Supply Chain Now Radio
Episode 214

Episode Summary

Scott Luton and Greg White welcome Rob Cook onto Supply Chain Now Radio at eft’s Logistics CIO Forum, a Reuter’s Event in Austin, Texas.

Episode Transcript

[00:00:05] It’s time for Supply Chain Now Radio Broadcasting live Supply chain capital of the country. Atlanta, Georgia. Supply Chain Now Radio spotlights the best in all things supply chain the people, the technology, the best practices and the critical issues of the day. And now here are your hosts.

 

[00:00:29] Good morning. Body Scott Luton, back with you here on Supply Chain Now Radio. Welcome back to the show. Today Show we aren’t broadcasting from the Supply chain capital of the universe, Atlanta, Georgia, but rather we’re broadcasting live right here in Austin, Texas, home of E.F. te’s Logistics CIO Forum, a Reuters event where we have been interviewing some of the movers and shakers, innovative thought leaders that are doing big things across the end in Supply chain industry. Of course, we should say our team are Supply Chain Now Radio team is really proud to continue our partnership with Nick OSRF EMT and the whole Reuters event organization. So let’s welcome in my fearless, esteemed co-host here today, Mr. Greg White Serial Supply chain, technology entrepreneur, kronic disruptor and trusted advisor. Greg, how you doing?

 

[00:01:15] I’m doing great. This is a great day to be inside.

 

[00:01:18] Let me. Yesterday was a perfect day. It was. And then we woke up to 45 degree weather and rain in Austin this morning. But it’s OK now because what’s made up for it is all these outstanding conversations that we have been having with these leaders that are making things happen.

 

[00:01:33] Well, you know, we we talked a lot about this event leading up to it, right in the hundreds of of CEOs and leaders sharing ideas. And, you know, we’ve gotten to share with some of them that have been here. That’s right. And every one of them has said that they learned something. At these events. So that’s fantastic.

 

[00:01:51] You know, we’ve covered a lot of events in our time, however. I think when I look back at these interviews that we’ve created here, I think these are some of the more compelling, especially consistently, you know, and maybe that’s because we’re at a CEO event. And I think, you know, these folks have more experience.

 

[00:02:08] May be a.. Well, I mean, look, I haven’t been in technology for a long time. I’ve been to a lot of these events. I think he F.T. does an exceptional job of making sure that it’s valuable for for the sponsors, for the the solution providers that are here and for the decision makers that attend these things as well. So I agree. We’ve heard universally from the attendees that it’s been a really good learning experience for him.

 

[00:02:33] And this interview is going to be an extension of this. We’ve had the opportunity. This is actually this guest second time on the show in less than I think two months. So we are really pleased that last time remote. Yeah, right. From Kerry. Kerry. But also we brought in the folks from London. Right. We had a global podcast. But let’s welcome our featured guest for this segment, Rob Cook chief technology officer with Sheer Logistics Rob Hatoon, binary guys doing doing fantastic and really thoroughly enjoyed our time here and enjoyed our last podcast with you as we were reporting on the Logistics, the state of the technology and Logistics report. Yes. Yeah. The FDA publication. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Where they had they they gathered research from hundreds of supply chain professionals and practitioners and leaders and we kind of got your key takeaways from that report. Today, we’re going to set a little different, but it’s great to meet you in person.

 

[00:03:28] I just want to kind of really kind of pipe in a little bit and just say, I totally agree with what you guys were saying about the assessment on this conference as well. It’s really good and refreshing being in the technology end of it to be with your fellow technologist here as well. Froome Logistics is a supply chain perspective is really unique in terms of forum and being able to interact.

 

[00:03:47] Agreed. Yeah, we’ve really enjoyed it. And looking forward to, you know, picking your content to pick your brain litte more about some of the things are going all across the end and supply chain more days. But before we talk shop for you, we gain your insights. Rob Cook. Lu. Better get here. Tell us you know where. Where are you from? Yo, where’d you grow up and what you do before Sheer.

 

[00:04:07] Yeah, well, absolutely. Yeah. I’m kind of boring in many ways, but let’s go through it a little bit. I’m a native North Carolinian. I grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I chose to live in North Carolina. I moved to Raleigh, the Raleigh Durham area. Now I live in Kerry, which kind of is a little bit of a comical side. Those days were concentrated area where you relocated Yankees. I chose to live there. And as a result, I probably traveled about 40 percent more than what I probably would’ve have I had moved. But I want my children to grow up there as well, too. I went to NC State University. Yeah. UPS is playing the Wolfpack. Yeah. Yeah. Well, here you go. That’s gonna be like a perfect spot, like a professional football team playing for a test.

 

[00:04:52] You can always rest assured knowing that you have smarter kids. Yeah.

 

[00:04:59] Well, neither were my joy Wynton’s these days. I got one went East Carolina. I got one pre-wired at Chapel Hill. So we met at chapel. Yeah. Boy, she’s a go getter. Very proud of her. Proud of my son, too. He works for Cisco. Yeah. He’s a food company. Cisco Systems out of a you know, nobody ICAO, you know, but there they got a big facility there in RTP, but it’s actually living in New York right now in Manhattan. So he moved there about six months ago. He’s in kind of the technology end up at a small, too.

 

[00:05:29] So, you know, Cisco is an outstanding company. One of most admirable and sustainable companies globally. And we’ve got Jack Allen coming on the show, who’s been there for over 30 years, doing a lot of things in manufacturing distribution. Wow.

 

[00:05:44] You know, it’s just by all accounts, what a great opportunity and a great organization workforce. So who knows your son?

 

[00:05:50] Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So other than that, in terms of a work experience, 25 plus years, you guys can kind of tell a little bit of the gray hair here. But I started out in back in the days, ancient days when it was called big a consultant and they were big too big three, four or area for give or take one big three next year. Right. Well EFT that went in to at one point when he did manufacturing, I made a leap over to small companies, took a few risk with those small companies. That’s some sleepless nights but kind of made it through and through that. I think that kind of formed the foundation of the Supply chain experience I have today. So I went to Sheer about seven, eight years ago, started out with him consulting and just struck up a really good relationship with their CEO. I loved his vision. I loved his technology vision as well to blend in both Supply chain Logistics and with the technology solutions. It was a good match. So I haven’t looked back since. Man, that’s great. And now you’ve grown a bit in that time frame. We have got you remember, mannerly. We were in a report. It was in a closet. Now we’re like, you know, expand it out, you know, and so you get a title like my boss CEO and Edo’s obviously is taking out the trash can and things like right now, head chef in a bottle. Well, yeah, there you go. And we’ve expanded out, got some wanis, some very good companies, some international companies, global companies as well, two well-known household names and also in the mid-market as well.

 

[00:07:17] So I got to ask you, being off Carolina, before we really take a hard right turn into your industry insights. What’s your favorite barbecue joint in North Carolina?

 

[00:07:26] You’re gonna get me in trouble, you know, because you’re gonna get there’s raging, raging debate in eastern North Carolina. You guys know, you know the stuff. And I’m right down the center because we’re always right down the center as well. But growing up in Winston-Salem, I do prefer that Western style, but better in that eastern style. Of course, the folks in Texas thinks they have barbecue as well. But yeah, it’s all good.

 

[00:07:48] So for the uninitiated out there, describe the difference between these Daryl.

 

[00:07:51] Well, the E-Ring style is much more of a vinocur based. It’s kind of a unique taste associated with it. To me, it is a acquired taste associated with it as well, too. But for those folks who’ve grown up in that area who really love it, they swear by it.

 

[00:08:04] You know so well, being born raised in South Carolina, we love our mom. Well, it’s interesting, if you look at the state of South Carolina and you got four different styles, right? I grew up in Aiken County. We love our mustard, everything. Mustard driven barbecue. The Carolina Barbecue in New Ellington, South Carolina is what we we grew up eating. And, you know, dad would come home with a cardboard box and everything you needed.

 

[00:08:30] Right. It was right there with this really peppery mustard sauce that we could eat some right now. So we’re going to let you go. So let’s let’s let’s keep talking. Yeah. Great to have you. So let’s talk about Sheer Logistics and what the company does. Yeah.

 

[00:08:47] Ups. Absolutely. I mean, traditional three people obviously would cover all modes international ocean air, LTL truckload parcel rail, you name it would cover it. We’re in every geographical region except for sub-Sahara Africa. So you know, we’re global. We’re worldwide. You know, we have a lot of manage transportation out there as well, too. But since the venue that we’re in is well, to be remiss not to talk about the technical aspect as well, too. We do have a product called Sheer Exchange has come a global connectivity middleware network. We have out there exchange close to 100 million transactions last year in this network slice and dice data all over the place. So maybe focus on a little bit more the bite’s versus the boxes that we move. But certainly the bikes are just as important as the boxes. And we interact in interface with, you know, earpiece systems, SCDP, Oracle, OEM, S.W. Mass, any other type of three little academic can think of is able to take all this data and pull it up, throw it out there and two data warehouses and slice it up, like I was saying. And they provide visibility on the reporting side, which I think is kind of unique in the industry to a large extent, because we’re able to dove down in to almost the DNA of a product in terms of. Costed allocations and stuff like that, so we’re in many ways we’re offered solutions that’s just not on the transportation Logistics EFT, but also on the financing as well.

 

[00:10:07] In fact, we’ve actually sold solutions and sold our services to the finance group first and then head back into the execution components of it. Yeah. How did you manage that? Yeah, well, what do you have? And and again, since we’re in this veni, we’ll talk a little bit more. Technical. All right. But if you look at like like, say, in a.S.A.P, like if you go into some of the segments and elements, 24s which contains items, I’m getting really techie right now. But then you go below that. There’s some things in there that’s called a product hierarchy, which is almost like a genome sequence side of an item grise 18 bytes, 18 digits long. Every two digit contains some sort of an ocular associated with that product and we allocate for a down to those individual level. Wow. That point, not just to the item a lot of people I allocate down to the item. So there you can get like a, you know, true landed cost, but then you get a land cost plus when you go down to that level. So when you sort of present in that type of data to like a financial person, you’re I mean, it’s like, well, well, I get the gospel truth.

 

[00:11:08] Yeah. When you’re getting that exact. Yeah. You’re not you’re not rounding. You’re not given conservative figures. You’re given not estimating. Yes. Much. Yeah. Right. No wonder you can sell into the financial suite first.

 

[00:11:20] Yeah. Now that’s not always the case. This has been the case though. But it pretty much in every one of our implementations and solutions we’ve come up with, there’s a heavy financial component associated with that. That’s one of the things working with the sales folks that I try to stress is a going into a cell of the product that they expand beyond just the Supply chain Logistics group. Very important group. Absolutely. But get into the finance group, get into the mark. And a but I’d be remiss to say that, you know, through the exchange network that we have Sheer exchanging it, coming off the productive notifications, the alerts, the things that customer service marketing really like, you know, let the customer, their customer know that something’s gone wrong before the customer lets them know typical things you kind of see out there. So it’s just not finance and it’s just not Logistics. But the broad suite. Oh, yeah.

 

[00:12:06] Love that, you know. OK. So let’s talk about your role as CTO of Sheer Logistics. You know, we know what your title is. But the interesting question I always like to pose as senior leaders is where where do you spend your time and what do you where you enjoy spending your time? You’re right. Yeah. Well, you know, it’s interesting, he asked Scott because I was on a panel discussion yesterday. And that was one of the questions well received. By the way, we got a lot of feedback since that was a morning session. It was. Yeah, we had heard a lot of y’all had a it was a holiday.

 

[00:12:38] Dan? Oh, my God, it was great. I really enjoyed it like it was. We were talking beforehand, you know, we learned from others as well. I was up there and certainly we had Randy from U.T., you know, moderating it. Smart guy, man. And so it was really just a very, very good session one.

 

[00:12:52] And that was the University of Tennessee. I know we’re in Texas right here. That was that was one of the Supply chain program methods from University Tennessee, which is a highly respected Supply chain program.

 

[00:13:04] It really is. An Courcy proudly displayed his bright orange yesterday. Yeah, I was. Tell him, don’t you don’t wear that in Raleigh. Right. But I’m sorry I’m started it. But getting back to your original question, I spent most of my time a customer facing pieces on the external components. In fact, you know, I was telling you guys beforehand, what is it? We’re going through pulmonary pieces. What led me to Sheer? What is the collaboration with our CEO? I really like his vision. He claims he’s not a technologist, but he is. And he really is a Technical guy. I mean, to a certain extent. But I’ve never had a a portion where I didn’t feel like he had my didn’t have my back. He’s always had my back. And he’s always been very supportive in this area. Understand that this this, you know, our industry is going through as I said yesterday, I had to use some overused buzzword C change, paradigm shifts, all those overused buzz words. But disruption, you thought, oh, there you go. Disruption, guys, you guys. Now, I mean, you’re a technologist to in the last three to five years. This industry has changed tremendously into it. We’re forced into embracing the technology is what I was saying also on the panel yesterday. One of the things that’s been surprising to me on this is how much we’ve had to be in a consultant role. You know, I mean, Creg, for me, if t published a really good publication of talking about how I think was 60 percent of Supply chain is still managed to Excel spreadsheets. Yeah, yeah, that’s true. I mean it’s fancy that right. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So we see that merging up with all this new technology trends.

 

[00:14:37] And so we find this thing out there. The sweet spot out there where I think about five to 10 percent of the shippers are out there, get it from 10 percent of our customers get it. The rest of them think they know what they. They know it because they go to some sort of event and they heard that some of their competitors have it. So we had to have it. The rest are still on Excel. So this was I spent most of my time on. Customer facing pieces out there, of course, the internal pieces are important to automation, but primarily on the customer facing. Seems like you enjoy getting out there and talking to customers. I do. Yeah, I do. I mean, that’s my background, you know, and one of the things I really wanted to do in this in this role as well, and one of the things I kind of stressed yesterday and in a panel discussion that sometimes in our role as CTO is CEOs, we’re looked at, oh, we cook Java, you know, we just speak, gets email, you know. I’m like, is she gonna speak the language of business? If you’re not speaking the language of business, then you’re not a critical asset. You’ve got to speak that language. And certainly my boss has been very complimentary about some of the skills I have, but he blows me away in terms of financial ratios and being able to calculate a deal in his head. I’m never singing by a like him. So I’ve learned from him. Maybe started a few things from me. I don’t know. He knows how to spell x_m_l_. Yeah, I’m sure he’s learning more that that sentiment that you shared.

 

[00:15:58] It’s something we’ve heard repeatedly. Why? I think our very first interview shook Montopoli. He takes a very forward customer facing role and and pound the Ryan. I think also has three accounts. He has three accounts where he is the primary. Really the only contact. So it’s not interesting here. It’s not CIO to CIO, it’s CIO to entire enterprise. So, you know, and we’ve heard this theme over and over and particularly in the last couple of days that, you know, there is no longer this division between the business people and the tech people. Remember that? Yeah, right. I’m sure you had those discussions. I feel embarrassed to have ever had the discussion in it. And ever since I’ve had them in the recent past, recent past, I’ve always made sure to say looking at tech, people are business people. And they they are they are enabling the business well, even with knowledge.

 

[00:16:53] There’s another interesting dynamic on that as too I think one of the questions yesterday, how do you communicate this technology to the C-suite? And what I found, at least in our group, I don’t have to because there really is a strong technological bet with our group. We’ve got a very good, strong group of some ex Gartner guys, a couple of the really strong Xed consulting guys as well, too. They get it to a large extent, the area where you have to use the metaphor forces when you’re explaining it to the customers. I asked in our external customers.

 

[00:17:21] Yeah, in their own terms. Yeah, right.

 

[00:17:23] So as we’re talking about some of the trends and kind of how technology and technology leadership roles are evolving, let’s let’s go broader. Let’s be sure. I’d love to get your your take. We love pose this question to to all the leaders where we’re meeting here. But also in general, this is one the questions we ask just about when it joins our podcast. What are in this thing, in this in this land business landscape where things are changing by the minute? Right. And there’s no shortage of of compelling issues that or trends or innovations that companies are grappling with. Right. What are what’s one or two supply chain trends that really have jumped on your radar more than others here lately? Okay.

 

[00:18:04] Yeah. You know, the interesting thing, yesterday morning when we’re were talking about the biggest overhyped buzz words, I’m not sure if you guys were in that session, but there was a couple of things up there, stood out blockchain and visibility pieces. So, I mean, you have not heard of this control tower. Control tower. Yes. I mean, echoes and stuff like that. Absolutely. That’s what all the buzz words. We hear him all the time. I think the big trend from last year was blockchain is certainly a sit on a committee last year, not a committee, but on a roundtable last year here at Eddy of T on blockchain pieces. And kind of pointed out that like that it was hype at that point. And I might say I’m all right. You know, obviously, I think I was a little right, but most of the people were as well. But yet, you know, we still have a very big belief in it. I sit on the beat committee that tells you guys, right? Yeah, right. Yeah. We’re on the standards committee with some interesting stuff going on with that. And I think in the next three, four or five years, when we get over the regulatory hurdles. Yes. Of the legal hurdles. Yes. There’s a place for blockchain or distributed ledger technology. So that’s sort of far outweighed or is.

 

[00:19:03] Let me ask you something that. Sure. So, you know, I grew up and volunteered for for, gosh, almost 15 years with the the ACM organization, especially Apex. And, you know, they kind of redesigned maybe the old a days. Days. Yes. And so I earned my CSP one verification right in one of that. I heard one of the be the board member speak a year or two ago, but I got a chance to pose a question to him and the whole crowd they were fascinated with. He was Charan once those standards are established. Is Bita also looking to establish credentialing or certification program so that all of these consultants that the industry and the technology is enabling so that there can be some kind of standard applied there? Yeah, right. What’s your take on that?

 

[00:19:51] Am I not part of the this of her quest to have a sing be to take an active role in that. But I’ve seen others taken. That was a blockchain institute out there that does. All right. Have you seen that? Yeah, but the I think some of the stuff I see with Beta and how I relate it back and this is just my own personal view is back to the EEI days. You know, when he had andsee x12 being you had ’56, which is now G.S. one is starting interpreting standards for the retail industry. Then you had well was it the motors of motor industry standards as well too, which are still used today. So I see be that kind of fill in with that. They’re starting to already collaborate with G.S. one, which is now, you know, the old varieties of name to kind of come off a common set of standards. And once they do that, where I see the value with it is on some of these IAPT devices and stuff like that, you know where you can start monarchism, the temperature ranges on treasuries or reefers, all the other stuff associated with they start collecting those data. Does need to be secure. Great use case for blockchain. Same thing on international trade Logistics. Great use cases. I mean we had four or five great use cases that we were working on. The problem with the use cases is that it looks great on a PowerPoint slide to get over the regulatory and legal hurdles. It is as Montu mental with those things, but eventually it will come.

 

[00:21:05] It will. You got your panel. So the BITA organizations had a lotta big company involvement, it seems like. You know, you have some some small circles that still think blockchain is is a fad. Here today, gone tomorrow. But it is revolution. You know, it is revolutionizing industry and it’s here to stay in a way. And then you just kind of laid out some of the reasons why. Right. Transparency and security and traceability, right?

 

[00:21:30] Absolutely. You’re seeing Wal-Marts in the grocery industry starting to do that. And the FDA is starting to embrace that. It might not be called blockchain. You might be called Distributive Ledger Technology or DLT. That’s you with that. But kind of related back to the dot com. So I’m going to date myself again a little bit. Nineteen ninety nine, those ancient days when everybody said they weren’t going work for Y2K, but yeah. They’re going to work out, they’re going to work out in Silicon Valley for a dot.com company. Right. And then after Super Bowl 2000 these dot coms went dot bust and Nasdaq tanked and all that and that was the big high. But I kind of relate it back to that because today can imagine not having a dot.com presence. I mean, it’s just you just take it for granted. I think 10 years from now, it’s gonna be the same thing with this as well, too. But I didn’t answer you. We got we can’t win in a rabbit hole on blockchain. I didn’t mean to do that. I mean, some of the other components we have out there certainly is divisibility pieces are going to be very key a–i.

 

[00:22:22] We have, you know, deployed some visibility components. Certainly we have partnerships with macro point for quite some of the known pieces out there. We’ve deployed A.I. Solutions as well, too. We do have a brokerage and so we are always aware of the digital freight brokers in it and being able to compete with them. So the more we can automate with A.I. workflow automation, the better for us as well too. So those are really some key areas as well, which are really doable. And even though visibility was a buzz word yesterday, I think that has more legs to it for right now than, say, a blockchain. I think visibility is here today. Blockchain maybe three to five years out because you get really visibility back to reduction in safety stocks, better management of your docks and stuff like that. And plus, you know, for notifications. So it’s got some really good legs on responsiveness and responsiveness becomes more and more important in the supply chain we use buzzword, the Amazon effect RIDEA, which is a buzzword for a reason.

 

[00:23:18] I mean it it is permeating every component of of our lives, whether it’s supply chain, whether it’s how we approach from a consumer experience, the dentist office. You know, you don’t want to wait. You want it now. And if you can’t get it now, why not?

 

[00:23:35] You know, we talked about this in our podcast. If you guys remember. But it’s like, you know, you can see on your twenty five pound shipment coming from Amazon, you know, exactly when does it arrive? You can actually have an app to open it up and see it coming your way. And yet your twenty five thousand pound truck load shipment is probably confined to it. When’s it coming? Where is it? What’s going to happen to it? Is it run into traffic? Is it gonna run into weather? You know, I got to expedite something to meet the customers demand. Am I going to run out of inventory at my facility?

 

[00:24:06] All those components out there, it will come. Yeah. Because the technology to be able to do that exists today. It is consciously not enabled right now. Right. I mean, you know, eventually there will be enough demands by the customers in the marketplace, the shippers in the marketplace, that they will demand to see it. Yeah. Because today with a GP it with the G.P.S. tracking devices that are in in CAB, it’s easy to to do that.

 

[00:24:35] I think EOD is really a golden opportunity to harvest the wealth of a nation out there. So it’s really some exciting stuff going on at this point.

 

[00:24:44] So I grab my phone. I’m on fire as you’re Mr. Snowden. But I want to point out 5G. I mean, some of the some of the Goliaths on the opportunities that y’all both are speaking to 5G is going to really enable. And I think one of the observations we’ve. And as we interact with with hundreds, especially if you think about social media, a lot of folks don’t necessarily understand how five what five g is going to power and what it’s going to enable. It’s not just a, you know, a new lit latest cell phone gadget. It is really going to be a and a powerfully enabling technology that’s going to really give people things.

 

[00:25:21] Yes. But I had to ride on that. You know, the other thing kind of along that, Scott, we we talked about this. I brought this up on the panel discussion. So I repeat myself just a little bit. OK. I’m number three on three years ago. Beezus, Jeff. Yeah, that guy. Yeah, 60 minutes. It was talk about drone delivery and thereby freaked out like, oh, man, this is just a marketing ploy. And yesterday u._p._s was talking about how they were doing their drones at Wake Med, which is probably about one mile from my house. So I can confirm that they’re actually delivering slows. Things fly overnight. Wow. This is really cool. What’s really awesome about that is they’re in a plane, life saving. How do you put a dollar figure on that? Because, you know, some of this stuff is is. Is things are going out. It used to take what he was talking about yesterday, an hour and a half to get out to a lab. It’s now taken 10 minutes. They can make the difference between life and death. And that’s a really cool application.

 

[00:26:12] Completely agree. And you know, we were talking about that one earlier guest. You know, there are certain parts of globe that literally drone delivery is going to save lives. Right. Change lives because of the, you know, rural terrain, because of the awareness, the information, the access. So this that we’re living in exciting times, whether in supply chain or not. You gotta get drone footage. You get footage of those drones, because I haven’t seen it just yet. And I think it’s kind of like maybe he has a kid seeing the shuttle launch for the first time. Right. It is just something you never forget.

 

[00:26:44] So it was a little freaky. I mean, when you first see the statue thing, is that a bird, you know, flying off the thathad. It was really quite cool. And, you know, one other thing I would kind of ask as well, too. I mean, last week we had John Chambers to do a speaking engagement at RTP. You guys know him, Miss Cisco CEO. And it was really interesting that he was saying in a kind of sense, I agree with him. He was looking out at a technology crowd out there. RTP is like Austin. You know, maybe not as big as Austin, but very technology focus, Sheriff, a lot of startup companies. And he was saying 40 percent of you are not going to exist in 10 years because A.I. is going to have such an overwhelming impact. Wow. You know, I call that when he made his case on that, I got to kind of believe that as well, too, because A.I. is going to automate quite a bit of some of the mundane processes you see out there. I see some of the applications already in our brokerage piece of it as well. So we’ve got to stay tuned to that.

 

[00:27:38] Well, the 40 percent aren’t going to exist is not a difficult you know, it’s not a difficult prediction to make because the because of the change, the dramatic and transformational generational change that we’re seeing in the workforce. What those people in that room are going to do is they are going to shift to a higher.

 

[00:27:54] Absolutely. Their knowledge workers. Right. Interesting. All right. So I got to ask before we ask you how, folks and finally, if if at any radio ever Jenny radio. Yeah, a great radio voice with things including this. I’ve done one. So you got it. You’ve you a lot more. I feel like we need to cover the Casey case and top 10 that I thought was coming up next. So how can. Thanks for your time here today. Thank you. The second podcast we’ve done with Rob Cook was Sheer Logistics. How can folks learn more and get in touch with the company and with you?

 

[00:28:25] Ok. I’m a Linked-In Rob Cook very generic name out there. Sheer. Logistics. You can reach us at w w w Sheer Logistics dot com as well. Or reach me email Rob Cook at Sheer Logistics dot com knowi. Just see. OK. Awesome. Really?

 

[00:28:42] I’ve enjoyed picking your brain here today. Appreciate what you’re doing. Appreciate your passion for what you do. And we’re gonna have to have you back on because I know you’ve got some other conferences you’re getting to have to pick your brain on some of the insights, some key takeaways. So look for absolutely Jenny guys. You better. Rob Cook CTO of Sheer Logistics. And again to our audience, you can learn more at Sheer Logistics dot com. Another great interview, Greg. Do just the hits keep coming?

 

[00:29:08] They do. First of all, we we screen very carefully. So we don’t end up with we have script. We’ve done some screening. But let’s not let’s not mention who got screened. But yeah, this has been good. I mean, look, this is a top notch crowd. Right. I mean, these are top CEOs, top CEOs in Logistics, service providers, technology companies. You know, the movers and shakers. Yeah, they are making stuff happen.

 

[00:29:37] So to our listeners, stay tuned as we continue our coverage of the E.M.T. Logistics CEO forum, which is a a Reuters event. That’s right. Congrats to E.M.T. For the growth right here in Austin, Texas. And be sure to check out other upcoming events, interviews, replays over interviews of the resources, including the last podcast we had with Rob Cook here. You can find our way out there. That’s right. Supply Chain Now Radio RT.com Final Sample podcast. YouTube, SoundCloud, wherever else you get your podcast from. And be sure to subscribe so you’ll Mesi thing on behalf the whole team here. Scott Luton wishing you a wonderful week ahead and we will see you next time. Owen Supply Chain Now Radio. Thanks everybody.

Featured Guests

Rob Cook serves as Chief Technology Officer for Sheer. Rob brings more than 25 years of logistics and supply chain management expertise to the Sheer Logistics team. Prior to joining Sheer, his leadership experience included serving in VP roles at Mercury Gate and Arzoon TMS. Known for his customer-focused, value-driven approach, Rob applies solution design skills on both the business and technical side of logistics to every opportunity that comes his way. Learn more about Sheer: https://sheerlogistics.com

Hosts

Greg White

Principal & Host

Scott W. Luton

Founder, CEO, & Host

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Demo Perez

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.

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Mary Kate Love

VP, Marketing

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.

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Joshua Miranda

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.

Donna Krache

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.

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Vicki White

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.

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Katherine Hintz

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.

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Kim Reuter

Host, The Freight Insider

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.

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Kristi Porter

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.

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Sofia Rivas Herrera

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.

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Katherine Hintz

Sales and Marketing Coordinator

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.

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Kim Winter

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).

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Adrian Purtill

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.

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Kevin Brown

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.

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Jose Miguel Irarrazaval

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.

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Nick Roemer

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.

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Allison Giddens

Host, Logistics with Purpose

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.

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Billy Taylor

Host of Dial P for Procurement

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.

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Lori Sofian

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.

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Chantel King

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.

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Trisha Cordes

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.

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Clay Phillips

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.

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Amanda Luton

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.

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Constantine Limberakis

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.

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Mary Kate Soliva

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.

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Kelly Barner

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’.

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Enrique Alvarez

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.

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Kevin L. Jackson

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 CiscoMicrosoft, 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 UniversityO’Reilly MediaLinkedIn Learning, and Pluralsight.  Mr. Jackson retired from the U.S. Navy in 1994, earning specialties in Space Systems EngineeringCarrier 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.

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Tyler Ward

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!

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Chris Barnes

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.

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Greg White

Principal & CMO, Supply Chain Now
Host of Supply Chain Now and TECHquila Sunrise

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.

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Scott W. Luton

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.

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