The current labor shortage is disrupting the flow of goods up and down in global supply chains.
Employees are a business owner’s most valuable resource. So how can smart software bridge the gap and enable businesses to provide their teams with tools to reduce burnout, provide work-life balance, and attract new talent?
Join supply chain experts Barry Kukkuk, Founder and President of Netstock USA, and Lynne Barnes, their Director of Talent Onboarding and Culture, as they discuss how technology can enable your business to:
– Increase employee retention
– Improve productivity
– Promote a healthy work-life balance
Intro/Outro (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 (00:33):
Hey, good morning, Scott Luton and Greg White with you here on supply chain. Now, welcome to today’s live stream, Greg, how you doing?
Greg White (00:40):
I’m doing good. Trying to bring in the peace sign from different angles all this week. Cause we’re doing so many shows. I feel like it could get old, right?
Scott Luton (00:48):
Uh, well it could except for the incredible content and guests that we’ve had and today is no exception, is it?
Greg White (00:56):
No doubt, but you know, this is a topic near and dear to my heart supply chain planning. It’s from once I come both on the practitioner and the technology provider side, I didn’t even think to mention this. We, we may have faced net stock once or twice back in the day. I don’t even know as at blue Ridge. So I don’t know. We’ll we’ll ask our guests.
Scott Luton (01:17):
Yes. I’ll I’ll just waiting for you to let the cat the bag and you didn’t, you came right to the edge and you didn’t, but you know what, as Greg mentions, we are gonna be talking a lot about our supply chain workforce, especially those planners across the globe that are sort of critical yeah. To global business. We’re we’ve got a great conversation tuned up as we’re diving into the topic, the greater topic of work life balance, and how business leaders can leverage technology to help out their teams, giving them a big breath of fresh air. Uh, and, and so we’re gonna tackle all of that from a supply chain workforce and get a lot of, uh, tips and insights from our friends at net stocks. So stay tuned for that. And Greg Scott,
Greg White (01:55):
Let me give a little perspective on this. Yeah, please, on this role of supply chain planning. So this something
Scott Luton (02:00):
Will be a livestream without Greg White’s perspective. Gregory.
Greg White (02:03):
Good point. That’s an excellent point. <laugh> maybe not always an excellent perspective, but that is an excellent point. You know, I was told this a long time ago and that is as a supply chain planner or, you know, whatever, any, any kind of man forecasting planning, replenishment allocation sort of role, there are only three conditions, right? You’re either overstocked you’re in trouble for being overstocked you’re outta stock. So you’re in trouble for being outta stock, right. Or if something happens to go just right, it’s thank goodness for the sales team. <laugh>
Scott Luton (02:40):
So true. It is so true. And meanwhile that the planners and, and the rest of the organizations are over there making magic happen and oftentimes not getting enough recognition is that right?
Greg White (02:51):
Only blame only is. Right?
Scott Luton (02:53):
Yeah. So we’re in the process as an industry of changing that, that I think in many ways, it’s been cool to see it the last, uh, you know, a couple years, at least my perspective, the planning function and those incredible people that make it happen, you know, get more recognition and a lot more understanding. And in this case, as we’re gonna be talking about today, how can we offer these valuable components of the global supply chain ecosystem, a better worklife balance, right. So
Greg White (03:20):
Gotta have, right. I mean, it, it is about the technology and what the technology can do to support the decision making of the planners. So that’s right. Undo that’s right. And that, you know, it hasn’t really been on the people it’s mostly been on the tool set that they’ve had
Scott Luton (03:35):
In the that’s. Right.
Scott Luton (03:36):
All right. So along these lines, folks, I see Jonathan and Catherine, Amanda, and Shelly, and many others, Hey, we want to hear from you too. So as we have the conversation with our two guests, we’d love for y’all to chime in. We we’ll, we’ll be sharing as many of your comments as we can get to here today, before we bring on our two wonderful guests. And, and Hey, we’ve had a good fortune of having a couple pre-show chats with our two guests today, and I’m telling you you’re gonna really enjoy and value their perspective. Yeah. But before we do that, share a couple of program notes today, Greg speaking of great guests, we dropped the episode where you and I interviewed the extraordinary Roberto Ken Aari, who is essentially the fearless supply chain leader for Estee Lauder companies. Yeah. And that was, he is a dynamo, right?
Greg White (04:22):
Yeah. Another one of the leaders that we have talked to practitioners that we have talked to who are so genuine, they can’t hide it. <laugh> right. I mean, the authenticity just flows out of them. So Tanya Jackson, you know, obviously Roberto and yesterday, Rick, Rick McDonald, and more to come. So, you know, these are the people who are leading the CPG retail distribution, manufacturing companies to do and be better in their supply chain practice. And as to a leader, every one of them has said that it goes through people. So today also a great complimentary topic to that discussion
Scott Luton (05:02):
Well said perfect point and folks to make it easy. I think our team just dropped the link to that episode in the chat, uh, big thanks to Catherine and Amanda Chantel, the whole team that helps make the production happen here at supply chain out every day. So y’all check that out. I’m telling you, get ready, make sure you eat your Wheaties before you listen to Roberto because he brings it. And, uh, I’ll tell you, it really makes you inspired much like today’s conversation to be part of, uh, the global supply chain industry at this point in time. Okay. One of the quick thing. So anyone that knows us, um, knows that we’re very passionate about, uh, giving forward to our veterans, right? Uh, I’ve been really pleased be part of the team that has, uh, been all about deeds, not words as we have found ways to give forward to our veteran community.
Scott Luton (05:48):
This is just the latest example. Folks, if you’re a military member, if you’re a spouse, if you’re a military family member, if you’re a veteran you’ve already served and you want to find out more about the, the logistics space, maybe start a new career in the logistics space, get networked with folks in this space, come check us out. July 26th, 1130 am for a free virtual session, we’re gonna be talking about current trends. We’re gonna be talking about transition tips, and we’re also gonna be talking about health and wellness best practices. So y’all check it out. Then we just drop the link for that. And we’d love to have to be a part of that. Okay. So Greg, I’m stoked about today’s conversation. You know, if any industry needs some, uh, a breadth of fresh air into how we, as leaders can create a healthier work life balance, it is certainly global supply chain. And I think we’ve got the two guests that’s gonna share some really cool light and effective light on this conversation. Are we ready to bring them in?
Greg White (06:44):
I’m ready.
Scott Luton (06:45):
I am. Are you guys ready? <laugh> let’s do it. Oh, welcome in, uh, Barry CCO president and co-founder of net stock and Lynn Barnes director for talent, onboarding and culture also at net stock. Hello, Lynn and Barry. How are we doing today?
Lynne Barnes (07:02):
Doing well, thank you.
Barry Kukkuk (07:04):
Yeah. Good to see
Scott Luton (07:06):
You. Good to see you as well. Yeah, welcome. So, uh, I mentioned a moment ago, Barry and Lynn, just how much we’ve enjoyed our pre-show conversations. Love the approach. Y’all take, not just with this conversation, but, uh, when it comes to industry leadership, organizational leadership, and of course what you’re doing is net stock. And we’re gonna touch on all of that over the next hour or so, but before we do Lynn and Barry and Greg, we gotta get to the heavy hitting topics, right, Greg?
Greg White (07:33):
Yeah, that’s right.
Lynne Barnes (07:35):
<laugh>
Greg White (07:36):
Gotta put something big and controversial out
Scott Luton (07:38):
There. That is right. So if anyone knows us and, and our global family here at supply out, you know, that we love our food, right? Gives us nice little departure and those little momentary departures from the work that’s gotta get done and Mac and cheese today’s national Mac and cheese day, a legendary staple here in the, in the Southern United States, maybe. So I’m gonna go around the horn with all the three of y’all and, and folks in the cheap seats. We’d love to get your take here as well. Where have you had the best Mac and cheese you’ve ever put in your mouth? And so I wanna start Lynn, let’s start with you Mac and cheese, where are you going for it?
Lynne Barnes (08:18):
Sure. You know, Mac and cheese actually happens to be one of my all time favorite foods. So I love it everywhere, but I think my favorite all time was actually just fairly recently at legal seafood in Boston. Okay. And it was lobster Mac and cheese. I mean, lobster and Mac and cheese together. Can it get any better than that? I suppose if you’re a purist, you only want Mac and cheese. Right. But I, I threw in the lobster for fun.
Scott Luton (08:46):
Oh, I love it, Lynn. All right. So Barry, that’s gonna be tough to top, but I understand you’re a concert of many things. Tell us about Mac and cheese.
Barry Kukkuk (08:55):
Um, yeah. So Scott, as you, as you know, I am a south African born and breed in South Africa and Mac and cheese. Isn’t traditionally a big meal here in, in, in South Africa. Yeah. Um, but last year I spent three months in, in the states. I spent three months in, in Boston and I lived in a hotel for three months. And I can tell you for free that after about two and a half months, you are pretty sick of restaurant food, hotel, food, or anything like that. <laugh> and uh, one of my colleagues invited me for a, uh, barbecue to his house and his, his wife made this amazing Mac and cheese with, with bacon bits in it.
Greg White (09:37):
Oh. And just unfair, just
Barry Kukkuk (09:39):
Eating a home cooked meal. And this Mac and cheese was divine. So that’s the best Mac and cheese I’ve had in my life.
Scott Luton (09:47):
Oh, Barry, that sounds both Barry and Lynn, I’ll tell y’all brought it today. Both of that sounds delicious. I’m gonna see what Greg is thinking when it comes to Mac and cheese.
Greg White (09:56):
Well, Scott, you know, I’m a foreigner also. I come from the Midwest, not the Southeast. So I, I was not raised eating Mac and cheese for craft, Mac and cheese, but the best Mac and cheese I have ever had was a barbecue joint called Dave pose in Marietta, Georgia.
Scott Luton (10:13):
Okay.
Greg White (10:14):
The Mac and cheese recipe was so Southern living magazine actually published in like the early two thousands or late nineties, something like that, the recipe, and now people all over, at least the area make this delicious three cheese Mac and cheese where they used big tube noodles. And oh my gosh, it is by far the best I’ve ever had, especially with the crusty top.
Scott Luton (10:40):
Oh man. Oh, you’re killing me, Greg. You know, Lynn and Barry, I’ve had a chance thanks to Greg’s recommendation to take my son to that same, that restaurant and have it. That’s right. And he’s not lying. It’s delicious. But I must just in our extended family where I’m from in akin, South Carolina, we have a Mac and cheese legend. She’s my aunt Linda. And, uh, I tell you growing up, I was, I was, uh, spoiled because I got to eat some of the best Mac and cheese and the whole family wanted her, her recipe. And she’s been very generous with it. So, uh, aunt Linda, if you’re listening, <laugh> I’d like it. Yeah. Let’s, we’ll share. Maybe it gets in some of the living, but uh, love you and love the Mac and cheese. Okay. Greg and Barry and Lynn really quick. I forgot to do something earlier that we never forget to do. And that’s we got, we gotta welcome folks in from cheats cheap seats. What am I thinking, Greg? It’s okay.
Greg White (11:30):
Jonathan. It’s okay. Yeah. It’s out of order, but
Scott Luton (11:32):
It happens. You got it. It happens sometimes. Jonathan, welcome in via LinkedIn. Let us know where you’re tuned in from. Great to have you back. I know you’ve been apart somewhere earlier shows of course we mentioned Catherine. She’s tuned in from a, uh, the chili north Georgia mountains. You know, Lynn, we were talking, it’s been a bit abnormally cooler here in Georgia here lately. Really? It, yep. It’s been, uh, yesterday. I don’t think it got over 85 degrees, Greg and humidity’s been down strange. Metaverse maybe we’re in a different universe, uh, this week, who knows, but uh,
Greg White (12:02):
We’re our own avatars.
Scott Luton (12:04):
<laugh> right. Amanda. Appreciate what you and Catherine do every day. Shelly. Great to have you back. And yes, Greg is on that Flexport list and I tell you with all the goodness he brings is coming. What list
Greg White (12:16):
Is that? I didn’t see that list.
Scott Luton (12:19):
We’ll talk after show. Okay. You’re on every list in my book, Greg, you know that, thanks. Uh, Jonathan’s going back to the point where we were talking earlier. He is one of our, our dear planners in global supply chain. And he agrees with us kind of, uh, too much behind the scenes. We gotta give more love to what goes on in the planning function. Clay Phillips of course, diesel, always with us, appreciate what he does diesel, because the engine never stops running Lynn and Barry. Let’s see Naja NA’s weighing in, uh, Boston has some of the best lobster Mac and cheese, which is what Lynn was referring to earlier. I’m with you Patrick, smoked Mac and cheese with a touch of brisket. Ooh man, man. All right. So Patrick, they’re tuned in via LinkedIn. Let us know where you’re tuned in from I’m guessing Texas with the brisket mention, but
Greg White (13:07):
It could be has the yeah. Mid, mid south Midwest, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas.
Scott Luton (13:13):
Maybe figure it out. Yeah, maybe so ju is back with us. Julio had some great comments, Shelton yesterday’s live stream and many live streams. And then finally Kenneth tuned in via LinkedIn from Dubai. Great to have you here with us. Uh, Kenneth looking forward to your, uh, perspective. Okay. One final comment. And I lied. Clay says Costco, Mac and cheese tub. It comes cooked, but you put it in a Trager grill for about 30 minutes to smoke. Wow. We okay. You learn something new every day.
Greg White (13:39):
So Clay’s dad is a Trager master. I mean, really this guy can make anything in a tra or grill and it does make it be better.
Scott Luton (13:48):
Okay. Yeah. That’s fantastic. We’ll have a grilling episode. Maybe we’ll grab Barry and we talk different whiskeys and it’s all things, all culinary. So we’ll save that for our future episode. Okay. So Lynn and Barry, now that we’ve really made everybody hungry here today, I wanna get into, get into our center plate discussion. Yes. Pun intended. I wanna start by level setting a bit and wanna get both of y’all to weigh in on what we’re seeing, uh, in this global workforce environment. And Lynn, I wanna start with you. What, what are your, some of your observations out there today?
Lynne Barnes (14:21):
Well, it’s definitely been an interesting last couple of years, hasn’t it going into our third year of a pandemic and which really changed the face of everything. There was that little thing called the great resignation, right? Where, you know, more than 4 million people voluntarily left their roles because they just realized it, they weren’t doing, they didn’t like what they were doing. They didn’t, they wanted to do something different, lots of different reasons for leaving. But I think what happened is I think employers started to realize that employees now had a bit of an upper hand and they started to see staff shortages because employees were leaving, which of course created more pressure on those that were still left behind. Right. And employees were leaving for reasons that were, you know, really important. Flexibility is huge. They, they, they, they enjoyed not being in an office any longer. They enjoyed being able to go to their kids’ baseball game, uh, or soccer match, whatever it may be. They didn’t like the culture. Uh it’s it’s very surprising to me how many new employees I have onboarded, right? And when I ask them about why they left their former company, they didn’t like the culture.
Scott Luton (15:36):
It
Lynne Barnes (15:36):
Was huge. It’s a huge number. So pay is always important, but it’s not as important as you might think. Although with our current economy that may change this year as well, right? Certainly with, with inflation being what it is we need to look at, you know, what we’re doing for raises and employee salaries in general. And you know, software is always a big part of it. Making employees lives easier, you know, less duplication, less, you know, redundancy, uh, software can do those kinds of things. And that’s where hopefully net stock comes in in the supply chain world. Right, right. To make things better for employees.
Scott Luton (16:13):
Lynn, I tell you, as an opening salvo, you have brought, there are so many great points there. I love, even though you acknowledge the inflation impact that can have on the overall employment equation, still in the bigger picture, you know, that’s just one of many parts of that equation. Right. So Barry, I’ll tell you, Lynn said a high bar, Barry, what, what else are you seeing? Uh, when it comes to the current workforce environment,
Barry Kukkuk (16:36):
You know, Scott, you, you started with saying global, um, and you know, we’ve seen this great resignation in, in the states, but not necessarily everywhere else. And, and we are lucky because we are a global company and we can see trends in, in different places. And, you know, for example, in South Africa, unemployment is pretty high. It’s just the environment we, we are in. And we’ve seen a lot of companies, not just net stock, but other other companies and people I speak to where, um, they’ve replaced people from the states with south Africans or with Australians or, or so on. Um, because you know, those, those people need a job. And suddenly after the pandemic, everyone realized that remote working is possible. And so, you know, you can now outsource or, or, or, you know, to take your work workforce to a different place. Right. Um, and you don’t necessarily have to have them even, even in the states. I mean, Silicon valley, half the people are now living, you know, in rural areas and still doing their job. So, um, I think that’s been a big one.
Scott Luton (17:48):
Yeah. Agreed. Agreed. Uh, Greg, I wanna get your take here in just a second, but I wanna close the loop on a couple things Jonathan, uh, tuned in from Louisiana. Gosh. Talk about culinary legends down there. So Jonathan, thank you for sharing. I think this is Timothy Tang, Mac and cheese with ranch and spicy herbs. Hey, uh, this new one for me. Thanks for joining ranch. Hmm. Yeah. How about that?
Greg White (18:10):
You know, you’re in America when we put ranch dressing on it.
Scott Luton (18:12):
That’s right. Ranch. Anything Patrick tuned in from Columbus, Ohio. Great part of the world, not too far from where they hosted supply chain 360, that great event. A couple weeks back, Justin Wilson, crab, Mac and cheese there. How about that? And clay. That’s
Greg White (18:26):
My, that’s
Scott Luton (18:26):
My favorite. Yeah. Shout out the Papa of Steve to your point. So clay, we got, Steve’s a legend as well. I get him and aunt Linda together. We’ve got quite a, uh, quite a mill, but Greg, back to workforce, as we’re using this as a way of setting the table for today’s conversation, Lynn and Barry have share some of their observations, your, your quick take and then take us right into where we’re going next with our panel here.
Greg White (18:48):
Yeah, I think global is, is the keyword there because we do see dramatically different situations though, in the Americas. Generally, we’re seeing about the same thing as we are in the states, recession inflation, you know, uh, a lot of companies are backing up on employment, you know, re remember that the old days gang, when people would accept a job and then not show up on the first day and not worry about that. Well, that’s coming back on ’em a little bit because now companies are rescinding job offers. So it’s a, it’s a very difficult environment. And yet re keeping, getting, and retaining the best candidates out there is still as tough as it’s ever been. Right. And, and I think that’s something we have to acknowledge and, you know, companies are, they’re struggling to get and motivate and elevate and retain the, the best candidates out there. So, and, and I know you all see that on a worldwide basis. So I’m curious, you know, what, what are you seeing in, in terms of how companies are impacted or being are impacting or being impacted by that Barry, you wanna tackle that?
Barry Kukkuk (20:00):
Yeah, absolutely. You know, what, what we’ve seen is that I think Scott said it earlier, the, the employees suddenly have a bit of an upper hand and after the pandemic, the companies who still hang onto the old ways and try to dictate how people should work and when they should work and, and so on are struggling. Um, I think if you can be a little bit more flexible and understand that, yeah. Not everyone needs to sit in office, you know, half the time. I’ll give you an example. We, we, this big company here in Johnsburg and kind of at the end of, of lockdowns, they said, okay, what we’ll do is on half the people come in on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays and the other half come in on, you know, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. And you know, so we still social distance, but at least people are back in the office.
Barry Kukkuk (20:54):
Well guess what happened? People who are on the office are on a zoom meeting because the rest of the colleagues at home and tomorrow the other way around. So, and, and people were saying, why, why are we doing this? There’s no point either. We all come or we all stay at home, but there’s no point sitting in the office on a zoom. And I’d rather be, you know, at home, in my, in my pajamas, in our zoom, you know? So, so definitely, I think if, if the, if you’re not flexible, you’re gonna struggle to retain talent
Greg White (21:27):
Unquestionably. I mean, I, I think about how many people I have heard say, in fact, I was just talking to a friend of mine yesterday. He said, I don’t want to commute three days a week to the office. Right. I think Lynn, in addition to all the things you talked about that people don’t want in their workplace, a commute, which in the Atlanta area is an average of 34 miles one way. So
Scott Luton (21:53):
In about three and a half hours, <laugh> it feels like of some days
Greg White (21:57):
Anywhere. Yeah. Anywhere from, I mean, Scott, our, our studio in Atlanta is 19 is, uh, no, it’s 26 miles from my house and it can be anywhere from 40 MI, 40 minutes to, you know, an hour and a half, which Lynn always makes Scott sweat <laugh> because he’s like, is he showing up?
Lynne Barnes (22:18):
<laugh>
Greg White (22:20):
Always try. So I always tried to be there way before we needed to go on the air. But, uh, so, uh, as you, you have observed Lynn, I’m curious what kind of struggles you’re seeing companies have in that regard?
Lynne Barnes (22:31):
Well, what I was gonna say is also is this you’re preaching to the choir in Southern California. Try try a drive into Los Angeles. That’s right.
Greg White (22:38):
Amen. Yeah.
Lynne Barnes (22:39):
So I, I completely understand the traffic part of it, but you know, companies are just not taking employee retention as seriously as they should. And what needs to happen more is they need to invest in their employees. Yes. It’s important to invest in marketing and in sales, no doubt, those are important, but you’ve gotta invest in your employees as well. If you don’t ha if you haven’t, if you haven’t done that, then you will not retain your employees. And, you know, that includes different things from making sure that they have the training that they need and the growth opportunities. It, it, it’s just so hugely important and it doesn’t seem to always happen. They, they, they say they’re going to do it, but what do they put in place? And they don’t often put things in place. And, uh, that’s, that’s why I’m at net stock is to make sure that we try and keep our employees happy. Onboarding is a perfect example. That’s one of the reasons I was brought on board. And if you don’t onboard and employ properly, you, you stand to lose them very, very quickly and easily.
Greg White (23:43):
Yep. You start out behind the eight ball, right. I mean, correct. It’s hard to get them in integrated and engaged if, if you don’t give them the lay of the land. Yeah. That’s a great, that’s a fantastic initiative. And I you’re right. I think a lot of companies think that cute little package with your laptop and a t-shirt and whatever else you get on day one, there’s your orientation right there. Yeah, exactly. That’s your onboarding? Well, so let’s talk a little bit more specifically around supply chain Salesforce, and you may have seen the intro. I have a special place in my heart for people in the planning practice because they are often and historically abused, but they provide so much value and curious in this world with new technologies and new approaches to planning, and of course in this new employment environment, but you think specifically in that demand planning, supply planning, S O P all of those areas that you all touch in regard to, um, employment there, Barry, you wanna start us off.
Barry Kukkuk (24:43):
Yeah. Um, I think you said in earlier that that the poor person doing the supply chain planning or replenishment is always getting shouted at either sales are shouting at them because they don’t have the right inventory to, to sell. And, and, you know, it’s their fault that the, the sales guys that make their targets right, or the CFO is shouting at them because you’ve got all these millions of dollars tied up in inventory. That’s just sitting there not moving. Um, you know, or the CEO is shouting at them and that they’re just sitting in the middle and, and, and, you know, fighting fires all day. And it’s very, very tough for them to do that. And, you know, with the events of the last two years, it’s just become 10 times worse than what it used to be. And, you know, one of our, one of our colleagues always says that you will give Salesforce to your, to your sales guys. You would give an E P system to your, uh, your accounting guys. And then it comes to the supply chain manager and you give them Excel.
Scott Luton (25:46):
<laugh> a spreadsheet,
Barry Kukkuk (25:48):
You know,
Greg White (25:48):
Exactly right. And
Scott Luton (25:50):
Still that Barry I’m still there is great.
Greg White (25:53):
The tone with which he said it, Scott is, is critical.
Barry Kukkuk (25:56):
That’s fair. <laugh>, you know, you need best, you need the best tools because face, you know, face to facts, um, supply chain and especially inventory is the heart of that kind of business, you know, without that the business doesn’t exist, but you, you, you just think, oh, well, we, we don’t really need to equip these people. So, so we, we see those, those guys really under pressure and, you know, it’s our mission to, to help them and, and improve their lives.
Greg White (26:26):
That’s great. I think there’s a couple things in addition to SU suboptimal tool sets, which is putting that kindly, I think you nailed it spreadsheets or whatever, or the E R P MinMax system or whatever, you know? Right, right, right. But I think it’s, it’s not just, it’s not just that, but it’s also the infrastructure, the, uh, data and information that’s required. And then so many companies focus on only the forecast, not the, also the risk planning and the resiliency planning that is necessary in demand planning as well. So, yeah, that’s a great, that’s a great catch Lynn. What I mean, when you think about it, you have to have a special caring specifically in your role for these folks, because you you’re doing it for the same, same kind of situation in your own company. But tell me a little bit about what you’re seeing in that environment.
Lynne Barnes (27:22):
Well, you know, I, I think fortunately at net stock, we don’t have probably the same pressures that the, the other folks that are doing this job specifically, you know, we talked a little bit before we got on the show about the ships that are down. As I look out beyond Pacific coast, highway four miles and miles and miles, I can’t imagine a person who’s doing this job waiting for supplies, waiting for, you know, the delays just have to be killing them. And so it’s really up to the HR people and, and their managers to, to be on top of what’s going on in their lives and making sure that they have the tools that they need to survive and to get through this. And it’s not over with yet, we’ve, we’ve got ways to go and hopefully, you know, they truly need to make sure that work life balance is there and that they have the tools they need.
Scott Luton (28:15):
Excellent tools
Greg White (28:16):
Are critical. Yeah,
Scott Luton (28:17):
That’s right. Yes. Yes. That’s right. As, as is, or as are whatever, whatever my subject verbal agreement means, leaders that truly care and want to take real action and do something about it. Right. You look at a lot of third party data burnout as a real thing. Folks, these last few years have really stressed folks out in the supply chain in a variety of functions within supply chain. And we’re seeing it’s one of the drivers of some of the turnover. So the onus is on leadership to do something about it in a very meaningful way. So really quick, I wanna welcome in, uh, Herta tuned in from Toronto. Uh, folks, if you ever get this, when you make a comment, it’s just a little security setting on your LinkedIn profile. You can toggle it and it’ll allow third party apps like stream yard to share your name and, and location and all. So, uh, great to have you with us here at HERDA and from Ontario. KARE is tuned in, uh, Ji. Great to have you here via LinkedIn, Patrick. I think Patrick’s referencing your Excel, your spreadsheet observation there. He loves it, and it is a harsh truth for all things. Supply chain,
Greg White (29:16):
Patrick.
Scott Luton (29:16):
Great to have you here today. Okay. I wanna keep driving. I wanna get into you. We’ve kind of framed some of the challenges, a good bit, both in general with what’s going on. And then with the last segment really focused on supply chain and the planning function, uh, Lynn, I wanna get into some of the ways that you’re seeing some of those, those proven best practices that Greg hates that term. But some of the things that you’ve seen that works when companies really wanna promote a healthy work life balance, what are some of those things? Lynn?
Lynne Barnes (29:45):
You know, probably one of the number one things that comes to my mind is encouraging health and wellness, but making sure that our executives as well, that, that the berries of the world are also walking that walk. Hmm. It’s real easy to set. And, and Barry, as a workaholic, a self described workaholic. And so trying to get, he truly is love the guy and he’s, and that’s why net stocks where it’s at, but trying to get the guy to take vacation. Isn’t always easy to do. And so, as I’m trying to promote health and wellness and taking time and taking care of yourself, I’ve got folks that are reporting to different folks at the top that are saying, well, he doesn’t do it. You know what I’m saying? They, they don’t feel comfortable if their own boss doesn’t do it. So walk the walk. Yeah.
Lynne Barnes (30:32):
Get involved with your employees. Talk to them, see where they’re coming from, you know, having good health benefits. Great. That’s important having a, uh, employee assistance plan so that their mental health can be taken care of as well. Hugely important, do fun things. We, we pay for our employees to get together because we’re fully remote. There are no offices at net stock. We’re fully remote. We pay for our employees to get together for lunch. We pay their lunch whenever they want to get together, that they can, those that are close by. So, you know, we encourage everything that we possibly can from, uh, virtual happy hours to, uh, walkathons anything, to get them outside and breathing and enjoying that work life balance.
Scott Luton (31:18):
Mm mm. So love it. A lot of, yeah, I do too. A lot of goodness there Lynn, and a big dose of reality there, you know. All right. So Barry, I think a lot of founders and, and fellow entrepreneurs and, and folks in the, in the startup environment, can I, for one, I know Greg can, can feel your pain, right? Cause you always feel this immense pressure that you gotta be doing something, cuz there’s so much to do so much to be done. But with that aside, I’m trying, I’m trying to, I’m trying to help rationalize your workaholic, Barry, but tell us what else did you have you seen that works in addition what Lynn has shared?
Barry Kukkuk (31:52):
Yeah. So, so in my defense, I did take a week island holiday about a month ago. So after a big project and what’s important is I, I got to the hotel, I put my phone into the safe and later took it out. Right. And no laptop, my, my wife wouldn’t allow me the laptop. So, so I think your, your partner outside your company is probably your biggest ally in, in terms of getting work life balance. But it’s important because, you know, it’s, uh, easy to work, 12 hours a day or 14 hours a day or, or whatever stupid hours you, you, you do. And you know, that support back at home gets neglected. And, you know, I always say if it wasn’t for my wife and, and her support net stock would not exist because you need that backup. You can’t do it all by yourself, but you can’t expect someone to, to do that, be that backup, be that rock in your life for 12 years straight without getting anything back.
Barry Kukkuk (32:55):
And I think for me, that’s where work life balance really, really, uh, makes a difference. So spend time, spending time with family and, and you know, my wife and so on is, is really, really important. And we do it in, in different ways. We both work from home and, you know, we will get together and have a coffee, you know, in the, in the, in the dining room for 20 minutes and just talk about our day and what’s going on and, and so on and then re meet each other sometime at lunch and, and so on. And that really helps even if it’s only in small doses, but it’s very easy to neglect the people back at home because we, we really think that business is everything. And, you know, for me, the, one of the biggest realizations I’ve had, you know, a few years ago is that I am not my job.
Barry Kukkuk (33:51):
If the job gets criticized, it’s not me. That’s getting criticized. And that’s a very tough thing to do. And I think everyone, you know, you don’t have to be, you know, a founder of a business, uh, for that to be true. I think anyone who, who, who does a job and, and take, takes pride in their job and they, and they really wanna do it. Well, you have to realize that sometimes things happen and, you know, yes, you are just a human being and you can make a mistake and that’s okay. So to, to just get yourself out of that mindset, that criticizing the action is not the same as criticizing the person. Yeah. Um, I think that is hugely important.
Scott Luton (34:33):
Huge. A lot of good stuff there. Barry and Lynn, Greg, I’m gonna share a couple comments here in a second, but before I do that as, as a, also a fellow founder, an organizational leader, uh, someone’s been charged with leading, uh, you know, workforces, what are some things that come to your mind when it, when it comes to protect network life balance?
Greg White (34:52):
I think first you have to define what everyone means by balance because it’s not 50 50, it’s it certainly is not. I mean, we had this discussion when I, when I founded blue Ridge, we had this discussion when I was a CEO at KIRO, we’ve had this discussion multiple times. That balance usually means close to 70% business, 30% personal, and 30% of that 30% is also gonna be infiltrated by business. Right. I mean, what Barry did is highly exceptional in putting his, his phone away. It was funny because Barry, that was one of the questions I was gonna ask was how many emails did you do on vacation? So I’m very happy for and proud of you for doing that. Um, yeah, that’s good. That’s great. So you have to, and you have to understand what other people’s tolerance level is, right. And now, you know, this is the old, how you gonna keep ’em down on the farm.
Greg White (35:44):
Now that they’ve seen Perry, that’s a song <laugh> now that people have seen that they can work from home and not have to endure a commute and spend more time with their significant other at home, you know, throughout the day, which is so rewarding, by the way, isn’t it, I mean, now that they’ve seen that they don’t wanna go back to the old way. Right. And when I’ve run a company much like net stock, that was 100% vertical or vertical virtual, 100% vertical, uh, very, very tall building, 100% virtual <laugh>. And we, and we made a special effort to bring everyone in the company. We were a very small company. There was only like 14 of us at very early stage. We brought everybody together at for lack of a better term, the corporate office one week a month. And, and EV you know, while nobody wanted to do that at first least of all me, because then I had to feed everybody <laugh>.
Greg White (36:39):
But when nobody did wanted to do that at first, they saw the power of getting together, but they didn’t have to live it every single day. It was, it was really amazing to see because the in person dynamics, I will always argue till the day that I die, that, that it’s so incredibly important. And the things that you’re doing, like getting people together for meals is very powerful. You can solve in seconds. What would take month? Otherwise I’ve watched it happen. So you just have to be as a, as a leader, you have to be very intentional about what you’re trying to accomplish. And you’re what you’re not trying to accomplish is for everyone to work in an office, what you’re trying to accomplish is outcomes. Yes. However, your, the culture of your organization produces those outcomes. You have to facilitate that.
Scott Luton (37:27):
Yep. All right. Absolutely. So what I wanna do, I wanna share a couple quick comments and then we’re gonna be getting into defining and making sure folks know what rent net stock does because you got, you gotta have the right technologies, right. And, and that can be unique organization by organization type of, uh, selection process, but really quick, Bella is, is tuned in via LinkedIn from the UAE. Great to have you here with us, Bella. Thanks so much. Let us know what you’re thinking of these conversations around work life balance. Debon. If I got the name wrong, let me know, try to get everybody’s name. Right. He says, we are seeing a lot of burnout from our air force planners as well. The military is struggling. You know, the maintainers talk about folks that don’t get enough recognition, the maintenance teams and pros both in the military and in, on the private sector at industry, you know, they have a very underappreciated job.
Scott Luton (38:16):
Uh, but thank you for tuning in, and we’ve gotta take action, right? From sing tuned in from India via LinkedIn. Great to have you here to let us know what you’re thinking. I wanna arrive here. So if I’m gonna offer up Julio’s question here, Lynn and Barry, and if you can just, uh, give a, is there anything that comes to mind for a quick answer, and then we’re gonna get into making sure folks understand what net stock does. Lynn, when it comes to how you’re measuring employee’s expectations, their needs, what they want, their preferences, anything comes, come to mind.
Lynne Barnes (38:47):
AB absolutely. It says there’s such as a survey. An employee survey is absolutely critical and, uh, we are due for one. So I’m pushing to have that done.
Greg White (38:57):
<laugh> make a note. If you need to pause for a minute and make a note to yourself, go ahead.
Lynne Barnes (39:01):
It’s OK. I’ve got the note, but it’s absolutely critical. And then the next, even more critical is following up after the survey with those things that, you know, you need to be looking at
Scott Luton (39:12):
Wonderful and Barry, any quick comment here.
Barry Kukkuk (39:14):
Yeah. Agreed. There’s there’s no good taking a survey and then sharing it with five board members and it stays there. Right? <laugh> if you don’t share, share the results back with the people and then, you know, let’s find ways to, to improve and that’s take action. That’s the critical
Scott Luton (39:31):
Part. Yeah. Well said, well said. And holy great question, man. You, you, you bring some of the best questions to the livestream and Debon thank you, man. It feels good to get a names names. Right. And by the way, I love that.
Greg White (39:43):
Shot it an enthusiastic. You got it right. By the
Scott Luton (39:45):
Way. Yes. I love it. Okay. So as we we’ coming down, not exactly the home stretch yet, we got a couple more twists and turns and Barry, what I wanna pose to you, uh, is let’s make sure a lot of folks are familiar with net stock, right? Y’all been on quite a journey, but tell us more, give us an in a nutshell version of what the company does.
Barry Kukkuk (40:05):
Sure. You know, we, as founders came together in 2010, we have worked together previously and we have created inventory optimization software, but more on an enterprise level, you know, you’re talking about $500,000 for an implementation, a million dollars and that kind of thing. But when we came back together in 2010, we realized that there literally are thousands and thousands of SMBs and med market companies who have the exact same problem that those big enterprises have. The issue is if someone has a million dollars of inventory in the warehouse, you can’t sell them a $500,000 piece of software. It’s just not, it’s not viable. So these guys were sitting in, in, in, in a, in an art in the cold, why, while the big companies were very fast, um, becoming data driven companies. So they have all of this data, they employ a thousand data analysts and, you know, Amazon is just steam rolling everyone.
Barry Kukkuk (41:04):
And Walmart is doing the same and so on. And so, you know, we, we really wanted to help the smaller guys out there to also have access to, to good planning, uh, and, and management software. And at the time, you know, uh, three things kind of came together and that was software as a service became a, a viable business model. People were okay sending their data into the cloud. Um, you know, which back in those days was, was still very new. Um, but it was getting better. And also, you know, the web became a platform where you could deliver software for people to use on a daily basis. And that’s really where, where net stock was born. Um, and our mission since then has always been to empower and, and arm the up and coming companies with the, the, the tools and the, and, and the, the knowhow to also compete in the market.
Barry Kukkuk (41:57):
Because I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live in the world where there’s only Amazon and Walmart and, and maybe target. I wanna, I wanna rich cultural, uh, culture of rich diversity in terms of, of suppliers and retailers and, and all that. And that really is our mission to, to help these people. So we do demand planning, we’ve got replenishment, and we also help on the, on the supply side by measuring supplier performance and understanding the risks and how much you should carry and where you should do it, and when you should order your inventory. So that’s really our, our mission is to do
Scott Luton (42:33):
That. Barry, you’re helping the power democratization, uh, across industry and giving folks lots of choices. And that’s one of our big, we’re big proponents of that here at supply chain now so much so that Greg even coined an, an acronym that, uh, he can say, now he can say for later, but Greg, when you hear Barry’s story there and, and the very purpose driven mission that, that he and the net stock team are own, what comes to your mind?
Greg White (43:00):
Oh, I think about how critical that is. I mean, if the pandemic has taught us anything, is if you can’t get that one washer from that one tiny company running out of their garage, you still can’t build your product, right? Yes. So, yes. So I think this, this level of democratization is really, really unbelievably important and really hard to reach for. I mean, it takes, you know, it takes a special business model, as well as a special kind of an amplified product that makes it simple enough for people who may have, they may be chief supply chain, officer CEO, head, chef, and bottle washer at their company. And, you know, they’ve got stacks to spend on planning their, their supply chain. Right. Yeah. So, you know, it’s, it’s no small task, it’s actually more complicated than building something that gets customized at a, at an enterprise size company. Yeah. Um, so I, I think it’s super powerful and, and, uh, somebody here was saying, you know, SMB and mid-markets are critical. They absolutely are because that’s what fuels the supply chain for even the largest of companies.
Barry Kukkuk (44:05):
Right. Yep. Absolutely.
Scott Luton (44:07):
Great. To have you back with us, Michael hope this finds you. Well, my friend. Yep. Hey, really quick. Lynn, I love that Netstock has, has such an incredible leader like you in a role for talent onboarding and culture, right. I think that is that’s illustrative of what we’re after and what business leaders should be doing as part of our earlier part of our conversation. Your quick comment on, on, you know, how, uh, refreshing it is, how, how, uh, fulfilling it is to be in your role at net stock.
Lynne Barnes (44:36):
Oh, it’s actually so much fun. I can’t even tell you when I first got the job, I was trying to explain to my husband and I said, you know, Julie, on the love boat, how she’s the cruise can cruise director? That’s kind of what I’m doing. You know, I’m, I’m looking for all the fun things to do, but it’s, it’s, it’s evolved from there. And, uh, besides trying to look for fun things to do with our employees, uh, it’s also just being there and caring about them and talking to them and listening to them and understanding what their needs are and, and where they’re happy. And, and sometimes maybe where they’re not. Yeah.
Scott Luton (45:10):
I love it. The love boat.
Greg White (45:13):
Yeah. It’s good to see. <laugh> it’s good. When gen Xers inadvertently reveal themselves, isn’t it right. <laugh>
Scott Luton (45:20):
I love it. Nice, Greg.
Greg White (45:22):
We’re we’re out there people. That’s right. Don’t skip us. We are a generation.
Scott Luton (45:26):
That’s right. We’re still making it happen too. Hey, really quick. Lynn Armas from Ethiopia. Welcome to the show via LinkedIn has a great quick question and, and would love to get your quick take here before we move on to this, the, uh, resource that y’all brought to the table. How do you increase employee engagement on surveys? Any quick response there Lynn
Lynne Barnes (45:44):
Quickly? I think the, the questions that you ask are important. Number one, but again, the most important thing is the follow through and the follow up with where you have employees that are not engaged. You got to follow up.
Scott Luton (45:57):
You’ve
Greg White (45:57):
Gotta let ’em know that there will be action from that. And payday is a great day to do a survey. <laugh>.
Scott Luton (46:04):
Ah, great tip, great tip. And Julio people
Greg White (46:07):
Are, are never more engaged than on Dayday
Scott Luton (46:10):
Or me. It’s a great question. In Julio, you’re aligned with the rest of it’s Kindra spirits here following up is critical. Okay. So back to Barry, uh, so Barry, we have got a neat resource that y’all have, uh, brought to the table here today. And I was checking it out earlier. Um, it’s an ebook focused on best practices to optimize your supply chain, and we’re gonna drop the comment or the, uh, link in the comments. So folks can, can download that just one click away. But before I, before we do, and I I’d love to get you to speak to, you know, why folks should check this out. But if I could offer a quick little snippet, um, as I was looking at this this morning, you know, Greg, that the, the term ebook has so many different definitions. And unfortunately, so many organizations take like the straight sales side, right? They don’t give, put any content in’s straight sales, Barry Lynn, and the net stock team. This is really a full ebook full of information. That’s gonna help you regardless if you, you know, do business with net stock or not. So Barry appreciate y’all’s approach there. Why should folks check this ebook out though? Barry
Barry Kukkuk (47:14):
Firstly, uh, apologies to Greg for the word, um, you know, best practice in the title.
Greg White (47:20):
So <laugh> no, no, <laugh>
Scott Luton (47:23):
Nice. Barry. I love
Greg White (47:25):
It. I’ll have to tell you about my philosophy on that Barry <laugh>.
Barry Kukkuk (47:28):
Absolutely. Um, so, so, you know, when I said earlier, it’s our mission to help these, these SMBs and even mid market companies. It, you know, it, it’s reflected in this book. We really want to help and it’s not about, you know, you, we wanna sell something or, you know, there’s, there’s only one way of doing things. So it’s important to, um, for us to, to help educate the market because the more people get educated and the, and the better they get on that maturity curve on their supply chain, um, you know, the better everyone is is off. So, you know, in this book, you will, you will find, um, you know, things like how to review your suppliers and why that’s important and how to measure the performance of your suppliers. And then looking at, you know, what should you measure? What are, what key performance indicators should you measure your, your inventory?
Barry Kukkuk (48:21):
There’s probably, you know, a hundred things that you can measure, but they’re not all equal. Some, some things to measure are far more important than other things. And amen. So in this book, we will give you our take on what we think is, is, are the most important things to, to actually measure. And then, you know, something very simple that a lot of companies don’t do is classify their inventory. So, you know, without understanding what, which items are important and which are not important, you tend to try and give all of your attention, your energy and your dollars to everything. And that doesn’t work. So, you know, very simple 80 20 rule put, you know, 80%, 80% of your dollars into 20% of the items, and you will get a massive, um, uh, increase in, in your performance in your inventory, put your, your limited amount of attention that you can give. Um, you know, we’ve, we’ve spoken about those guys sitting there planning who are overworked, if you only have a small amount of, of, of attention to give, give it to this 20% of the items that are gonna make 80% of the difference, right? And so classification of your imagery is, is, is vitally important. So, you know, those kind of best practices are what this book is all about. If you wanna learn more about how to, how, how we look at how to do those things, um, it’ll be a great resource for
Scott Luton (49:51):
You. Wonderful. Uh, you know, the legendary Italian economist Alfredo parade would be very proud of your commentary there. So I’ll check out.
Scott Luton (50:02):
Yes, he’s live and well, I’ll tell ya throughout the industry. Okay. Really quick. I wanna say hello again to, uh, Shahi tuned in, you know, Shaha was with us earlier a couple times, Greg and livestream. It’s great to have you back with us. And Michael had a follow up point here in small and medium size businesses teach you a lot. Uh, he worked for a small business in the beginning of his career and it taught him a ton. Uh, and I agree with you, Michael I’ve, I’ve had a good fortune of working for a variety of, of, uh, size companies from Cisco, the, you know, the big food, uh, provider that taught me so much about, uh, customer experience to a lot of family run, you know, manufacturing and other types of companies and, uh, lots of learnings all along the way. Okay. So, uh, as we start to wrap Greg, I don’t know about you, man. I’ve really enjoyed the conversation with Len beard. I knew it was gonna be good based on our show conversations, but I think they have surpassed and jumped over that bar. Greg, what your take?
Greg White (50:56):
Yeah. Super refreshing. I mean, good to see a company and people focus on people and on small business, right. Which is the leverage point of all business. So yeah, it’s been, it’s good. It hearkens back to the old days and I kind of dig that. So
Scott Luton (51:13):
<laugh>, well, folks, uh, check out, don’t take Greg’s word for, or my word for it. Check out the ebook. There’s lots of information. Uh, and it also, you can, you can not required. You can get in touch and compare notes with net stock to see if they’re a good fit for what you’re trying to do. Also a separate from that. I love that they’re doing, you know, they’re practicing what they preach with their own business, and that is so powerful. Right. And authentic. Okay. So we wanna make sure folks know how to connect with you other than the ebook and Lynn, I wanna start with you, but I got two part question for you. So Lynn, tell us how we can connect and learn more, but throw down the gauntlet, especially when it comes to talent management and culture, challenged business leaders that take action with something Lynn would that, what would that be
Lynne Barnes (51:58):
Challenging this to take? Well, you know, I think for me, it’s care, it’s caring about your people. It’s being there for your people. I feel it with my leadership, with the berries and, and, and all of our, our founders and our CEO, um, they truly truly care. And if you don’t do a whole lot of things, right, but you care about your employees, you, you you’re gonna get it right. You’re gonna be okay. You’re gonna be able to, to get there. Um, we’re very, very transparent with our employees. We are honest and upfront and they, our employees love it for love us for it. So that’s what I think.
Scott Luton (52:40):
I love it,
Lynne Barnes (52:41):
Me through LinkedIn.
Scott Luton (52:43):
<laugh> I love it for, I love y’all for it. Uh, Lynn and Barry really, it’s very refreshing conversation we’ve had here today. And as Lynn suggests connect with her on LinkedIn, that’s in the show notes, ebook is in the show notes. Barry, how can folks connect with Barry and learn more about net stock?
Barry Kukkuk (53:01):
Um, absolutely. Also LinkedIn is, is probably the easiest way to connect, but also look up net stock on, on LinkedIn and Twitter and you know, other social media platforms. Um, our marketing team is always sharing great content on there and, uh, to just keep in touch with what’s, what is, what is going to happening in, in supply chain, inventory management.
Scott Luton (53:23):
Love it really have enjoyed the conversation here today. I wish we had another hour or two. Uh, there’s so much more to both of your stories and the net stock story, but we’re gonna keep your finger on the pulse and see where y’all go from here. Big thanks. Uh, Barry kook, president and co-founder with net stock and his colleague Lynn Barnes, director of talent, onboarding and culture. Thank you to you both.
Greg White (53:45):
Thank you guys.
Scott Luton (53:46):
I appreciate. Thank you. That was a neat conversation. And Lynn, you know, Barry, uh, Greg Barry, Greg Greg white, Gregory S. White. You know, those folks are just as approachable and down earth in Dre show and the non-live show as they are over the last hour and, and no wonder, I bet folks love to work with and for Lynn and Barry, huh?
Greg White (54:13):
Yeah. I mean, culture starts at the top unquestionably. The culture of a company starts at the top Barry as a founder. And I’m sure as co-founders and CEO are key to defining that culture. And the, to me, one of the defining points of that culture is, is the fact that they have Lynn. So, you know, that they recognize all the, you know, the value of their people. And, um, it’s really interesting, you know, when a technology company or service provider shares that with the industry that they serve, because often they’re, uh, you know, if they are a great example, they can communicate that with every interaction with their customers, right. And customers will start to adopt that and expect that in their own organization. So it can be really, really powerful.
Scott Luton (55:01):
Love it. Sharing a couple. Yeah. You had one, I could tell you got one more PowerPoint to make.
Greg White (55:06):
Uh, I, I just think, you know, I think a lot of what they shared here is applicable, regardless of whether you’re in supply chain or you’re not, whether you’re a technology provider or a practitioner, right. Any company can learn from this and look times are gonna get hard. Right. I mean, with everything that’s going on in the, in the economy, the, where employees, or, you know, candidates could be opportunistic and some took advantage, right. Companies are about to be closer to being in control of the, that relationship and could take advantage, but none of that is productive. Right. Right. Um, and as a founder, I know, I know this is part of the reason that Barry works 12, 15 hours a day. You feel such an incredible responsibility to the people that work for you. I mean, you are literally <laugh>, you are literally providing them with a livelihood that supports their families.
Greg White (55:58):
And that is a huge burden. I don’t mean that as a nega negative thing, but it is a huge burden. You go to bed with it on your head and your heart every single night. And, and it’s clear that he takes that seriously and that their team must take that seriously. So I think that’s hugely powerful. And that, by the way, when you’re looking for companies to work for, as a candidate, you want someone who wants to own that burden, that yes, sees you as a critical part of their work family and want, you know, wants to own your wellbeing.
Scott Luton (56:30):
See, I knew there was a more toothpaste in that toothpaste tube. I knew there’s a lot more <laugh> excellent points, Greg, really powerful perspective. Been there, done that perspective. And I think that’s a very accurate read and some real pressure that folks have, whether they’re founders or executives, leaders in the company, you know, we we’ve gotta protect the whole organization. So well said, Greg, I appreciate you sharing a couple final comments here. Look at this. Shelly was employee one in a small business that grew over to 60 million share Shelly
Greg White (57:00):
Was her million share selling, figure out what that company is. Wow. Yes. That’s pretty impressive.
Scott Luton (57:04):
I bet there’s a story there. Uh, as I mentioned, we did drop the link to the ebook. Y’all check that out in the comments. Uh, it’s really easy. Uh, we’ve got some great questions from Julio and Shahi, if the net stock team as to with us, that’d be great. If they wanna go back and compare notes there, Oozine great to see you again via LinkedIn. Uh, let us know where you’re tuned in from here today. Michael culture eats strategy for breakfast always reminds me of a happy Gilmore when I hear that quote for some reason. <laugh> and yeah, there’s a great quote. I won’t share it here, but, uh, there’s a great happy Gilmore quote. Shelly also agrees with you. Julio says there are a few companies focusing on culture and employee satisfaction. Sadly. I think it we’re evolving. I really think,
Greg White (57:46):
Yeah. I think tide is turning for sure. Right?
Scott Luton (57:49):
I think that’s one of the silver linings of the pandemic, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative> I think that’s one of the things that’s taught us all. We’ve gotta take care. And for those that missed the boat, those business leaders that missed the boat, we gotta take care of the workforce in much different way. Shasha agrees with Greg. You touched a very important, important point. Awesome. To hear your thoughts. Appreciate that. Thank you. Okay. So folks, uh, hope you enjoyed the conversation today, as much as Greg and I and the whole team did big, thanks to Catherine, Amanda and Chantel on our side to help make production happen. Of course, clay, uh, AKA diesel made an appearance here today. Love what he does really enjoyed Lynn and Barry’s perspective and really their, their whole team as they, uh, help facilitate today’s conversation. They definitely is. Steve’s not words.
Scott Luton (58:32):
And they practice what they preach, and those are some of our favorite guests. So y’all check out the net stock team, make sure you connect with Lynn and Barry, but whatever you do, and Jonathan great point here, be keen on relationships. Uh, and then be culturally be driven, uh, may have gotten that right. But, but the, the relationships part Jonathan, right? Absolutely. That’s what makes the world go round more so today than ever before, but folks, whatever you do, and Jonathan, great to have you throughout the conversation here today. It’s all about action, right? It’s all about taking action. It’s on behalf of the entire supply chain. Now team Greg and Scott Luton here. Hey, we’re challenging you to do good to give forward and to be the change that’s needed. And on that note, we’ll see you next time, right back here on supply chain now. Thanks everybody.
Intro/Outro (59:22):
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.
Lynne Barnes- As Director of Talent Onboarding and Culture Lynne’s role is to empower #teamNetstock by creating a great culture and environment and getting the best people in the right role at the right time for the business. She does can for the individuals in our team to be fully engaged and happy! Connect with Lynne on LinkedIn.
Barry Kukkuk has over 23 years of experience in all technical aspects of running and creating SaS companies, from coding the application, running the servers, and maintaining the website. At Netstock, Barry’s focus is on go-to-market activities, including marketing, sales, and product. His core role is to ensure the business is aligned with its customers, market trends, and business partners. Connect with Barry on LinkedIn.
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Host, Logistics with Purpose
Kristi Porter is VP of Sales and Marketing at Vector Global Logistics, a company that is changing the world through supply chain. In her role, she oversees all marketing efforts and supports the sales team in doing what they do best. In addition to this role, she is the Chief Do-Gooder at Signify, which assists nonprofits and social impact companies through copywriting and marketing strategy consulting. She has almost 20 years of professional experience, and loves every opportunity to help people do more good.
Host
From humble beginnings working the import docks, representing Fortune 500 giants, Ford, Michelin Tire, and Black & Decker; to Amazon technology patent holder and Nordstrom Change Leader, Kimberly Reuter has designed, implemented, and optimized best-in-class, highly scalable global logistics and retail operations all over the world. Kimberly’s ability to set strategic vision supported by bomb-proof processes, built on decades of hands-on experience, has elevated her to legendary status. Sought after by her peers and executives for her intellectual capital and keen insights, Kimberly is a thought leader in the retail logistics industry.
Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol
Sofia Rivas Herrera is a Mexican Industrial Engineer from Tecnologico de Monterrey class 2019. Upon graduation, she earned a scholarship to study MIT’s Graduate Certificate in Logistics and Supply Chain Management and graduated as one of the Top 3 performers of her class in 2020. She also has a multicultural background due to her international academic experiences at Singapore Management University and Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg. Sofia self-identifies as a Supply Chain enthusiast & ambassador sharing her passion for the field in her daily life.
Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol
Demo Perez started his career in 1997 in the industry by chance when a relative asked him for help for two just weeks putting together an operation for FedEx Express at the Colon Free Zone, an area where he was never been but accepted the challenge. Worked in all roles possible from a truck driver to currier to a sales representative, helped the brand introduction, market share growth and recognition in the Colon Free Zone, at the end of 1999 had the chance to meet and have a chat with Fred Smith ( FedEx CEO), joined another company in 2018 who took over the FedEx operations as Operations and sales manager, in 2004 accepted the challenge from his company to leave the FedEx operations and business to take over the operation and business of DHL Express, his major competitor and rival so couldn’t say no, by changing completely its operation model in the Free Zone. In 2005 started his first entrepreneurial journey by quitting his job and joining two friends to start a Freight Forwarding company. After 8 months was recruited back by his company LSP with the General Manager role with the challenge of growing the company and make it fully capable warehousing 3PL. By 2009 joined CSCMP and WERC and started his journey of learning and growing his international network and high-level learning. In 2012 for the first time joined a local association ( the Panama Maritime Chamber) and worked in the country’s first Logistics Strategy plan, joined and lead other associations ending as president of the Panama Logistics Council in 2017. By finishing his professional mission at LSP with a company that was 8 times the size it was when accepted the role as GM with so many jobs generated and several young professionals coached, having great financial results, took the decision to move forward and start his own business from scratch by the end of 2019. with a friend and colleague co-founded IPL Group a company that started as a boutique 3PL and now is gearing up for the post-Covid era by moving to the big leagues.
Host, Supply Chain Now
The founder of Logistics Executive Group, Kim Winter delivers 40 years of executive leadership experience spanning Executive Search & Recruitment, Leadership Development, Executive Coaching, Corporate Advisory, Motivational Speaking, Trade Facilitation and across the Supply Chain, Logistics, 3PL, E-commerce, Life Science, Cold Chain, FMCG, Retail, Maritime, Defence, Aviation, Resources, and Industrial sectors. Operating from the company’s global offices, he is a regular contributor of thought leadership to industry and media, is a professional Master of Ceremonies, and is frequently invited to chair international events.
He is a Board member of over a dozen companies throughout APAC, India, and the Middle East, a New Zealand citizen, he holds formal resident status in Australia and the UAE, and is the Australia & New Zealand representative for the UAE Government-owned Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), the Middle East’s largest Economic Free Zone.
A triathlete and ex-professional rugby player, Kim is a qualified (IECL Sydney) executive coach and the Founder / Chairman of the successful not for profit humanitarian organization, Oasis Africa (www. oasisafrica.org.au), which has provided freedom from poverty through education to over 8000 mainly orphaned children in East Africa’s slums. Kim holds an MBA and BA from Massey & Victoria Universities (NZ).
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Adrian Purtill serves as Business Development Manager at Vector Global Logistics, where he consults with importers and exporters in various industries to match their specific shipping requirements with the most effective supply chain solutions. Vector Global Logistics is an asset-free, multi-modal logistics company that provides exceptional sea freight, air freight, truck, rail, general logistic services and consulting for our clients. Our highly trained and professional team is committed to providing creative and effective solutions, always exceeding our customer’s expectations and fostering long-term relationships. With more than 20+ years of experience in both strategy consulting and logistics, Vector Global Logistics is your best choice to proactively minimize costs while having an exceptional service level.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Kevin Brown is the Director of Business Development for Vector Global Logistics. He has a dedicated interest in Major Account Management, Enterprise Sales, and Corporate Leadership. He offers 25 years of exceptional experience and superior performance in the sales of Logistics, Supply Chain, and Transportation Management. Kevin is a dynamic, high-impact, sales executive and corporate leader who has consistently exceeded corporate goals. He effectively coordinates multiple resources to solution sell large complex opportunities while focusing on corporate level contacts across the enterprise. His specialties include targeting and securing key accounts by analyzing customer’s current business processes and developing solutions to meet their corporate goals. Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Jose Manuel Irarrazaval es parte del equipo de Vector Global Logistics Chile. José Manuel es un gerente experimentado con experiencia en finanzas corporativas, fusiones y adquisiciones, financiamiento y reestructuración, inversión directa y financiera, tanto en Chile como en el exterior. José Manuel tiene su MBA de la Universidad de Pennsylvania- The Wharton School. Conéctese con Jose Manuel en LinkedIn.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Nick Roemer has had a very diverse and extensive career within design and sales over the last 15 years stretching from China, Dubai, Germany, Holland, UK, and the USA. In the last 5 years, Nick has developed a hawk's eye for sustainable tech and the human-centric marketing and sales procedures that come with it. With his far-reaching and strong network within the logistics industry, Nick has been able to open new avenues and routes to market within major industries in the USA and the UAE. Nick lives by the ethos, “Give more than you take." His professional mission is to make the logistics industry leaner, cleaner and greener.
Host
Allison Krache Giddens has been with Win-Tech, a veteran-owned small business and aerospace precision machine shop, for 15 years, recently buying the company from her mentor and Win-Tech’s Founder, Dennis Winslow. She and her business partner, John Hudson now serve as Co-Presidents, leading the 33-year old company through the pandemic.
She holds undergraduate degrees in psychology and criminal justice from the University of Georgia, a Masters in Conflict Management from Kennesaw State University, a Masters in Manufacturing from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Certificate of Finance from the University of Georgia. She also holds certificates in Google Analytics, event planning, and Cybersecurity Risk Management from Harvard online. Allison founded the Georgia Chapter of Women in Manufacturing and currently serves as Treasurer. She serves on the Chattahoochee Technical College Foundation Board as its Secretary, the liveSAFE Resources Board of Directors as Resource Development Co-Chair, and on the Leadership Cobb Alumni Association Board as Membership Chair and is also a member of Cobb Executive Women. She is on the Board for the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s Northwest Area Councils. Allison runs The Dave Krache Foundation, a non-profit that helps pay sports fees for local kids in need.
Host
Billy Taylor is a Proven Business Excellence Practitioner and Leadership Guru with over 25 years leading operations for a Fortune 500 company, Goodyear. He is also the CEO of LinkedXL (Excellence), a Business Operating Systems Architecting Firm dedicated to implementing sustainable operating systems that drive sustainable results. Taylor’s achievements in the industry have made him a Next Generational Lean pacesetter with significant contributions.
An American business executive, Taylor has made a name for himself as an innovative and energetic industry professional with an indispensable passion for his craft of operational excellence. His journey started many years ago and has worked with renowned corporations such as The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) leading multi-site operations. With over 3 decades of service leading North America operations, he is experienced in a deeply rooted process driven approach in customer service, process integrity for sustainability.
A disciple of continuous improvement, Taylor’s love for people inspires commitment to helping others achieve their full potential. He is a dynamic speaker and hosts "The Winning Link," a popular podcast centered on business and leadership excellence with the #1 rated Supply Chain Now Network. As a leadership guru, Taylor has earned several invitations to universities, international conferences, global publications, and the U.S. Army to demonstrate how to achieve and sustain effective results through cultural acceptance and employee ownership. Leveraging the wisdom of his business acumen, strong influence as a speaker and podcaster Taylor is set to release "The Winning Link" book under McGraw Hill publishing in 2022. The book is a how-to manual to help readers understand the management of business interactions while teaching them how to Deine, Align, and Execute Winning in Business.
A servant leader, Taylor, was named by The National Diversity Council as one of the Top 100 Diversity Officers in the country in 2021. He features among Oklahoma's Most Admired CEOs and maintains key leadership roles with the Executive Advisory Board for The Shingo Institute "The Nobel Prize of Operations" and The Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME); two world-leading organizations for operational excellence, business development, and cultural learning. He is also an Independent Director for the M-D Building Products Board, a proud American manufacturer of quality products since 1920.
Host
Tandreia Bellamy retired as the Vice President of Industrial Engineering for UPS Supply Chain Solutions which included the Global Logistics, Global Freight Forwarding and UPS Freight business units. She was responsible for operations strategy and planning, asset management, forecasting, and technology tool development to optimize sustainable efficiency while driving world class service.
Tandreia held similar positions at the business unit level for Global Logistics and Global Freight forwarding. As the leader of the Global Logistics engineering function, she directed all industrial engineering activies related to distribution, service parts logistics (post-sales support), and mail innovations (low cost, light weight shipping partnership with the USPS). Between these roles Tandreia helped to establish the Advanced Technology Group which was formed to research and develop cutting edge solutions focused on reducing reliance on manual labor.
Tandreia began her career in 1986 as a part-time hourly manual package handling employee. She spent the great majority of her career in the small package business unit which is responsible for the pick-up, sort, transport and delivery of packages domestically. She held various positions in Industrial Engineering, Marketing, Inside and On-road operations in Central Florida before transferring to Atlanta for a position in Corporate Product Development and Corporate Industrial Engineering. Tandreia later held IE leadership roles in Nebraska, Minnesota and Chicago. In her final role in small package she was an IE VP responsible for all aspects of IE, technology support and quality for the 25 states on the western half of the country.
Tandreia is currently a Director for the University of Central Florida (UCF) Foundation Board and also serves on their Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Previously Tandreia served on the Executive Advisory Board for Virginia Tech’s IE Department and the Association for Supply Chain Management. She served on the Board of Trustees for ChildServ (a Chicago child and family services non-profit) and also served on the Texas A&M and Tuskegee Engineering Advisory Boards. In 2006 she was named Business Advisor of the Year by INROADS, in 2009 she was recognized as a Technology All-Star at the Women of Color in STEM conference and in 2019 she honored as a UCF Distinguished Aluma by the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems.
Tandreia holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Systems from UCF. Her greatest accomplishment, however, is being the proud mother of two college students, Ruby (24) and Anthony (22).
Host
Marty Parker serves as both the CEO & Founder of Adæpt Advising and an award-winning Senior Lecturer (Teaching Professor) in Supply Chain and Operations Management at the University of Georgia. He has 30 years of experience as a COO, CMO, CSO (Chief Strategy Officer), VP of Operations, VP of Marketing and Process Engineer. He founded and leads UGA’s Supply Chain Advisory Board, serves as the Academic Director of UGA’s Leaders Academy, and serves on multiple company advisory boards including the Trucking Profitability Strategies Conference, Zion Solutions Group and Carlton Creative Company.
Marty enjoys helping people and companies be successful. Through UGA, Marty is passionate about his students, helping them network and find internships and jobs. He does this through several hundred one-on-one zoom meetings each year with his students and former students. Through Adæpt Advising, Marty has organized an excellent team of affiliates that he works with to help companies grow and succeed. He does this by helping c-suite executives improve their skills, develop better leaders, engage their workforce, improve processes, and develop strategic plans with detailed action steps and financial targets. Marty believes that excellence in supply chain management comes from the understanding the intersection of leadership, culture, and technology, working across all parts of the organization to meet customer needs, maximize profit and minimize costs.
Marketing Coordinator
Laura Lopez serves as our Supply Chain Now Marketing Coordinator. She graduated from Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente in Mexico with a degree in marketing. Laura loves everything digital because she sees the potential it holds for companies in the marketing industry. Her passion for creativity and thinking outside the box led her to pursue a career in marketing. With experience in fields like accounting, digital marketing, and restaurants, she clearly enjoys taking on challenges. Laura lives the best of both worlds - you'll either catch her hanging out with her friends soaking up the sun in Mexico or flying out to visit her family in California!
Host
An acknowledged industry leader, Jake Barr now serves as CEO for BlueWorld Supply Chain Consulting, providing support to a cross section of Fortune 500 companies such as Cargill, Caterpillar, Colgate, Dow/Dupont, Firmenich, 3M, Merck, Bayer/Monsanto, Newell Brands, Kimberly Clark, Nestle, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Sanofi, Estee Lauder and Coty among others. He's also devoted time to engagements in public health sector work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. At P&G, he managed the breakthrough delivery of an E2E (End to End) Planning Transformation effort, creating control towers which now manage the daily business globally. He is recognized as the architect for P&G’s demand driven supply chain strategy – referenced as a “Consumer Driven Supply Chain” transformation. Jake began his career with P&G in Finance in Risk Analysis and then moved into Operations. He has experience in building supply network capability globally through leadership assignments in Asia, Latin America, North America and the Middle East. He currently serves as a Research Associate for MIT; a member of Supply Chain Industry Advisory Council; Member of Gartner’s Supply Chain Think Tank; Consumer Goods “League of Leaders“; and a recipient of the 2015 - 2021 Supply Chain “Pro’s to Know” Award. He has been recognized as a University of Kentucky Fellow.
Host
Marcia Williams, Managing Partner of USM Supply Chain, has 18 years of experience in Supply Chain, with expertise in optimizing Supply Chain-Finance Planning (S&OP/ IBP) at Large Fast-Growing CPGs for greater profitability and improved cash flows. Marcia has helped mid-sized and large companies including Lindt Chocolates, Hershey, and Coty. She holds an MBA from Michigan State University and a degree in Accounting from Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay (South America). Marcia is also a Forbes Council Contributor based out of New York, and author of the book series Supply Chains with Maria in storytelling style. A recent speaker’s engagement is Marcia TEDx Talk: TEDxMSU - How Supply Chain Impacts You: A Transformational Journey.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Luisa Garcia is a passionate Marketer from Lagos de Moreno based in Aguascalientes. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes, Mexico. She specializes in brand development at any stage, believing that a brand is more than just a name or image—it’s an unforgettable experience. Her expertise helps brands achieve their dreams and aspirations, making a lasting impact. Currently working at Vector Global Logistics in the Marketing team and as podcast coordinator of Logistics With Purpose®. Luisa believes that purpose-driven decisions will impact results that make a difference in the world.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Astrid Aubert was born in Guadalajara, she is 39 years old and has had the opportunity to live in many places. She studied communication and her professional career has been in Trade Marketing for global companies such as Pepsico and Mars. She currently works as Marketing Director Mexico for Vector Global Logistics. She is responsible for internal communications and marketing strategy development for the logistics industry. She is a mother of two girls, married and lives in Monterrey. She defines herself as a creative and innovative person, and enjoys traveling and cooking a lot.
Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol
Sofia self-identifies as Supply Chain Ambassador, her mission is to advocate for the field and inspire young generations from diverse backgrounds and cultures to join the industry so that thought diversity is increased and change accelerated. Recognized as Linkedin Top Voice and Linkedin Community Top Voice in Supply Chain Management, as well as Emerging Leader in Supply Chain by CSCMP 2024, Top Women in Supply Chain by Supply & Demand Executive 2023, and Coup de Coeur Global Women Leaders in Supply Chain by B2G Consulting in 2021.
Public speaker at multiple international events from keynotes and panels, to webinars and guest lectures for bachelor's and master's degrees, discussing topics such as sustainability, women in the industry, technology and innovation. Writer at different online magazines on logistics, supply chain and technology. Podcast host and guest on different recognized programs in the industry. Sofia has more than 5 years of experience from academic research and field studies to warehouse operations, demand planning and network design. She has worked in manufacturing, airport operations, e-commerce retail, and technology hardware across Latin America, North America and Europe.
Currently working as Supply Chain Network Design and Optimization Manager at HP within their Global Supply Chain and Logistics team.
Host
Karin Bursa is the 2020 Supply Chain Pro to Know of the Year and the Host of the TEKTOK Digital Supply Chain Podcast powered by Supply Chain Now. With more than 25 years of supply chain and technology expertise (and the scars to prove it), Karin has the heart of a teacher and has helped nearly 1,000 customers transform their businesses and share their success stories. Today, she helps B2B technology companies introduce new products, capture customer success and grow global revenue, market share and profitability. In addition to her recognition as the 2020 Supply Chain Pro to Know of the Year, Karin has also been recognized as a 2019 and 2018 Supply Chain Pro to Know, 2009 Technology Marketing Executive of the Year and a 2008 Women in Technology Finalist.
Host
Vin Vashishta is the author of ‘From Data To Profit’ (Wiley 2023). It’s the playbook for monetizing data and AI. Vin is the Founder of V-Squared and built the business from client 1 to one of the world’s oldest data and AI consulting firms. His background combines nearly 30 years in strategy, leadership, software engineering, and applied machine learning.
Vice President, Production
Amanda is a production and marketing veteran and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience across a variety of industries and organizations including Von Maur, Anthropologie, AmericasMart Atlanta, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Amanda currently manages, produces, and develops modern digital content for Supply Chain Now and their clients. Amanda has previously served as the VP of Information Systems and Webmaster on the Board of Directors for APICS Savannah, and founded and managed her own successful digital marketing firm, Magnolia Marketing Group. When she’s not leading the Supply Chain Now production team, you can find Amanda in the kitchen, reading, listening to podcasts, or enjoying time with family.
Founder, CEO, & Host
As the founder and CEO of Supply Chain Now, you might say Scott is the voice of supply chain – but he’s too much of a team player to ever claim such a title. One thing’s for sure: he’s a tried and true supply chain expert. With over 15 years of experience in the end-to-end supply chain, Scott’s insights have appeared in major publications including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and CNN. He has also been named a top industry influencer by Thinkers360, ISCEA and more.
From 2009-2011, Scott was president of APICS Atlanta, and he continues to lead initiatives that support both the local business community and global industry. A United States Air Force Veteran, Scott has also regularly led efforts to give back to his fellow veteran community since his departure from active duty in 2002.
Principal & Host
When rapid-growth technology companies, venture capital and private equity firms are looking for advisory, they call Greg – a founder, board director, advisor and catalyst of disruptive B2B technology and supply chain. An insightful visionary, Greg guides founders, investors and leadership teams in creating breakthroughs to gain market exposure and momentum – increasing overall company esteem and valuation.
Greg is a founder himself, creating Blue Ridge Solutions, a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader in cloud-native supply chain applications, and bringing to market Curo, a field service management solution. He has also held leadership roles with Servigistics (PTC) and E3 Corporation (JDA/Blue Yonder). As a principal and host at Supply Chain Now, Greg helps guide the company’s strategic direction, hosts industry leader discussions, community livestreams, and all in addition to executive producing and hosting his original YouTube channel and podcast, TEChquila Sunrise.
Principal, Supply Chain Now
Host of Supply Chain is Boring
Talk about world-class: Chris is one of the few professionals in the world to hold CPIM-F, CLTD-F and CSCP-F designations from ASCM/APICS. He’s also the APICS coach – and our resident Supply Chain Doctor. When he’s not hosting programs with Supply Chain Now, he’s sharing supply chain knowledge on the APICS Coach Youtube channel or serving as a professional education instructor for the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistic Institute’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) program and University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Center for Professional Education courses.
Chris earned a BS in Industrial Engineering from Bradley University, an MBA with emphasis in Industrial Psychology from the University of West Florida, and is a Doctoral in Supply Chain Management candidate.
Director of Sales
Tyler Ward serves as Supply Chain Now's Director of Sales. Born and raised in Mid-Atlantic, Tyler is a proud graduate of Shippensburg University where he earned his degree in Communications. After college, he made his way to the beautiful state of Oregon, where he now lives with his wife and daughter.
With over a decade of experience in sales, Tyler has a proven track record of exceeding targets and leading high-performing teams. He credits his success to his ability to communicate effectively with customers and team members alike, as well as his strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.
When he's not closing deals, you can find Tyler on the links or cheering on his favorite football and basketball teams. He also enjoys spending time with his family, playing pick-up basketball, and traveling back to Ocean City, Maryland, his favorite place!
Host of Digital Transformers
Kevin L. Jackson is a globally recognized Thought Leader, Industry Influencer and Founder/Author of the award winning “Cloud Musings” blog. He has also been recognized as a “Top 5G Influencer” (Onalytica 2019, Radar 2020), a “Top 50 Global Digital Transformation Thought Leader” (Thinkers 360 2019) and provides strategic consulting and integrated social media services to AT&T, Intel, Broadcom, Ericsson and other leading companies. Mr. Jackson’s commercial experience includes Vice President J.P. Morgan Chase, Worldwide Sales Executive for IBM and SAIC (Engility) Director Cloud Solutions. He has served on teams that have supported digital transformation projects for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the US Intelligence Community. Kevin’s formal education includes a MS Computer Engineering from Naval Postgraduate School; MA National Security & Strategic Studies from Naval War College; and a BS Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy. Internationally recognizable firms that have sponsored articles authored by him include Cisco, Microsoft, Citrix and IBM. Books include “Click to Transform” (Leaders Press, 2020), “Architecting Cloud Computing Solutions” (Packt, 2018), and “Practical Cloud Security: A Cross Industry View” (Taylor & Francis, 2016). He also delivers online training through Tulane University, O’Reilly Media, LinkedIn Learning, and Pluralsight. Mr. Jackson retired from the U.S. Navy in 1994, earning specialties in Space Systems Engineering, Carrier Onboard Delivery Logistics and carrier-based Airborne Early Warning and Control. While active, he also served with the National Reconnaissance Office, Operational Support Office, providing tactical support to Navy and Marine Corps forces worldwide.
Host of Logistics with Purpose and Supply Chain Now en Español
Enrique serves as Managing Director at Vector Global Logistics and believes we all have a personal responsibility to change the world. He is hard working, relationship minded and pro-active. Enrique trusts that the key to logistics is having a good and responsible team that truly partners with the clients and does whatever is necessary to see them succeed. He is a proud sponsor of Vector’s unique results-based work environment and before venturing into logistics he worked for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). During his time at BCG, he worked in different industries such as Telecommunications, Energy, Industrial Goods, Building Materials, and Private Banking. His main focus was always on the operations, sales, and supply chain processes, with case focus on, logistics, growth strategy, and cost reduction. Prior to joining BCG, Enrique worked for Grupo Vitro, a Mexican glass manufacturer, for five years holding different positions from sales and logistics manager to supply chain project leader in charge of five warehouses in Colombia.
He has an MBA from The Wharton School of Business and a BS, in Mechanical Engineer from the Technologico de Monterrey in Mexico. Enrique’s passions are soccer and the ocean, and he also enjoys traveling, getting to know new people, and spending time with his wife and two kids, Emma and Enrique.
Host of Dial P for Procurement
Kelly is the Owner and Managing Director of Buyers Meeting Point and MyPurchasingCenter. She has been in procurement since 2003, starting as a practitioner and then as the Associate Director of Consulting at Emptoris. She has covered procurement news, events, publications, solutions, trends, and relevant economics at Buyers Meeting Point since 2009. Kelly is also the General Manager at Art of Procurement and Business Survey Chair for the ISM-New York Report on Business. Kelly has her MBA from Babson College as well as an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons College and she has co-authored three books: ‘Supply Market Intelligence for Procurement Professionals’, ‘Procurement at a Crossroads’, and ‘Finance Unleashed’.
Host, Veteran Voices
Mary Kate Soliva is a veteran of the US Army and cofounder of the Guam Human Rights Initiative. She is currently in the Doctor of Criminal Justice program at Saint Leo University. She is passionate about combating human trafficking and has spent the last decade conducting training for military personnel and the local community.
Host
Constantine Limberakis is a thought leader in the area of procurement and supply management. He has over 20 years of international experience, playing strategic roles in a wide spectrum of organizations related to analyst advisory, consulting, product marketing, product development, and market research.
Throughout his career, he's been passionate about engaging global business leaders and the broader analyst and technology community with strategic content, speaking engagements, podcasts, research, webinars, and industry articles.
Constantine holds a BA in History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA in Finance & Marketing / Masters in Public & International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.
Business Development Manager
Clay is passionate about two things: supply chain and the marketing that goes into it. Recently graduated with a degree in marketing at the University of Georgia, Clay got his start as a journalism major and inaugural member of the Owl’s football team at Kennesaw State University – but quickly saw tremendous opportunity in the Terry College of Business. He’s already putting his education to great use at Supply Chain Now, assisting with everything from sales and brand strategy to media production. Clay has contributed to initiatives such as our leap into video production, the guest blog series, and boosting social media presence, and after nearly two years in Supply Chain Now’s Marketing Department, Clay now heads up partnership and sales initiatives with the help of the rest of the Supply Chain Now sales team.
Administrative Assistant
Trisha is new to the supply chain industry – but not to podcasting. She’s an experienced podcast manager and virtual assistant who also happens to have 20 years of experience as an elementary school teacher. It’s safe to say, she’s passionate about helping people, and she lives out that passion every day with the Supply Chain Now team, contributing to scheduling and podcast production.
Social Media Manager
My name is Chantel King and I am the Social Media Specialist at Supply Chain Now. My job is to make sure our audience is engaged and educated on the abundant amount of information the supply chain industry has to offer.
Social Media and Communications has been my niche ever since I graduated from college at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco. No, I am not a West Coast girl. I was born and raised in New Jersey, but my travel experience goes way beyond the garden state. My true passion is in creating editorial and graphic content that influences others to be great in whatever industry they are in. I’ve done this by working with lifestyle, financial, and editorial companies by providing resources to enhance their businesses.
Another passion of mine is trying new things. Whether it’s food, an activity, or a sport. I would like to say that I am an adventurous Taurus that never shies away from a new quest or challenge.
Marketing Coordinator
Lori is currently completing a degree in marketing with an emphasis in digital marketing at the University of Georgia. When she’s not supporting the marketing efforts at Supply Chain Now, you can find her at music festivals – or working toward her dream goal of a fashion career. Lori is involved in many extracurricular activities and appreciates all the learning experiences UGA has brought her.
Director, Customer Experience
Katherine is a marketing professional and MBA candidate who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.
Chief of Staff & Host
Mary Kate Love is currently the VP of marketing at Supply Chain Now focused on brand strategy and audience + revenue growth. Mary Kate’s career is a testament to her versatility and innovative spirit: she has experience in start-ups, venture capital, and building innovation initiatives from the ground up: she previously helped lead the build-out of the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific and before that, MxD (Manufacturing times Digital): the Department of Defense’s digital manufacturing innovation center. Mary Kate has a passion for taking complicated ideas and turning them into reality: she was one of the first team members at MxD and the first team member at the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific.
Mary Kate dedicates her extra time to education and mentorship: she was one of the founding Board Members for Women Influence Chicago and led an initiative for a city-wide job shadow day for young women across Chicago tech companies and was previously on the Board of Directors at St. Laurence High School in Chicago, Young Irish Fellowship Board and the UN Committee for Women. Mary Kate is the founder of National Supply Chain Day and enjoys co-hosting podcasts at Supply Chain Now. Mary Kate is from the south side of Chicago, a mom of two baby boys, and an avid 16-inch softball player. She holds a BS in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Marketing Specialist
Joshua is a student from Institute of Technology and Higher Education of Monterrey Campus Guadalajara in Communication and Digital Media. His experience ranges from Plug and Play México, DearDoc, and Nissan México creating unique social media marketing campaigns and graphics design. Joshua helps to amplify the voice of supply chain here at Supply Chain Now by assisting in graphic design, content creation, asset logistics, and more. In his free time he likes to read and write short stories as well as watch movies and television series.
Director of Communications and Executive Producer
Donna Krache is a former CNN executive producer who has won several awards in journalism and communication, including three Peabodys. She has 30 years’ experience in broadcast and digital journalism. She led the first production team at CNN to convert its show to a digital platform. She has authored many articles for CNN and other media outlets. She taught digital journalism at Georgia State University and Arizona State University. Krache holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the College of William and Mary and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of New Orleans. She is a serious sports fan who loves the Braves. She is president of the Dave Krache Foundation. Named in honor of her late husband, this non-profit pays fees for kids who want to play sports but whose parents are facing economic challenges.
Controller
Vicki has a long history of rising to challenges and keeping things up and running. First, she supported her family’s multi-million dollar business as controller for 12 years, beginning at the age of 17. Then, she worked as an office manager and controller for a wholesale food broker. But her biggest feat? Serving as the chief executive officer of her household, while her entrepreneur husband travelled the world extensively. She fed, nurtured, chaperoned, and chauffeured three daughters all while running a newsletter publishing business and remaining active in her community as a Stephen’s Minister, Sunday school teacher, school volunteer, licensed realtor and POA Board president (a title she holds to this day). A force to be reckoned with in the office, you might think twice before you meet Vicki on the tennis court! When she’s not keeping the books balanced at Supply Chain Now or playing tennis matches, you can find Vicki spending time with her husband Greg, her 4 fur babies, gardening, cleaning (yes, she loves to clean!) and learning new things.
Creative Director, Producer, Host
Katherine Hintz, MBA is a marketing professional who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.