2006 Pros to Know

Supply & Demand Chain Executive honors today's supply chain leaders

In our sixth annual Pros to Know issue, Supply & Demand Chain Executive is again highlighting those executives working day in and day out to give their companies a competitive edge by transforming their supply chains. This year, our theme was leadership.

What is leadership? Retired Gen. Colin Powell, keynoting at the Transformation ‘06 conference put on by Yellow Transportation in Las Vegas this February, said that the essence of leadership is, in fact, the ability to create "followership." It's knowing where you're going, and how you're going to get there, such that those in your charge will follow you, in Gen. Powell's words, "if only out of curiosity."

As on the field of battle, in the supply chain world, leadership is the quality that allows executives to rally their colleagues to the cause of supply chain transformation in a time of uncertainty; to effect change in the face of entrenched constituencies and institutional inertia; and to transcend their own functional interests to pursue — and achieve — goals that bring benefits to the enterprise as a whole.

This year, as in the past, we highlight not just supply chain Practitioner Pros to Know — executives at manufacturing or non-manufacturing enterprises charged with managing and transforming their company's supply chain — but also Provider Pros to Know, executives working for a software firms, service providers, and consultancies and research firms who have made significant contributions to the supply chain field.

In today's economic environment, the ability of supply chain executives to demonstrate leadership is increasingly becoming a differentiator for enterprises of all sizes. Supply & Demand Chain Executive salutes this year's Pros to Know, who are contributing to their companies' competitive advantage and, in doing so, transforming supply chain into a leading function within today's global corporations.

2006 Practitioner of the Year

Tim Carroll Vice President, Supply Chain Operations, IBM When IBM sold its PC business to Chinese computer maker Lenovo, Big Blue's leadership hand-picked the company's vice president of supply chain operations, Tim Carroll, to orchestrate the supply chain divestiture of the PC business to Lenovo. Less than five months after IBM's December 2004 announcement of the sale, phase one of the divestiture was complete. Under Carroll's leadership, nearly 2,500 people around the world from IBM and Lenovo worked day and night to enable processes and systems; transfer thousands of applications and Lotus Notes databases to the new company; and customize systems and infrastructure to support sales and marketing, human resources and an entirely new ledger system — all without disrupting either company's clients.

Within IBM, Carroll is also a mentor for several supply chain employees, advising them on their careers and opportunities. Externally, he works with several universities, including Penn State, Michigan State and Arizona State through IBM's Supply Chain Lab program, speaks with students about IBM's supply chain challenges and works with them to develop solutions. In addition, Carroll frequently shares his knowledge of the supply chain and specific best practices at IBM with the industry through conferences and published articles.

When asked about the future direction of the supply and demand chain, he said: "Outsourcing the commodity functions of a supply chain is going to become reality for many supply chains over the next several years...Outsourcing is more than just a trend but an opportunity for growth. By allowing companies to focus on their core competencies, cash can be freed up for acquisitions, R&D and stock buybacks."

2006 Practitioner Pros to Know

Gary Allen Senior eCommerce Manager, Global Supply Chain Management, Vodafone Established goals for and transformed mobile telecommunications firm Vodafone's procurement organization. New platform is used by more than 600 internal Vodafone users/buyers and 1,350 supplier organizations. Vodafone cites exponential savings, increased spend visibility and enhanced contract compliance as a result of Allen's leadership.

Allen believes that the next major trend in supply chain management will be closer and tighter integration with suppliers, as well as a specific focus on enhancing these relationships. This is taking the shape of B2B commerce platforms such as the one currently being implemented in Vodafone for Supply Chain direct transaction, interfacing with its strategic vendors, achieving process and cost savings, and driving adherence to strategic sourcing. Allen said there will also be fewer configurations driving upstream and downstream benefits. Future leverage will be gained by undertaking deeper, more detailed compliance programs, automating the verification that goods are being supplied to previously negotiated quality, cost and contract parameters, along with supplier performance enhancement.

Roland Bastiaensen Acting Director — Optical Networking Product Team Lead, Lucent Technologies Leads a team spanning three continents to ensure all supply chain functions are effectively carried out over the entire lifecycle of Lucent's Optical Networking product. Lucent presented Bastiaensen with the company's Supply Chain Networks Leadership Award for encouraging his team to think outside the box with regard to supply chain collaboration.

One trend in the supply and demand chain that Bastiaensen said he sees is the early engagement of supply chain professionals in the design process. "The cost of the supply chain is inherent in the design of the product," he says. "For example, it is much easier to reduce the installation costs of a product during the design phase than it would be to develop a simpler installation process after the fact. This is where the idea of cross-functional [Product Team Leads] is key — they play the extra role in design choices that a traditional product engineer might not play."

Scott Brown Manager, Supply Chain Analysis & Design, Plexus Brown has employed his 24+ years of professional supply chain experience to develop the ultimate example of lean flow initiatives in all supply chains at contract electronics manufacturing firm Plexus. His area of responsibility has had an ROI of over 300 percent annually.

According to Brown, the current trend of synchronizing supply chains across organizations will strengthen and continue. "Supply chains compete; not companies," he states. "This requires the ability to design and maintain a fully synchronized supply chain across companies and around the globe." Brown continues, saying that he is convinced that industry is at a nexus of capabilities, from computing power to software capability, both in terms of design and executions and maintenance of supply chains. "The old push tools of [manufacturing resource planning (MRP)], and guessing at what lead-time is needed, drive tremendous waste into the supply chain, as well as cost. Pulling materials is the only answer that can eliminate this. What is different [about our approach today is that we are] using a scientific basis to design the supply chain and its control parameters to achieve what is required at lowest total cost."

Jimmy Carter Director of Procurement, Blockbuster Inc. Jimmy Carter began his procurement career at Blockbuster Inc. in 1995. His role consisted of managing the McKinney, Texas, distribution center maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) and retail store supplies procurement. His responsibilities expanded to Director of Procurement in 2000 with the development of a formal Strategic Sourcing department (indirect goods and services). Oversight of national Purchasing Card and Fleet Vehicle Programs was added in 2003.

Carter has led his team through the formulation, implementation and enforcement of the sourcing and vendor management process. Technical and process improvement initiatives have transformed the procurement function from an execution-oriented organization to a central knowledge base for spend and supplier management. This ongoing transformation has included the addition of Spend Analytics, Contract Management, Supplier Master and Online RFx tools supported by a comprehensive procure-to-pay policy and, most recently, an upgraded enterprise resource planning (ERP) system incorporating UNSPSC taxonomy. In the last two years his department has initiated over 50 online events and developed a comprehensive corporate contract repository and contract template library. The goal of establishing a world-class procurement function is by nature an ongoing process, but progress to date has given Blockbuster the means to manage corporate spend at a level never previously achieved.

Dick Conrad Senior Vice President, Global Operations Supply Chain, Hewlett-Packard Co. Ever vigilant and focused on Hewlett-Packard's supply chain improvement, Conrad led an inventory reduction effort that yielded an improvement to cash of over $700 million, as well as a program to analyze HP's cost of goods sold, resulting in incremental reductions over $1 billion for the year.

Conrad says the next major trend in the supply and demand chain is the merging or end-to end-integration with sales/order management processes to better synchronize demand and supply. "The supply chain must be viewed and operated in the context of the complete end-to-end value chain to fully optimize both its efficiency and its effectiveness in meeting customer and market demand," according to Conrad. "This entails investing in IT tools and business processes that better synchronize supply and demand and provide high degrees of visibility. This in turn will improve predictability, reduce inventory, reduce lead times and increase service levels and capabilities."

He says HP's actual product manufacturing is largely outsourced with a network of extended external partners. "Our focus is to extend tools and processes across our extended supply chain and integrate them with our order management and demand planning processes to achieve optimum performance."

Greg Frazier Executive Vice President, Supply Chain Services Worldwide, Avnet Electronics Marketing Frazier listened to Avnet's customers and forever changed the way the technology, marketing, distribution and services company conducts business. He led the charge to move away from purchase orders to a forecast-based model, delighting customers and growing Avnet's Supply Chain Services business, which is 40 percent of the company's overall business globally today.

Frazier says his next order of business is to help Avnet's midsized customers be successful in the global supply chain. "Our midsized customers do not have the kind of leverage the bigger ones do — and often lack the leverage needed to make the contract manufacturers stand up and take notice of them. Many of these midsized customers would like to expand their business into new markets, in addition to expanding their reach globally, while still maintaining the same look and feel they have here. Avnet will lead the charge and use its leverage to help make these desires a reality for midsized customers."

Paul Gaffney Executive Vice President, Supply Chain, Staples Inc. Gaffney created the Staples' Summit, a supply chain program designed to transform culture and processes. Through it, the office supplies firm has been able to revamp supply chain processes for the retail business, reduce inventory by over $300 million while supporting strong sales growth, add 1 percent to comparable store sales and expand margins by over $100 million.

According to Gaffney, the next major industry trend will be dramatic expansion of "direct sourcing," with companies bypassing intermediaries and dealing directly with factories. "Staples will leverage this trend for competitive advantage through rapid growth of Staples Branded products, offering the customer outstanding quality at lower cost while still contributing higher profit margins to Staples," he says.

Martin Garvin Senior Vice President, Worldwide Procurement, Dell Inc. Martin J. Garvin serves as senior vice president, Worldwide Procurement. The job spans all procurement activities around the largest computer products supply chain in the world, including management of all hardware commodities, general procurement, global materials, logistics, supplier engineering and global business processes improvement (BPI). The role also includes managing two international trading companies that ensure direct relationships that are critical to Dell's continuity of supply.

Garvin joined Dell in 1997 as vice president of Global Supply Chain and chief procurement officer. He had extensive experience previously in operations, procurement, materials management and customer service through a variety of executive positions at Hewlett Packard, Sun Microsystems and NetEdge Systems. Garvin was involved in the start-up of Sun's first international operation in Linlithgow, Scotland.

R. Keith Harrison Global Product Supply Officer, The Procter & Gamble Co. Harrison has led a global renewal of P&G's Product Supply, reducing capital spending to the lowest levels in the company's history and significantly reducing supply chain costs as a percent of sales during times when commodity prices have soared. P&G's supply chain, as a result, was ranked No. 2 in 2005 by AMR Research out of all global supply chains.

Harrison noted that manufacturers must redesign their supply chains to be more customer- or consumer-centric. He said this begins early in the product innovation process through seamless partnership with research and development (R&D) and affects every aspect of the supply network through to the consumer. "This consumer focus will allow supply chains to be a source of value and competitive advantage to our businesses, and will ensure long-term competitiveness for all supply chain partners, including suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and customers," he states.

Harrison continues: "For example, Procter & Gamble is building new capabilities into our supply network to create joint value for our customers, consumers and our company. And we're working to ensure our supply network meets the needs of the rapid growth in developing markets and those "new" consumers."

Rob Hemsley Director, European Purchasing, The H.J. Heinz Co. Hemsley has transformed Purchasing at Heinz Europe by pushing for benchmarking, the development/implementation of new technologies and procurement strategies, and the up-skill of the procurement team. The result: Heinz achieved over $75 million in savings, better products and company-wide recognition of the value of procurement.

Looking toward the future, Hemsley says the market has a long way to go in terms of optimization and self-serve tools for both buyers and suppliers. His vision for the next wave of innovation is to allow suppliers to offer more creative, flexible and innovative options when competing for business with Heinz.

Helmsley says that unleashing supplier creativity and innovation into the bidding process will create entirely new options for Heinz. Heinz will exploit this trend to build competitive advantage out of its supply base. One outcome will be the ability for Heinz's procurement team to support top-line company growth. For example, he explains, the procurement organization will be able to work with the marketing organization around new product offerings in new markets, which will accelerate profitable growth and capture market share.

This fundamentally new vision will transform the procurement function to become a strategic partner at the executive level for companies, rather than just a center for driving cost reduction, according to Helmsley. And not one to wait for this to become a reality, today Hemsley is pioneering this opportunity to move beyond current e-sourcing techniques (e.g., the reverse auction) to more advanced e-sourcing approaches, which is well ahead of the industry.

Recognized as an authority on e-Sourcing, Hemsley has spoken at conferences on Spend Management and Supplier Relationship Management topics, including at the Conference Board's Purchasing Conference and at the Emptoris Empower User Conference on the topic of advanced e-sourcing strategies. Finally, J. Jimenez, the CEO of Heinz Europe, recently noted: "Of all our senior managers in Europe, Rob is seen as one of the high flyers — his relentless drive of our e-Sourcing program has emphasized the importance of the purchasing profession to the business more than ever before."

Kathryn Hinton Director, Strategic Sourcing, Sprint Nextel After the merger of Sprint and Nextel, Hinton tackled the challenge of bringing together the two sourcing organizations, establishing new policies and creating a new organizational model. She also launched a methodology to manage sourcing initiatives in support of the company's $18 billion+ synergy objectives.

Hinton expects changes to the supply and demand chain of the future to be fourfold: to continue to develop partnerships with key suppliers by understanding how linked the businesses are and how important these relationships are to everyone's success; to increase the visibility and importance of supply chain management (SCM) in the executive offices of non-manufacturing firms by increasing an understanding of SCM's ability to deliver results to the bottom line; to continue to improve and leverage technologies for SCM analysis and efficiency, including enhancing B2B opportunities with deeper integration; and to ensure Small Business/Diverse Business suppliers are mentored and provided opportunities throughout the supply chain.

Robert Kane Director, Supply Chain Management, General Dynamics C4 Systems Kane has driven the transformation of General Dynamics' Sourcing by automating and improving sourcing activity and increasing throughput. He is also implementing spend management practices to ensure identified savings become realized savings. General Dynamics cites Kane's efforts as having helped sourcing professionals share more knowledge and drive more savings to the bottom line.

According to Kane, enterprise spend management (ESM) and flexible systems/platforms that can be standardized across the business enterprise are things to watch for in supply and demand chain management. Additionally, enhanced supplier performance management and monitoring, as well as low-cost country sourcing, are key objectives in 2006.

Mike Lanham Program Leader, Procurement, Dow Corning Lanham led an initiative to help Dow Corning's Procurement achieve its vision of "running procurement like a business" with successful results: a consolidated view of spending for supply managers, buyers aligned with new classification structures, Sarbanes-Oxley reports, and an Opportunity Portfolio aligning spend data and cost saving opportunities.

"Globalization is the key word," Lanham says when asked what his philosophy is regarding technology enabling the supply chain. Lanham believes this term will be the next big area in which companies focus their efforts. However, he believes there is a difference between globalization and low-cost country sourcing as companies find the best value for their sourced spend.

"Companies need to deal with supply chains that are global in nature and get comfortable with moving materials around the world to take advantage of cost, value, supply chain opportunities and currency," he says. The key trend in the near future, in Lanham's view, is that companies will need to be much more agile to succeed in a globally dynamic world which is moving much faster.

Lanham adds that the concept of global agility is a key factor in "running procurement like a business," which is the core objective for Dow Corning's Procurement team.

Myles Marcus Director, Strategic Procurement & Operations, Chiron Corp. Leading the transformation of Chiron procurement from an operationally oriented purchase order group to a strategically focused organization driving value to the bottom line has been the objective of Myles since joining Chiron in 2000. "We have not mandated the use of procurement here at Chiron — we have focused on making it easy for the internal customers to do the right thing," he states.

Myles says the development of processes, policies and systems to facilitate the creation of procurement value and strengthening of organizational capabilities has moved the Chiron procurement organization in the right direction. e-Enabled procurement systems have further provided an ease of use for internal customers and streamlined business processes. To achieve these objectives, Myles has mapped a procurement strategy that is fully linked to the company strategy and business imperatives.

"By performing this mapping exercise, obtaining organizational buy-in to procurement objectives and budget funding becomes a very easy task," he says. Benefits realized by Chiron have included significant procurement savings, improved supplier relationships and bringing the innovative abilities of suppliers to Chiron to enable the company to further its science and commercial products.

Tony Milikin Vice President of Supply Chain & Chief Purchasing Executive, MeadWestvaco As a leading Supply Chain practitioner over his 20-year career, Milikin has earned a reputation as a "cutting edge" sourcing professional. Milikin is dedicated to advancing Supply Chain Management and raising its importance within Corporations globally.

Milikin's accomplishments became known to industry after he put together a team that drove out over $150 million in savings for Monsanto in less than 18 months. Milikin has implemented e-sourcing successes at Monsanto and Sealy and is acknowledged as one of the pioneers of electronic reverse auctioning.

Over Milikin's career his teams have saved an estimated $1 billion. He has worked for LTV Aerospace, Alcon Labs, Monsanto, Sealy and now Meadwestvaco in progressively advancing leadership positions.

Milikin is the co-creator of The Purchasing & Supply Leadership Council sponsored by The Conference Board. He is currently a member of The Institute of Supply Management's Board of Directors.

James L. Polak Director, General Purchasing, PPG Industries Inc. Polak was recognized two years ago as a Pro to Know for his leadership in spend analysis at PPG. Since then he has promoted and helped sell the need for PPG to evolve to a hands-free procure-to-pay transaction automation environment, and he has also continued to evangelize spend analysis within the industry.

Polak advises supply chain professionals that the linking of the supply base to their customers, like PPG, needs to be fully integrated, automated and hands free. "We want to be recognized by our suppliers as the easiest customer with which to do business," he explains. "Likewise, we see an opportunity to improve our relationship with our smaller suppliers and customers by perhaps allowing them to transact automatically on some of PPG's preferred supplier agreements. This way, everyone along the supply chain wins."

Helmut Porkert Chief Procurement Officer, ChevronTexaco Porkert directs ChevronTexaco's global procurement, strategic sourcing, supplier management and integration activity, and supply chain management activities for all materials and services for ChevronTexaco locations worldwide. He is also responsible for supporting all operating companies in delivering sustainable cost reductions for both operating and capital expenses.

Jim Rogers CDMA Product Team Lead Director, Lucent Technologies Under Roger's leadership, Lucent's supply chain team shifted its focus from pursuing conventional cost reduction road maps to partnering with both Lucent's sales and product management teams to truly understand customer requirements and build margin-modeling tools, leading to double-digit percentage cost reductions annually over the previous few years.

Rogers expects product platforms and simplifying the supply stream for zero latency will continue to be a top priority for supply chain professionals. "We have to continue to develop products that are set up as building blocks to ensure we support a supply chain that can be as flexible as possible for our customers at a competitive cost," he says. "As our customers demand change, we will change our products to meet those demands. Also we have to continue to understand our customers' needs and be able to anticipate those needs. Then we must ensure we have zero latency on clearly communicating those needs all the way down to our tier-three and tier-four suppliers."

Todd Weier Vice President of Logistics, Kirkland's When specialty retailer Kirkland's went public in 2002, it suffered from a fragmented supply chain and no distribution infrastructure. Weier expertly led the company through the process of revamping its supply chain with a new single-site distribution model and automation. The result: increased capacity, lower unit costs, increased throughput, decreased cycle time, and improved order and inventory accuracy.

Weier sees distribution center bypass as an increasingly important trend in supply chain execution that will improve the flow and management of inventory. He hopes to collaborate with vendors to build store-specific sea containers at the port of origin with a mix of merchandise that meets the store's immediate needs. These store-specific containers can than be shipped directly to the stores once they arrive at the destination port and bypass the primary domestic distribution center. Weier says this will allow Kirkland's to move seasonal and promotional merchandise to the stores quicker and more cost-effectively.

According to Weier, DC bypass will enable Kirkland's to achieve a lean distribution environment and continue double-digit growth without increasing inventory levels at the same rate and reduce the dependence on capital intensive distribution facility projects.

Dennis W. Weisenborn Vice President, Supply Services, Ameren Corp. After Weisenborn implemented strategic sourcing and a total cost of ownership (TCO) model, utility giant Ameren Corp. has documented sourcing savings of $43 million. Weisenborn also oversaw the merger of two business services into the Ameren family of companies, and his mottos of "Achieve Excellence in Procurement" and "Optimize the Source-To-Settle Process" have been adopted as official corporate strategies.

Weisenborn says he expects the supply chain of the future will entail fewer suppliers and closer relationships with the supply base to jointly identify savings opportunities tied to process, material handling, inventory management and electronic commerce.

Matt Wojewuczki Vice President of Operations, Vera Bradley In order to support specialty handbag and luggage designer Vera Bradley's 20 to 30 percent growth over the past five years, Wojewuczki has been the point person leading the adoption of such best practices initiatives as Kanban, Kaizen, Five S and Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing and warehouse management, among numerous other programs.

According to Wojewuczki, executives want to know more about how their systems are performing so they can benefit from the increased visibility. If the system is not hitting the set key performance indicators (KPIs), they want to know why and how it can be quickly fixed.

Wojewuczki says Vera Bradley is selecting and implementing an enterprise resource planning and best-of-breed warehouse management system this year, and it will be fully integrated with a warehouse control system (WCS), which he says will increase the floor workers' and operations managers' knowledge of the system performance.

Milton Young Global Subsea Sourcing Director, FMC Technologies Young developed a global strategic sourcing initiative for FMC Technologies' Subsea business unit that senior leadership said is the leading edge of procurement in the Subsea market, as well as a significant competitive advantage for the company. Young is also championing lean supply chain within the FMC supply base and has integrated lean projects into its sourcing agreements.

"I think the next major supply chain trend will be the development of true supply networks where suppliers are clustered/allied with specific partners and customers," Milton says. "This alliance network will foster better communication across the supply chain and create the competitive advantage companies seek by ensuring preferred access to capacity, favorable pricing, new technology and quicker access to new markets."

2006 Pros to Know Team Award:

Hewlett-Packard's Procurement Risk Management Group

Embracing Risk

HP's Procurement Risk Management Group.

Sitting left to right: Matt Gaskins, PRM Manager for Hard Disk Drives and Displays; Patty Mackenroth, PRM Manager for Logistics; Cara Baez, PRM Manager for Optical Disk Drives; Dwight Branvold, PRM Training Manager. Standing left to right: Mark Pridgen, PRM Manager for StorageWorks; Venu Nagali, Distinguished Technologist & PRM Lead; Jerry Hwang, PRM Software Manager; David Sanghera, PRM Manager for Memory & IPG.

In a decreasingly certain world, supply chain risk management is becoming an increasingly critical competence. As enterprises outsource greater portions of their supply chain, they have direct control over smaller and smaller segments of the total supply chain. Meanwhile, lean initiatives leave less room for error in the supply chain, and compliance mandates like Sarbanes-Oxley make it imperative for companies to understand the impact of external events on their bottom lines.

Technology solutions provider HP has been a pioneer in developing tools and processes to master the uncertainty inherent in its global supply chain. Over the past six years, the company's Procurement Risk Management (PRM) Group, headed by Venu Nagali, has been applying financial risk management principles to address what HP views as the three fundamental uncertainties in its business: uncertainty in demand (whether for components on the inbound side, or for HP's own products on the outbound side), in the cost of components, and in the availability of components.

Through the PRM process developed at HP, the company's staff employs software tools created in-house to explicitly quantify these uncertainties using a forecast scenario approach. Components are evaluated in terms of the three uncertainties, and the PRM team devises strategies to proactively manage the risk associated with each particular component or commodity. Typically, the strategy calls for crafting agreements with suppliers that allow the risk to be shared and co-managed by both HP and the vendor.

The payback has been substantial: Nagali estimates that HP has saved more than $100 million dollars in incremental value over the lifespan of the project. Moreover, the PRM team has been training HP employees across different functions on the risk management approach, promising even greater savings in the future. "You've got to have people thinking differently," Nagali says. "You have to change the mindset so that people understand that they can identify the risks, quantify them and manage them."

For more information on HP's Procurement Risk Management initiative, read the article "Rethinking Risk" in the August/September 2005 issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive.

2006 Provider Pros to Know Change AgentsHelping drive...

  • David Adams, SVP, Corporate Strategy & Technology, TrenStar Inc. — Major RFID-enabled supply chains.
  • Shellye Archambeau, CEO, MetricStream — New paradigm to reduce cost of compliance.
  • Greg Baxter, Founder and CEO, Baxter Planning Systems — "On-demand" model for service parts planning.
  • Zack Bergreen, CEO and Chairman, Astea International Inc. — Recognition of field service function.
  • Morris Cohen, Co-founder and Chair, MCA Solutions — Best practices for the service supply chain.
  • Gary Hare, President and CEO, Vinimaya — Supplier enablement as top issue in e-procurement.
  • Bernie Hart, Global Product Executive, JPMorgan Chase Vastera — Integration of physical and financial supply chains.
  • Jim Lawton, VP of Marketing, Open Ratings — Supplier intelligence to mitigate supply chain risk.
  • Ken Lewis, President and CEO, Provia Software — End-user empowerment in supply chain solutions.
  • David Morgan, President and CEO, D.W. Morgan Co. — View of supply chain as a network of shared interests.
  • Joseph Pecoraro, CEO, Archimedian Software — Marriage of sourcing strategy with the right tools.
  • Jody Sommer, SVP of Professional Services, Procuri — Total best value sourcing approach.
  • Paul Svindland, Senior Director, Global Logistics Solutions, ICG Commerce — Transformation of logistics operations.
  • Dawn Tiura, Co-founder, Denali Consulting — View of supply chain as competitive differentiator.
EvangelistsPromoting the value of...
  • David Blinick, CEO and President, Blinco Systems Inc. — Applying supply chain concepts to improve global execution.
  • Kevin Costello, Chief Commercial Officer, Ariba Inc. — Transforming procurement to address spend management complexities.
  • Neha Desai, VP Development & Global Operations, Global eProcure — Applying artificial intelligence to spend management challenges.
  • Michele Flynn, President, Expense Management Solutions Inc. — Strategic sourcing approach to corporate real estate and administrative services.
  • David Haskins, Chief Technology Officer, Kinaxis — Applying Web-based technology to demand management challenges.
  • Donald A. Hicks, CEO and President, Llamasoft Inc. — Applying network optimization and simulation to the supply chain.
  • Alexander "Sandy" Kemper, Chariman and CEO, Perfect Commerce — "On-demand" model for supplier relationship management
  • Raj Khoshoo, VP, Strategic Initiatives, UGS PLM Solutions — Integrating procurement and product lifecycle management.
  • Bob Kramer, VP, Working Capital Solutions, PrimeRevenue — Tackling the root causes of inefficiencies in supply chain finance.
  • Don MacLennan, VP, Product Management and Marketing, Frictionless Commerce Inc. — Best practices for supplier relationship management.
  • Graham R.F. Napier, President and CEO, TradeBeam — Global trade management as a necessary component of supply chain.
  • Dr. Nissim Ozer, Chief Technology Officer, RF Code — Hybrid RFID systems.
  • Steve Savignano, CEO, Ketera — "On-demand" solutions to address spend management challenges.
  • Luke Schneider, SVP, Operations, Verticalnet — "Software as a service" as model to drive technology adoption down-market.
  • Jerry Shapiro, CEO and President, SLIM Technologies — Fact-based planning using data driven models.
  • Dr. John Vande Vate, Executive Director, Georgia Institute of Technology Executive Master in International Logistics — Bringing academia and private sector together to advance supply chain.
GurusIndustry experts on...
  • Jay Baitler, EVP, Staples Contract Division — Driving "lowest total delivered cost" approach.
  • Gunther Bright, SVP/GM of the Global Client Group for Commercial Card, American Express — Expense management and procure-to-pay issues.
  • Jason Busch, Managing Director/Editor, Azul Partners/ www.spendmatters.com — Supply chain blogging, sharing industry knowledge.
  • Greg Clark, President and CEO, E2open — Enabling visibility into global supply networks.
  • Bob Ferrari, Director, Supply Chain Strategies, IDC Manufacturing Insights — Supply chain management, with 30+ years experience.
  • Rene' Jones, Principal Consultant, Oracle — Simplicity in warehouse management systems.
  • Mike Loughrin, Partner, Transformance Advisors Inc. — Applying lean principles to the supply chain.
  • Bill McBeath, Chief Research Officer, ChainLink Research — Supply chain, offering cutting-edge research.
  • Michael E. McGrath, CEO and President, i2 Technologies Inc. — Product development and product strategy.
  • Bill Michels, CEO, ADR North America — Supply chain innovation and transformation.
  • Eric Peters, Co-founder and CEO, TrueDemand Software — Application of RFID in the supply chain.
  • Gerald D. Rasch, Regional VP, Supply Chain Optimizers, LLC — Supply chain principles in markets around the globe.
  • Richard J. Sherman, EVP, Pelion Systems — The SCOR model, having helped found the Supply Chain Council.
  • Harold L. Sirkin, SVP & Director, Boston Consulting Group — Challenges of the global supply chain.
  • Pete Stiles, VP of Strategy and Marketing, LeanLogistics Inc. — Applying technology to address logistics challenges.
PioneersDeveloping solutions for...
  • Tehseen Ali, CEO & President, Verian Technologies — e-Procurement and purchase-to-pay.
  • Charles Ballaro, Director of Product Management, SciQuest — Web-based applications for e-procurement.
  • Henrik Bloch, Product Manager, BuildToOrder, RedPrairie — Manufacturing event management.
  • Shawn Dolley, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Vision Chain Inc. — Leveraging granular data to transform the supply chain.
  • Tom Glassanos, President and CEO, Xign Corp. — Applying "on-demand" to the financial supply chain.
  • Carl Hall, President and CEO, Datalliance — e-Commerce solutions for vendor-managed inventory.
  • Christopher Heim, President, HighJump Software, a 3M Company — Configurable supply chain execution solutions.
  • Bill Huyler, President, Servigistics Pricing, Servigistics — Price optimization for service parts management.
  • Dr. Jun-Sheng Li, Chariman and CEO, Transplace — Collaboration between shippers and carriers.
  • Jeff Metersky, VP, Chainalytics — Network planning and inventory deployment.
  • Bob Moyer, President, FullTilt Solutions — Addressing the master data management challenge.
  • Mark Palmer, VP, Event Stream Processing, Progress Software — Applying data management principles to RFID systems.
  • Kirit Pandit, VP, Content Services, Emptoris — Spend data management to cure "toxic content."
  • Jim Preuninger, CEO, Management Dynamics Inc. — Automating transportation, now eyeing global trade.
  • David Saroli, CEO, Osiris Innovations Group, LLC — Automating invoice reconciliation and payment.
  • Charles Smart, President, Smart Software Inc. — Advanced forecasting capabilities on desktop PCs.
  • Sridhar R. Tayur, CEO, SmartOps Corp. — Applying stochastic, non-linear modeling to supply chain optimization.
  • Michael Topolovac, CEO, Arena Solutions — "On-demand" product lifecycle management.
  • Sue Welch, Founder and CEO, TradeStone Software — Addressing challenges of global sourcing and global trade automation.

Editor's Note: Supply & Demand Chain Executive recognizes that there are "Pros to Know" that exist beyond this list, and we may have inadvertently missed some innovative candidates. We encourage readers to nominate candidates during the submissions period in November and December each year. To be placed on a list to be notified when the submission criteria for the 2006 list are released, please e-mail your request to Andrew K. Reese, editor of Supply & Demand Chain Executive, at [email protected].

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