Supply Chain Now Radio
Episode 257

Episode Summary

Listen as Scott and Greg welcome Tandreia Bellamy back to the Supply Chain Now Studio for the first episode in the new Multi-Generational Leadership Series.

Episode Transcript

[00:00:05] It’s time for Supply Chain Now Radio. Broadcasting live from 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] Hey, good morning. Scott Luton here with you, Liveline Supply Chain Now Radio. Welcome back to the show. On today’s show, we’re continuing our Full Access series where we are interviewing exceptional leaders that happen to be women from across industry. Today, we’ve got an incredible guest and one of my favorite Supply chain leaders. More on that in just a minute. But you’re in for a treat like all of our series here on Supply Chain Now Radio. You can find our replays on a variety of channels, Apple podcasts, SoundCloud, YouTube, Greg’s favorite, wherever you’re podcast from. As always, we love to have you subscribe so you don’t miss anything to Rookwood. Let’s think some of our sponsors that allow us to bring best practices and innovative ideas to you. Our audience, the Effective syndicate Vector Global Logistics ProPurchaser.com, a PIC’s, Atlanta and many more. And you can check out our sponsors, each of our sponsors on the show notes of this episode. So welcome in my fearless and esteemed co-host here today on today’s show. Greg White Serial Supply chain tech entrepreneur, trusted advisor Greg. Good morning. Good morning. How are you? I’m doing fantastic. I am. I am really excited about this interview. Yeah. Repeat guest. I’ve already already know a good bit of the story behind our guests today. And I think I’m going to find out a lot more things I don’t know over the next hour or so. So I’m I’m I’m excited.

 

[00:01:48] I feel like the new kid. Right. She’s been here before. That’s right. Right. Yes. So this is my first time with two of you, so I may just sit and watch. Now, you guys talk about it like old friends jump on it.

 

[00:02:00] That’s why we are playing doubles triples here. So. But, you know, on that note, it seems like we’ve had a string of repeat guests over the last couple weeks. Yeah. Which hasn’t always been a lot of times. We’ll go on a street where they’re all new. Some of them are new to podcasts. Some of newer are new to interviews. But here lately we we’ve brought back a bunch of old friends and that’s exactly what they show is gonna be like, too. So with no further ado, let’s welcome in our four special guests here today. Drum roll, please. tendre Bellamy, V.P. of engineering with U.P.S. Global Freight Forwarding. Good morning to Andrea. Good morning. Great to see you. Good to be back. We enjoyed our breakfast over City Grits wherever we were a month or so ago, getting, you know, trying to get another sponsorship. Yeah. So you know what’s funny? And you travel a lot and think one of things we’re gonna touch on here today is getting some of your insights. But you also have spent a chunk of time at one of the behemoths in Supply chain space. And it’s always interesting if so many people that that work at u._p._s. And so many different roles. And and they they are driving the industry forward. And so beyond our friendship and the fact that I love a lot of things that you’re involved with anyway. I can’t wait to hear what else you’ve uncovered since the last time we sat down. All right. All right. So but for starters, let’s talk about your current role at u._p._s. Global freight forwarding. So what do you do in that role?

 

[00:03:27] I’m doing a lot of discovery right now, as you know, about what U.P.S. over 30 years. And this part of the business is something I never touched before. The fording industry is just completely different. And going into CRM, what things can I do from Industrial engineering standpoint to enhance that business unit, whether it’s technologies, efficiencies, just bringing in a different mindset, a different viewpoint, because I haven’t been affording many other partners that I work with have been and fording for a very long time.

 

[00:04:01] Know, by the way, coming from the Fritze acquisition are a Menlow acquisition. So they have very long and storied backgrounds and fording, whereas I’ve been in logistics and transportation. Small package contract Logistics Saltillo before adding pieces just new and fresh has absolutely always valuable.

 

[00:04:23] And really from no different ways. We’re gonna talk more about the incredible value that having that different perspective is. You know Dan Rohter here in the interview. But so speaking of the type of problems that U.P.S. global freight forwarding is helping its customer solve, speak to that little bit.

 

[00:04:42] Well, something there’s a lot of things that U.P.S. does said nobody knows. I believe it. So we have right now, we have been excellent consultants to our customers as all of a tariff talk material for us to trade wars as all of that has gone down. We. Have consulting services that helps ensure that no one our customers are compliant and everything that they’re doing but bring in packages across borders, also ensuring that they understand advantages and and benefits that are out there to them, whether it’s with our foreign trade zones, through our trade services stars is our consulting arm from a compliance standpoint and the customs and brokerage industry. So there’s a lot of things that we do, but it’s all about how do we help our customers to engage in business, to grow their businesses and the most efficient and cost effective matters, whether it’s domestically or globally.

 

[00:05:44] Rub it in the last few months, the foreign trade zones and and your trade and tariff and import export expertise as a organization enterprise has been really tapped on here lately. Absolutely.

 

[00:05:57] It’s interesting. We were just talking about that in another episode with Michael Golden Age GM and Adam McDaniel with Redwood. And that was one of the things that everyone kind of around the table encouraged people to do, is get help with that absolute compliance. It’s too complex and too. And right now, somewhat fast moving. Yes. For a company who’s trying to do their core business to mess with Ryder. That’s great. And you’re right. That’s a service I did not know.

 

[00:06:23] Yes, provided we do. We do. But there’s a lot to your point. I mean, you know, I’ve been in Atlanta now for. Fifty three kids, I guess, if not 15 years. What appeals? And, you know, we’ve rubbed elbows with all types of folks, as you might imagine, that do different things that you miss. As I was mentioning earlier. And we’re still uncovering. Yes. New things that you’re involved in. But also, I think that when you think about Supply chain and End to end Supply chain and the things that debt is touching more than more things than ever before as well. Right. So. All right. So I want to move back in time as we really an accountant now that we’ve kind of established who you are and what you do and your department or function that u._p._s. Let’s kind of talk more about tandoor Bellamy and your background. So let’s move back in time a little bit. Let’s talk about where you grew up.

 

[00:07:14] I grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida. OK. And my great grandmother, even though there was a 60 year age difference, was absolutely my best friend. I never had a babysitter. I was always with grandma at that time. Kindergarten wasn’t mandatory. She got mad at a teacher for give him a sweater to someone else and took me out of kindergarten. But the education I got what her definitely exceeded it. See to that? What’s her name? Katherine Bale. We are running out. Was that when I went to college, she would come with me and live in a dorm?

 

[00:07:50] Did she go by? How did you call her? I’m just always curious about parent. Grandparent. Right. It was just grandma. OK.

 

[00:07:56] He was just grandma. Her Katherine Bell. So you’re already kind of foreshadowed one of our questions in terms of, you know, role models both touching that second. So growing up, what were some of your early hobbies, especially any that might, you know, foreshadow what you did later in life?

 

[00:08:13] I was absolutely a tomboy. I was at my sister. My only sister is nine years my junior. But the house across the street at 10 kids, an old man.

 

[00:08:25] We played all the time. But it was always games that in all involved one ball and a lot of kids. Right. So we would play, you know, whether with softball or football or kickball or something with a ball and a lot of kids that you didn’t have to worry about sharing.

 

[00:08:42] Yes. And I. Yeah. Great time. Did your grandma ever get on some of those teams and. Well, no, no, no. Played short. She played third or something known.

 

[00:08:50] I’ll remember. Remember, as my great grandmother, it was a 60 year age difference. Grandma was not ball. I missed that.

 

[00:08:57] Ok. All right. Wow. All right. So, Greg, I know you’re always curious about this next one.

 

[00:09:02] Yeah. So you I think, as Scott said, you kind of foreshadowed this. But to tell us a little bit about some of the mentors or role models or whomever you might have had as you come up as a kid or even throughout your career.

 

[00:09:15] One of the early influences was my high school counselor, Miss Mary Cummings, and she would tease that I was there, suntanned kit. And in Florida and a lot of Florida. And yet even while then, definitely. But unfortunately, even now, there wasn’t a big push for females. And the math and science is now. And she recognized that I did well in math, science and really, really encouraged it to the point that her husband was an engineer at Honeywell. And I had my first summer internship as a junior in high school. I say we’re doing a special program to try and keep both minorities and females in the sciences. So she was a huge, huge, huge influence when I applied for college. She was working out all kinds of things. So I didn’t have to pay all of application fees and and everything else. And it’s a hundred percent because of her that I ended up at Stanford. Mm hmm. My goal was I want to go someplace warm. And that was it. I mean, I was a native Floridian. So the thought of snow was like, are you kidding me?

 

[00:10:29] I love you, Minnesota, but that’s not where I’m going to. Simple visions. That’s the key. Yes. That’s a place warm.

 

[00:10:36] Some of it is warm. So I had applied to University of Florida and thought I was all set to be a gator, as she said. Is this too good of an opportunity to pass up?

 

[00:10:46] Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Arranged for me to meet meet someone local who also attended Stanford. And the rest, they say, is his live.

 

[00:10:55] That’s all we ask you about. Stanford, obviously, California. You grew up in and in St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida. You know, I remember when I when therefore sent me to which tall Kansas. And well, I left I left that, you know, that support structure right back on the East Coast. And that is challenging mentally, especially at the age of college freshmen to talk about that. How was how did you adjust it to. Yeah, from going from Florida, the Californian new friends. All good stuff.

 

[00:11:29] The adjustment was because of the friends, I had three really close friends. We’re still close. In fact, we were just together this summer for an for an event and we were each other’s support structure and we were all from different places. One came in from Virginia. One was from Indiana. I was from Florida. The fourth was from California, who ironically lives here in Georgia right now. And we were there for each other and we bonded and supported each other and pushed each other. I mean, we all graduated. They’re all doctors. One is a doctor, but as a sociology professor at University of San Francisco. The other one is the. DeKalb County public health director relighting along those lines.

 

[00:12:22] And to our for our listeners, DeKalb County is one the largest counties in the metro Atlanta area. So, yes, that is a full couple of plates. Yeah, I guess the yellow one is a psychiatrist on raillery, doctors and AVP. Well, I guess you don’t you don’t you don’t not go and do big things after you graduate from Stanford.

 

[00:12:38] Right now there there’s some people who don’t do things, but they were born this way. Absolutely. Absolutely. You don’t have to do big things if dad can do it for you.

 

[00:12:50] So after graduating from Stanford down the road, I believe you went to get an advanced degree from the University of Central Florida. So talk a little. Why did you feel compelled to get that to earn that?

 

[00:13:08] It was a differentiator. You had a lot of people would Industrial engineering degrees. Who would you want? Stanford, right. Undergraduate and undergraduate was an Industrial engineering. A lot of people in industrial engineering because it is the most business of the engineering degrees. They go on to get an MBA. Very, very common. There’s there are several schools that now have almost a dual degree where you do IHI and then do another year and and have a MBA as well. And I just don’t want to go that route.

 

[00:13:37] So my choice was I want to do. I had an advanced degree in engineering. So USCF was just a natural choice and come back home. I wanted to be close to grandma.

 

[00:13:48] California was way too far away from for my grandmother and USCF. Just is a great school at that time, it was really a hit and gym industry was well aware of USCF, you had Harrah’s, Lockheed Martin. The Navy was a big supporter and there was a very, very strong engineering department there. They also had a program. And yes, I’m going to date myself.

 

[00:14:16] They had a program called Feed’s and they videotaped all of the classes. And you could go and check out the VHS tape to view the class.

 

[00:14:27] That wasn’t that long ago, Tazreen. Let’s just say that I know what a VHS tape is true.

 

[00:14:33] So it was a lot of support because they had a big transient student body at that time. A lot of professionals came back. The classes were taught from 7 to 10 at night. So you got to have a true classroom feel. You didn’t have to do to a distance learning thing. And that just served me a lot better. But I also, like I said, I wanted a differentiate. I knew that I loved u._p._s. And I wanted to move for u._p._s. So I wanted to lay the groundwork to make sure that I was in position to do that when the opportunity presented itself.

 

[00:15:09] So can we go back a step? Sorry. So you were already at U.P.S. when you went to UCSF? Is that right?

 

[00:15:14] I was. Yes. In fact, I took advantage of tuition. Where? Embarrassment. I was a supervisor u._p._s. When I started my masters and I actually got promoted before I got Gretch, before I graduated and was a manager.

 

[00:15:29] So you went there right out of Stanford? Pretty much.

 

[00:15:32] I it was a bout of four to five year gap.

 

[00:15:38] I’m so sorry to U.P.S. between Stanford and UCLA. I had started U.P.S. before I had my undergraduate degree. I had started as a part time supervisor excuse me, as a part time hourly at at u._p._s. Before I graduated. What are you doing then? I’m just curious because I had some fraternity brothers who loaded trucks and I decent money doing that. I started unloading trucks. And at the time, minimum wage was three thirty five and they were paying $8 an hour.

 

[00:16:10] Right. I got to do that. Well, and and full benefits right now. So even for part time. Even for part time. Yes.

 

[00:16:20] Those were the days. Those were the days. Well, we still have full benefits for part time zero, right? That is correct. Huh. Art. So the degree that you received from central Florida was a masters in industrial engineering, a management system. Okay. And so bring it back to current 2019. You just had some big news and a huge honor that we talked about over those breakfast where you were inducted into. Well, I think it’s Hall of Fame, but officially as distinguished alumni by the University of Central Florida’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. That is correct, right? Yes. What an incredible honor. So for starters, beyond the obvious part of this. You know what makes this such a special honor for you?

 

[00:17:10] It’s a special honor because it’s such a special university. It has grown tremendously.

 

[00:17:17] It now has between 68 and seventy thousand students. And the top three and the country for the number of students. But the computer science and engineering department is is just superb as the number one choice. And the Southeast region. Twelve states in the southeast region for engineering. They have a unbelievable cyber security department. They are in the top 10 and the world. They have been the national champion for four years. They are very innovative. And their approach to engineering. You know, most, most and Industrial engineering departments have required senior design project. And I mean, you know, the kids get together is always a group project. Industry comes in and they supply different things and the students can do great Hands-On learning environment at UCSF. They have a cross-functional. Senior design project, and because they said it’s very rare that you’re going to go out in the real world and only be on a project when Industrial engineers. So they bring in kids from the computer science, Industrial engineers, mechanical engineers.

 

[00:18:39] They even allow business students to participate so that you can have the marketing component of it, which makes it so much more applicable to what’s going to happen in an industry. That’s really insightful to do this. Yes. Lucky, Lucky Martin has sponsored a cyber security lab. Because, again, the school is world renowned. And in that respect, Harris has sponsored a building, Seimas has sponsored a lab. So industry really gets the value of this clearly. Yeah. Yes. Yes. So to be recognized in that environment, in a school that’s that well respected for engineering to be considered one of their distinguished alumni. Absolutely. It was huge.

 

[00:19:31] You got a bust somewhere out there right now. NFL Hall of Fame as well. A special jacket. I’m very happy with my very nice plaque that has proudly displayed in my home. We should have had you bring it. Yes. Yeah. Well, I’ll send you pictures.

 

[00:19:46] Congratulations. Thank you, John. But let’s talk about what it might mean for others that, you know, we get a ton of feedback, especially as we have tried to diversify. Thought leadership that we have on the show. Right. A lot of feedback from from other female leaders is, hey, one of the best things you can do is is showcase other female leaders so that folks can see them and and and they can aspire to be they can see what can happen. They can see that the art of the possible. So along those lines, how important is this these this type of recognition for folks that may be looking for inspiration?

 

[00:20:28] This recognition, I think, was important because they had a lot of students that came to the dinner. I think it was important because of the outreached at the university has to their alumni.

 

[00:20:43] I had been on campus earlier this year and spoke to one of the engineering’s seminars. Two hundred and fifty kids in the engineering seminar. It was just so much fun. When I got to campus, I was actually exit in the parking lot and young man came up on the golf cart. I miss Bellamy. I’m thinking, OK. You know, they show pictures of them day everybody. He was like, I was in the seminar. That was great. Oh, man. And then a number of the young ladies who came up and talked to me, who had also been either in the seminar or had heard about the seminar, that, like you said, that visibility is hugely important. And then not only the visibility from a female leader standpoint, but letting the students, male or female, know what the possibilities are for engineer. And I was recently at a conference that’s called Go for the Greens, which is an Orlando women’s conference. But they brought in students, juniors and seniors and high school freshmen and sophomores in college. And I did a presentation on careers in engineering. But I went just completely left where I thought I was going to be. I talked about, you know, being a chocolate engineer. And I actually had candy that I passed out and I said, have you ever thought about how would a Twix they get the chocolate and Cookie and Nick Campbell.

 

[00:22:10] And it’s all always very consistent. And we talked about being a food engineer and how you have to have chemical engineers and mechanical engineers and people will understand how to make those processes. So you don’t think about being a chocolate engineer, you just think about engineering being hard and boring. But there’s a ton of really, really interesting innovative careers that are in engineering. One more plug for USAIA. Yes, please. They have a student organization that has partnered with a couple of different industries and created a business that’s called Limitless Solutions. And they print 3D printed prosthetics for children. And they have now partnered with I believe it’s Marvel and they can actually use some of their designs. So a Spider-Man 3D prosthetic arm that does go into these kids. So you’re talking about practical, innovative, Hands-On International impactful. So I you know, if I’d add that at at this conference, Disney is one of the largest employers of Industrial engineers. I mean, you can live your life just having fun. Yeah. And be an engineer. Right. So, yes, the leadership is is very important. Sean showcase and female leaders. But just really getting the possibilities out there, because when you’re in high school, most kids have no idea what an engineer does.

 

[00:23:41] That’s absolutely right. So I have a quick question for you about being an engineer, because I’ve I have like many things, I have a strong opinion about what makes somebody an engineer. So this is the litmus test that I use when you were a kid. Mm hmm. And you got a toy or something like that. Did you feel compelled to disassemble the toy and see how it worked?

 

[00:24:04] I took some things apart. I will absolutely admit to taking some things apart.

 

[00:24:12] But, you know, I think there are certain skill sets that are I mean, they’re almost there. Almost you’re almost born into them. Right. And and I think that’s a that’s a good indication for parents to have, is if you’ve got a kid who is so curious about whatever they’ve got, their toy, their phone, their thing, that they want to take it apart or examine it. They have a mind that is good for engineering. I mean, it may not be their thing, but at least explore that.

 

[00:24:40] I want to say to parents, give kids things that they want to take apart. Give your girls things that they want to take apart. It’s OK for girls to have trained sets or Legos or laboratory kits. So what have you. You know, don’t predispose your girls to certain things. You know, I don’t have that conversation with my daughter all of the time. Just like a lot of boys just get to play more. She’s referring to the video games. And I said, that’s because you girls always want to grow up so fast. So you take some time and play, explore.

 

[00:25:15] Important. I have three daughters, so that’s an important lesson. Let’s make sure we catch you after that.

 

[00:25:22] So that being the case and you having shared some knowledge with with students. Before, I’d like for you to think about your hopefully your favorite student, the freshman in college. Andrea Bellamy, what advice or guidance would you give her today if you look back on where she was?

 

[00:25:43] I would have told her to get much more involved in student activities. I would have told her to learn how to build a network. Now, I had a support structure. Also, my my three friends and we called ourselves the crew. But I didn’t have a network and with the powerful university that I was at. And the amount of money that was there and the number of people who are entrepreneurs and running their own businesses. If I had built a network that as I go out to these schools and I talk to students, I’ve talked to a lot of students at HBCU use. If I had a network, I could pick up the phone and say, I just met a really great kid. I need you to get him an internship. That part I missed. So my my future to Andrea Bellamy would have been even more powerful if I built it. No network.

 

[00:26:40] That’s really good. I think that’s overlooked often is. I mean, especially in the highly skilled trades. You’re so good at what you do and so engrossed and enthralled and in love with what you do, that you can overlook that opportunity to really engage with people and make that happen. I mean, I’ve actually made that mistake running companies before you get heads down, trying to get this company over the goal line and and then, you know, you kind of one day it’s over.

 

[00:27:10] Yeah, rice was like in the garden. And if you don’t nurture the garden, things are gone. The same thing can be applied to your network. Yeah. You know, if you don’t take time to and we’ve talked about it for make those rapport deposits. Yeah. Right. I said that they’re all report withdrawals and you attributed that some methodology. Heard it once that consulting firm Stephen Covey. Yeah. I think that it’s always stuck with me because it it is you know, we all are familiar with folks that take, take, take, take, take, take, take. Yes. Rather than and then some folks are there to try to keep building the relationship. And it is so vitally important as you’re speaking to D’Andrea, because later in life, as you’re looking to make connections with others and drive other initiatives, I mean, just all the things we’re involved in, that’s when that network really comes into play. Absolutely. Yeah.

 

[00:27:59] And I you know, I think another thing is it’s a lot of people say it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. I would argue that it’s a little bit of both. But more importantly, it’s who knows you? Who knows? Andrea Bellamy and what she can do. And every time you interact with somebody, they get to see a little bit of who you are. tanbry. I could see how afraid she was when we met.

 

[00:28:23] You know, it’s completely get to search for our listeners.

 

[00:28:27] But I mean, that that’s an important thing to recognize is a lot of people, you know, it’s not who you know, it really isn’t because I know Signa. Mosley Right. One of the most influential investors and leaders in technology in Atlanta. He didn’t know me. So it didn’t do me any good.

 

[00:28:43] Right. So it’s important to get known. Yes. Right. And so. So let’s speak for just a quick second to our listeners. That may be under current undergrads, regardless of what program or maybe they’re young professionals. I think what Tander just shared there is so important, you know, work the 40, 50, 80 hours a week, whatever it takes, but take the time to establish and build relationships with folks across the network, right?

 

[00:29:09] Absolutely. Absolutely. And to those young interns are newly into the workforce. Remember, somebody is always looking. So for all of my young people out there, stay off yourself. You don’t need to snap or tweet out and stuff while you’re at your desk. Right. You know, do that on your free time. If you’re bored, if you have run out of work, go and ask for more. Do something to contribute to the workplace, not to just keep yourself occupied.

 

[00:29:45] All right. So going back to your story, and you mentioned earlier that you were you are started at U.P.S. while you were still an undergrad at Stanford. Let’s talk about your most critical lesson learned from that first real time employment, the first real time job. What were the early critical lesson or two that you learned from that?

 

[00:30:07] The results matter. So do your best. And whatever job you’re in, it doesn’t make sense to aspire to be a V.P. if you’re not doing your entry level job to your this capability while networking as it puts a loop that.

 

[00:30:28] Networking is important internally as well as externally. I get to know who the decision makers are, who are the influential people within your area that you’re working in, get to know the knowledgeable people. There are people who are super smart, who know a lot, who just didn’t aspire to get promoted. They can tell you a lot about the culture. They can tell you a lot about previous mistakes. Maybe they can tell you all sorts of things. So don’t discount anybody and don’t overvalue anybody.

 

[00:31:04] Well put. Yeah. So to kind of follow on to that question, so can you tell us about maybe part of your you know, you’re when you reach the next rung on the ladder when you got a promotion. How that came about, how you kind of position yourself for that.

 

[00:31:21] And u._p._s. Is has a rich culture of promoting from within.

 

[00:31:30] U.p.s. also has a very rich culture of results matter. Oh, I was really position by not saying no when I was asked for a can you do this? Can you pick this up? You know, we’re going through an economic downturn and we’re going to slow down on promotions. However, we think that this will really be a good opportunity for you to manage an additional group of people. So I didn’t say, no, I’m not doing the extra work without getting paid for it. I was like, OK, let’s go. Everything that you can learn just really helps. So at the time of my promotion from supervisor to manager, I was really already doing the job of a manager. We were just on a slow spot. So there weren’t any promotions that were happening. I fully understood that business reality. But I was still delivering results. And we would have an annual meeting within our geographic district that was call report back and they would report back the overall results of the whole country to your business unit.

 

[00:32:42] And my district manager at the time, we had just about finished up the meeting and he said, I’m gonna call a couple of people up on stage. I want to give some recognition now. This was 1996 and I was thinking, I’m going to the Olympics.

 

[00:33:00] And he brought the four of us up on stage and we all got promoted to manager. Wow. Yes. Better than the Olympics. A much more long lasting recognition. Then go into the Olympics. Honestly, when I stepped up on stage, that’s what I thought was going to get to go to the Olympics. It seems like they could have done both. Really? I’ll take the promotion. That’s true.

 

[00:33:20] And then there might be a small portion of our listeners that may not realize that 1996 Atlanta hosted the Olympics right here. All right. So let’s let’s shift from discussing your personal journey. And I’m really excited about this next segment. You talk more about industry and get some of your insights, both from a practitioner standpoint and from a leadership standpoint that makes sense. So, you know, you speak to groups across the country on a regular basis, maybe even internationally. I’m not sure we talked about that component because U.P.S. clearly is an international player. You know, I’ve really enjoyed through some of our work together, you know, serving on our advisory board with Apex Atlanta, speaking at groups like the Georgia Manufacturing Summit, being on here a couple times, Hurley podcasts. I learned 17 new things each and every time. Let’s talk about the last time you were when you were presenting kind of an overview of some of the technologies that were proliferate. Now the current state across Supply chain, you kind of gave us an overview of that at that the Georgia Manufacturing Summit. What couple of those items rather than go through all of them, what a couple of those technologies really stick out in your mind is most impactful right now?

 

[00:34:33] I think not necessarily not necessarily a specific technology, but really the approach to technology that’s coming about. Yes, you have the huge automatic storage and retrieval systems that are a very big investment and for a very specific purpose. Right. Most businesses can’t afford them. So there are a lot of flexible technologies that are coming out now. There is a lot of places where you can start small, prove the concept, and then scale up Swiss logs. Kerry Pick is very similar to Khiva that was bought out by Amazon, where it allows you to fit the system to where you are. And then as you grow, you just add role more robots to the system. You don’t have to demise and rebuild. You just add in additional Flourish UPS flex flex. A lot of the autonomous technologies that are coming out with respect to forklifts and what it can do for you. You want to any of those true non value added activities that transport activity. If you can stop people from doing that and have machinery do that until you know the robotics are better at the picking if you let the people do the picking part. Better job and allow the technologies to do the transport and you get the best of both worlds. I like that keyboarding approach, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. So again, there is a lot of different ways out there. A lot of different systems. But I would say, number one, you have to identify what your real problem is and then find the technology to solve the problem. There is a lot of bells and whistles that are being dropped on the market. AMR’s looking for nails were absolutely, positively. Which is the best way to not get additional funding. If you go out and convince your organization to spend money and then you don’t get the return because you bought a technology that doesn’t really solve your problem. You’ve really done a double disservice. You’ve wasted money and it’s very unlikely that you’re going to get another investment outstanding.

 

[00:36:57] And you’re laughing at that as you are sharing, because we talk a lot about companies regardless of size, where leaders see it. Technology is the latest and greatest thing. It may not fit. They want it. They want to bring it in and then find a place that hammer meets.

 

[00:37:12] Now, yeah, see a lot of that, a lot of A.I., you know, and a lot of, you know, pick a pick a keyword these days. Right. A lot of people are going, I want a guy and they don’t know what they want it for. I want this or that. Robotics is another one, right? Is another one. You know, what you made me think of in talking about that is kind of. We use this term. I’m going to try this word, democratization of a lot of those technologies. So you mentioned Swiss log. There’s a company here in Atlanta called Gray Orange. Yes. Yes. A very similar device to the Khiva robots. And then you combine that with some of these, what I call edge distribution companies, where they can take a piece of a of a three PEO facility and and offer that to, you know, to an e-commerce provider or something like that. There is a lot of what I call anyone but Amazon sentiment out there for fulfillment, for distribution, for those things. And that, you know, when we create competition, whether it is U.P.S. or it’s u._p._s in combination with some of these democratized type solutions or it’s those democratized solutions themselves, themselves, then I think that that cruise to the benefit of the entire supply chain. Absolutely right. And consumers for sure.

 

[00:38:27] Ok, so moving from that kind of that. And thank you for sharing that practicioner perspective on own all the approach to technologies that the technologies themselves and how all that’s evolving. Let’s talk about leadership. That’s one of our favorite topics that dominates whenever we get together, that typically dominates the conversation. Last time we were together, we talked about lip service leadership and how we do not aren’t big fans or lip service leadership. So. Well, I want to ask you about who is one of or the best leader you’ve ever worked with or for or ever worked for you.

 

[00:39:02] And what made them so successful when it comes from leadership leaders who can rally a team?

 

[00:39:12] And I’m I’m not going to mention names because, you know, hopefully a whole lot of U.P.S. is. Listen to this. And I don’t want to you know, I don’t want to I’ve come across a lot of great leaders, but leaders who rally a team are definitely by far the best.

 

[00:39:25] The ones who are what I would term bottom up versus top down leaders, leaders who are in the trenches with their teams to find out what do the teams really need? How do I best support my team and then actually support them? I don’t go out and tell you folks all you know, you need to just run a little bit harder or you need to just do this. And then when they come and say, this is what I need, you back away from the table.

 

[00:39:54] Leaders that are engaged are by far the best leaders. Leaders just spend time with their teams. One of the things that I think has been lost a lot in this world of do more with less. This world of technology driving, expanding areas of control is there’s not side by side coaching done.

 

[00:40:20] Virtual teams have a place. However, if everything is done, virtually you never get to know your people. If you’re not there to really see where those shortfalls are, you can’t help address the shortfalls. What specifics? I’m right now just collecting kids. That’s what I say. I’ve got a lot of young people who just want to talk. And that’s great. I’ve got a lot of young people who will come to me and say, and these are people who have nothing to do and Industrial engineering. You know, I’m been asked to do X, but I really don’t understand why. I don’t know what it’s going to be used for. I don’t know what the information. Even really means and just Banda asked to run the report, so do the analytics. And they say, so how do I ask to be in the room? NASA. You’ve got to be able to tell them how it benefits the business for you to be in a room. Hey, I would really like to go to the next strategy meeting so that I can fully understand how my reports are being used and then I’ll be better able to identify areas are to help improve the report or to even give you a different look at the analysis. If I know how it’s being used. If the managers would spend time with those young people that are just entering the workforce, that are at the frontline, they would know what the desire is. You know, you have unfortunately folks that say, well, no, just go sit down and do to report that I told you to do. And you’re discouraging that kid. You’re not helping that kid grow. And you’re probably not going to keep that kid because you’ve reduced what they’re the importance of what they’re doing. If if you say it’s just a report, they’re gonna view it as just a report. If that strategic information that’s going to help us make better decisions. Everybody feels better about the process.

 

[00:42:22] Why management? By walking around, right. Tom Peters introduced this concept decades ago, long before any of us were really true in business. But, um, you know, I think and I think you’re right, we’ve kind of lost not all always. But in many cases the pendulum swings one direction, right? Open offices. Right now, the pendulum is swinging back the other direction because people realize how unproductive open offices are. And it’s swinging towards remote work. Right. Somewhere in the middle or some sort of hybrid is probably the best part because I can’t tell you how many problems, big problems get solved over the watercooler or whatever the equivalent devices. Right. Right. Or or you or you go by and you see something on somebodies desk and it triggers, you know, a discussion that solves a problem right there that is so valuable. But a manager has to be out there.

 

[00:43:13] You have to be out there. It makes you so much more accessible. Now, if I’m walking and I stop at a desk and I ask, so what are you working on? And that person has a question about it. They are much more likely to ask me right there than to actually come to my office or pick up the phone, because the first thing is I know you’re really busy.

 

[00:43:36] Well, I’m gonna do it in a meeting because they risk looking dumb. Yeah, right. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, that’s scary.

 

[00:43:43] So, again, speaking to some of our folks that are just beginning their careers, what is the number one piece of leadership advice that you give them right now?

 

[00:43:58] If they just begin in their careers, it’s understand how to apply yourselves what it is.

 

[00:44:07] Listen, listen, listen. Find out who speaks, what facts and who speaks, what forked tongue her. There are a lot of people who, for whatever reason, are disgruntled or just want to always point out shortcomings. Who is really forward thinking? Who is giving you information that gives you some substance, gives you something that you can do with it? Listen a lot. Repeat very little, especially if you knew because you really don’t know. Ask your managers because you do have a lot of young managers as well. When you sit down and you have a review, ask for specifics. It’s going to put them in a position where they have to move forward, have specifics. Quantify. Absolutely. Because, you know, the growing is in the detail. If you really want to know how you’re doing, you want to know what you can do more, how you can progress. Ask yeah.

 

[00:45:11] Ask them. Outstanding, as always. So now as we were gonna move into the last portion of this segment, we’re real. Won’t pick your brain on on on some important issues of the day. Greg, I’ll let you take the lead on this here.

 

[00:45:26] Yeah. So I said earlier, I’ve got three daughters. One, I’m really both of them. The two older ones have already gone the college track and both are are out of school now and in their careers. The younger one really kind of surprise me. So I must share the story quickly. Yeah. She dropped something. I make a thing down her stool and I was not at home. So she found a YouTube video and deconstruct.

 

[00:45:52] She took the stool up off the floor, got the thing out, gotovina it all up and reinstalled it. It’s one of the few toilets in our house doesn’t leak.

 

[00:46:01] So so that you know, that always has me thinking about nontraditional roles, not just college roles, but but Technical roles. Right. And that’s an issue in and of itself. So many people have college degrees, a college degree. How many times have we talked about the lack of vocational education? Does doesn’t even differentiate you anymore. But at the same time, you know, if you think about STEM and things like that, I think of that kind of in the same in the same vein, because those are, as I said earlier, like engineering. It’s a very specific and applicable and internal skill. Right. So can you tell us a little bit about some of the opportunities and challenges and things that you’ve seen with STEM for women in the workplace or or women in education?

 

[00:46:51] The well, Sakhi.

 

[00:46:56] Highlight the heavy one down.

 

[00:46:57] No, it’s just there’s so much because it started to begin. And and this is something that has been a concern of mine for a long time.

 

[00:47:08] You have a fear of math and sciences that’s projected on to girls at a very early age. And a lot of it comes very innocently from teachers, elementary school teachers. I remember my daughter’s fourth grade social studies teacher telling everybody how much she hated math. Well, now, for all of the little girls in that class who adored her, it’s OK to hate math. You have that. That happens very early on.

 

[00:47:45] We have just so many role based stereotypes in the world and we see it in this country a lot. And strong girls are. Categorized are ostracized or any other eyes that you want to do it.

 

[00:48:09] Lots of eyes. MHI minimize any other ised that you want to do.

 

[00:48:15] If we had more programs that really, truly let girls and validated girls and celebrated girls that wanted to do nontraditional things, it would become traditional.

 

[00:48:31] You know, is all a nontraditional because we categorized it that way. You know, I think about, though, the big fight that’s going on right now for pay equality. We want equal pay. Well, I really don’t want equal pay and low paying jobs. I want you to go after the jobs that pay the most, which are generally in the stim area, STEM, you know, and and then get equal pay. But why fight for equal pay for a job that’s still not going to put you where you need to be economically. So we. The other thing I can ask you a quick question. Just second. Yeah. One of the I think it was the first radio show that I was on with you. I had done some research because so many women who even get engineering degrees leave the field. And one of us, one of the studies said it was because of what happens at the entry level. Women are pushed to be the note takers are the project manager for the engineering team instead of the one who the ones who are actually doing the research are using the cool machines or whatever. When around the value create an error, they’re pushed and too, even with engineering degrees, marginalize roles. Engineering interns coming in while they’re still in college. The females, unless they’re just really strong willed a lot of times get the less glamorous of the assignments and wants to actually in a company. Our CIO talks about some of the struggles that his door to hand at her company again being marginalized. And and that is really, really a shame that you can prove that you have the aptitude and the intelligence and the tenacity and the wherewithal and actually get your engineering degree and walk into a workplace and that not be respected to the level that it should be. So let her fix all your toilets and encourage her to do it.

 

[00:50:45] Glad to. Yes. No. No doubt. And she’s good at math, too. I mean, that I mean, and I think that’s a good thing.

 

[00:50:52] But, you know, one thing you know, there is I do look up i-D tech. I d tech. Okay. They have a ton of camps doing a summer at colleges all over. But Georgia Tech has them. They there’s one program where you actually build your own laptop that you then walk away with. And so it lets you have a lot of hands on. They have 3D printing ones. They have, like I said, the one that does the construction of the the laptop. But there’s several different camps that go on. They have some that are all girls. They have others reticle it and just let her explore.

 

[00:51:31] Well, there’s no stopping her going. There’s one thing that you talked about. You talked about being powerful. Right. And there’s one thing that there’s. My wife assures that happens. Their grandmother hears that that happens. Empowered that. You know, they’re not my girls aren’t built to complain. They’re just built not to accept any of them, but what they’re do. Good. So I think that’s isn’t as important as anything. But one of the things that you talked about that I think we need to make the world conscious of is those seemingly meaningless and careless comments. Right. I can look, I’m not trying to make this about me, but this is a really simple example I had. I was in class third grade or something like that. And we were doing a drawing thing. And I raced and the teacher came up to me and said, aren’t real artist, don’t race. I never drew again. So it it it seems like an innocuous comment. You say I hate math. Yes. Right. I hate algebra or whatever. But kids are they are sponges at a certain age. You have to be really, really careful and really intentional with what you say to them.

 

[00:52:37] Yes. So I think that was that’s a really valid point. And of course, you have to and I you know what I’ve seen what I’ve experienced from my mother, what I’ve experienced from other women. One of my favorite women in the world was a judge. She was bad ass, by the way. But you know what I’ve seen what I’ve seen work is exactly that. You don’t have. Complain you don’t have to necessarily ask as much, but you have to know you have to know inequality when you’re seeing it and you just have to refuse to to accept that. I think we had a conversation with Daniel Stanton and Sheri Harnish some time back in and Sheri said I had to have this awkward conversation with an offender. And my response to that is, why is that the awkward conversation? Why is the response to the offender, the awkward conversation, not the offending comment? That should be the awkward thing. That person, whoever that offender was, should have felt awkward, not felt empowered. And I think we need more of that. Absolutely.

 

[00:53:50] Well, along those lines, what else? You know. Speaking to the lead of business leaders, the practitioners, all of our listeners, what are I mean, how do we as you kind of painted that picture? Clearly, there are some there are some deep rooted environmental. If something were not to change sitting here today, it’s like a build up. Right. It’s a it’s a transformation. Right. But how do you if you had to put a put a top to list or top three list of things that folks can do can take action to do that, that would help move the needle in some way, shape or form? What what is what was that smallest look like?

 

[00:54:29] Be involved and engaged. Is the biggest one. And again, we have so many biases, stereotypes. What have you. You know, the big one now is the millennials and the millennials.

 

[00:54:41] It is the millennials that. How much time do you actually spend with them? And and how much of the perceived issues did you create? So now. Seriously? Yeah. And and we have such a multi-generational workplace now being able to get the leaders to respect what everybody brings to the table and now. Right. Yes. Young people are are different. They’re different than us. They’re different than us for a whole lot of reasons. But they’re extremely capable if they are led. If you leave them to their own devices, they do what they’ve been doing. And because so much of what takes place is electronic. Right now, they’re not the best communicators. They can write really well. But to set them down and force the issue with a conversation, not so much. Especially if there’s anything that is deemed remotely confrontational. So you have to spend time coaching them if you want your future leaders to be strong within your organization. You’ve gotta spend time with them both doing work related things, but also just talking to them.

 

[00:56:09] Just talk about getting a relationship. It’s almost like where you’re you’re proactively solving problems because with a stronger rapport and stronger relationships, whatever comes up around the corner, you’re better suited as a team. Yes. To hit the ball at the ballpark, right? Yes.

 

[00:56:28] I want to take the next three hours and continue driving on this, but for a second time, do it over lunch. Yes. Well, definitely. Yes. So to our audience, I wish our kids aardvarks some of the best bananas in Atlanta, but there he goes again. All right. I need to be getting money out of the. Yes, without a doubt. I love it. All right. So let’s move ahead, because I want to as we begin to wrap up the interview, a couple final questions here. From a supply chain standpoint, what is your one or two biggest takeaways from 20, 19?

 

[00:57:02] Industrial engineers are going to be extremely important moving forward because everything that that that I see read feel we’re going to have an economic slowdown, which means efficiency is once again going to rise to the top of the list.

 

[00:57:20] How are we going to continue to make the profit squeezed a margin reduce account? The myriad other things to reduce inventory, increase inventory turns, all of the things that are going to make Industrial engineers extremely important are really gonna come to the forefront and over the next couple of years. So go and find you good Industrial engineers and then work with them, work side by side with them. Make sure that they understand the strategic business objectives, not just given them orders on activities to complete.

 

[00:57:56] Real quick sidebar conversation because also I’ve seen something on social media that got caught. Ma and I hadn’t had a chance to dove in deeper, but the gist of this and I can’t know were the companies that were involved. But it basically was a movement to encourage hiring managers and business leaders. They get past the resumé and not let that God who they spend time with to understand and hard and bring on the team and on board all that stuff. Quick thought on that because, you know, as as where as organizations are looking to acquire more engineering talent, Industrial, engineering talent based on where we’re going to commi all that. How would you use that smart. Is that not so smart? How do you how do you approach this way?

 

[00:58:36] To do that is to have co-ops and enters, bring them in. Young get to know them before they graduate. Then you’re not counting on a resume. The best resumé in a world really doesn’t tell you somebody whose work ethic is if you are just going to be, you know, surfin resumés. You’ve gotta look for kids who have taken the opportunity to be to be in organizations and be leaders and organizations, not just say I was a member so that they can add it to the list, but actually that that drove something. But I think co-ops and internships are absolutely, positively the best way to develop your talent pool.

 

[00:59:17] Outstanding, clear evidence of exceptional talent. So somebody asked Elon Musk that recently. And, you know, the possibility that somebody gets overlooked in a stack of resumes is to somehow discern where somebody has gone above and beyond, as you said, or, you know, his show has overcome a difficulty or met a high level challenge, whatever. I think that is how you get past that. Right. Okay. So my job now, as you’ve probably figured out, is to drop the the the bombs on you.

 

[00:59:51] So how about a bold prediction for 2020 or beyond? What do you see out there that inspires or concerns or, you know, definitely motivates you?

 

[01:00:03] Economic downturn is a is a huge concern. We are ready. Have put ourselves in a situation where it’s the the service jobs that are growing in this country, we put ourselves in a position where the minimum wage is rising for jobs that really don’t have the value to keep up with the wage rate and horizon. And if we can’t figure out the importance of things like vocational education, how much if your daughter wasn’t fixing your toilets, how much would you be paying for a plumber? Yeah. And as a lot of jobs that were very valued in the past, as somehow we now look down our noses at them, but we all need them. So my bold prediction, I guess, is cautionary. And if we get into another economic tailspin, how are we going to work our way out of it as a as a country, especially as divisive as the election cycle can be?

 

[01:01:17] Mm hmm.

 

[01:01:19] All right. So we have kind of covered a range of topics here today, like I knew we would or someday things we want to pick your brain on and we’ll continue a conversation over lunch. But how can so folks that that want to hear more and learn and compare notes with you, learn more about what your team at U.P.S. is doing. How do you recommend folks reach out?

 

[01:01:41] Easiest way to reach out to me is on LinkedIn. I am pretty active on LinkedIn.

 

[01:01:46] Don’t don’t take part in a lot of the other social platforms, but I am very active on LinkedIn, so I’ll feel feel free to reach out and connect.

 

[01:01:57] Fantastic. Oh, we’ve been talking with tendre Bellamy with u._p._s. Global Freight Forwarding. Thanks so much for your time today. It was you know, I had a high bar, surpassed the bar, as always, and I look forward to learning more than a little bit. So sit tight for a sec. We’re gonna cover a couple events. We’re gonna share a couple events with our audience where we’re gonna be at and invite them to join us. Before we wrap up today’s episode. But if you heard anything here today or past shows that you’re that you can’t find via Google or you can’t find a site we’ll talk about or a resource shoot.

 

[01:02:30] A note to our CMO at Amanda at Supply Chain Now Radio. We’ll do our best to serve as a resource for you. Greg, we’ve got we’ll be here throughout the new year, right? Thankfully, yes. All right. We get it. We just got back from Austin, Texas. As we’ve been talking about this a lot longer drive than what most people think. But it’s good to be back. We’re still publishing all the content from that Logistics SEO form. But we’re we’re we’re going to be at next, Greg.

 

[01:02:56] So we’ve got to see SCMP Atlanta roundtable January 15th. That’s right. 20:20 open to the public. Yeah.

 

[01:03:05] Atlanta, CSC impede that or to learn more. They’re featuring a leader from NASCAR track that’s gonna be talking about some of the regulation changes in industry, especially those that impact the transportation sector and what it means for your business. So should be a great lunch event. We’re gonna be interviewing board members and maybe the get the guest speaker there. But January 15th, twenty. And then what?

 

[01:03:29] Then February 4, we go to Vegas, baby. And if you wanna go with us for the reverse Logistics Association conference, Tony Sciarrotta, my Sciarrotta. He coined that phrase. That’s right. And his team talking about one of the biggest topics in in retail, in retail or bricks and mortar retail returns and reverse Logistics and and circular economy. Yep. Right. So we’ll be that’s gonna be an interesting one.

 

[01:04:00] It’s gonna be a home run event where we’re kind of into the last couple of months of planning with he and in the team there in our L.A. as a global group that have to be based here in Atlanta. But as we talk about every time this comes up, you’ve got some companies that really have gotten their act together and they know how the how to do reverse Logistics returns. And you get other well-known, well-run companies that are still looking for best practices because of what e-commerce is doing. But that is with OReilly as a clearinghouse for a lot of the market, the intel, the best practices, the networking within that space. And you can learn more at r.l, a dot or Tony Sciarrotta. Is that executive director of the group and does an outstanding EESA walking best practice? I mean, Gasperi, he did it himself. Yeah. Fillory. He took this over. Yes. Right. So and then were someplace where I know plenty U.P.S. was will be mode X 2020 on March 9th, the 12th 20-20.

 

[01:04:55] That is a huge show. Thirty five thousand of our closest friends little attending that right is free to attend unless you want to put up a factory or or a warehouse like so many companies do. And it’s like. It’s like. Toys for grown ups. There it’s amazing to see some of the facilities that get built as a display. Absolutely. And at that show and then all of the seminars and workshops and so much education naps and don’t forget our since we’re all so just the secondly, the CIO at U.P.S. was a keynote just a the last time it rolled through.

 

[01:05:33] Yes. Yeah. Yes. And Tom Perez was a key. Yes. Yeah. And I said on that session that I think the governor introduced him. Yeah. Well received. And that was on the front end of the big. I’m not I get this right. But the digitization project transformation project that U.P.S. rolled out to serve its customers even better. So a great Keith. And that’s kind of what I mean. Codex akina. Like to your point, keynotes, the networking, the market intel, the breakouts and the incredible thing is is free to attend. Yes, Moto X showed dot.com mdx shoko. And now, now, Greg, go back to it. Well, you’re about to say.

 

[01:06:14] Yeah, well and on the tenth, the second day of Moto X. So we have the Atlanta Supply chain Awards. Excellent event. Yes. And thank you. And I know that you’re not biased because you’re on the executive committee or anything. Well, they have sold out the first year. Yeah. Very well done. Yeah. Well we had to increase the we had to increase the scale of the event. Phenomenal.

 

[01:06:36] Now I think we’re limiting to 300 seats this time, right? That’s right. But nominations are open. Sponsorships or are available reservations even open. Yeah, that’s right. That’s the situation. Get that table close to the front.

 

[01:06:51] Yes. It will sell out again. And you know and we should acknowledge it. You know, we’ll have we had the apex, Atlanta and SEUS and Lanta round table to Atlanta Chamber come together to make the first year events happen. It was it was a playoff, a variety of older ideas and different. You know, there’s been awards that that did Logistics only. There’s been awards at the different sects segments. You know, air cargo, great US tech. Yeah, just tech, too. But we want to kind of recognize the whole in the end supply chain and bring that community together and we could have done it without u._p._s. And Georgia-Pacific and these other outstanding organizations that got behind it to make it the event in the first year that it was. So thank you to you for making that happen. Tand Dreya bell me and we look forward to going bigger in year two.

 

[01:07:36] Yeah. And by the way, speaking of Georgia-Pacific, Christian Fisher, the president CEO, Georgia-Pacific is gonna be our keynote speaker. And SHANN Cooper. Right, is gonna be our emcee. I’m looking forward to that. She’s a really cool speaker and she’ll keep the energy going.

 

[01:07:54] Absolutely. And with with huge supply chain chops. Yeah. She led Lockheed facility, which you touched on earlier. She served as chief transformation officer at West Rock. Not often you get to m.c that knows more about supply chain than many folks in attendance. The gap between Christian and chan-. We’ve got a great one two punch. Atlanta Supply chain Award WSJ.com register early and often that will sell out. Nominate where we’re banging the drum hard on nominations. So our advice there is if you don’t see a perfect category, just nominate if we need more information. We’ll always circle back. We’ve got, I think, 14 different categories.

 

[01:08:35] We added a few event, a few categories, including Supply chain Startup of the Year, a reverse Logistics award with our friends Tony Shroder narrowly or something for everybody. Atlanta Supply chain Award WSJ.com. One final note and Big Bodaway big thanks to Moto X for hosting that award in the whole event there with Moto X being the backdrop at the Georgia World Congress Center. We just added one more event to our our slate.

 

[01:09:03] Am I right? I might be surprised. Right now, none of the eight. The. Yeah. Sorry. The A.M.E.. Atlanta, May 4th to 7th. Right. Their Lane summit.

 

[01:09:12] Yep. And so our listeners may be familiar with the Association Right for Manufacturing Excellence. We love our acronym. Riding Large s international group was probably the biggest focus is is the U.S. but base up in Chicago, they’ve got a a southeast regional team that hosts these lean summits every year. They’re bringing their national conference to Atlanta in twenty twenty one, but they’re expecting three hundred or so plant managers, V.P., VOP, folks that love manufacturing are going to be here May 4th to the 7th. And and as the title suggests, a big focus on lean. So there’s efficiency. You spoke to earlier, I’m sure especially about time May rolls around that it’s going to be a party once again or even a bigger party, what it is now so that you can learn more at A.M.E. dot org. And that is also open to the public plant tours keynote. You name it. We’ll be broadcasting from the first day, I believe. OK, what a show. I wish. I mean, really, what? Every week we want to bring you back on. I’m sure your busy schedule can’t have a day job. I think, you know, I think from this this conversation just kind of playing back what we’ve spoken about over the last hour and some change. You know, regardless if you’re looking for professional development ideas or if you’re looking for leadership ideas or you’re look, you’re kind of trying to better understand how we’re approaching technologies. Supply chain EFT myself for our body in this episode. So thanks so much, tendre Bellamy, for joining us here today. Thank you for having me. You bet. And Greg, great show.

 

[01:10:49] Yeah, great. I know you’ve gone through hardships in your career, but you are very straightforward. Deal with it. Move on, make stuff happen. I love I love that perspective. Yeah, that’s powerful stuff.

 

[01:11:02] Ok. So to our audience, be sure to check out other upcoming events, replays of interviews, other resources at Supply Chain Now Radio dot com. You can find us on Apple podcast. SoundCloud. YouTube. Yes. Greg White favorite wherever. I’m not answering that anymore. That leave you wherever else. You find your podcast. We’ll be there. I think we’re at up to 20 channels now, roughly on behalf of the entire team. Scott Luton here wishing you a wonderful week ahead and we will see you next time on Supply Chain Now Radio. Things are running.

Featured Guests

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). Connect with Tandreia on LinkedIn.

Hosts

Greg White

Principal & Host

Scott W. Luton

Founder, CEO, & Host

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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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Kim Reuter

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.

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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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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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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

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

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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Tandreia Bellamy

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).

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Marty Parker

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.

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Laura Lopez

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!

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Jake Barr

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.

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Marcia Williams

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.

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Luisa Garcia

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.

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Astrid Aubert

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.

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Sofia Rivas

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

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Karin Bursa

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. 

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Vin Vashishta

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.

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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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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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Greg White

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.

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Katherine Hintz

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.

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Mary Kate Love

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.

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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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