storage business of Stanley Black and Decker (NYSE: SWK). In this role, he was responsible for the development and execution of the manufacturing and distribution strategy and accountable for customer driven end-to-end supply chain for tools and storage and also as the Chief Procurement Officer where he was responsible for procurement of direct material and indirect spend across the enterprise .

  He was recently appointed to the Global Board of Directors for the U.S.-India Business Council.

  Prior to joining the company, Guru held varying roles in engineering, procurement, finance and product management. He has held increasing roles of responsibility and has extensive experience in product development, procurement, manufacturing and finance at Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE: OSK) and Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX)

  Guru earned a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from B.A. Technological University in India, a master’s degree in Industrial and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toledo and holds an MBA from the University of Minnesota.

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  Shekar Natarajan
  Executive Vice President, Chief Supply Chain Officer and Leads the two acquired entities - Quiet and Airterra, AEO, Inc.

  
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  Shekar Natarajan

  

  Shekar Natarajan is a Harvard Business School alum with an industrial engineering background and insatiable appetite for innovation. Coupled with his innate entrepreneurial acumen and strategic eye for opportunity, Shekar’s track record for transformation among top Fortune 100 companies has consistently left a lasting impact across numerous industries.

  Throughout his 20-year career, Shekar has created an industry-standard system for last-mile beverage delivery; built and scaled grocery-shopping operations now worth more than $9 billion; developed methodologies followed by the White House and FEMA; and enhanced theme-park visitor experience through wearable RFID technology. In December 2018, Shekar joined American Eagle Outfitters (AEO, Inc.) as SVP Global Supply Chain, Logistics & Services and was quickly entrusted with reimagining the retailer’s traditional supply chain network. Ultimately pioneering an open supply chain business model, Shekar now leads a team of 500 staff and 10,000 field associates in his current role as EVP – Chief Supply Chain Officer.

  Recognized worldwide for his industry contributions, Shekar’s diversified portfolio includes more than 300 filed and 75 awarded patents and three books translated in 11 languages.

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  Raul Bujalil
  VP Supply Chain Strategy and Enablers, Kroger

  
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  Raul Bujalil

  

  Raul is responsible for leading all strategic, transformational, and optimization efforts that support Kroger's existing objectives for growth and profitability within Supply Chain. Raul reports to Gabriel Arreaga, Kroger’s chief supply chain officer. His main responsibilities include leading the expansion of the e-commerce Fulfillment Centers in collaboration with Ocado; optimization and modernization of Distribution Centers network; development of an agile distribution system using industry 4.0 technologies; and creation of an Open Supply Chain Platform supported by a Data Estate that leverage tools and applications that describe, predict, and prescribes, the best ways to operate the supply chain as a competitive advantage.

  Raul experience expands across multiple Supply Chain organization within CPG industry.  Prior to Kroger he spent 7yrs at Mondelez International, where he held several leadership roles, including vice president of engineering & supply chain and senior director of engineering.  He led the Supply Chain Transformation efforts for the Latin America and North America business.    Before that, Raul work for over 24yrs at the Procter & Gamble Co. where he lastly served as Director of Engineering leading several major capacity expansion projects including construction and startup of two major manufacturing facilities “greenfield sites” in US and Brazil.

  Raul holds a bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from Universidad Iberoamericana Mexico City and a Master's in Finance from Tecnologico de Monterrey Mexico City.

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  Yusuf Tayob
  Group Chief Executive-Operations Services, Accenture

  
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  Yusuf Tayob

  

  Yusuf Tayob is group chief executive of Accenture Operations. His team of over 200,000 professionals work with our clients to solve their most complex business problems, and to deliver sustainable growth and competitiveness.  Accenture Operations offers and delivers a comprehensive portfolio of enterprise business process services, including R&D, procurement, supply chain, finance, HR, marketing and sales, customer service and support, and trust and safety, as well as industry-specific business services in banking, insurance, capital markets, telecom, utilities, software and platforms, and health and life sciences. Yusuf is also a member of Accenture’s Global Management Committee.

  Before assuming his current position in 2022, Yusuf led Accenture’s US Midwest market unit where he was responsible for our clients, employees, offices, community impact, and overall business and financial performance in the region. Prior to that, he led Accenture’s Salesforce Business Group, focused on delivering programs to enable growth and customer loyalty for our clients.

  Yusuf previously led Accenture’s Northeast and Southeast business for Communications, Media, & Technology (CMT) industries with P&L responsibility across strategy, consulting, interactive, technology and operations. Earlier in his career, he led Accenture’s North America consulting business for CMT, was responsible for Accenture’s software-as-a-service practice, and was one of the founding partners of Accenture’s Salesforce.com business. Throughout his career, Yusuf has worked with over 100 client organizations in more than 20 countries, with extensive experience in digital transformation, including business strategy, operating model change, business process transformation, and large-scale technology implementation. Yusuf’s perspectives have been cited by Forbes, InformationWeek and CSO Insights.

  Yusuf joined Accenture in 2000, and became a partner in 2009. He serves on the Executive Committee for the Board of Directors of the T. Howard Foundation, promoting diversity in the media, entertainment, and technology industries, and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

  Follow Yusuf on LinkedIn.

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  Ally Lynch
  CMO, Covariant

  
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  Ally Lynch

  

  Ally Lynch serves as Head of Marketing for Covariant, a leading AI Robotics company. With deep knowledge of the supply chain and logistics space, Ally uses her proven expertise to build successful early and growth stage enterprise teams. Prior to Covariant, Ally served as Senior Vice President at project44, the world’s leading supply chain visibility platform. During her tenure, Project44 raised over $300M, was named a leader in Gartner's Magic Quadrant program, and grew their customer base to include Amazon, P&G, and Starbucks. Ally graduated from the University of Michigan with a BS in Brain, Behavior, and Cognitive Science.

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  Abe Eshkenazi
  President, ASCM

  
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  Abe Eshkenazi

  

  Abe Eshkenazi
  President, ASCM

  

  Abe Eshkenazi currently serves as the chief executive officer for ASCM. Prior to joining ASCM, Eshkenazi was the managing director for the Operations Consulting Group of American Express Tax and Business Services.
  Eshkenazi has provided business, operational, and compliance consulting services to professional service organizations, associations, and tax-exempt and government organizations. His leadership role included project management, business process redesign, and individual and organizational alignment, including design and implementation of outsource strategies. Eshkenazi has been a frequent speaker on outsourcing, nonprofit mergers, and strategic alliances.
  In addition to his CPA, Eshkenazi holds a master of business administration in management from Northwestern University, Kellogg Graduate School of Management; a master of business administration in finance from DePaul University; and a bachelor’s degree from Northeastern Illinois University. Eshkenazi is also an APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP), a Certified Healthcare Executive (CHE), and a Certified Association Executive (CAE).

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  Tom Ward
  AI Project Leader, IBM

  
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  Tom Ward

  

  Tom Ward is currently an A.I. Project Lead within the Chief Data Officer (CDO) organization. In this capacity, he leads the global development and deployment of cloud and AI projects across the enterprise. Tom has led supply chain cloud projects over the past ten years. For the past eight years, Tom has led the implementation of several Watson applications including Risk Insights. He has been a featured supply chain conference speaker and published author in several magazines. Tom is an IBM Academy of Technology Member and one of 25 certified Supply Chain Management Professional – Consultants, globally within IBM. He has over 30 years of technical leadership experience with IBM in many facets of the Supply Chain, Procurement, Enterprise and Operations Services. Tom has recently been certified as an IBM Quantum Ambassador. Tom has a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He lives in Highland, New York.

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  Satish Vadlamani
   Director, BI & Data Science, Kenco Logistics Services

  
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  Satish Vadlamani

  

  Satish Vadlamani is a Director of BI and Data Science at Kenco Logistics Services, Chattanooga, TN ,USA. He earned B.Tech. in Electronics and Communications Engineering, India. A Masters and Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Mississippi State University, USA. Before joining Kenco, Dr. Vadlamani worked at other global supply chain companies like APLL and XPO. Dr. Vadlamani has passion for applying operations research, machine learning (ML) and artificial (AI) intelligence to solve complex supply chain problems. Dr. Vadlamani has seven years of experience applying ML and AI for problem solving. Dr. Vadlamani has published at multiple journals and conferences and teaches data science and analytics to people around the globe. His research interests include networks, wireless sensor networks, wireless ad-hoc networks, supply chain networks, network interdiction, location problems, transportation, and meta-heuristics. Dr. Vadlamani has been an invited speaker at various colleges, universities, and other professional organizations across the globe. He is a member of IEOM, INFORMS and IISE.

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  Jonathan Styles
  Director, Continuous Improvement-Lean, iHerb LLC

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  Jonathan Styles

  

  Jonathan is responsible for all automation and process optimization efforts across iHerb's distribution and order fulfillment network supporting the company's global reach to nearly 170 countries. The company has an established record of positioning itself on the leading edge of technological advancement including developing its own hardware. iHerb's technology-forward vision requires automation initiatives that incorporate a mix of internally developed as well as external software platforms.

  Jonathan has lived and worked across the US as well Australia, Canada, and Europe deploying automation systems for 10 years in traditional manufacturing at Reynolds Aluminum and General Motors and the last 18 years in e-commerce with Amazon, Vistaprint, and now iHerb.

  Jonathan holds a bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Washington and a masters in Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic (RPI). He is also a Six Sigma Black Belt and certified Lean practitioner.

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  Carl Oreback
  Senior Solutions Consultant, Körber Supply Chain Software

  
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  Carl Oreback

  

  Carl Oreback has been delivering technology projects in the Supply Chain Industry for over a decade - with a focus on automation and robotics projects. With a Computer Science and Electrical Engineering background, he likes to get into the detail and identifying the best ways to leverage new technologies to solve complex Supply Chain challenges. A global citizen, Carl has lived and worked in 3 different continents and 4 different countries and he currently lives in New Haven, Connecticut.

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  Harry Chase
  Senior Director, Central Materials, GE Appliances, a Haier company

  
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  Harry Chase

  

  Harry Chase is senior leader in supply chain, material flow automation and production control supporting GE Appliances in innovative supply chain solutions as the sr. director of central materials. Working with the leading technology companies to automate processes from global suppliers to the manufacturing plants encompassing software visibility tools and autonomous vehicles with a focus on sustainability. Prior to joining GE Appliances, he was the vice president of a Japanese logistics company where he started the US business and grew it to over $25 million in 3 years. He provided strategic materials leadership at Whirlpool implementing mixed model production, MES solutions, sustainable packaging, and the introduction of integrated logistics for kitting and sequencing. He has supported the launch of two major automobile plants in Brazil and the US utilizing lean manufacturing principles. Harry is a proud graduate of the University of Tennessee.