The 2022 Supply Chain and Procurement Awards, sponsored by Coupa and presented by Supply Chain Now, Art of Procurement, and Buyers Meeting Point, were held on May 18, 2022, and celebrated the best in all things in global supply chain and procurement. If you missed the live awards, check out today’s special podcast replay. Listen as hosts Scott Luton, Kelly Barner, and Phil Ideson welcome special co-hosts, and guests Gina Tesla with Coupa and Tim Nelson with Hope for Justice as they announced the winners of the 9 awards that highlight the best organizations, innovations, and people the industry has to offer.

Intro/Outro (00:00:03):

Welcome to supply chain. Now the voice of global supply chain supply chain now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues. The challenges and opportunities Stay tuned to hear from those making global business happen right here on supply chain now.

Scott Luton (00:00:31):

Hey, good morning, everybody. Welcome to the 2022 supply chain and procurement awards, a global event to celebrate good news and great accomplishments across industry while embracing and amplifying a noble mission and purpose. My name is Scott Luton. I’m a supply chain now I’m joined by my dear friends and co-host today Kelly Barner with buyers meeting point. How you doing Kelly?

Kelly Barner (00:00:52):

I’m doing great, Scott. Good morning, everyone.

Scott Luton (00:00:54):

Great to see ya. And of course, Phil Ideson with art of procurement, Phil, how you doing?

Phil Ideson (00:00:59):

Hey Scott. I’m doing good. Thank you. Thank you, uh, for the intro and I’m really looking forward to doing this.

Scott Luton (00:01:03):

I agree. I agree. And Phil, we’re gonna start with you because what a global showing of support that our awards program has had this year, right?

Phil Ideson (00:01:11):

Yeah. I mean, we’re so grateful for all the support that we’ve had from our supporters and from our partners, you know, events like this truly wouldn’t be possible without their support. So I wanna thank today. Cooper Cooper is our title sponsor for the supply chain and procurement awards this year, and also our partners, Africa supply chain excellence, awards and logistics executive group, along with vector global logistics. Again, a thank you, uh, for those organizations for supporting what we’re trying to do here, and really shine a light on excellence within supply chain and procurement fields.

Scott Luton (00:01:42):

Great well said, uh, and also big thanks to some of those individuals there, Kim Winter, Jenny Froome and many others, uh, folks, some, some of the folks will be showing up in today’s special event. That’s right. Uh, Kelly, uh, who else should we be thinking out there?

Kelly Barner (00:01:55):

Well, speaking of individuals, uh, none of these winners would’ve been selected without the input of our esteemed executive judges panel. Uh, they played an amazing role throughout this whole process, giving us feedback and helping us select the very best and brightest that procurement and supply chain have to show. And of course, in addition to all of our old friends and everybody that has been with us in the past, we also wanna give a warm welcome to everyone from global media. Who’s joining us today. We know we have some procurement and supply chain publications and news sites with us, but we’re also very fortunate to be joined by a number of mass media and business publications as well. So welcome to old friends, welcome to new friends. We’re so glad you could join us today.

Scott Luton (00:02:38):

I agree. And there’s a ton of folks in, uh, the comments, holy Cal <laugh>, uh, lots of passion out there, and we’re gonna try to work those in throughout, uh, the session. And, you know, uh, I should also add, you know, Kelly mentioned the judges, uh, and delay Tanya debt left Ry and Anne really appreciate their dedication, all their work on top of what they do in their organizations there. Um, you know, uh, we should also, you know, a big part, Kelly and Phil as us and our teams got together. We wanted to not just have a run of the mill awards, uh, program, but we wanted to bake in a ton of purpose, uh, into this event together, right? Our collaboration, um, our awards team is very proud to have established with that said established a successful partnership with the extraordinary, extraordinary nonprofit hope for justice.

Scott Luton (00:03:26):

It’s focused on eradicating modern slavery in human trafficking. Uh, so big, thanks to all of our nominees, our sponsors, our supporters together. We’ve accomplished a couple of things. We should all feel good about this. Number one, uh, over the course of our awards program and we’ve educated the global market on these critical issues of our time, uh, Kelly and Phil, how many times have, have we all had these, these aha moments with folks as we’ve shared data and stories and kind of the state, the current state of things across the globe that we’ve gained from hope for justice. So that education and awareness is so important. And secondly, man, I’m a real practical gift giver. I love that we’ve collectively with all these folks, this ecosystem we’ve raised over $13,000, those so far that we’re gonna be donating to for justice to support their programming.

Scott Luton (00:04:15):

But folks, there’s a bigger opportunity here during today’s live stream, we wanna make a bigger impact and we need your help. So if you’re in position to do so, let’s get that total donation over $15,000, we have a special donation link. I think we’re gonna be dropping that into comments. Uh, Jenny free is asking about Scott Luton’s tuxedo. Jenny’s been a long time since I broke out tux. I tried Jenny <laugh>. Um, but Hey, use this special donation link. If you’re in position, whether it’s $5 or $50 or $500, doesn’t matter. Uh, but let’s work. Let’s continue to work together. Um, here now to make this donation to help support, uh, hope for Justice’s nonprofit programming. Let’s give them more resources and we’re gonna wrap a day, uh, beyond donations, the onus and all of us will take action. So, um, so stand by for that, but Hey, in advance, uh, really excited about revealing our award winners. This is probably Phil and Kelly been about eight months, um, eight months of, of hard work and elbow grease and, and blood, sweat, tears, slacks, emails, you name it <laugh> um, and we get a chance. We get both of y’all the way in here. Yeah. We have a chance to, again, celebrate great news and accomplishments while making sure we’re taking action, uh, on one of the greatest noble missions of our time. So, Kelly, what, how, how does this strike you?

Kelly Barner (00:05:37):

So certainly it’s been amazing. The three organizations here having the opportunity to work together to do work that we know is truly important, but I also wanna just say that we have an amazing professional community as well, and every single nominee, every single award selection, uh, everybody deserves recognition today.

Scott Luton (00:05:56):

Agreed, agreed. And feel,

Phil Ideson (00:05:58):

Yeah, we were blown away by the quality of the nominations and the volume of nominations, frankly, and that made the judges’ job a little bit harder than probably they thought when they signed up, um, to, uh, to really judge some of the submissions that we got, but every single one of those submissions helped hope for justice as well. So that’s just truly important. And, and that mission, you know, you talked about taking action, Scott, what’s really important to us as supply chain and procurement professionals is how can we take action in the world? You know, some of the things we see going on, we feel like, you know, we see them, we hear about them and we think that maybe they’re too far away or we’re too distanced, or we as an individual, maybe we can’t make such an impact, but we can, and we can through supporting organizations like hope for justice. So that was truly important as we built that into our program.

Scott Luton (00:06:40):

So well said, uh, thank you, Kelly and Phil, and Hey, we’re a couple minutes ahead of schedule. So I’m gonna act on that and we’re gonna move right into our first award. So let’s get the party started and dive into some incredible, some incredible accomplishments, some great news and Kelly, where are we beginning?

Kelly Barner (00:06:57):

Well, this is incredibly exciting. Scott and Phil and everyone who has joined us. I have the honor of presenting the very first 20, 22 supply chain and procurement award. It is for a sustainable future building a sustainable future. Now this award very much like the supply chain, that we’re all a part of recognizes the fact that we need to be truly intermodal, good stewards, right? Good stewards of the air of the ocean and of the land that we all share, but we didn’t just want, feel good. Everyone that was nominated for this award had to be able to demonstrate measurable sustainability impact. We want meaningful lasting change. And so it is my honor to announce that the recipient of the award for building a sustainable future is Inmar. Now they are being recognized partially because of their efficiency in transportation and reverse logistics. But to that point around measurement, they have chopped in a 99% landfill diversion rate, which has made it possible for them to keep 200 million pounds, 200 million pounds of materials. Wow. Out of landfills that otherwise been there. So to celebrate this moment, let’s hear from a member of the Inmar team.

Thomas Porters (00:08:19):

Thank you. I am Thomas porters, general manager of the product life cycle cloud Atmar intelligence. We are truly honored to be recognized for our ongoing sustainability efforts by offering end to end post-purchase experience solutions. We help customers keep returned goods out of landfills by keeping products in commerce. In fact, we are the nation’s largest liquidator of excess inventory and product returns. We operate more than 25 returns processing facilities across the country, which helps us reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and carbon emissions for even greater sustainability and productivity. Our supply chain performance analytics team focuses on eliminating waste within supply chains in both forward and reverse logistics by providing an end-to-end solution. We help our customers operate more fiscally and environmentally responsible all while helping merchants differentiate their brands through an unrivaled customer experience special thanks to all event sponsors, judges and the Inmar associates that transform our vision into reality day after day again on behalf of ther team. Thank you.

Kelly Barner (00:09:35):

So congratulations Thomas to you and your team. We’re glad you were able to accept on their behalf. And I think there were a couple of things that we heard from him that are so incredibly important. We talked about the measurability and the metrics that give some gravity to the work that companies are doing in this area. But he also talked about the fact that this has to be fiscally responsible as well, because if we are truly gonna get towards a sustainable future, each of these projects and efforts has to be sustainable in and of itself, it has to make good business sense and be good for the world. And so kudos to that team for all of their amazing work. Don’t give up the hard work, keep at it. Uh, we look forward to seeing incredible things from you all, as we move into that future,

Scott Luton (00:10:19):

Well said, uh, congrats to the entire Inmar intelligence organization, incredible story. There’s so much good stuff. Uh, and we got a couple minutes. I wanna recognize, uh, Maria, uh, and Maria, let us know where you’re tuned in from way to go in more intelligence. She says so proud. I’ve been working there for the past 15 years. How about that? Uh, Stephanie Stuckey, the one only is with us here today. Hey, there from the Georgia coast where she’s at, uh, the Georgia economic development authority conference, congrats to all the winners agreed. And, you know, uh, we’ve got to recognize, uh, Jenny fr, so Jenny, uh, she’s waiting a couple times, but Jenny agreed with many of your sentiments earlier there. Uh, Kelly. Okay. And folks, we’re gonna try to work in your comments throughout today’s session. We’ve got a lot of moving pieces. Phil. I wanna give you a chance to, uh, weigh in on what we saw there with in more intelligence and, and, you know, taking real action as Kelly said, not lip service, real results, sustainable results.

Phil Ideson (00:11:18):

Yeah. And, and there, as we talk more about sustainability that, um, you know, ensuring that it’s profitable, sustainability is really important because, um, you know, that, I think when we’ve tried to work, certainly in the procurement space with, with sustainability initiatives, it’s kind of fallen down there. Um, I was an event last week and it was really interesting just to talk about, um, you know, it was one of the things that was interesting to me was how we need to embed sustainable practices into our business, as opposed to seeing them as being discrete projects. And it’s, oh, this is a CSR project, or this is a sustain sustainability project. No, we need to be bringing those together. So it’s just a business process. So it’s, it’s really interesting to, and be inspired by some of the initiatives that are going on within our community. And certainly the one, um, that Imar was awarded for as well is, you know, an example of that.

Scott Luton (00:12:03):

Excellent, well said, Phil, and it was good to be with you for a portion of last week, for sure. Hey, Tony Sheroda is with us here today. And he says, proud to say that Inmar is a leading member of the reverse logistics association. And he mentioned rev reverse logistics. Uh, as Tony has said, countless times here, that’s kind of been the, um, um, um, he calls it the dark side of global supply chain and, you know, we’ve gotta lift it up and we’ve gotta make a lot more folks aware of all the good work that folks on that reverse side are doing. Um, let’s see here. I also wanted to share Maria is located in the Winston-Salem North Carolina, which is home of the Inmar, uh, corporate offices, uh, Karin Bursa, uh, host of TEKTOK, digital supply chain podcasted with us. She’s gotta learn a lot more about the great work Inmar is doing, Hey, we’re trying our best, uh, Kelly and Phil aren’t, we <laugh>. Uh, and folks, if you have any, uh, little side note, if you’re having any, uh, technical, um, uh, difficulties, we’ve got a bunch of folks on the platform right now, as I think Paul mentioned, he’s gonna, uh, reconnect. Hey, yeah. Do that from time to time. You might need to refresh your, uh, screen there. Okay. So moving right along, uh, Kelly and Phil, um, I wanna get into our next category, which is the world class logistics ecosystem. What a category. Hey Phil, tell us more.

Phil Ideson (00:13:23):

Yeah. And I feel like when we’re making these award announcements, we need a, an applause backing track or something that goes with the, uh, the winner to really, you know, bring this

Scott Luton (00:13:31):

Next year <laugh> next year, Phil.

Phil Ideson (00:13:34):

Um, but no, thank you for, for our second award, which as you mentioned, is building a world class logistic logistics ecosystem, you know, and I think it’s been, uh, obvious for the world around us right now. Uh, supply chains are just playing more of an ever expanding role in the communities and economies. Um, and while we are doing that, they become a lot more diverse and complex and you know, far more ecosystem driven. So whether it’s from carriers to brokers, warehousing providers to asset free, optimizes control towers to three PL service providers, there’s lots of new innovations and new forms of value that are entering the scene, uh, around this category all the time. And so this award building a world cast logistics ecosystem is really presented to where we’re looking at the, uh, the nominations and organization, our team that demonstrates logistics excellence. Um, and so with that being said, it’s my pleasure for, to announce and let’s cue that backing track, um, <laugh> transportation insights and Nolan transportation group as the winners of this award today.

Phil Ideson (00:14:35):

And let me just tell you a little bit more about our winners. So transportation insight and no, and transportation group, our industry leading three PL logistics providers, um, our judges, commended transportation insight and no, and transportation group on their ability to help their clients problem solve in complex environments from the first mile to the final mile. And there was one interesting example, uh, that was cited, which is where they were working with a retail customer. And they were experiencing, I think, 12,000 address corrections a week. And it was costing over a hundred thousand dollars a week. And so they created an address verification API to really ensure the accuracy of all of these addresses. It had five millisecond response times. There were 300,000 API calls a day, uh, but it significantly helped their client increase on time delivery rates. And, you know, just to add in it, uh, saved them over $3 million a year. So an added bonus there. So with that being said, let’s hear from a member of the award-winning team

John Haber (00:15:32):

On behalf of transportation insight and Nolan transportation group. I am absolutely thrilled to accept the award for building a world class logistics ecosystem. We are grateful to supply chain now for recognizing so many innovators in the world’s supply chain and are honored to be leading the charge along with so many of you. We had an incredibly simple vision that has guided us to this point, great tech, empowering, greater people. It takes the right combination of technology and people to keep the economy moving. And we’re excited and humble to provide solutions from port to porch. Obviously we couldn’t accomplished this without a team of dedicated individuals. Our employees go above and beyond every day helping sustain business for our carrier and ship of partners with a perfect mix of technology services in personnel. It’s no secret that hard work pays off and we have the hardest working team in the industry. So on behalf of transportation insight and Nolan transportation group, thank you. We are filled with gratitude for our carrier and chipper partners, employees, and everyone who has made this possible. And there’s so much more to come. Thank you again.

Phil Ideson (00:16:44):

So congratulations to the team at Transportation Insight and Nolan Transportation Group, it was a hotly contested, um, category. So, uh, they did great job and, and we’re proud to award them, um, in this category.

Scott Luton (00:16:57):

Agreed. And I love what, uh, John Haber, uh, said there did y’all hear that great tech empowering, even greater people. Mm-hmm, <affirmative> Kelly, you’re nodding your head as well. I love that. I’m, that’s gonna be a t-shirt ism from the day, right?

Kelly Barner (00:17:10):

<laugh> I think it is. And it’s so interesting because when I hear retail, the first thing that comes to mind for me is that means it’s touching us as people in our personal lives. We’re certainly here today to celebrate business achievements. But when you look at a company that can do something that improves the way any retail industry changes, uh, you’re hitting individual families and communities, and that is truly something to celebrate on an individual level.

Scott Luton (00:17:34):

Well said, well said, uh, a couple of quick comments here. Uh, so Celeste is being the connector, uh, pointing folks to Scott White Inmar he’s part of that reverse logistics supply chain team there for our first award winner. So thank you, uh, blessed to be the connectors in life, for sure. So thank you, Celeste. Uh, El Marie is join is, uh, congratulating John Haber and the transportation insight and Nolan transportation group team. Uh, good old Tom Valentine’s with us TV, uh, also congratulating the, uh, Nolan transportation group team. Yeah, goodness gracious. Uh, and also welcoming in Michael from Nigeria. Great to have you here, uh, via LinkedIn. Thanks so much. Okay. So Kelly and Phil, sometimes we’ve got too many prep guides floating around the, uh, the desk and y’all relate to that sometimes. <laugh> um, so we’ve got our first big keynote here today, right.

Scott Luton (00:18:27):

I wanna welcome in, you know, it takes as Phil and Kelly, we all kind of spoke to, it takes a lot of support to do this, uh, to, to put on these awards and, and, you know, dive into the back stories, look at all the data, um, you know, celebrate creating these events. And then also, uh, you know, writing that check to a great, powerful nonprofit, doing big things, takes a lot of support. Um, I want to, uh, again, uh, share our gratitude to our title sponsor Coupa for supporting those efforts at both celebrating good news across industry while bringing attention and resources to that ne mission. So with that said, when welcome in one of our friends from Coupa, Gina Tesla, vice president environment, social and governance governance with Coupa, Hey, Hey, Gina, how are you doing

Gina Tesla (00:19:10):

Hi, good morning, everybody from the west coast, bright and early

Scott Luton (00:19:14):

<laugh> well, Gina, as we did and appreciate meet Phil and Kelly, uh, we’re all big fans. And really, again, we appreciate y’all support,

Gina Tesla (00:19:23):

Happy to happy to give it and so thrilled to be here today.

Scott Luton (00:19:27):

So, um, love your passion. As we learned some of the pre-show, uh, conversations, your passion for that intersection of business and society. That’s great where oftentimes innovative partnerships are formed now in doing our homework. You also have quite the track record for building strong diverse teams, but to start our conversation today, Hey, tell us more about COA.

Gina Tesla (00:19:46):

Well, thank you again for inviting me here today. I am so thrilled to be here and to talk a little bit about Coupa. You know, we’re creating a whole new category of enterprise software, and this is all about BSM or business spend management. And this is really all about modernizing and digitizing the back office, but what’s that all really mean to me, it’s all about silo busting, right? Creating more connections among teams, really creating connections between if you think about it, between the procurement team and the supply chain team finance, and it it’s ultimately about how we can maximize every dollar spent and how we can look and maximize that dollar spent from both a supplier diversity perspective and a sustainability perspective. As we’ve been talking about this morning, we’re a fast moving company. I love it. We’re able to create a huge amount of impact in a short period of time. We have over 2,500 customers and 8 million suppliers. And what we’re doing is we’re really helping to provide that visibility. We’re really helping to unify, as I said, really bust those silos. And as we all, like, we’re helping to build more control who doesn’t want more control in your

Kelly Barner (00:21:08):

Life.

Gina Tesla (00:21:09):

<laugh> <laugh>

Scott Luton (00:21:10):

I love that smashing silos, Kelly that’s

Kelly Barner (00:21:14):

Right. And more control. So Gina, we all, we all want more of that. Can you tell us a little bit about how you and the rest of the Coupa team are helping Coupa’s customers deal with the increases in supply chain risk?

Gina Tesla (00:21:28):

Yeah, absolutely. We, we know that it’s definitely a challenging time. Now. There are a lot of different factors, macroeconomic factors that are causing all kinds of supply chain disruptions, being able to have that visibility and to also, um, create more resilient supply chains is really critical. So we’re really able to help through supply chain modeling, for example, to help you see all different kinds of scenarios and to put them into place in a much shorter period of time. That means that you can adjust. You can be more agile, which is another thing that we all need, right? Mm-hmm, <affirmative>, we’re no longer in a period of time when we can just sort of plan out and, and sort of be able, you know, we have to expect the unexpected, right? Yes. And we have to be able to kind of filter in all different kinds of variables and then see how that affects the supply chain.

Gina Tesla (00:22:28):

So that’s something that we’re able to do with our business spend management and with our, um, supply chain modeling that really helps from also providing, you know, tailored risk assessments. So we can also look from a compliance perspective and see where there might be potential risk on the horizon and then readjust. Um, and again, you know, I can’t, I can’t say enough about both the silo busting and then also helping these cross functional teams. How often ha have we sort of just learned from, you know, basic sort of consulting can always sort of go into any organization and say, you know, if you just didn’t have so many silos, if you were just able to communicate more, you’d be able to achieve more. So we’re really here to facilitate that

Scott Luton (00:23:16):

Really quick, Phil, before, uh, you pose a question that expect the unexpected, it’s like, uh, the next, uh, episode or series of big brother, if you’re our fans, I think they’re on like season 25, it’s gonna be sponsored by global. So supply chain, I believe <laugh>, uh, but, but Phil, where are we going next with our friend Jenna?

Phil Ideson (00:23:33):

Yes. So, so I think Gina, when, uh, we introduced you, you talked about your role in ESG, um, and ESG, you know, the, uh, environmental, social and governance elements are, are surrounding global supply chains. And procurement is something that a lot of organizations it’s becoming far more important. And it’s something that’s gone from being talked about, you know, perhaps among supply chain and procurement professionals to actually ties into markets. Markets are looking at what organizations are doing and around ESG as a value measure. And so I just wonder if you could discuss some of the initiatives, some of the ESG initiatives that Cooper is focusing on right now, and, you know, what are you kind of looking out as you mapping that into the future?

Gina Tesla (00:24:10):

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I am the luckiest person in the world to have this job to be focused on environmental, social and governance every day. And to do it at a place where our ultimate shared value that we’re providing is our sustainable business spend management. We have over $3 trillion in cumulative spend, let’s imagine a world where $3 trillion or even more is spent in a, in a diverse and, and sustainable way, right? Meaning if we’re able to then take that spend and select more diverse suppliers, if we’re able to reduce carbon footprints, um, if we’re able to reduce risk in the ESG, um, uh, supply chain. So for me, it’s really a matter of what we’re ultimately able to provide as our offering from a sustainable business spend management. And it’s also our personal corporate responsibility in terms of how we show up in the world.

Gina Tesla (00:25:12):

And that’s what I get to focus on every single day. And it’s really about looking at our time, our talent, our technology, really the passion of our employees, ensuring that we are harnessing that providing opportunities for our employees. We’ve just recently increased our volunteer time. We’ve increased our match. Um, so we’ve given 150% more volunteer time. We’ve doubled our match. Wow. We have launched a new strategic pro bono program because we really want to contribute again, that time, that talent, and then technology. And most importantly, in partnership with others, you know, the kind of problems and opportunities that we’re looking at are not the kind that can be solved by any one entity. And so it’s really important that we’re doing this work in partnership with others. And so you’re gonna see a lot more of that from us and, you know, Scott I’ll, I’ll sort of give you another t-shirt here. Okay. We’re really all reducing the Delta between good intentions and meaningful action.

Scott Luton (00:26:18):

Hmm. That is, uh, got purpose is gonna be a big part of theme here and purpose. It walks hand in hand for many leaders with, with real action. And I love that sentiment there, Jean, you got, that’s an important Delta to go smash and whether it’s silos or deltas that that’s, we got our work cut out for us. Don’t we? Gina,

Gina Tesla (00:26:36):

Absolutely.

Phil Ideson (00:26:39):

Sorry, Scott. I just wanna jump in with one thing. Cause I think it’s really important is how, um, you know, we can’t do this alone. And so, you know, I’m sure that you are seeing as well, like there’s industries that are coming together to solve problems on an industry wide level where historically those companies may look at each other as competitors, but are actually realizing we’ve actually gotta solve this together. And it’s gonna benefit all of us as opposed to trying to do this on an individual or company by company basis.

Scott Luton (00:27:03):

Mm yes. Well said Phil, and, and along those lines, before we ask, uh, Gina, uh, for a resource where folks can get more information, I think we’re already dropping that comments, Kelly, a quick thought from you on, on the message that Gina is sharing here today. And some of the really cool things that Coopers up to

Kelly Barner (00:27:16):

Absolutely it’s, it’s really about scale, you know, for so long procurement has measured our impact measured our charge in terms of dollars and individual suppliers. But if we can make a change $1, one supplier, one relationship, one employee volunteer day at a time, the total scalable impact is incredible. So Gina, please send our thanks and, and gratitude to the rest of your team. Um, and keep up the good work.

Gina Tesla (00:27:42):

My pleasure. Thank you so much.

Scott Luton (00:27:44):

Well said, Hey Gina, before you take off, uh, I should add, you know, it’s a great example of giving the people what they want because not only do the markets and consumers want a lot of what you’ve shared and what feel, and, and Kelly are talking to and what some of other companies are gonna be speaking to here today, but our employees are team members. They want, they want more meaningful work where they’re making that impact. So, uh, I love that on a variety of levels. Um, alright, so Gina, I think folks, we’ve got a link and we’ve already dropped that comments. Where would you direct folks to, to go to learn more?

Gina Tesla (00:28:13):

Yeah, I think you’ve got that to cupa.com/sustainability. We are getting ready to issue our second ESG report. So keep an eye up for that in the next, uh, month or so. And we’ll just keep rolling and, and giving you the, the good impact and information,

Scott Luton (00:28:30):

Keep the good stuff coming, the, the real results coming. So I really appreciate what you’re doing. And again, on behalf of our entire team, uh, we appreciate Coupa support as we look, uh, to make an impact, uh, collectively here across the globe and with our friends, uh, from hope for justice. So we’ve been talking thanks again to Gina Tesla, vice president environment, social and governance with Coupa. All right, man, Phil Kelly, I’m ready to run through the wall. That’s behind me. How about you?

Kelly Barner (00:29:01):

Well, that would certainly shorten the Delta between what was it and purpose or intentions and, and measurable results. Just don’t go around the wall, just go right through it. <laugh>

Phil Ideson (00:29:10):

Yeah. And I’m definitely ready to start, uh, bashing some silos. I thought that was a great, uh, a great term. You know, I may co-op that because, um, I think that’s one of the greatest challenges we all face on a day to day basis. Isn’t it? And, um, you know, it’s, it’s down to people, but it’s interestingly how it’s increasingly we using technologies a way to enable that

Scott Luton (00:29:29):

Agreed. And I’m not gonna put it as eloquently as Gina did, but that Delta basic what I heard there, that Delta between all the lip service yes. That that’s out there in the market and those folks actually get stuff done, GSD, you know, uh, limiting or reducing that, that, that massive Delta that can be, uh, between those two, uh, those two, uh, spots. Um, okay. I wanna share a couple quick comments before we move on to our next category. Uh, I wanna welcome in Ebony from New Jersey, congratulations to the winners and nominees. Thank you for that. Ebony. Thanks so much for being here. Uh, dear friend, Jenny F is also congratulate transportation insight and Nolan transportation group. Great to have you here as always, uh, Jenny NUIA is tuned in from LinkedIn. NUIA let us know where you’re tuned in from, uh, Samira. I think I got that right. Let me know if I didn’t good morning from Morocco, man. I bet that is a, a gorgeous show. He is a truly global

Kelly Barner (00:30:23):

Awards. Aren’t that this

Scott Luton (00:30:24):

Morning, absolutely ALO uh, he, uh, hi Kelly and Phil. Great show. So both of y’all are doing an outstanding job. Uh, I just wanna, <laugh> put that out there, but Hey, all a good fun. Thank you. Good morning,

Kelly Barner (00:30:37):

Alan.

Scott Luton (00:30:38):

Alan. I’m I’m putting a different emphasis there, Alan. My apologies is great to have you

Phil Ideson (00:30:42):

Here. We hear some Welsh.

Scott Luton (00:30:44):

Ah, yes, please. All ears. Uh, at least my mom wouldn’t wouldn’t have said that as a kid, but all ears now, uh, John Rose are great to have you here via LinkedIn, uh, Vicky white, uh, here over supply chain. Now team is with us. Great to see you, uh, Vicky. Okay. So folks so much good news so much. Good news. I, I wanna, uh, let’s see here, El Elmarie extremely true. Phil. We have strategic partners globally that would have been seen as competition previously. That’s such a great point because, um, you know, I’ve seen Phil and Kelly a lot more collaboration, uh, you know, cooperation, as I’ve heard it put, that’s a great thing. And it’s really a breath of fresh air. Um, here in 2022, right? Ray, a Tia is with us. Hello Ray from Ohio, collaborating with others to solve high hanging high hanging fruit problems is the only way to create systemic change, excellent point array.

Phil Ideson (00:31:41):

And that’s another t-shirt phrase, high hanging fruit. We solve high, high hanging fruit problems.

Scott Luton (00:31:47):

It that, uh, Phil you’re a marketing genius, uh, marketing genius. Let me, let me be the first or maybe, uh, the million person to tell you that. Um, alright. So as, as much as we’re all now energized with, uh, the message that Gina Tesla with Coupa has shared, we have got, um, the one only, uh, Kevin L. Jackson joining us here in just a second. So let’s welcome in Kevin. Hey Kevin, El Jackson,

Kelly Barner (00:32:14):

How are you? Good morning, Kevin.

Kevin L. Jackson (00:32:15):

Hey, good morning, everyone. I’m trying to find out hi, hanging fruit

Scott Luton (00:32:20):

<laugh> Man, which kinda hook you up to the electrical grid and we’re gonna be able to power the country, the coast, the coast, maybe the globe, but, uh, Kevin, before we go too much further with you, we gotta point out you host digital transformers here, uh, which is a top 100 podcast. You’re, uh, kicking, kicking butt taking names. So great to have you here as we celebrate good news with purpose at our awards. So how you doing Kevin?

Kevin L. Jackson (00:32:45):

Hey, I am doing great. You know, and, and, uh, so thank you for telling the award. I tell you, it’s not me. It’s that team, that production team that’s right now making us look good globally and, and, and, uh, Kelly you’re right. I mean, this is a, a, a global award. I’m just looking at all the different countries and people and, and accents. And I mean, this is amazing.

Scott Luton (00:33:11):

It really is. So you’re, we’re gonna be talking over the next couple of minutes about one of your favorite topics, right? Digital transformation. We’ve got an award delivering change through digital transformation. Tell us more about it.

Kevin L. Jackson (00:33:24):

Yes, absolutely. You know, in today’s world change is constant and accelerating. That means that for every organization, this means identifying a business need and understanding and acquiring talent, changing their internal processes and deploying that needed technology. It also even more important to that is being able to successfully lead a digital transformation effort. You know, it’s about flipping that switch in, in, in the brain, right? And this award is presented to an organization that is well on their way through a digital journey. And they are, they’re willing to share their transformational story for the benefits of the world of the globe.

Scott Luton (00:34:21):

So

Kevin L. Jackson (00:34:22):

Go ahead

Scott Luton (00:34:22):

With, no, I don’t wanna take your steam and you’re, you’re, you’re bringing loads of energy. I love that. So I’ll let you name the winner.

Kevin L. Jackson (00:34:29):

So I am so proud and honored to announce the winner of the first digital transformational award to the Dubai municipality based in the era, Dubai, where’s that track

Scott Luton (00:34:48):

We do. We need that. We gotta, we gotta rock some,

Phil Ideson (00:34:52):

Keep Kevin online for the rest of the ceremony. <laugh>

Scott Luton (00:34:56):

That is correct. Well, congratulations. We’ve got a few snapshots of some of the team there, uh, with Dubai municipality, uh, congrats to all of you and Kevin. This is, um, yeah, this is the path forward, right? I mean, did the transf

Kevin L. Jackson (00:35:11):

Range, I would say, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, uh, the bottom municipality is the body with jurisdiction over the entire city of Dubai. They they’re responsible for city services and the upkeep of facilities across the Emirate of Dubai, uh, deer itself is located in the Eastern part of the city. And it’s one of the major districts. Um, I would call it, it used to be what you would call downtown in the United States, right? <laugh> it was the center of the city. And it was where all of the major financial and trade activities occurred for the Emirate. It is world famous for the traditional Arab souks or, or the marketplaces for gold spices and perfumes, uh, that team where you showed their picture, they really highlighted the crucial dilemma presented in, especially in government, in executing procurement, analyzing bids, evaluating those bids and issuing the service contracts for the day to day operations of the city.

Kevin L. Jackson (00:36:28):

So in order to do this, they align the procurement process with the core municipality strategies, by like institutionalizing and implementing new practice ideas, procedures, and policies in the government. They enable training and capacity building develop goals and strategies to improve, uh, all processes and even more important, actually established ongoing measurement processes in order to monitor and measure the strategic procurement performance. This actually delivered real results. The suppliers across the city increased by a factor of five. Wow. The business unit satisfaction raised from 61% to 94%. While employee productivity was increased by 290%, they actually don’t get this. They actually have a smart decision process in their system and it achieved at 86% correct decisions without human intervention, all autonomously, the suppliers all interacted through a 24 7 online portal with zero physical visits and a hundred percent of the procurement team worked remotely with an increase of the employee satisfaction rate from 87% to 98%. This really shows that government organizations can indeed lead us all into the future through digital transformation. Uh, I love that

Scott Luton (00:38:35):

You talk about delivering change through digital transformation and, and Kevin appreciate all that you’re sharing here. Congratulations to Dubai municipality. What an incredible story. Kevin, I wish we had another hour with you. Cause as Phil mentioned, you should stick out with, with us the rest of the show, but we’re gonna be together soon. And thank you. I’ll give you one final word Kevin, before we SW you back out,

Kevin L. Jackson (00:38:56):

I tell you, um, this, this show is really lighting the beacon. I mean, over the past two years, I mean, be be before, you know, pre pandemic, you know, supply chain was a bad word, right? Then we learned how important and critical it is to every business process. And this award is, is now these awards is, is, is making it obvious,

Scott Luton (00:39:23):

Agree with that.

Kevin L. Jackson (00:39:24):

So congratulations, Kelly and Scott and, and Philip and Cooper for, for making this, uh, of reality.

Scott Luton (00:39:31):

Mm. Thank you so much, Kevin. I wish we had 50 minutes with you here today. <laugh> we’ll be back with you soon. Kevin L. Jackson, digital transformers, make sure you connect with him. Thank you, Kevin.

Kevin L. Jackson (00:39:41):

Thank you,

Scott Luton (00:39:42):

Man. He brought it and not only did he bring it as all as look Kevin always does, but that story, that, of that, what the team is doing in Dubai to drive change and look, it’s probably, I think I’m being fair. Kelly and Phil we’ll get to what next award in just a second, but driving change in government because of kind of the nature of it and the, and the system and the policies and, and, uh, kinda legacy systems. In some cases it’s gotta be challenging globally and they are not messing around in Dubai. So Kelly really quick, quick comment there,

Kelly Barner (00:40:13):

Anybody that thinks you can’t innovate in the public sector, gauntlet officially thrown

Scott Luton (00:40:18):

Mm t-shirt is in number 17 and Phil

Phil Ideson (00:40:21):

Know the same. I think that it, it probably rides a good example where we may struggle in private enterprise sometimes in driving transformation that if it can be done in put the public space, it can some not be done in the private space too.

Scott Luton (00:40:32):

Mm well said, Hey, really quick. So DIA, this is a third iteration, uh, of this event here as we’ve gone global and we really embraced, um, or really double down on the purpose related, well, DIA helped make, uh, the first couple of Atlanta focus, awards happen. And, and she says always great to see this event and the winner’s never been more relevant, do a well said. And we look forward to catching back up with you again really soon. Okay. Kelly, we knew this was gonna be fast moving. There’s so many, so many things I can’t get to right now. Great quote from Fred. We we’ll try to circle back to that, this next award, uh, where are we going next, Kelly,

Kelly Barner (00:41:09):

This next award is near and dear to my heart reimagining the power of procurement. We’re so proud to have been able to bring supply chain and procurement together in this award ceremony. So this particular award, one of the things we talk about a lot at art of procurement is helping people imagine the art of the possible through procurement and the recipient of this award. Not only had to imagine it, they had to do it. They had to take action. And we specifically had asked for evidence of an extraordinary ability to innovate and drive growth above and beyond sort of what we consider the table stakes capabilities of procurement savings, supplier management, and meeting stakeholder needs. And so without any further ado, I am very proud to announce that the recipient of the 2022 reimagining the power of procurement award is T-Mobile and they were selected. Get ready, Scott, new t-shirt for rejecting the status quo and part of how they did that was they helped their entire company hit renewables targets while also helping T-Mobile’s enormous consumer base spread throughout the country, save money on their electrical bills. So huge kudos to the T-Mobile team. And let’s actually take a moment to celebrate this accomplishment with a member of their team.

Chad Wilkinson (00:42:35):

Hi, I’m Chad, Wilkinson the director of sustainability and infrastructure sourcing here at T-Mobile. I’m so honored to accept the supply chain and procurement award on behalf of my energy and sustainability team, the category for which they’re being recognized, reimagining the power of procurement really couldn’t be more perfect since that’s what our procurement teams do every day. It’s exactly that kind of creativity and empowerment that inspired the team to help T-Mobile become the first and only us wireless communications company to be a hundred percent sourced for electricity using clean green, renewable energy. One more way. We’re changing wireless for good to reach and maintain our ambitious 100% renewables target. We followed all of the above approach when it comes to our suite of solutions. In addition to power purchase agreements, the energy and sustainability team reimagine how community solar projects could contribute to our clean energy success. While at the same time greening the grid for the communities we serve way to go team. And thank you for this tremendous honor,

Scott Luton (00:43:34):

Man, Kelly, I, I just gotta latch on one thing. There is Amy points out, changing wireless for good, for good that’s Kelly, your comment there.

Kelly Barner (00:43:43):

Key word empowerment, right? Just like supply chain has changed by being thrust into everyone’s first hand awareness procurement two has changed tremendously over the last two words and that word empowerment, anyone that’s in the field of procurement, whether you intended to be there or not, you have an opportunity to do tremendous good, whether you’re changing wireless, changing, how things work in the public sector or hitting ESG targets, any number of things, but congratulations to Chad and T-Mobile and the entire team for what they’ve achieved.

Scott Luton (00:44:14):

Completely agree. Uh, completely agree, but Hey, here’s more good news. Wait, there’s a lot more Phil. I’m coming to you in just a second, but I gotta share this from Fred cause this is how I feel too. Uh, Fred Tober, the doc holiday of supply chain is he’s been coined by the one and only Greg white. Uh, Fred says hearing the stories of these winners tells me it’s a great day to be in supply chain and procurement. I’ll add that last part there, but really we’re one big global ecosystem. Sure. Fred, I can’t agree with you more so well said there. Um, okay, so Phil, uh, let’s talk about some trailblazers, huh?

Phil Ideson (00:44:47):

Yeah. And, and ironically, just going back that T-Mobile, or people may be wondering what’s this non-traditional background of the hotel room that I’m co presenting in. And ironically I’m basically across the road from T-Mobile’s us campus. So I could have, uh, gone a no, uh, delivered that award in person <laugh>. Um, so maybe next year <laugh>

Scott Luton (00:45:05):

Well, uh, I loved, uh, I love how the team shots and the energy, and I’m seeing a lot of comments here. I wish I could hit all of them, including some team members. It looks, but, uh, moving right along to trailblazers. I mean, I think Trailblazer’s also gonna be a big, big theme here today, right? Phil?

Phil Ideson (00:45:20):

Yeah. And so the next award is the technology trailblazer award. And I’ll just explain a little bit about what we’re thinking of as we brought together this category. So really we think about the ability to digitally transform supply chain performance and the outcomes outcomes is really important. And it’s something we talk about all the time at that procurement. It determines, you know, who are the people who are able to enable that for our, for that clients determines who’s gonna become a market leader and ultimately who’s gonna be a follower. And that digital business transformation comes from leveraging new technologies, new services, uh, to increase business value, uh, to accelerate ROI, create sustainable paths forward. We’ve talked a lot about sustainability today. And so when we look to this technology trailblazer award, we actually invited nominations from both supply chain and procurement. And that’s one of the themes of this really at this awards program is not thinking about we, it’s funny, Gina talked about silos, not thinking about procurement as, as one separate entity and supply chain as another separate entity, because we are so interlinked.

Phil Ideson (00:46:18):

And so we wanted to, uh, invite nominations from both sides. When we think about, um, technology, uh, trailblazers. So let’s go into the two awards and I’m going to start with the, uh, technology trailblazer award for supply chain and the, the winner of the technology trailblazer award for supply chain is ship well. So congratulations to the ship. Well team, I’ll share a little bit about, um, their nomination. So ship well is a cloud based solution. That’s combining transportation management visibility and an integrated partner network into a single platform. And our judges were really impressed that ship well provides a truly end to end approach to helping shippers find the best developable capacity to meet time and budget demands, to provide visibility into potential obstacles, which helps create shorter delivery times. And that’s so important right now. Now one of the examples that they gave was, uh, with their clients, Marcus technologies, who are a company that manages the transportation of highly perishable proteins. So they automati automated, I’m sorry, their entire freight quoting their booking and their tracking processes. Mm. Um, you know, that led to 16% shipping savings in the first six months. And I think what was really important to their client Marcus technology is, was enable those folks who are doing all that manual work to actually move on to higher value activities. That Marcus technology is cited as really being a driver of their scale. So congratulations, first of all, to the team at ship, well for winning the technology trailblazer award for supply chain,

Scott Luton (00:47:52):

Congratulations to ship. Well, I gotta, before you move forward. Yeah. You know, I think I referenced my mother earlier and I’ll be dead come. Leah Luton is with us here today. Very proud of all the companies she says, uh, great job to our collective teams, uh, and thankful for the donation to hope for justice. Uh, thanks mom. I’m I completely agree with you. Thank

Phil Ideson (00:48:15):

You, Scott

Kelly Barner (00:48:15):

Mom.

Phil Ideson (00:48:16):

<laugh> yeah, no pressure Scott on doing the best job you can. That’s right.

Scott Luton (00:48:19):

That is right. But ship well, congratulations to all of their team, the organization, some of the results and beyond that field that you’ve shared with us, uh, Kelly, quick comment, before we move to the procurement technology trailblazer.

Kelly Barner (00:48:33):

Sure. I mean, again, we heard end to end, right? So we think about the fact that it’s upstream supply chain, downstream, supply chain, all of these different nodes and all of the connectivity that is required to achieve these things. It’s, it’s truly amazing. Both how complex and how effective all of these systems are.

Scott Luton (00:48:49):

Mm well said, Kelly, you’re you and Phil both robots here. Goodness gracious. You’re right on time. But Phil, we got more good news. Tell us about the technology trailblazer for procurement.

Phil Ideson (00:48:59):

Yeah. And I wanna say our timing is down to the team behind the scenes, again, as the, the amount of preparation, you know, I think that’s something that often goes unseen by a lot of folks who engage and interact with, uh, some of these broadcasts, both whether it’s audio or visual, there’s so much that goes on behind the scenes are queue us for everyone who’s running, um, the event and making us look good where our job is really just to show up and, and have a conversation. Right.

Scott Luton (00:49:22):

Well said.

Phil Ideson (00:49:24):

So let’s move on to the technology trailblazers award for procurement, uh, and it’s with great pleasure that I announced the winner of this category as Hicks Hicks. Let me just share a little bit about their, uh, their, um, their nomination. So Hicks is really on a mission to help companies manage all of their data about their suppliers, along with all the onboarding and off boarding of supplier data, all in one place. And that’s a huge problem in procurement, um, in their winning submission Hicks, partnered with BAE systems to integrate all the business records from over 50,000 suppliers, across 13 different business units. And each one of these business units all have their own ERP systems, which, uh, you know, certainly complicated the effort and bring all that into a single source of truth. So once onboarded, they have the 50,000 suppliers onboarded. Now they’re able to go and automate the process of getting all the certifications and compliance documents around those suppliers, which is really a heavily manual process in a typical organization. So in doing so, they helped BA systems deliver a five year business case in just six months. So congratulations to Hicks for their award-winning submission. And let’s hear from a member of their team.

Costas Xyloyiannis (00:50:35):

Hi everyone on behalf of everyone at Hicks, our customers and our partners. I just wanted to say a massive thank you to the supply chain now team and the judging panel for having selected Hicks for the technology trailblazers award. It’s been really exciting to see how in the last 12 to 18 months organizations are really prioritizing supplier experience and leveraging technologies such as Hicks to set up their suppliers for success. So once again, on behalf of the entire Hicks team and our customers, we want to say a big thank you for selecting us and here’s to making for a better supplier experience. Thank you.

Scott Luton (00:51:09):

So ship well and Hicks congrats to you both. Congratulations. Yeah. Seriously. Uh, let’s see, Phil, let’s give you the final word and we’re getting close to our second keynote today. So if your found a word from you, Phil.

Phil Ideson (00:51:23):

Yeah. Just to congratulations again, to cost us and the whole team at Hicks, it truly is a difficult problem for procurement to manage all of this data, um, and leads to just a lot of challenges and understanding, you know, who your supply base is, um, how, where the opportunities are to drive things like, um, you know, compliance to insurance requirements, starting to understand certification around diversity ESG. There’s so many interconnected parts of the data they’re able to bring together into a single source of truth. And that’s really one of the largest challenges that procurement faces right now. So congrats to the Hicks team and all the work that they’re doing to solve that for their customers around the globe.

Scott Luton (00:52:00):

Excellent. Excellent points there. Uh, Phil on the money, Hey, really quick before we welcome in our, uh, distinguished keynote here, number two, uh, SHTA says congratulations to all nominees and winners completely agree. A lot of comments I can’t get to today along those lines, uh, Yosh, our friend Yosh says congrat ship. Well from the fulfilled team, hope you’re doing well. Uh, Yosh. I want to, um, let’s see, Kevin says who’s still with us. Your mom will always be there for you, Scott. I love that. Uh, I love that and I can’t let anybody, I try to let anybody down. Nana, Nana, perhaps, uh, from Ghana. I apologize. We certainly wanna acknowledge everybody. We’re so glad that you’re here tuned in, uh, via LinkedIn. Okay. So, and, and Crawford, McCarty. I see you there. I’m gonna try to get that comment in a minute, but, um, let’s do this Kelly and Phil, uh, really, you know, as we talked about on the front end, um, so many great awards shows out there.

Scott Luton (00:52:55):

We wanted to, we wanted to celebrate good news, but we wanted to bake in as much purpose as we could, you know, that give forward thing that, uh, good old Greg white who’s, who may be listening, uh, is really important to us. It’s who we are. It’s, it’s in our DNA as leaders and entrepreneurs. You know, you name it. Um, along those lines, I want to, uh, welcome in our dear friend champion, a real change and really, uh, a helpful facilitator as we act on the purpose that we have. Let’s welcome in Tim Nelson, CEO of hope for justice. Hey, Hey Tim, how you doing Tim?

Tim Nelson (00:53:32):

Hey, good to see. Y’all thanks so much for doing this. So appreciate to be a part of this with you today. So great.

Scott Luton (00:53:38):

Well, we appreciate what you and your team does. Um, you know, Kelly, Phil and I have big, big fans, uh, in our, where we are in the world. We’re all, uh, co-chairs of the Tim Nelson fan club, but kidding aside, it’s real, you know, uh, it’s about real results and real impact. And, uh, and you know, you rely on the efforts of certainly of global supply chain and procurement because we’re uniquely positioned to do something about it. So, um, with no further ado, uh, Kelly and Phil, I think we want to invite Tim we’re, we’re ready, uh, to hear your message here today, and I’m really, I’m gonna get my popcorn in diet Coke <laugh> and, uh, thanks again for joining us.

Tim Nelson (00:54:18):

Oh, thank you so much, a real genuine, thank you. On behalf of the whole of hope for justice team, for even being included in this, uh, I want to give a shout out to everyone, um, up the bat of, of everyone who’s been able to be part of this and donated or given through your, your sponsorships through the, the nominations, uh, because at this stage we’re, we’re running at $13,000. So before I get into the meat of what I wanted to say, I wanted to actually just say to you a massive thank you on behalf of those that we’re gonna be able to help see freed from modern day slavery and human trafficking. I worked it out that it’s somewhere in the region of $500 that it takes for us to take a child from exploitation to, to bring them to one of our short term transition centers, to find their families, give them trauma, informed care, help them get education and, and food and all the bits that they need to get themselves back on the journey to bring them back to their families and to work with their families for two years afterwards, to ensure that they are stable.

Tim Nelson (00:55:17):

But because of the donations so far on this that’s 26 children whose lives are forever gonna be changed. And, um, I, you know, on behalf of them, they’re not gonna get the opportunity to say thank you to each of you personally, and the way that you’ve championed this, but I wanna say a massive thank you up front.

Scott Luton (00:55:34):

Thank you so much, Tim, Phil Kelly, really quick comment.

Phil Ideson (00:55:37):

Yeah, for me, it gives me goosebumps, you know, kind of thinking about the impact that we can have. Um, and you know, hopefully with the community today, who’ve already supported from so much. We can continue that we can meet our $15,000 goal that we have at the end of the event, um, and help some more children, uh, you know, kind of free get themselves free from the circumstances they find themselves in and set them on a new path.

Kelly Barner (00:56:00):

Mm, absolutely. And Tim, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with you and interview you in the past. I have a sense of the treat that our audience today is in store for. Um, so if you’ve joined us to listen in and watch, turn up the volume and focus, shut all your other devices out for the next bit of time, because your educational journey is about to reach a new level.

Scott Luton (00:56:21):

I couldn’t couldn’t have said any better. Thank you, Kelly. And let’s let’s let’s uh, welcome in Tim Nelson.

Tim Nelson (00:56:27):

Thank you all, everyone from wherever you’re joining us across the world. Uh, my name is Tim Nelson. I’m the CEO of a nonprofit or a charity called hope for justice. Um, I wanted to start today by taking you back to 2008, 2008 was a big year in my household. Um, my wife and I, um, were expecting our first child and, uh, we were also looking to build our first home now for anyone who, who knows what it is to have children on the way and the expectation of the first child and what that means for what you need to get in all of the crib and everything. There’s, there’s a whole whole industry around that itself, but also in the building of a house. Uh, I don’t think I’ve known a, um, a more stressful time along that journey. And we bought a piece of land and we got ourselves the, the blueprints working with an architect to try and look at the ways in which we could build this property.

Tim Nelson (00:57:19):

Now we started that journey and we started to build it and a little bit along the way, we discovered a natural spring flowing through our sites. So we had to adapt the plans and I, I was making contextual changes as we went away, but the architect was insistent upon the plan being amended. And a, as we went through, I was, I was mesmerized by how the builders had to build specifically to the plans that had been made. And I think today we’re, we’re faced with lots of different challenges across the world, and we are all representatives of different organizations and businesses across the world, but we’re all trying to build to a business plan. And that business plan itself is open to change. The last couple of years have taught us that change should be an everyday present part of every single business, but I’m here to tell you that bus business, isn’t just good.

Tim Nelson (00:58:08):

I’m, I’m thrilled to celebrate every single one of those people who are getting awards today, even just to be nominated for an award for your business to be considered as a leading business, not just in one part of the world, but globally through these, I think is significant. So if you’re joining us today and your business has been nominated, or your business has been successful, I want to celebrate you because I don’t just think businesses are good. I believe that businesses have the power to change the world. Kelly said that, um, the art of the possible is something that we, we talk about on a, a regular basis, but the art of the possible to believe that businesses would have a global platform to bring change, I think is something that we all need to resonate and understand. I think it was Ralph Waldo Emerson, who said that if a man can write a better book or preach a better sermon or make a better mouse trap than his neighbors, though, he builds his house in the woods.

Tim Nelson (00:59:03):

The world will beaten a path to his door. And I think you have the opportunity to build a business that is not just a good business, but a business that actually sends a message out across the world. And in these days in this age that we’re in messages can transmit across borders and across platforms through social media, through the web, to be able to get customers that you never even thought that you would get, what is your business gonna be like? And how is your business gonna be set up? You know, we’re talking about procurement and we’re talking about the difference that you can make. But the reality of it is that the environment that we sit in is challenging this issue of modern day slavery or human trafficking, as it gets caught is huge and growing. You know, there are now more people now en slave than there ever have been across the world than at any point in time in human history.

Tim Nelson (00:59:55):

The estimates are somewhere in the region of 40.3 million in, in terms of financially, that’s somewhere in the region of 150 billion industry globally. It’s absolutely staggering. And for those of you who aren’t aware, you know, that comes in many different forms from sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, labor trafficking, those individuals who are forced into, uh, marriage or those individuals who have their organs harvesting. We see it in a lot of different ways, but for today, I wanna focus on labor trafficking because at hope for justice, we have a thought through professional approach to this. And we don’t just want to try and make sure that we do a good situation. You know, that as a, a nonprofit, we provide care and support. That’s always good, but we want to have a thought through professional approach to seeing an end to this. And I believe that in partnering with businesses globally, we can change the society that we live in.

Tim Nelson (01:00:48):

You know, the UN sustainable development goal is that by 2030, we would see an end to slavery within business. It’s, it’s the UN goal S 8.7. If any of you wanna look it up. And I know many people are looking at that as not just a, a, a kind of nice target to be thrown out there, but actually something that meaningfully businesses can make a bigger difference in. And we’ve seen massive changes in the last 18 months to two years around climate change and the awareness and the adaptation of new, uh, strategies and policies for business. But on this issue of modern day slavery, we are not seeing enough done globally, even just the climate change shifts that we’re we’re seeing in the technologies that are being brought out are actually leading to the unintended consequence of more people being enslaved. An example of that would be, uh, the electrification of vehicles.

Tim Nelson (01:01:39):

We know Tesla and many other vehicle manufacturers. Um, just a name just bought one, um, are looking to try and see us all move into electric vehicles. And governments are starting to change legislation, but just for the UK and Europe alone, the need for cobalt within, uh, the batteries that are needed for electric vehicles will need to grow to 30 times production. And the sad reality is the majority of cobalt is mined in the democratic Republic of Congo by forced labor and children. So as a result of wanting to have electric vehicles and living in a clean green world, we’re gonna see more people enslaved on the process. And I think it’s, it’s not right on our time and our watch to do, to do nothing. We actually have to sit up and take notice of this. And we, as business leaders need to lead our people in a way that we can be part of the solution to ending this am I, I’m an eternal optimist to believe that we can live in a world free from slavery, because we can all make decisions.

Tim Nelson (01:02:38):

It’s not the chances we take, but the choices we make that determine our destiny. And I think for me, and for my team, we, I are operating across eight countries and we’re seeing significant change being brought. We’re seeing legislation move out like a title with just for many of you, you’ll be aware of the legislative changes this last year in Germany alone that get enacted in January next year, which will carry a 2% global fine for any business that seem to be complicit or compliant within modern slavery being in their supply chains. Now, you might ask yourself, what can you do about this issue? It sounds so big and it, you know, it’s, you know, 40.3 million sign, a massive number of, of individuals. And the sad reality is that from the total of every, uh, nonprofit working together globally, just this last year, only 118,000 individuals were find in, in a, across the whole world.

Tim Nelson (01:03:36):

So it’s a tiny amount against what we see as a huge problem, but we have the potential to make a bigger change. We’ve seen that since the turn of this year with the war in Ukraine, massive change has come. We’ve seen things like food insecurity and the energy price inflation, which are driving businesses to look for better solutions and cheaper solutions from their usual suppliers. I would encourage any business that when you’re doing that to try and make sure that you don’t just opt for the cheapest and easiest solution, but to ask the right questions within hope for justice, we’ve set up a division called slave free Alliance, which works with businesses to try and provide them the right level of support and care to understand their supply chain, but more so to understand where the red flags are. And we wanna work with a, as a trusted fund with many of these multinational companies or your business to try and make a bigger difference to ensure that you’re not part of the problem.

Tim Nelson (01:04:33):

And this is your view. Ukraine hasn’t gone away. It seems to continue to roll on just three weeks ago, I was out with the OSCE, which is the office for security and cooperation across Europe, 57, governments were represented and talking with them about the changes that need to be brought in to safeguard individuals who are vulnerable and had to flee Ukraine for their lives. Those individuals who are desperate to feed their families will end up in the supply. Chains of businesses. Many are naive this day, or not moving into taking up jobs in different countries, outside Ukraine, but it’s important for us to bring the right level of practice on board so that we don’t just see that vulnerability, but we act on it. And I wanted to tell you a story, just one story today in the time that I have one that will hopefully connect with you.

Tim Nelson (01:05:19):

And it’s a story about a, a lady called Magdalene. Now, Magdalene was fined by our team and Magdalene had a number of children with her, and she was taken each day to be forced to work in a factory for just over 12 hours. She was forced to live in the home that the trafficker was not allowed to leave and held against her, will the children and Magdalene would only eat with scraps that came off the table of the trafficker themselves. Now our team got intelligence about that, and we employ an amazing team that can be able to find victims and be able to bring them to a position of freedom. And our team heard about this issue. We sent team to be able to see that person rescued and the trafficker held accountable. When we arrived, one of the children was just a baby. And because Magdalene was so malnourished from just eating scraps, the sad reality was that the baby was emaciated really, really skinny, really, really skinny in a way that you shouldn’t ever see.

Tim Nelson (01:06:18):

Now our, our team after seeing them rescued, had the opportunity to go back and meet with the family some months down the line, once they’re in a position of safety. And when we came in, we were delighted to see the children who had been literally, uh, their heads down, looking at the floor, not doing anything when we find them to see them running around free and running around happy and smiley, just brought joy to our team. But the one thing that really resonated with me was hearing about this baby that was emaciated to actually having big, full chubby cheeks. And I think every single person across the globe is they, they, they deserve to have freedom, but they deserve to live to the fullness and the potential that they’ve been given. And I encourage every single business that we can do better. We can do more.

Tim Nelson (01:07:09):

This isn’t just a problem in the far east or in China or wherever you might have put in your mind as being an issue. This is a problem in Europe. This is a problem in the us. This is a problem in south America. This is a problem across the globe. We estimate somewhere nearly 70% of all businesses globally. We’ll have some form of mundane slavery within their supply chain. The question is, are you prepared to look and what will you do when you find it? I really value Scott and the, the entire team from supply chain. Now for championing this as an issue, I love these awards because they speak of the leadership that businesses are taking across the globe within supply chain. I encourage every single person that is on here. Every single person that might hear this later, if you’re watching it online to start asking questions, not just of the company you work for, but of the companies that are within the supply chain, not just about price and quality, because those things are always gonna become important for you, but also about the conditions that the workers are held in the conditions of the factories, which supply the factories that supply you more, more down the tiers of supply.

Tim Nelson (01:08:19):

You know, we have a massive challenge and a massive problem to try and work through. When I had the potential of, of going over to Ireland, uh, where I’m from last summer, I, I jumped at the chance and I got the opportunity to be taken to a place called Clifton house, a home that I’d not heard of before. This is in, uh, Belfast city center. And I, it was, it was formed, um, off the back of wealthy industrialists in Belfast who wanted to take care of the needs of children that were literally starving. Now, uh, I was told as I walked around and shown the various individuals on the wall who contributed towards this home being built about the legacy that they had made. And as I passed by, I saw a bus from a lady called Maryanne McCracken. Now, many of you will never have heard of Maryanne McCracken.

Tim Nelson (01:09:07):

Don’t worry. I haven’t either. But when I got to hear about her story, something resonated with me. And that’s why I wanted to bring it out to the four today because Maryanne, the Kraken was a woman brought up in the 17 hundreds. Now at that time, women couldn’t vote. Women had no rights. And this is a lady who led a movement of women to abstain from ticking sugar, stand from taking sugar from their diet, because they’d heard about the transatlantic slave trade. She also then with two others led a movement. So that Belfast would be the first port to abolish slave ships coming into Harbor. Now, bear in mind that the wealthiest person at one point in time in New York was from Belfast, made wealthy because of the transatlantic slave trade. And in her last three years of her life, she would literally stand on the dock side, rugby tackling individuals.

Tim Nelson (01:09:56):

After Abraham Lincoln had passed, the supply, had passed the abolition act to ensure that they’d been to their Congressman when they got to America to ensure that that act had been enacted in the state that they were going to. So I don’t know whether or not you feel like you, you have no, no strength or no, no ability to do something, but I wanna take something from Maryanne McCracken’s life today, something that says you are more powerful than you ever thought possible, that you have the power to make a change in your business that can transcend everything. And we turn to, to, to those individuals. And I’ve said it before with Scott, before and FA who are faced with impossible with the words of Muhammad Ali, who said that impossible is just a big word thrown around by small minded men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given, then the power they have to change it.

Tim Nelson (01:10:45):

That impossible is temporary. Impossible is a dare. And today I dare you as a business to do something further than you are in your supply chain to try and see an end to human trafficking and modern day slavery. I so want to thank everyone involved in these awards. And specifically, I want to thank Scott for your leadership and your passion in this issue. And I want to wish you the best for everyone who’s been nominated and thank every single person for all that you’re doing on this issue and the amazing donation to hope for justice. Thank you so much.

Scott Luton (01:11:18):

Wow. Uh, so Kelly, Phil, um, I, we can do better. We can do better, but, and we must do better. Uh, Tim brought a truckload of t-shirt isms that we all need to hear. Really. We need to hear kidding aside. I, I, I shouldn’t use that word as often to do, but we need to hear that. And, you know, Kelly, I get you to respond quick while we have just in a minute or two of Tim, you know, when we first met Tim and heard, uh, when you and I and Phil and Greg first met Tim and heard the data and heard the, the, the scope, our first thought was more folks, our industry, our colleagues, our ecosystem needs to hear this Kelly, your response.

Kelly Barner (01:12:00):

My big response is Tim’s absolutely right. Think about what you can do, but then think about what we can do, because if we can get together in this award ceremony, right. Virtually to pick winners and celebrate accomplishments and raise the money that we’ve raised, think about the difference that we can make when we turn that same attention and energy directly towards the problem of modern slavery and human trafficking

Scott Luton (01:12:23):

Well said, uh, Phil. Yeah.

Phil Ideson (01:12:25):

I took a bunch of notes because it was very inspiring. So first of all, thank you very much, Tim. And one of the things that really stood out to me was are you prepared to look and what are you prepared to do about it? And that’s, you know, the message that, um, you know, everybody within the procurement supply chain communities can and should take, even if your organization doesn’t have the structures that is built into, you know, doing it on a formal basis. It’s, um, it’s on all of us, um, in all the individual decisions we make and the suppliers we choose and the supply chain supply chains, we connect that we it’s our responsibility to look, uh, and then be prepared to act

Scott Luton (01:13:00):

Well said, uh, Phil, we can’t be fearful of what we’re gonna find. And we can’t be fearful of taking action if it means stepping on toes and, and, uh, putting our nose in, in upstreaming downstream business is so important. Um, Tim, uh, again, I wish man, I wish we had a couple more hours here, but I, I want to, you know, there’s so many great comments I can’t get to, but Hey folks, if you can’t donate today, that’s okay. We’d love for you to join our efforts, to get us over that $15,000 mark, that we’re gonna be, uh, writing that check to hope for justice, but also pay attention to hope for justice.org. Uh, there’s so many great things that the, uh, nonprofit programming is doing Tim and the whole team. They’re highly rated by all the third party. Um, um, non-profit evaluat, um, nonprofit evaluation teams across the world, because it’s all about smashing the, these issues of our time and, and, and pulling those, those folks outta situations that they can’t do them for themselves. And making sure we don’t have a global business ecosystem that unfortunately facilitates that more. So the first step is awareness. Tim, I’m gonna give you the final thought, uh, before we thank you for your time.

Tim Nelson (01:14:06):

Yeah. I, and I say this quite often, but I say most people who are held in slavery across the globe, don’t need people to cry about this issue. We need people to take action. And I think everything that you’ve said, Scott, Kelly and Philip across the board is, is banging on where we are that we need businesses to take action in this issue. And we need people to just kind of stir themselves from a place of apathy into action. And by doing that, we will see the world change

Scott Luton (01:14:32):

Well said. Uh, Tim, thank you for your friendship. Thank you for your vision. Most importantly, thank you for your action and your challenge to the rest of the world, uh, that, that Kelly, Phil and I are all gonna take back to our re respective networks cause it’s about stepping forward. So thank you, Tim Nelson CEO, with hope for justice Kelly, Phil. Wow. Um, wow. That’s that’s I wish I was more eloquent in all situations, but certainly in, in, in that scenario, when, when Tim issues such a, um, just something we all need to hear and act on. Right. Um, okay. So a lot of comments there. I wish I’d get all of them. Uh, we knew Tim would bring it along with Kevin and Greg and, and Lee was gonna be joining us here in a minute, but, uh, really appreciate what they’re doing at hope for justice folks.

Scott Luton (01:15:22):

Hey, be aware first, get aware and then, and then take that action. Okay. So I’ve gotten the moves, unfortunately. Well, fortunately to the next award, because really when we think about what the next award is, uh, Phil and Kelly, it’s about deeds, not words, right? It’s about deeds, not words, raise your hand, Phil or Kelly and, and the rest of y’all out there. If you’re a big fan of lip service leadership, no hands raised, right? It’s a bunch of hot air with no real results. And, you know, we we’ve heard some of that through a lot of, uh, um, no, we’ve heard some of that in terms of pointing to how dangerous that is from all of our speakers and from our panel here today. Um, we all admire those that talk the talk, but then they walk the walk, those leaders that do that while making a major impact.

Scott Luton (01:16:06):

And all of that brings us to our next category here. Deeds, not words, leadership award. So I want to name, um, I think I’m gonna go ahead and name our first winner, and then I’m gonna share some bullet points about, uh, him and then we’re gonna hear from them. And then we’ve got our second winner, uh, and this is a, quite a one, two punch. So our first winner for deed’s not words, leadership award is Phil drum roll, please. Or that, that, that, uh, clapping track, maybe Mike McDermot chief global supply officer with Pfizer. Now get this a few highlights. Mike leads a global manufacturing and supply team of some 30,000 colleagues and contractors, 300 suppliers, 39 Pfizer global manufacturing sites. Now Kelly and Phil, as y’all both know, we’ve talked about this Mike and his team did the impossible during the pandemic. They found a way to ship more than 3 billion doses of the COVID 19 vaccine to 178 countries thus far.

Scott Luton (01:17:05):

And they had to move mountains to do it including successfully manufacturing, first FDA approved vaccine and distributing it with a 99% success rate. Wow, Mike’s team also had to find innovative ways of getting a temperature sensitive vaccine to all corners of the world. We all know that, right, but while tracking each shipment to ensure viability and all of that adds up to the largest expansion of manufacturing and distribution operations operations in pharmaceutical history. So for that action based leadership and a whole lot more, we’re very pleased to name Mike McDermot with Pfizer. One of our deeds, not words, leadership award winners let’s hear from Mike.

Mike McDermott (01:17:47):

Hi, my name is Mike McDermot, chief global supply officer at Pfizer, and I’m honored to accept this award in March, 2020 in the earliest days of the pandemic, we realized we needed to not only develop a safe and effective COVID 19 vaccine, but we also had to quickly, safely and efficiently manufacture hundreds of millions of doses condensing, a process that usually takes years into a matter of months. We also needed to deliver doses worldwide facing shipping and delivery challenges. We never tackled before, but our team rose to the challenge in ways we never thought possible. And we have now shipped more than 3 billion doses of the vaccine to 178 countries from the middle east to Europe and Africa to Asia. I’m accepting this award on behalf of our 30,000 colleagues and industry partners who have demonstrated courage and excellence and worked tirelessly to deliver breakthroughs that change patient’s lives.

Mike McDermott (01:18:42):

I’m excited to say that the learnings of the past two years are just the beginning. We’re harnessing the next generation of technology and innovation to make our manufacturing operations among the smartest and the fastest in the industry. And we have amazing colleagues who make the impossible possible every single day. These past two years have proven that the future is anything but predictable. However, what gives me confidence is the power and resilience of our manufacturing system and our PGS people we’ve been put to the test and now know that we can deliver when the world needs us most. Thank you so much.

Scott Luton (01:19:17):

Wow. Big congrats. And thanks to Mike and the entire Pfizer team and ecosystem. Uh we’re right. Uh, we we’re, we’re probably a minute or two behind just a heads up to the folks still in the green room, looking forward to sharing your stories, but I gotta, uh, Kelly and Philip, I gotta get y’all to weigh and just really quick on Pfizer, it is so cool to be part of a global supply chain and procurement community. Yes. When that’s noble mission that these folks are acting on Kelly, your quick comment.

Kelly Barner (01:19:41):

Sure. I mean, supply chain did ourselves proud over the last couple of years. I, I still remember watching the videos of whether it was FedEx or ups watching those initial shipments be moved out. It was a worldwide news making event. And I think even if we didn’t directly put hands on any of those boxes or help get the vaccine into viles, every single part of us, one of us in this community played an important role. So that’s really what we’re celebrating today.

Scott Luton (01:20:06):

Excellent point. And just that pictures and images of the last couple years of folks, you know, uh, bringing food out and celebrating their delivery drivers. That man, that is what life’s all about. Phil, your quick

Phil Ideson (01:20:17):

Comment. Yeah. Has there ever been a supply chain initiative that had such an impact on the world? You know, talk about, um, building the plane while you’re in the air, because Mike said a lot of the things, there were challenges that nobody knew how to overcome because they’ve never been faced before. Um, and they did it and look at the impact that they’ve had globally in being able to do so, you know, I’ve, uh, it’s probably a little known fact. I used to work for Pfizer back in the day. And so I’ve seen behind the scenes, what goes into doing some of the things that they did. And usually that’s a, a multiyear, even a decade kind of adventure rather than pulling this all together in a matter of months. So, uh, fantastic. Kudos to all the team.

Scott Luton (01:20:52):

Mm well said. Okay. Well, if there’s any reason, uh, to be over by a couple minutes, it’s because we wanna spend more time on these remarkable stories and this next one is the same. It is the same. Uh, so our second winner of our deeds not words leadership award is Laday ABA co-founder and president with the Viola foundation now to fully appreciate all the incredible work that Laday has led. We got a level set of bits. One of my favorite words, evidently in the Kelly, uh, the, the rate of unemployment in Nigeria is a staggering 33%. While youth unemployment stands at 53%, female youth unemployment is estimated at 34%. In addition, get this 47% of Nigeria university graduates are unemployed. Wow. Do largely to the mismatch. Here’s that Delta again, it mismatch between skills, their, their skills and those salt by employers. Many employers report difficulty in finding local candidates with, with the requisite technical skills.

Scott Luton (01:21:53):

And they’re often that leads them to resort to hiring expats. Moreover only 10% of women work in technical roles there, I believe in Nigeria. So after a few personal and journey shaping experiences, Laday leaned into this challenging current state of affairs intent to drive effective change. Laday went to work, to ensure opportunities and access for others, especially young girls and female entrepreneurs. She co-founded the Viola foundation to help address the low numbers of skilled stem professionals in Africa, especially the low number of women pursuing stem, careers, Kelly and Phil in just the last few years Lare and the Viola foundation have opened their doors to over 8,000 girls and female entrepreneurs, helping them to develop their skill sets, their awareness, get jobs, advance their careers, really changing lives to help create more opportunity for all these wonderful folks all while shaping and developing the workforce in Nigeria and beyond really across the continent. So for that action based leadership and a whole lot more, we please name Lade Arba with the Viola foundation as one of our two deeds, not words, leadership award winners, because she and her team are GSD are getting stuff done with life changing life changing impact. So let’s hear from Laday.

Lade Araba (01:23:22):

I would like to say a very big thank you to supply chain now for this incredible honor of being recognized and receiving the deeds, not words, leadership award on behalf of all of us at the foundation, we are immensely grateful, and we thank you for your support and belief in our mission. Thank you for your

Lade Araba (01:23:46):

Support and believe in our mission.

Scott Luton (01:23:50):

Mm. So if I can ask, I’m gonna get a quick comment from Kelly and Phil only because we’re, uh, a couple minutes behind, but, uh, if I can big, thanks. First off, Amanda, Chantel Catherine Clay, the whole production team is helping to make today’s, uh, event happen. If we could drop the Viola foundation’s link in the comments, that’d be great. Cause I need your support too. Uh, Phil, let’s change up a little bit. Uh, Phil, your quick thoughts there.

Phil Ideson (01:24:12):

Well, I’ll talk about taking action, you know, seeing a problem, being passionate enough about wanting to do something about it and taking action. Um, and that’s what I really took away from that and, and, and full credit to, uh, that day for doing this, doing that and, and, you know, providing opportunity for those and advice and advocate advocating for those that, that couldn’t do it for themselves. So, uh, huge kudos,

Scott Luton (01:24:32):

Completely agree, Kelly.

Kelly Barner (01:24:35):

I mean, it would’ve been difficult enough just to defy the odds and be successful in tech in her own. Right. And instead of just doing that, she stuck her foot in the door and helped others through. So congratulations LA day, well deserved.

Scott Luton (01:24:47):

Awesome. Uh, I completely agree with both, both of y’all it’s so rewarding to be able to, um, bring these stories to our ecosystem here and, uh, folks reach out to them, make sure you get connected. And if you can, again, if you can, it’d be great for y’all to help find a way to support the great work they’re doing. Okay. So big, thanks to Mike and LA day, we gotta move right along. So Phil and Kelly get, uh, guess who we get to welcome in here this afternoon?

Kelly Barner (01:25:14):

Somebody good? I hope

Scott Luton (01:25:15):

<laugh> all these folks are good. How could you, I just wanna sit back and again, grab my diet

Phil Ideson (01:25:21):

Going on here. Kelly.

Scott Luton (01:25:22):

<laugh> <laugh>

Kelly Barner (01:25:23):

Maybe it’s Scott’s mom <laugh>

Scott Luton (01:25:26):

Hey, that’d be something, but as we’re coming down the home stretch, wanna welcome in our dear friend, the startup whisper and colleague, Mr. Greg, white, Gregory, how you doing?

Greg White (01:25:37):

I am doing great. And, uh, I’m glad and relieved to be a part of this, uh, and that you guys took all the weight. So thank you. <laugh> uh, you seriously, you are doing a fantastic job. We’re bringing light to important topics and of course, to the, the great performance and to those doing good in the supply chain. So really important work we’re doing here. As Tim said, people don’t need our tears, they need our action. So I think, uh, you know, this is commendable, uh, by all of you to put all the work in to do this. And of course, to our incredible crack production team who has not missed a single

Scott Luton (01:26:13):

Beat, they sure hadn’t, you’re absolutely right. And I couldn’t have, you know, Phil and Kelly. Um, I know this is so rewarding, so I appreciate what Greg shared there, uh, eight months of, um, of our own GSD, right. Trying to, uh, get stuff done, but Greg moving right along the champions of humanity award. Yeah. Please share more.

Greg White (01:26:33):

Yeah. So look, core values are critical to any company, of course, because there’s part of such a large community and especially now a global community, and often those core values are represented in what companies call giving back. Right. All kinds of philanthropic and ethical and good deeds that they do by giving back from, uh, as you say, Scott, what they have. I, I think what’s so important about the champions of humanity award is that it’s recognition of, of companies that are giving forward, not an afterthought of giving, but a forethought, a core value of making their business, a business that gives as part of what they do right up there with profit giving is, is part of their principle. And I think it’s important to acknowledge that because it’s an incredible shift of mindset, this notion of giving forward, right. Of making it part of your business, making it a core and a in the forefront of your business. And it’s very, very rare, but as we’ve talked about with other initiatives, it’s incredibly attainable, and we’re gonna talk about who’s done that. And as an incredible example of that kind of doing good.

Scott Luton (01:27:52):

So that brings us so much goodness there. Um, that brings us to naming the winner of the 2022 champions of humanity. And by the way, I see you, Alison Giddens calling Greg White a suspect. I love that. Um, we’ll get that later, but Greg do tell I’m gonna edge of my chair,

Greg White (01:28:10):

Vector global logistics is the winner of this year’s champions of humanity award. And, uh, if it’s okay, Scott, I’d love to share some of the volume of what they do. First of all, Enrique Alvarez, uh, very core part of what we do here runs our, um, uh, supply chain and Aspen Espanol series, you know, and they do a lot of work in Latin America and globally. They’re a non vessel operating common carrier in V O C C. And that means they touch a ton of containers around the world. And what they do is they donate meals for every single container that they move around the world. And that has understand this is a small company, but that has created a million meals for, uh, uh, Kenya and the Dominican Republic and other countries where they are actually feeding the needy in, in the countries that they service in in many cases.

Greg White (01:29:10):

Now think about any company talking about doing a million of anything. I mean, pick any large corporation in doing that. And this is an initiative that Enrique and his team have put, so in the forefront of their business, that it is part of what you order effectively, which you don’t pay for, by the way, when you have a container shipped by vector global logistics, I think that’s really important. Every single one of their offices gets to pick their initiatives in Mexico. They serve families with children, with cancer in Chile. They serve, uh, families with, uh, special needs. Um, and they’ve made big numbers of impact all over the world. 36 projects in Chile, they’ve served, uh, 28 families since 2021 in Mexico. And of course they’ve, they’ve, uh, partnered with map international to provide medicines $804,000 worth of life saving medicines contributed by vector and their comp and their, uh, accomplices. What should I say? Their, uh, partners, right? They are accomplices in good. Uh, and think, I mean, that is a huge number. So, uh, I could say more and, and I would, if Scott would let me, but he’s limited my time here. So maybe me out of here from the team at, uh, vector global logistics about what they, they have done.

Enrique Alvarez (01:30:31):

Hi, my Enrique Avarez and I work with vector global logistics. Vector is a very unique results based company with a passion to give back at vector. We believe that a few caring individuals can and will change the world. And that’s why this award means so much to us. It validates who we are and also why we do what we do. So thank you so much to the supply chain and procurement awards for giving us this amazing award and we’re humbled and privileged to receive it, but please make no mistake. I am the person that gets to accept the award. I’m also the one recording this video. However, the real champions and recipients is our team. I am inspired by their lay example. I’m inspired by their commitment and dedication. And honestly, they are the main reason why I wake up every day and why everyone here tries to work as hard as we do. I am thankful to be part of your team. So guys, this award is for you keep going. It’s a pleasure being part of your team. Thank you so much. And thank you once again to the supply chain and procurement awards have a good day.

Scott Luton (01:31:42):

Wow. Um, so we, we, we oughta add one more little bullet point, uh, Greg, Phil, and Kelly, um, as if, uh, Enrique and the, and the vector team doesn’t have enough going on. And, and as if they’re not doing enough, do good. They have rallied the leveraging logistics for Ukraine, uh, sessions, which have already sent several excellent

Greg White (01:32:02):

Points, containers.

Scott Luton (01:32:02):

Yeah. Several containers to folks that need it in Europe, uh, Ukraine pulling beyond, uh, and they’ve done it out of their own pocket and leveraging the community across the world. So, so richly received Rick, Greg. I’m a, you know, I wish, I wish you could stick with it. Stick around with us for the next couple hours too, but what is your final, um, one and only Greg white final word about vector.

Greg White (01:32:24):

Yeah. So many companies with a give backs spirit use the, the term doing well by doing good. Um, and that’s great. How, why, as I’ve told many people over many years, I don’t care why you do good, just do good, but Enrique and the team at vector global logistics have flipped that on its head, doing good is what they do. And they happen to be, have figured out a business model that allows them to do well, be profitable and, and excellent in terms of performance, because doing good is part of, is the core part of what they do. So I think they credible model. I would encourage companies who have a, a significant philanthropic or ethical, uh, charge that they want to accelerate in their business to talk to the folks at, at vector global logistics about just how they do it. And, and particularly to Enrique and some of the leaders of his team who are focused on these doing good initiatives.

Scott Luton (01:33:24):

Mm. Always appreciate your point of view. Always elegantly stated Greg white, enjoy. We wanna update on an index soon, but thank you so much, Greg, uh, for being here with us today.

Greg White (01:33:35):

Thanks everybody.

Scott Luton (01:33:37):

Okay. Phil and Kelly, man, I’m not gonna be able to sleep tonight. I’ve got all these stories working their way between my ears. Uh, you just saw, I think, I think one of the things too, Phil and Kelly Love to get y’all’s thoughts is even the presenters. I dunno about you. I couldn’t wait to share the news, just like Greg. Couldn’t wait to share the news and Kevin and, and so many others. This is, this is, uh, this is fun, but Kelly, your quick take on vector and, uh, champions of humanity.

Kelly Barner (01:34:07):

I actually think this is right to Phil’s point earlier around where sustainability for instance needs to live and what a company does. If you are going to be a philanthropic enterprise that cares about what’s going on with the big challenges facing humanity, it can’t be something that you do on Thursdays or that you talk about in your annual report or maybe one or two days a year you have off. It has to be core to who you are. It’s core to who Enrique is of the members of his team that I’ve worked with. It’s absolutely evident in everything that they do. It is completely woven into the fabric of that organization. And I can’t think of any group of people more deserving for the good work that they’ve done

Scott Luton (01:34:44):

Well said. And really quick, Phil, uh, when I first met Enrique Alvarez, he used the phrase, I bet in the first 37 seconds, we we’re gonna change the world. And I’m like, who is this guy? <laugh> then I’ve seen him for years. And he is as serious about it. He walks the, the, the walks, the walk you’ll find his checkbooks. And I’ve someone said famously to me one time, uh, may have been a preacher. You know, if you wanna find out what’s really important to you, check your calendar and check your checkbook. That’s gonna tell you and, and epitomize and his team epitomize that. So Phil,

Phil Ideson (01:35:17):

Yeah, that was just a comment that I saw go by that said that, um, this was in his DNA and the DNA of his organization that is built in, in vector. And I think that’s definitely echoed by the words that you spoke, Scott, what you said, Kelly, and also what Greg shared. So, um, you know, congratulations to the team and, uh, that this isn’t just a, um, you know, be seen to do good it’s at the half their organization.

Scott Luton (01:35:39):

Yes, absolutely. Uh, well said there, uh, Phil, uh, very well said, okay, well, as we segue and, and I wish I could get, um, all these comments, great comments, you know what, Hey, we’re not gonna kill anything. Uh, Albert is with us here, Albert Sote, uh, Soto. Uh, great to see you, Albert, uh, Sally Eves, the one who only Sally Eves is with us. It’s great to see you, Sally. We’re all celebrating, um, the good work vector’s doing Dr. Rhonda, one of our favorites around here. Of course, Jenny F, which we’re just about to talk a little bit more about here in a second, Adam polka. Great to see you here, Adam. Thanks so much for tuning in. Okay. Well, uh, as we move to our, uh, final award, I hate saying that I wish we had, uh, 10 more don’t y’all Kelly, Phil. Uh <laugh>. So

Phil Ideson (01:36:23):

Kelly hesitating given later, I know, course that goes behind every single one of them.

Scott Luton (01:36:27):

Well, and you know, we’ll do a, we’ll do a behind the scenes, uh, maybe a podcast, uh, next few weeks, but cause it was bunch of work, but this is where it’s all so worth it. Um, so the great thing, Phil and Kelly, we were just talking about, uh, we’ve probably referenced it throughout the seven, eight months of our, of this journey specifically for these awards working together. Um, we just referenced it like last week on a LinkedIn comment, Phil, after you. And I saw each other at an event last week and it’s so true because as three entrepreneurs here, one of the best parts about being an entrepreneur is you get to pick and choose who you work with that’s right, right. You get to pick and choose who you work with. I don’t know about y’all, but it’s so rewarding to pick the salt to the earth and those that aren’t on that side of the, of, of the scale, you know, keep on, keep on walking, right? Keep on walking. So along those lines, I wanna welcome in our next guest, Liesl De Wet, founder, and director of the African supply chain excellence awards, our partners in celebrating global good news with purpose. Hey Liesl.

Liesl De Wet (01:37:33):

Hi Scott. How are you?

Scott Luton (01:37:35):

I am doing wonderful. How are you doing today?

Liesl De Wet (01:37:37):

I’m doing very well. Thank you. And thank you for the beautiful intro.

Scott Luton (01:37:41):

<laugh> well, you know, better yet. Uh, I love, I love what y’all doing. Of course. Um, uh, any, any friend and colleague and partner of Jenny fr is all a friend of ours here. So, uh, meet Kelly and Phil, but, uh, July 19th, 2022, I believe is the date of the awards and Kelly, where are we starting with Liesel?

Kelly Barner (01:38:02):

So I’m sorry, Scott. I need to go off script Liesel, love your earrings. Thank you for bringing the blame to our award ceremony. This is very

Liesl De Wet (01:38:11):

That’s,

Kelly Barner (01:38:13):

But now that we’ve acknowledged your spectacular drill rate, which thank you for picking that out. Can you tell us a little bit more about the African supply chain excellence awards?

Liesl De Wet (01:38:22):

Absolutely. Well, we are so excited. Um, we have been inundated with entries, this, uh, it’s an inaugural awards and we’ve got such a diverse range of, of entries, which is fantastic. And we try to showcase and highlight our phenomenal, um, supply chain stories in Africa because we have quite a few, you know, it’s difficult operating, um, environments, and there’s a lot of creativity in some of the solutions. So we are really excited about, um, the case studies that we’ve received the entrance and our judges are in full swing. Now, busy judging the awards and, you know, Scott, you, you opened up so nicely about partnerships and working, um, with great people and honestly, to have Jenny and cl as co-founders of these awards is, is just phenomenal. Um, they bring a wealth of experience and passion about the industry and that’s really, really great. And, um, I really have to also shout out to our incredible sponsors.

Liesl De Wet (01:39:14):

I mean, you know, we were the new kids on the block. We had this idea of showcasing Africa and sharing the case studies and, um, you know, by the industry for the industry representing the whole industry, which is quite a, <laugh> a big task. Um, and we really wanna thank our, our prime sponsors, um, IMM, our category sponsors, Imperial video, Cogo uni trans and commerce edge. And of course all our, all our partners such as you guys, uh, thank you so much for supporting us. And, um, our judges are representative of Africa, South Africa, and we have a really great team of passionate, uh, judges that are really excited about what they’re seeing and looking forward to giving back to the industry. And I think that’s the whole idea around these awards. We wanna give back, we wanna share, we wanna grow. Um, and we wanna learn from each other.

Scott Luton (01:40:03):

Yeah, so well said. And, and, you know, uh, I hope I don’t get in trouble by saying this. I might, but you don’t create an award show to, uh, become a millionaire. You create it because you want to give and give and give and you’re passionate. So Lisa, when you, we were talking about your judges that really resonates with our team here, uh, folks here and behind the scenes. So thank you for sharing. Hey, really quick before, uh, Liesel, we move forward. Cause we’re gonna talk about our final award category. I gotta give a quick shout out, Dave Maddox, we’ve talked about the, um, the pedigree of our awards here and the first couple of years of our awards would not have happened without Dave. So Dave, big shout out to you appreciate all, all that you do for industry. Okay. So, uh, Liesel, we get, this is one of my favorite where all these are my favorite awards, but which, which one are we talking about here, uh, with your appearance?

Liesl De Wet (01:40:49):

So we are talking about the unsung hero award and I absolutely love this category. I’m so glad I got, uh, getting to, uh, present it. Um, so, uh, we are talking about Rose Martin who joined win tech Inc back in 2021 as a quality coordinator in a role that is often overlooked in, um, global supply chain, but she rolled up her sleeves and went to work and she made an immediate impact in jumpstarting the quality department’s evolution into well oiled machine and within a year, thanks to Rose’s leadership. The time required to check first run parts would be decreased by an impressive 40%. Rose’s never wanted to sit on her laurels as she constantly pursues continuous improvement. In all that she does. It has been said that Rose’s unique, organized linear way of thinking is only matched by her willingness to step outside the box and be brave enough to make creative recommendations to her peers and to leadership Rose Martin. Now quarterly control manager at win win tech Inc has persevered and succeeded as a woman in a male dominated industry. So the winner for the 2022 Ansara award is indeed Rose Martin.

Scott Luton (01:42:00):

Wonderful. Uh, and that, I appreciate what you shared there. That is the tip of the iceberg. Uh, before we share the video really quick, Phil, I’d love for you to weigh in. We all love our unsung heroes, right?

Phil Ideson (01:42:11):

Yeah. And congratulations of cost to Rose. But I also want to give a shout out to the millions of unsung heroes that are coming to work every single day, you know, who perhaps don’t get recognition or the recognition that they feel, um, they deserve for the work that they do in organizations across the pie chain across procurement. Because, um, you know, there are so many people out there that are doing great work and, um, you know, along way that continue, that’s what drives our professions forward. That’s what we love about our professions. Um, but specifically today, of course, congratulations to rose.

Scott Luton (01:42:41):

Agreed, agreed. So with all that said, Hey, let’s hear from Rose Martin, herself,

Rose Martin (01:42:46):

Unsung heroes are all around us. They are as silent as a little mouse or as unnoticeable as a shadow. They fly under the radar of praise and have just one mission in that they tirelessly work to promote change and encourage progress. They are some of the hardest workers you will ever meet. Their, their praises are sold them heard, but their effects are always noticed. I was honored and humbled to have been nominated. I am proud that my name is listened among the names of so many others that work hard every single day to do what I do from the bottom of my heart. I appreciate the recognition, but my work is not complete. I see opportunities for change every single day. I plan to keep working to improve my department and move my company forward. I would like to thank Allison gins for the nomination and for the acknowledgement of all my hard work. This is an extremely proud moment for me. And I am honored to be listed among the names of so many others that do what I do every single day. I will cherish and honor this moment forever. And I thank you.

Scott Luton (01:43:53):

Wow. Uh, that makes, I don’t know about you. That fills my heart, uh, Liesel. It does bill and Kelly, uh, Liesel, um, couple of final questions here, uh, first off respond to that message, uh, that from rose, uh, and, and especially that one where there’s always opportunity for improving. We heard that a lot from Gina to Tim, to a lot of our presenters and a lot of the award categories. What’d you hear their lies,

Liesl De Wet (01:44:18):

You know, it’s, I just love the attitude and the creative thinking and the humbleness of rose. You know, we’ve been talking a lot about sustainability and purpose driven, supply chains and ESG factors. I mean, none of these things will be, will be able to be realized if we don’t have these kind of practitioners that think out of the box and be creative and, and see how do we do things differently? How do we do it better? Um, and, and so I’m really inspired by her story and, and I hope it inspires everyone else to do things better.

Scott Luton (01:44:50):

Completely agree. And Hey, she mentioned Allison Giddens. That’s one of our favorites around here. She’s a G a guest co-host, but she also leads, uh, win tech Allison much like rose, evidently is always doing something for others. She is so active in the community and, uh, we’re proud to call our friends. So make sure you’re connecting, following and engaging with Allison Giddens. Um, okay. So final question for you is how can folks learn more and get involved whether they wanna sponsor or nominate, or just get, you know, participate in the Africa supply chain excellence awards, where do they get?

Liesl De Wet (01:45:23):

Uh, the, the easiest is to go to our website, www dot Askia, co that’s a S C a, um, we can drop it in the comments. I’m sure Jenny will drop it in the comments for us, and please go in there and have a look and, um, our events on the 19th of July, and we’ll also be streaming it, and we encourage participation all around. It’s gonna be a really great event. It’s Nore, and we’ve got some really great stories to tell, look forward to sharing them with you. And thank you for your support, Scott, really? You guys

Scott Luton (01:45:54):

Incredible. Definitely. Well, Hey, me and Kelly and Phil and our teams and the awards here, and we pick and choose our partners and like the old third grade Valentine, we’ve all gotten, I’ve cheat. You choose you. Yeah. Kelly had to do that. Uh, but kidding aside, Liesel really, uh, I love what you’re doing and I gotta, we gotta do a quick shout out, uh, Charmaine, uh, thank you, Africa supply and excellent awards for recognizing what procurement specialists are doing in Africa. So well said Charmaine. And of course I’ve heard about Claire. Em, uh, Jenny speaks highly Claire, your ears have been burning. I appreciate what you’re doing as well there, Claire, uh, and final word, Liesel, you know, Claire and Charmaine here.

Liesl De Wet (01:46:33):

I, absolutely Claire is, is, uh, is our well oiled machine. She helps us so much, um, on our wards and thanks so much for her amazing, incredible work that she does as well.

Scott Luton (01:46:44):

Wonderful. Well, big, thanks to all of what that you’re doing. Uh, thanks for joining us here today. Liesel the vet with the Africa supply chain excellence awards. Thanks so much Liesel.

Liesl De Wet (01:46:54):

Thanks guys. Thank you so much.

Scott Luton (01:46:57):

All right. And they’re coming around a stretch, uh, 1150 Kelly and Phil, uh, um, you know, I can’t stop talking. I, I won’t hear from you all, but really this is why we, this is why we set out to do this from that very first meeting. And as we kind of go around the horn here, I wanna get y’all’s final thoughts and Kelly’s start with you.

Kelly Barner (01:47:18):

Sure. So I think the big thing, and, and this is a little bit of a behind the scenes, but I, I think I can share this. You know, when we got feedback from the judges about the awards, you know, we would hear incredible things like, wow, these guys are innovating with end to end logistics or wow, these guys are impacting the environment or showing their leadership through incredible deeds. We heard all kinds of things about that, but it was rose Martin’s nomination that brought out the human response from our judges on that front. We got responses like, I love rose. I wanna work with rose. I wanna hire rose. So there is something about that person. We all know the value of that person, to your point, Phil, to all of the unsung heroes out there, uh, truly this moment is sort of for, for all of you. Um, everybody knows somebody that plays that critical pivotal role in an organization. And I think we all recognize it when we see it, nothing would be the same without all of the roses of the world.

Scott Luton (01:48:16):

Wow. Nothing would be the same without all the roses of the world. That is so true in so many different ways and levels, uh, feel some of your final thoughts.

Phil Ideson (01:48:24):

Yeah. I think when, when we set out to, to bring this awards program together, it was all around, you know, showcasing the, the wonderful work that individuals within our profession do, whether that’s, uh, being innovative or taking actions, um, and to help really inspire, uh, it comes back to something Kelly said, right at the beginning inspire the, the possible, um, you know, there was a number of things that were said throughout the day. And, uh, one of the things was, uh, and I think it may have been Tim that, you know, we probably have more power than we we imagine or realized to actually take action and to drive change. You know, however, we apply that we can apply it in, uh, you know, to a process that’s broken at work to, you know, how do I help my company and organization think about, um, modern slavery. There’s such a spectrum on that. Um, but never feel like you’re in a position where you can’t make a difference. Um, and I think that’s one of the things that’s really come out of today from all the great award winners and the stories that we’ve heard.

Scott Luton (01:49:19):

So true. So very true folks. I gotta share this. Uh, Alison says you could not hire her. He is ours. So I love that. Um, take good

Kelly Barner (01:49:28):

Chair of her Allison. We love her.

Scott Luton (01:49:30):

That’s right. And, and, you know, Tony points out, there’s always room for improvement, right? Tony says next year, we’re gonna find a way to have a revers logistics category. Absolutely. Absolutely. I would argue Tony and we’ll grab we’ll grab breakfast and, and, uh, share more is Inmar intelligence, what a wonderful, reverse logistics and beyond, uh, story and, and representative. So, but Tony keep the feedback coming to all of y’all keep the feedback coming. We’re gonna be talking about, uh, 20, 23 soon. Um, but as we wrap here, Phil and Kelly, uh, I’m gonna share just a quick thought, but let’s make sure folks know, know how to connect. Both of y’all have, have full plates and then some it’s overflowing, uh, Kelly, how can folks connect, uh, with you buyers meeting point art procurement, that’ll PE you name it.

Kelly Barner (01:50:15):

So the easiest way is definitely LinkedIn. Um, and as we wrap, you know, we’ve talked a lot about thank you to our judges, thank you to our nominees. Thank you to the media that joined us and helped us spread the word. Thank you to the amazing supply chain now production team. They’re incredible. And the one person we have not named who is an absolutely incredible part of this, thank you to Joshua. These videos and graphics have been amazing. Thank you to Amanda for staying calm and holding down the Fort. Thank you to everybody that played a role behind the scenes. Um, and I’m glad that so many people from the procurement and supply chain community have joined us today. This has, this event has really gone beyond what I think any of us have hoped it would be

Scott Luton (01:50:55):

Amen. That’s all I that’s all I notice. Say to what you just shared there. Uh, Phil, how can and, and Kelly, wait a second. Kelly. Kelly, how can folks connect with you though?

Kelly Barner (01:51:04):

Oh, LinkedIn and then dial P please listen to dial P check out buyers, meeting point, VI me at art of procurement. I’m actually pretty hard to miss, so LinkedIn’s a good place to start.

Scott Luton (01:51:13):

Wonderful. And Phil,

Phil Ideson (01:51:15):

Yeah. In terms of, um, connecting with me the same really look, uh, up on LinkedIn. I noticed that there’s a number of folks today already who have been connecting with me. So thank you so much for that. Um, uh, that’s probably the easiest place to find me, um, the website for out of procurement, which is really where we talk all about helping procurement professionals to, to think differently. Uh, we help to inspire them to change, give them the roadmaps to do so, um, is out of procurement.com and any way you find your podcasts out of procurement.

Scott Luton (01:51:42):

It’s just that easy. It’s just, just that easy. I really appreciate our partnership. Uh, it’s, there’s been some good days and some tough days, which you should expect some tough days if you’re trying to move some mountains from time to time. And by the way, I’m gonna wrap this, uh, Paul, this is so wonderful. Uh, congratulations, everyone. Excellent program, proud day to be part of the supply chain industry, Paul, a hundred percent, which I’ve heard the thing these days inspired by the collective work. He says, and values driven procurement programs of so many top performing organizations. Paul wonderful. And thanks so much for kindred spirits. Yeah. Um, alright. So as we wrap here today, I wanna echo what Kelly and Phil said, you know, congratulations all the nominees, big, congrats, all the winners, big thanks to our judges, our partners, our respective teams, of course, to Gina and Trisha and the CUPA team appreciate y’all supporting our efforts beyond, you know, financially, but being here and sharing your message, that attack and that Delta, you know, between in my words, a lip service and getting real results, Gina, that that was, uh, that was worth the price of, of admission.

Scott Luton (01:52:51):

Uh, big, thanks. You know, folks, you don’t see what Phil and Kelly and their teams, uh, have done. This is, it has been certainly, uh, a big investment of, uh, of time and, uh, passion of emails and slacks. I think we sell ’em the front end, lots of that, lots of zooms, but big, thanks to Kelly Barner with buyer’s meeting point Phin with Arter procurement, our production team. We mentioned Tim Nelson and I hope for justice team bringing it home, hitting a home run, but more importantly, leading by example while inspiring and challenging all of us to really, to do more that hope for justice. Uh, justices say that five times fast, incredible ability at pointing that powerful shining light on several key issues of our time and challenging us to walk through and do something about it. But that’s a wrap. We’re gonna have to leave it here. 11 56, 4 minutes of spare for the 2022 supply chain procurement award stay tuned. As I mentioned for upcoming news about next year, we might want to take a breath before we do that, but in the meantime folks, Hey, let’s keep it going. Here’s some powerful momentum at play here, and we all know it’s gonna take real leaders willing to drive action, to do good, to give forward and to be the change that’s needed. So let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work. We’ll see everybody again really soon. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (01:54:10):

Thanks for being a part of our supply chain. Now, community check out all of our programming@supplychainnow.com and make sure you subscribe to supply chain. Now anywhere you listen to podcasts and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. See you next time on supply chain. Now.