“There’s a lot of things that freight forwarders are doing for free right now, but then more importantly, the frustrations on the shipper side. When I was doing sales, I was in front of mid market importers and exporters all the time. And when the crash of 2008 happened, it changed everything. It changed margins. It changed how people were looking at their bottom lines and the spot market drove everything up.”
-Sarah Barnes-Humphrey, CEO, SHIPZ
We continue our interview with one of the top 100 Women in Supply Chain, Sarah Barnes-Humphrey and learn about how she founded her new adventure aboard SHIPZ, what you can take away from her career journey, and even her favorite reality TV show. Really!
Sarah shares how she moved from the family business, to supply chain thought-leader, to Freight Tech founder and reveals how work ethic & reality TV help her succeed. Listen UP!
Greg White (00:01):
This week on tequila, sunrise, you’re going to hear from Sarah Barnes Humphrey, the second half of our discussion with her, and you’re going to learn what is her favorite reality show and how does that help her be a better leader? You’re going to learn what this ships is all about. I said, ships folks, and what you can take away from her journey that can help you on your own. You better listen up. It’s time to wake up to tequila. Sunrise we’re unfortunately, without the aid of tequila, we opened your eyes to how venture investing ticks focused on supply chain tech every single week at this unholy hour of the day. If you want a taste of how tech startup growth and investment is done, join me every week for another blinding tequila, sunrise, Greg white here from supply chain. Now I am always happy, never satisfied, willing to acknowledge reality, but refusing to be bound by it. My goal is to inform, enlighten and inspire you in your own supply chain tech journey. Hey, if you are listening on SoundCloud, you should know. You can only subscribe to tequila, sunrise on apps like Apple podcast, Spotify, Google podcasts, or others, and be notified when we pour out another shot subscribed to tequila sunrise today. So you don’t miss a thing.
Greg White (01:58):
And now for the second half of our fascinating interview with Sarah Barnes Humphrey, starting with what is her favorite reality show?
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (02:09):
I think, I think the other one is I like reality TV. So a lot of my, like my downtime, I’m using reality TV to my advantage because I think that it really showcases communication and it really showcases strategy depending on what show you’re watching. And so I can turn that into a bit of advantage when I’m doing my day to day and figuring out new ideas too, I guess.
Greg White (02:40):
What is your favorite reality show? Come on. You’ve brought it up. You gotta
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (02:46):
Big brother. Really? Yes. Big brother. Okay. Well, it’s about, it’s all about, it’s all about strategy and it’s all about communication and it’s all about how you interact with I’m
Greg White (03:00):
So desperate
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (03:01):
Experiment. I mean, you can’t get much better than that. You’ve got 16 people in a house and somebody comes out a winner. And so your social game has to be on point and your game game has to be on point, but in the background you have to be strategically placing people and planting seeds to get you to the end.
Greg White (03:19):
Wow. So I have gotten to the end of Netflix, so maybe I need to consider reality TV. I’ve never, I don’t think I’ve ever actually watched a reality show. Maybe not since the Osborne’s that was just straight entertainment. There was no strategy. I was just stumble around. It’s just straight entertainment. You know, some of them, I do get some takeaways, so I don’t know if I would call that an, uh, a dysfunction, but I can see at times being helpful and relieving. I mean, it is, it’s gotta be a stress relief. Right? So watch that. Yeah. All right. So let’s talk a little bit about, about your job if you want to call it that you used a great term, in my opinion, when you are a founder and that is obsessed because Brad Feld, who is a prominent one of the most prominent VCs.
Greg White (04:13):
And I agree on this point and that is that passion is not sufficient when you’re going to start up obsession as required. And I just did an episode on tequila sunrise a couple of weeks ago. That basically said, yeah, you can have, actually, what I said for starters was work life balance and startup have never met. Nope. And you can have work life balance. If you consider work as 70% in life, as 30% with about a third to a half of life being interrupted by work. If you consider that balance, then you can have work life balance. You think that’s a fair assessment?
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (04:50):
Yeah, that is so, so true. I mean, listen, right now, I’m, I’m working seven days a week. I get a couple hours off here and there, you know, I take time off for dinner.
Greg White (05:01):
Well, and you, and, and you have to, I mean, in a way you have made work part of your life. I mean, Alan clearly is contributing. Right. And, and you probably learned that somewhat from your parents. I mean, part of the reason that people have their kids in their businesses, not just because they’ll work cheap, but it’s also to have them around. I mean, in some businesses you would not be around my wife’s family. My wife had a family business as well, and she worked with her father as well, similarly out on our ass at one point when her father sold the company and she found out by going to the accountant to take them the books on, because she was the controller and the books and there, her father was signing the contract with one of their vendors who had bought the distributorship. So it happens. Right? Yeah. Yeah.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (05:50):
I mean, and it all depends on how they think about it too. And whether they feel like they’re shielding, you like protecting and there’s different mentalities, especially in the different stages of life and how you look at things and how you’ve been brought up. And, and so, you know, good intentions probably could have been done differently according to somebody else.
Greg White (06:10):
Yeah. And, and, you know, the thing that I’ve learned is you just never looked back. I mean, it is what it is. You always have to remember, you know, I worked for a company that was owned by a founder and you have to remember four words. They own the company. Yeah.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (06:24):
And my favorite quote life is lived forward and understood backwards.
Greg White (06:28):
Yeah. Yeah. That’s brilliant. Favorite. All right. So let’s talk about your company. So tell us a little bit about ships and first of all, how you came to start it, you know, maybe even how you got the idea and how it plays in the ecosystem today, you shared a little bit about your pivot, but talk about where you are today.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (06:49):
Yeah. So, you know, coming from a freight forwarding world, I know what you go through as a freight forwarder. I know what you do for free, right? There’s a lot of things that freight forwarders are doing for free right now, but then more importantly, the frustrations on the shipper side and when I was doing sales, I was in front of mid market importers and exporters all the time. And when the crash of 2008 happened, it changed everything. It changed margins. It changed how people were, were looking at their bottom lines and spot the spot market drove everything up. Freight started quoting on everything and shippers started demanding it because everybody was complying. And so it turned into this environment where freight forwarders and shippers were constantly butting heads, right? Shippers were really frustrated with the, with the process and freight forwarders were resentful at the amount of work that they put in to get one shipment.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (07:49):
And so originally we looked at doing like an Expedia type model. And then I quickly realized that that wasn’t going to work. What shippers are doing is that they’re going to three to five different freight forwarders on every single shipment to get pricing. But the pricing is coming back in different formats with, you know, stuff in the fine print. You know, they have to take a look at the terms and conditions, and they really don’t know if they’re comparing apples to apples. And so it’s a really big time consuming job for somebody. But in the end, you know, they’re, they’re also looking at service, they’re looking at price. And by doing that, you know, they feel like they get the best deal on every single shipment and whether that service or price, I mean, that’s to be determined, but what it also does is it only limits them to three to five freight forwarders.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (08:36):
I mean, there’s 40,000 freight forwarders worldwide. And why do you have to limit yourself? And so, yeah, so I really wanted to take a look at it from the shipper’s standpoint as to what were the pain points? What are they doing now? What can I do to better it so that they’re not having to relearn a system, right? Because we don’t want them to do that. You gotta meet them where they are and just make it better. And then for the freight forwarders, they’re quoting on all these shipments and they’re getting bookings one to 10% of the time,
Greg White (09:07):
One to 10%. Right. I get the frustration.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (09:13):
Yeah. And then they’re also acting like a bank because they’re extending credit to the shipper at no fault of the shipper, but they, they have to pay the steamship line and they’re waiting 15 to 30 days to get paid by the shipper at the very least. And so they’re floating like the cash flow issue is just ginormous. And so for every single shipment, you’ve got a sales person going out, right. Not every single shipment, but every single customer, let’s say going out, finding a new customer, you’re paying for their gas, you’re paying for their cell phone. They’re coming back. Your pricing team is pricing different shipments. You’re booking one to 10% of the time. And then you’ve got operations people on top of that, as far as your costs. And so what can we do to make sure that they don’t have to go through that anymore?
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (09:57):
And those are really the reasons why everybody’s butting heads right now. And so we just decided to take the process of what they’re doing on email and spreadsheets and put it online. So ships is essentially providing shippers with more choice of freight forwarder. They’re providing them costing at their fingertips. So no longer do they have to wait for a freight forwarder to provide them costing. And that’s even before a shipment has even been gone into production. Sometimes we’re giving them one login. So they don’t have multiple logins across freight forwarders. And we’re giving them one vendor, which is huge, right? Because every time we deal with a different folder, you have to set them up as a different vendor. And so it’s really cumbersome and time consuming, not only for the people that are facilitating the traffic, but for everybody involved at the company and then on the freight forwarder side, because we can provide the costing to the shipper, the shipper 90, or maybe 80 to 90% of the time is coming to them.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (10:53):
Once the shipment is ready to get the actual quote and they’re ready to book. And that’s the idea, right? Because who I like the freight forwarders really need to be able to do what they do best they’re quoting on everything because they’re afraid to lose the customer. Well, that shouldn’t be the case. So, you know, quote on the lanes that you want to quote on, right? So the freight forwarders can decide what lanes they want to quote on. And they’re going to get the quotes for those lights. What are they good at? What do they make the most money on? That’s what they do. They facilitate the transaction of moving freight, right? That’s their core business. So let’s get back to the core business. And then because they have one vendor and we’ve got a third party vendor that the shippers are getting credit through the freight forwarders, no longer have to extend the credit. And so essentially we’re taking all of that and just making it better.
Greg White (11:40):
It’s not Expedia, but it is a marketplace of sorts. Right. It’s where, as you said, meet them where they are. That’s a brilliant philosophy by the way, every founder should think of it. That way we had the discussion. We’ve, we’ve had discussion before about, you don’t need your audience or your marketplace to get you. You need to get them.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (12:01):
Yes, yes. And like, they don’t trust each other. Right now. We need to come back to the drawing board and figure out how to get everybody to work together and doing the things that they do best and not the extra crap.
Greg White (12:15):
So you’re providing a transparency. I mean, not only a central sort of hub of where to get the information, but a transparency and a trustworthiness to them that absent an independent arbiter, they can’t really guarantee or count on from either side. Right. Right. Yeah. That’s, that is a cool model. And it has recently, of course, you and I have talked about this for a year or more now, but it has recently really struck home. Just how little trust, how little transparency and how little even a contract means in the freight forwarding industry and the shipping industry in general. And this allows EV you know, this levels, the playing field. It allows everyone to see all the terms to understand whether they are comparing apples to apples. I have to ask this question, how come somebody hasn’t done this before you? Why, why now? Why? Right. Why ship’s, why now this doesn’t, this seem like a problem that somebody should have figured out some time ago. I know you’ve been in the industry have to feel that way.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (13:19):
Yeah, no, I absolutely do. Um, it’s taken us a while because we’ve really built it based on feedback. And so it took us a while through research and development to really understand what we wanted to create. Um, and like you said, create it for them, not for us, you know, there’s, there’s some other platforms out there. Uh, one of them in particular focuses on posted rates. And, you know, I th although that’s good for some, when you look at the mid market and you look at the teams that they have, which are nonexistent, right. It could be one person, it could be two pers people actually doing this. They don’t necessarily trust posted rates and they still want to get realtime rates. So even if they’re going for posted rates, they’re probably still going for freight forwarders to quote on just to see where that ends up.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (14:09):
So they’re still doing it. And I think the mid market has been lost in translation for a long time. I think, you know, the small to medium sized businesses from the research that I’ve been doing are really driving the economy and that’s, what’s gonna drive the economy into the future. And so they just, they need to be supported. I don’t know why it’s not been done this way before. I don’t know if it took, maybe somebody who’s been in the industry awhile and has been on both sides, you know, the sales and the operation side. I don’t know. I don’t know what that is, but I do know that it’s just something simple that just needs to be done to help, help make that process better for both sides.
Greg White (14:48):
So, you know, it’s funny you say that the someone who’s been in the industry, because I think so often disruptors come from outside the industry and sometimes purely from a tech perspective, but the value of certainly that is valuable. I call it the blessing of naivete, right? You don’t have the overhead, the burden of knowing the way it’s been done before, but sometimes when you have only that perspective, you throw out the baby with the bath water. You just say, none of this works. Let’s just start over. And there is some element, certainly a valid portion of, of element that knowing the industry and having the gift of applying that naivete is if you are an outsider allows you to break through and enables that a lot better. So that industry expertise becomes a really important part. You need a tech geek and you need an industry geek, right? I mean, you really need somebody who geeks out on this, right. As well as that. And you’ve got that right, John, John’s not that familiar. Your cofounder is not that familiar with the industry. Correct?
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (15:55):
Well, he is, but more from a trucking and a courier standpoint, but he definitely knows the software and the tech side. And so he’s got a little bit of both, which is great. And I feel like if you do come in from the outside, sometimes it takes a lot of education to get them to where you need them to be as a customer, because you’re not. And I’m going back to what I said, meeting them where they are and how, or having, versus having them meet you where you think they should be, which in this industry is not an easy thing to do.
Greg White (16:29):
Yeah, that’s right. And in a lot of industries, it’s very difficult because you have to, you do have to get them. I mean, I think about the companies that I’ve worked for started to run or sold or whatever. We were really good at that. And I can’t say it was intentional on my part. My teams were always really strong at that of getting the customer and making sure they knew that we got them. Yeah. And that is when you’ve broken through, when that’s one of the best things, frankly, I think you can have your customer say is they get us. Yeah. I mean, we actually, because you try to pull when you win a deal. And, um, when you hear somebody say, we went with you because we felt like the technology was neutral, which was never the case. Um, but obviously we weren’t selling very well, but you got us. So if that is the trigger point that gets you over the line, use it be it. Right.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (17:25):
Yeah. And the, the amount of forwarders, right. Cause we’ve got two customers, we’ve got the importers and the exports and we’ve gotten the folders and the amount of forwarders that have called me super excited about this platform. And they’ve been pitched marketplaces and platforms over the last couple of years and some of them have tried them, but they’re just like, you get it. Like you’re taking our barriers. Like these are the things that my team constantly comes to me and is like, why can’t we do something about,
Greg White (17:56):
Yeah, that’s critical. I’m really glad you surface that because that is a critical element. You need, you need industry knowledge to the extent that it allows you to see the vision, but you need to exclude that portion of industry knowledge that burdens you and slows you down and makes you remain a laggard with the industry as it exists today. Give us an idea of who is an ideal shipper.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (18:21):
Sure. Yeah. I mean, I kind of mentioned it before, when I was painting the picture, right. It’s somebody who is going to three to five different freight forwarders on every single shipment, um, to get quotes, right. I’m not are our ideal customer is not the enterprise. It’s the mid market shipper that can really see value in using a platform like ships in the fact that it’s really going to take what they’re doing from a manual email process, move it all online to make it that much easier because let’s face it. Most shippers don’t have a TMS, right. A transportation management system. And so they’re literally using email and Excel and they want a more efficient way to, to be able to get in front of freight forwarders and get quotes and, you know, really move their shipments and get to know people on a platform and keep everything in one space.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (19:10):
Right? So for each shipment, all of the documents are in one space, all of the messaging center of you going back and forth with the freight forwarder is in one space under that PO under that shipment. And so that’s the ideal client on the importer or the import of the Xsporter side. And then as far as the freight forwarder, I mean really the freight forwarders come in all different sizes. And we want to work with the freight forwarders that are looking to gain more business through the platform are looking to reduce the amount of quotes that they’re doing on a daily basis and cool on the stuff that they want to quote on, you know, and really find customers worldwide. Because again, the other thing is, is that we’re, you know, our choice is very limited to where we are. Meanwhile, there’s so much out there worldwide, you know, like a American company using an American forwarder. I mean, yes, traditionally that’s, that’s what has been happening, but there’s a lot of forwarders out there that can handle different parts of your shipments that can do it differently depending on your requirements. And you might not know that they’re out there,
Greg White (20:16):
Let me address a shipper. So a shipper is going to be a mid market, depending on what your definition there is, but yeah. It’s going to be a brand manufacturer or retailer or are there other yeah, yeah. Interesting, because that is a huge, and hopefully growing portion of the, of the organization. And I think as reassuring and near shoring occurs, that’s going to be a dynamic that’s in substantial flux and that’s going to create disruption for those companies. The simplification of this process seems really, really valuable to that market. Yep. Absolutely. If you, if you think about it on a wider front, not, not just even the problem you’re solving, what are some of the issues that you see these mid market shippers and freight forwarders facing today?
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (21:02):
You know, a lot of there’s a lot of time spent on each shipment that they have to move. I mean, if you consider somebody’s working with their purchasing department to decide on whether they want to purchase that product from that supplier or not, they need to know all of their landed costs. And so they go to a freight forwarder and they ask for the pricing and what it is right now, so that they can inflate it to put it in within the cost of the product so that they can figure out what their total landed cost is. So that alone takes a long time, right? Because the folders may not have all of the pricing on hand, potentially depending on where it’s coming from. It might not be a lane that they, that they’re good at. And so they’ve got to source the information. And so you’re looking at anywhere from a couple of hours to 48 hours just for that to happen.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (21:52):
Right. And so there’s the lag, there’s a real lag of every single part of this journey, um, that can, that can be streamlined and easily, easily done. I mean, if you go on the ships platform and you enter in your shipment information as to what you want to bring in, let’s say Shanghai to Toronto and you click get ships estimate. Well, you’re going to get a pricing from port to port or from airport to airport that you can easily inflate to put into your total landed costs, to get an idea of what that looks like, and you’re going to get that right away. And then you go to the forwarder. So you’re no longer exhausting your forwarder where your forwarder is like, am I just quoting on this just to give me a costing again? Or are you actually going to book with me?
Greg White (22:33):
Yeah. And I could see that becoming burdensome for the relationship. Right. At some point, yeah. Have you outstayed you’re welcome before you give them or do you give them enough business to make it worth their while to do all the time? Yeah.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (22:46):
You know, and, and some shippers are like, I don’t understand why my freight-forwarder won’t give me a price or why they take so long to give me a price. Well, did you give him any bookings lately?
Greg White (22:56):
Yeah. That’s not how they make money. Yeah.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (22:58):
Yeah. And so from a business perspective, they really have to figure out what that looks like. And if they’re quoting and because they’re quoting on everything, cause they don’t want to lose a customer, you know, their own, they’re not booking every single shipment. They’re only booking, you know, something like 10% of the time, which is frustrating.
Greg White (23:14):
That is a recurring theme. In what you’re talking about is you are removing that frustration very often. When you build a company, you think you’re going to change the world and you think you’re going to change the world because of X, but really you’re just alleviating frustration when it comes right down to it. And that’s enough. Right. Kind of like when people say you get us, that’s enough. If that’s what, that’s the problem that needs to be solved, you need to be open enough to recognizing that. Yeah. All right. So let’s shift gears a little bit as we wind this thing down. So I’m in at this point to give some insights and takeaways for our audience. I think you’ve given a ton. So I’m gonna shift gears a little bit. I’d love, I’d love to understand. And have you share with our community, what do you wish you had known earlier in life and what do you think that might have changed for you?
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (24:05):
I think I, maybe I would have wished that I would have known that the journey is not a straight line and that you really just need to roll with the punches and how important meditation and gratitude is to getting through those parts of the journey. I think also being able to read people a little bit better, especially in the beginning of my journey would have been great. Um, because again, I wear my heart on my sleeve, so I kind of trust people, um, right off the bat. And, you know, like I said, it’s kinda nipped me in the bud a couple of times. And I think also I would have liked to have believed in myself a lot sooner
Greg White (24:48):
As you went through this journey, you doubted yourself. Well, that was based on the trust that you have for people or
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (24:56):
So I’ve always had a side hustle. So I was working at my dad’s company, but I’ve always had side hustles. So I’m, I’m a true believer in the fact that we need to try multiple things to figure out what we’re good at, what we like to do. You know, what that looks like in our life journey. There’s a lot of people that are very lucky that that comes very early. And so they’re, they’re able to really put that into their journey early on and have a lot of success. And so I have worked a lot for free for people. I’m really trying to figure that out. You know, I’ve, I’ve done consulting for women in business and, you know, different things like that. And although it gave me a lot of experience, I feel like I might have gone out on my own a little bit sooner if I had just believed that much more in myself to know from, I mean, looking back on the last couple of years and what I’ve built and what I’ve been able to do since those doors closed. And I was out on my ass, if I hadn’t known that a little bit sooner, I might’ve taken that leap that much earlier in my journey.
Greg White (26:03):
It’s interesting. And I’m not saying this is exactly what you did, but this makes me reflect on this. It’s interesting how many times I have seen people give away their time to try and build something that will eventually make them money rather than take and have a side hustle or something like that to mitigate for the risk of the thing they really want to do rather, and, and make money, make very little money either way, rather than go all in on something and be able to put 100% of their time into that thing. I think that is that’s a really important recognition to have because people will value your time at exactly the value you put on it. And if you put a value on it, what else would you expect them to do? Right. I get it done. It, you do it. I mean, even as an investor, you do that.
Greg White (26:55):
That’s a really good recognition. I think that’s something that, that is a great takeaway for our listeners. I think if you do, you know, it’s okay to give away your time. I think you should explicitly state upfront. I’m going to give you this to try and get to this stage. And at this stage you pay me. In fact, I’ve seen one company, one of the companies that I worked with verus, and they had to do that very thing to get people over the line to, to sign contracts, we’re going to give you X amount of return on investment, but when we hit that you owe us X. And I think that explicit statement is the difference between giving away your time and investing your time. Yup.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (27:37):
I would agree. That’s put that’s very well said, Greg.
Greg White (27:40):
Um, but believe me, everyone who’s ever who’s ever learned to invest their time has spent time giving their time away. I can assure you helped me among them.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (27:50):
You, in this episode, I’ve given away so much more of myself in this episode. I think I’ve ever given so
Greg White (27:58):
Sucks to be on your side of the mic. Doesn’t it? It really does. It’s hard. It’s so much easier to be asking the questions, right? Yup. All right. So I feel like I’ve, I feel like I have extracted so much out of you and I really, I really do appreciate it. You’re a giving person anyway, and I appreciate you sharing all that in this, just this one last question that is totally you totally about you. Is there anything that we didn’t talk about or anything that you think our community needs to know that we haven’t talked about? Hmm.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (28:34):
Yeah. And maybe, maybe it comes back to the perseverance and the perseverance that I was, um, you know, just taking that away, I guess, from the story, you know, knowing that it’s, it’s really something that everybody struggles with, um, including me. And it was a big struggle, but just, you know, putting one foot in front of the other and just keep going, hopefully that’ll just, you know, maybe help just one person.
Greg White (28:59):
It is amazing to see how far you can go. If at every step you just say one more step. Yup.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (29:07):
Yeah, I know. I know. And trust me, there were days, there were days like long days.
Greg White (29:14):
Well, and there are many more ahead of you, but I feel like you’re really, you’re really well equipped for that. I mean, I think this, you know, another thing that people need to recognize is that those things you’ve experienced that your throughout your life, um, they make, they build you into the person to be able to take on the rest of your life. That’s not to say there won’t be struggles and you won’t have another potentially crushing moment, but you will be so much better equipped to be able to deal with that.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (29:46):
Yeah. Yeah. Uh, well, and, and sit with it. I think the most important part is to, you know, sit with it and experience it, whatever that is for you emotional wise, right? Whether that is tears, whether it’s anger, whatever that is, you know, sit with it and experience it. And that’s also, what’s gonna get you through, but if you concentrate on gratitude, you like Claudia said today, um, I don’t know when this is airing, but she did the buddy buddy check Claudia freed. She did the buddy check today. And she said, if you’re in gratitude, you can’t be sad.
Greg White (30:18):
That’s a real, that’s really well said.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (30:21):
Yeah. That’s awesome.
Greg White (30:24):
Thank you. First of all, big, thanks to you just in case anyone forgot who you were. Sarah Barnes, Humphrey CEO of ships, and let’s talk supply chain. I really appreciate you spending time with us. Always great to see you. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us and I’m really looking forward to doing it this time. You’re not going to be out on your ass. You’re going to be kicking ass and taking names. So I’m looking forward.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (30:49):
Yeah. Thank you so much for having me on the show and for pulling all of that out of me. I just hope people enjoy it and you know, they get some value out of it. So I appreciate, you know, you and what you guys are doing over at supply chain now. And especially on this show, um, you guys are doing amazing work, so I just appreciate being a part of it.
Greg White (31:09):
Thanks. I appreciate it. All right. All right, everybody. That’s it for Sarah. If you want to know any more, you’re going to have to ask yourself, Hey Sarah, how do people contact you?
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey (31:23):
So they can go to let’s talk, supply chain.com or ships S H I P Zed or z.com. And it Sarah Barnes Humphrey on LinkedIn ships. And let’s talk supply chain on LinkedIn. Um, where else I’m also on other social media be victorious.
Greg White (31:41):
Yes, that’s right. Fascinating Instagram channel. You have, I try always uplifting. Alright, thank you very much. That is all you need to know about Sarah Barnes Humphrey. All right. That’s all you need to know about supply chain tech for this week. Don’t forget to get to supply chain now, radio.com for more supply chain now series interviews and events. And now we have two live streams per week. The most popular live show in supply chain, supply chain buzz every Monday at noon Eastern time with Scott Luton, the master and me plus our Thursday live stream to be named later where we bring you whatever the hell we want. Like a few weeks ago, when we interviewed our producer clay, the DOE Phillips, thanks for spending your valuable time. Me and remember
Greg White (32:40):
Acknowledge reality, but never be bound by it.
Sarah Barnes-Humphrey is a logistician turned supply chain marketer, passionate about bringing stories to life in an industry that has traditionally been about stats and numbers. As the host of the popular Let’s Talk Supply Chain Podcast (LTSC) blog and YouTube Channel called “TheSC, Supply ChainTV”, Barnes-Humphrey helps tell the stories and bring awareness to brands and hot topics in the industry, which includes her infamous Women in Supply Chain series. Recently named Top 100 most influential women leaders in Supply Chain (global) and Top 100 most influential Women in Canadian Supply Chain, Barnes-Humphrey has spent the past 20 years in logistics and supply chain learning everything she can and recently ventured off on her own to grow the LTSC brand where you can learn from real people talking about real supply chain topics. Barnes-Humphrey is also the co-founder and CEO of Shipz Inc., a new technology platform encompassing all of her experience and knowledge in supply chain bringing innovative, collaborative ideas together on her own platform for the supply chain industry.
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Host, Logistics with Purpose
Kristi Porter is VP of Sales and Marketing at Vector Global Logistics, a company that is changing the world through supply chain. In her role, she oversees all marketing efforts and supports the sales team in doing what they do best. In addition to this role, she is the Chief Do-Gooder at Signify, which assists nonprofits and social impact companies through copywriting and marketing strategy consulting. She has almost 20 years of professional experience, and loves every opportunity to help people do more good.
Host
From humble beginnings working the import docks, representing Fortune 500 giants, Ford, Michelin Tire, and Black & Decker; to Amazon technology patent holder and Nordstrom Change Leader, Kimberly Reuter has designed, implemented, and optimized best-in-class, highly scalable global logistics and retail operations all over the world. Kimberly’s ability to set strategic vision supported by bomb-proof processes, built on decades of hands-on experience, has elevated her to legendary status. Sought after by her peers and executives for her intellectual capital and keen insights, Kimberly is a thought leader in the retail logistics industry.
Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol
Sofia Rivas Herrera is a Mexican Industrial Engineer from Tecnologico de Monterrey class 2019. Upon graduation, she earned a scholarship to study MIT’s Graduate Certificate in Logistics and Supply Chain Management and graduated as one of the Top 3 performers of her class in 2020. She also has a multicultural background due to her international academic experiences at Singapore Management University and Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg. Sofia self-identifies as a Supply Chain enthusiast & ambassador sharing her passion for the field in her daily life.
Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol
Demo Perez started his career in 1997 in the industry by chance when a relative asked him for help for two just weeks putting together an operation for FedEx Express at the Colon Free Zone, an area where he was never been but accepted the challenge. Worked in all roles possible from a truck driver to currier to a sales representative, helped the brand introduction, market share growth and recognition in the Colon Free Zone, at the end of 1999 had the chance to meet and have a chat with Fred Smith ( FedEx CEO), joined another company in 2018 who took over the FedEx operations as Operations and sales manager, in 2004 accepted the challenge from his company to leave the FedEx operations and business to take over the operation and business of DHL Express, his major competitor and rival so couldn’t say no, by changing completely its operation model in the Free Zone. In 2005 started his first entrepreneurial journey by quitting his job and joining two friends to start a Freight Forwarding company. After 8 months was recruited back by his company LSP with the General Manager role with the challenge of growing the company and make it fully capable warehousing 3PL. By 2009 joined CSCMP and WERC and started his journey of learning and growing his international network and high-level learning. In 2012 for the first time joined a local association ( the Panama Maritime Chamber) and worked in the country’s first Logistics Strategy plan, joined and lead other associations ending as president of the Panama Logistics Council in 2017. By finishing his professional mission at LSP with a company that was 8 times the size it was when accepted the role as GM with so many jobs generated and several young professionals coached, having great financial results, took the decision to move forward and start his own business from scratch by the end of 2019. with a friend and colleague co-founded IPL Group a company that started as a boutique 3PL and now is gearing up for the post-Covid era by moving to the big leagues.
Host, Supply Chain Now
The founder of Logistics Executive Group, Kim Winter delivers 40 years of executive leadership experience spanning Executive Search & Recruitment, Leadership Development, Executive Coaching, Corporate Advisory, Motivational Speaking, Trade Facilitation and across the Supply Chain, Logistics, 3PL, E-commerce, Life Science, Cold Chain, FMCG, Retail, Maritime, Defence, Aviation, Resources, and Industrial sectors. Operating from the company’s global offices, he is a regular contributor of thought leadership to industry and media, is a professional Master of Ceremonies, and is frequently invited to chair international events.
He is a Board member of over a dozen companies throughout APAC, India, and the Middle East, a New Zealand citizen, he holds formal resident status in Australia and the UAE, and is the Australia & New Zealand representative for the UAE Government-owned Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), the Middle East’s largest Economic Free Zone.
A triathlete and ex-professional rugby player, Kim is a qualified (IECL Sydney) executive coach and the Founder / Chairman of the successful not for profit humanitarian organization, Oasis Africa (www. oasisafrica.org.au), which has provided freedom from poverty through education to over 8000 mainly orphaned children in East Africa’s slums. Kim holds an MBA and BA from Massey & Victoria Universities (NZ).
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Adrian Purtill serves as Business Development Manager at Vector Global Logistics, where he consults with importers and exporters in various industries to match their specific shipping requirements with the most effective supply chain solutions. Vector Global Logistics is an asset-free, multi-modal logistics company that provides exceptional sea freight, air freight, truck, rail, general logistic services and consulting for our clients. Our highly trained and professional team is committed to providing creative and effective solutions, always exceeding our customer’s expectations and fostering long-term relationships. With more than 20+ years of experience in both strategy consulting and logistics, Vector Global Logistics is your best choice to proactively minimize costs while having an exceptional service level.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Kevin Brown is the Director of Business Development for Vector Global Logistics. He has a dedicated interest in Major Account Management, Enterprise Sales, and Corporate Leadership. He offers 25 years of exceptional experience and superior performance in the sales of Logistics, Supply Chain, and Transportation Management. Kevin is a dynamic, high-impact, sales executive and corporate leader who has consistently exceeded corporate goals. He effectively coordinates multiple resources to solution sell large complex opportunities while focusing on corporate level contacts across the enterprise. His specialties include targeting and securing key accounts by analyzing customer’s current business processes and developing solutions to meet their corporate goals. Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Jose Manuel Irarrazaval es parte del equipo de Vector Global Logistics Chile. José Manuel es un gerente experimentado con experiencia en finanzas corporativas, fusiones y adquisiciones, financiamiento y reestructuración, inversión directa y financiera, tanto en Chile como en el exterior. José Manuel tiene su MBA de la Universidad de Pennsylvania- The Wharton School. Conéctese con Jose Manuel en LinkedIn.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Nick Roemer has had a very diverse and extensive career within design and sales over the last 15 years stretching from China, Dubai, Germany, Holland, UK, and the USA. In the last 5 years, Nick has developed a hawk's eye for sustainable tech and the human-centric marketing and sales procedures that come with it. With his far-reaching and strong network within the logistics industry, Nick has been able to open new avenues and routes to market within major industries in the USA and the UAE. Nick lives by the ethos, “Give more than you take." His professional mission is to make the logistics industry leaner, cleaner and greener.
Host
Allison Krache Giddens has been with Win-Tech, a veteran-owned small business and aerospace precision machine shop, for 15 years, recently buying the company from her mentor and Win-Tech’s Founder, Dennis Winslow. She and her business partner, John Hudson now serve as Co-Presidents, leading the 33-year old company through the pandemic.
She holds undergraduate degrees in psychology and criminal justice from the University of Georgia, a Masters in Conflict Management from Kennesaw State University, a Masters in Manufacturing from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Certificate of Finance from the University of Georgia. She also holds certificates in Google Analytics, event planning, and Cybersecurity Risk Management from Harvard online. Allison founded the Georgia Chapter of Women in Manufacturing and currently serves as Treasurer. She serves on the Chattahoochee Technical College Foundation Board as its Secretary, the liveSAFE Resources Board of Directors as Resource Development Co-Chair, and on the Leadership Cobb Alumni Association Board as Membership Chair and is also a member of Cobb Executive Women. She is on the Board for the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s Northwest Area Councils. Allison runs The Dave Krache Foundation, a non-profit that helps pay sports fees for local kids in need.
Host
Billy Taylor is a Proven Business Excellence Practitioner and Leadership Guru with over 25 years leading operations for a Fortune 500 company, Goodyear. He is also the CEO of LinkedXL (Excellence), a Business Operating Systems Architecting Firm dedicated to implementing sustainable operating systems that drive sustainable results. Taylor’s achievements in the industry have made him a Next Generational Lean pacesetter with significant contributions.
An American business executive, Taylor has made a name for himself as an innovative and energetic industry professional with an indispensable passion for his craft of operational excellence. His journey started many years ago and has worked with renowned corporations such as The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) leading multi-site operations. With over 3 decades of service leading North America operations, he is experienced in a deeply rooted process driven approach in customer service, process integrity for sustainability.
A disciple of continuous improvement, Taylor’s love for people inspires commitment to helping others achieve their full potential. He is a dynamic speaker and hosts "The Winning Link," a popular podcast centered on business and leadership excellence with the #1 rated Supply Chain Now Network. As a leadership guru, Taylor has earned several invitations to universities, international conferences, global publications, and the U.S. Army to demonstrate how to achieve and sustain effective results through cultural acceptance and employee ownership. Leveraging the wisdom of his business acumen, strong influence as a speaker and podcaster Taylor is set to release "The Winning Link" book under McGraw Hill publishing in 2022. The book is a how-to manual to help readers understand the management of business interactions while teaching them how to Deine, Align, and Execute Winning in Business.
A servant leader, Taylor, was named by The National Diversity Council as one of the Top 100 Diversity Officers in the country in 2021. He features among Oklahoma's Most Admired CEOs and maintains key leadership roles with the Executive Advisory Board for The Shingo Institute "The Nobel Prize of Operations" and The Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME); two world-leading organizations for operational excellence, business development, and cultural learning. He is also an Independent Director for the M-D Building Products Board, a proud American manufacturer of quality products since 1920.
Host
Tandreia Bellamy retired as the Vice President of Industrial Engineering for UPS Supply Chain Solutions which included the Global Logistics, Global Freight Forwarding and UPS Freight business units. She was responsible for operations strategy and planning, asset management, forecasting, and technology tool development to optimize sustainable efficiency while driving world class service.
Tandreia held similar positions at the business unit level for Global Logistics and Global Freight forwarding. As the leader of the Global Logistics engineering function, she directed all industrial engineering activies related to distribution, service parts logistics (post-sales support), and mail innovations (low cost, light weight shipping partnership with the USPS). Between these roles Tandreia helped to establish the Advanced Technology Group which was formed to research and develop cutting edge solutions focused on reducing reliance on manual labor.
Tandreia began her career in 1986 as a part-time hourly manual package handling employee. She spent the great majority of her career in the small package business unit which is responsible for the pick-up, sort, transport and delivery of packages domestically. She held various positions in Industrial Engineering, Marketing, Inside and On-road operations in Central Florida before transferring to Atlanta for a position in Corporate Product Development and Corporate Industrial Engineering. Tandreia later held IE leadership roles in Nebraska, Minnesota and Chicago. In her final role in small package she was an IE VP responsible for all aspects of IE, technology support and quality for the 25 states on the western half of the country.
Tandreia is currently a Director for the University of Central Florida (UCF) Foundation Board and also serves on their Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Previously Tandreia served on the Executive Advisory Board for Virginia Tech’s IE Department and the Association for Supply Chain Management. She served on the Board of Trustees for ChildServ (a Chicago child and family services non-profit) and also served on the Texas A&M and Tuskegee Engineering Advisory Boards. In 2006 she was named Business Advisor of the Year by INROADS, in 2009 she was recognized as a Technology All-Star at the Women of Color in STEM conference and in 2019 she honored as a UCF Distinguished Aluma by the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems.
Tandreia holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Systems from UCF. Her greatest accomplishment, however, is being the proud mother of two college students, Ruby (24) and Anthony (22).
Host
Marty Parker serves as both the CEO & Founder of Adæpt Advising and an award-winning Senior Lecturer (Teaching Professor) in Supply Chain and Operations Management at the University of Georgia. He has 30 years of experience as a COO, CMO, CSO (Chief Strategy Officer), VP of Operations, VP of Marketing and Process Engineer. He founded and leads UGA’s Supply Chain Advisory Board, serves as the Academic Director of UGA’s Leaders Academy, and serves on multiple company advisory boards including the Trucking Profitability Strategies Conference, Zion Solutions Group and Carlton Creative Company.
Marty enjoys helping people and companies be successful. Through UGA, Marty is passionate about his students, helping them network and find internships and jobs. He does this through several hundred one-on-one zoom meetings each year with his students and former students. Through Adæpt Advising, Marty has organized an excellent team of affiliates that he works with to help companies grow and succeed. He does this by helping c-suite executives improve their skills, develop better leaders, engage their workforce, improve processes, and develop strategic plans with detailed action steps and financial targets. Marty believes that excellence in supply chain management comes from the understanding the intersection of leadership, culture, and technology, working across all parts of the organization to meet customer needs, maximize profit and minimize costs.
Marketing Coordinator
Laura Lopez serves as our Supply Chain Now Marketing Coordinator. She graduated from Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente in Mexico with a degree in marketing. Laura loves everything digital because she sees the potential it holds for companies in the marketing industry. Her passion for creativity and thinking outside the box led her to pursue a career in marketing. With experience in fields like accounting, digital marketing, and restaurants, she clearly enjoys taking on challenges. Laura lives the best of both worlds - you'll either catch her hanging out with her friends soaking up the sun in Mexico or flying out to visit her family in California!
Host
An acknowledged industry leader, Jake Barr now serves as CEO for BlueWorld Supply Chain Consulting, providing support to a cross section of Fortune 500 companies such as Cargill, Caterpillar, Colgate, Dow/Dupont, Firmenich, 3M, Merck, Bayer/Monsanto, Newell Brands, Kimberly Clark, Nestle, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Sanofi, Estee Lauder and Coty among others. He's also devoted time to engagements in public health sector work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. At P&G, he managed the breakthrough delivery of an E2E (End to End) Planning Transformation effort, creating control towers which now manage the daily business globally. He is recognized as the architect for P&G’s demand driven supply chain strategy – referenced as a “Consumer Driven Supply Chain” transformation. Jake began his career with P&G in Finance in Risk Analysis and then moved into Operations. He has experience in building supply network capability globally through leadership assignments in Asia, Latin America, North America and the Middle East. He currently serves as a Research Associate for MIT; a member of Supply Chain Industry Advisory Council; Member of Gartner’s Supply Chain Think Tank; Consumer Goods “League of Leaders“; and a recipient of the 2015 - 2021 Supply Chain “Pro’s to Know” Award. He has been recognized as a University of Kentucky Fellow.
Host
Marcia Williams, Managing Partner of USM Supply Chain, has 18 years of experience in Supply Chain, with expertise in optimizing Supply Chain-Finance Planning (S&OP/ IBP) at Large Fast-Growing CPGs for greater profitability and improved cash flows. Marcia has helped mid-sized and large companies including Lindt Chocolates, Hershey, and Coty. She holds an MBA from Michigan State University and a degree in Accounting from Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay (South America). Marcia is also a Forbes Council Contributor based out of New York, and author of the book series Supply Chains with Maria in storytelling style. A recent speaker’s engagement is Marcia TEDx Talk: TEDxMSU - How Supply Chain Impacts You: A Transformational Journey.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Luisa Garcia is a passionate Marketer from Lagos de Moreno based in Aguascalientes. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes, Mexico. She specializes in brand development at any stage, believing that a brand is more than just a name or image—it’s an unforgettable experience. Her expertise helps brands achieve their dreams and aspirations, making a lasting impact. Currently working at Vector Global Logistics in the Marketing team and as podcast coordinator of Logistics With Purpose®. Luisa believes that purpose-driven decisions will impact results that make a difference in the world.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Astrid Aubert was born in Guadalajara, she is 39 years old and has had the opportunity to live in many places. She studied communication and her professional career has been in Trade Marketing for global companies such as Pepsico and Mars. She currently works as Marketing Director Mexico for Vector Global Logistics. She is responsible for internal communications and marketing strategy development for the logistics industry. She is a mother of two girls, married and lives in Monterrey. She defines herself as a creative and innovative person, and enjoys traveling and cooking a lot.
Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol
Sofia self-identifies as Supply Chain Ambassador, her mission is to advocate for the field and inspire young generations from diverse backgrounds and cultures to join the industry so that thought diversity is increased and change accelerated. Recognized as Linkedin Top Voice and Linkedin Community Top Voice in Supply Chain Management, as well as Emerging Leader in Supply Chain by CSCMP 2024, Top Women in Supply Chain by Supply & Demand Executive 2023, and Coup de Coeur Global Women Leaders in Supply Chain by B2G Consulting in 2021.
Public speaker at multiple international events from keynotes and panels, to webinars and guest lectures for bachelor's and master's degrees, discussing topics such as sustainability, women in the industry, technology and innovation. Writer at different online magazines on logistics, supply chain and technology. Podcast host and guest on different recognized programs in the industry. Sofia has more than 5 years of experience from academic research and field studies to warehouse operations, demand planning and network design. She has worked in manufacturing, airport operations, e-commerce retail, and technology hardware across Latin America, North America and Europe.
Currently working as Supply Chain Network Design and Optimization Manager at HP within their Global Supply Chain and Logistics team.
Host
Karin Bursa is the 2020 Supply Chain Pro to Know of the Year and the Host of the TEKTOK Digital Supply Chain Podcast powered by Supply Chain Now. With more than 25 years of supply chain and technology expertise (and the scars to prove it), Karin has the heart of a teacher and has helped nearly 1,000 customers transform their businesses and share their success stories. Today, she helps B2B technology companies introduce new products, capture customer success and grow global revenue, market share and profitability. In addition to her recognition as the 2020 Supply Chain Pro to Know of the Year, Karin has also been recognized as a 2019 and 2018 Supply Chain Pro to Know, 2009 Technology Marketing Executive of the Year and a 2008 Women in Technology Finalist.
Host
Vin Vashishta is the author of ‘From Data To Profit’ (Wiley 2023). It’s the playbook for monetizing data and AI. Vin is the Founder of V-Squared and built the business from client 1 to one of the world’s oldest data and AI consulting firms. His background combines nearly 30 years in strategy, leadership, software engineering, and applied machine learning.
Vice President, Production
Amanda is a production and marketing veteran and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience across a variety of industries and organizations including Von Maur, Anthropologie, AmericasMart Atlanta, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Amanda currently manages, produces, and develops modern digital content for Supply Chain Now and their clients. Amanda has previously served as the VP of Information Systems and Webmaster on the Board of Directors for APICS Savannah, and founded and managed her own successful digital marketing firm, Magnolia Marketing Group. When she’s not leading the Supply Chain Now production team, you can find Amanda in the kitchen, reading, listening to podcasts, or enjoying time with family.
Founder, CEO, & Host
As the founder and CEO of Supply Chain Now, you might say Scott is the voice of supply chain – but he’s too much of a team player to ever claim such a title. One thing’s for sure: he’s a tried and true supply chain expert. With over 15 years of experience in the end-to-end supply chain, Scott’s insights have appeared in major publications including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and CNN. He has also been named a top industry influencer by Thinkers360, ISCEA and more.
From 2009-2011, Scott was president of APICS Atlanta, and he continues to lead initiatives that support both the local business community and global industry. A United States Air Force Veteran, Scott has also regularly led efforts to give back to his fellow veteran community since his departure from active duty in 2002.
Principal & Host
When rapid-growth technology companies, venture capital and private equity firms are looking for advisory, they call Greg – a founder, board director, advisor and catalyst of disruptive B2B technology and supply chain. An insightful visionary, Greg guides founders, investors and leadership teams in creating breakthroughs to gain market exposure and momentum – increasing overall company esteem and valuation.
Greg is a founder himself, creating Blue Ridge Solutions, a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader in cloud-native supply chain applications, and bringing to market Curo, a field service management solution. He has also held leadership roles with Servigistics (PTC) and E3 Corporation (JDA/Blue Yonder). As a principal and host at Supply Chain Now, Greg helps guide the company’s strategic direction, hosts industry leader discussions, community livestreams, and all in addition to executive producing and hosting his original YouTube channel and podcast, TEChquila Sunrise.
Principal, Supply Chain Now
Host of Supply Chain is Boring
Talk about world-class: Chris is one of the few professionals in the world to hold CPIM-F, CLTD-F and CSCP-F designations from ASCM/APICS. He’s also the APICS coach – and our resident Supply Chain Doctor. When he’s not hosting programs with Supply Chain Now, he’s sharing supply chain knowledge on the APICS Coach Youtube channel or serving as a professional education instructor for the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistic Institute’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) program and University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Center for Professional Education courses.
Chris earned a BS in Industrial Engineering from Bradley University, an MBA with emphasis in Industrial Psychology from the University of West Florida, and is a Doctoral in Supply Chain Management candidate.
Director of Sales
Tyler Ward serves as Supply Chain Now's Director of Sales. Born and raised in Mid-Atlantic, Tyler is a proud graduate of Shippensburg University where he earned his degree in Communications. After college, he made his way to the beautiful state of Oregon, where he now lives with his wife and daughter.
With over a decade of experience in sales, Tyler has a proven track record of exceeding targets and leading high-performing teams. He credits his success to his ability to communicate effectively with customers and team members alike, as well as his strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.
When he's not closing deals, you can find Tyler on the links or cheering on his favorite football and basketball teams. He also enjoys spending time with his family, playing pick-up basketball, and traveling back to Ocean City, Maryland, his favorite place!
Host of Digital Transformers
Kevin L. Jackson is a globally recognized Thought Leader, Industry Influencer and Founder/Author of the award winning “Cloud Musings” blog. He has also been recognized as a “Top 5G Influencer” (Onalytica 2019, Radar 2020), a “Top 50 Global Digital Transformation Thought Leader” (Thinkers 360 2019) and provides strategic consulting and integrated social media services to AT&T, Intel, Broadcom, Ericsson and other leading companies. Mr. Jackson’s commercial experience includes Vice President J.P. Morgan Chase, Worldwide Sales Executive for IBM and SAIC (Engility) Director Cloud Solutions. He has served on teams that have supported digital transformation projects for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the US Intelligence Community. Kevin’s formal education includes a MS Computer Engineering from Naval Postgraduate School; MA National Security & Strategic Studies from Naval War College; and a BS Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy. Internationally recognizable firms that have sponsored articles authored by him include Cisco, Microsoft, Citrix and IBM. Books include “Click to Transform” (Leaders Press, 2020), “Architecting Cloud Computing Solutions” (Packt, 2018), and “Practical Cloud Security: A Cross Industry View” (Taylor & Francis, 2016). He also delivers online training through Tulane University, O’Reilly Media, LinkedIn Learning, and Pluralsight. Mr. Jackson retired from the U.S. Navy in 1994, earning specialties in Space Systems Engineering, Carrier Onboard Delivery Logistics and carrier-based Airborne Early Warning and Control. While active, he also served with the National Reconnaissance Office, Operational Support Office, providing tactical support to Navy and Marine Corps forces worldwide.
Host of Logistics with Purpose and Supply Chain Now en Español
Enrique serves as Managing Director at Vector Global Logistics and believes we all have a personal responsibility to change the world. He is hard working, relationship minded and pro-active. Enrique trusts that the key to logistics is having a good and responsible team that truly partners with the clients and does whatever is necessary to see them succeed. He is a proud sponsor of Vector’s unique results-based work environment and before venturing into logistics he worked for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). During his time at BCG, he worked in different industries such as Telecommunications, Energy, Industrial Goods, Building Materials, and Private Banking. His main focus was always on the operations, sales, and supply chain processes, with case focus on, logistics, growth strategy, and cost reduction. Prior to joining BCG, Enrique worked for Grupo Vitro, a Mexican glass manufacturer, for five years holding different positions from sales and logistics manager to supply chain project leader in charge of five warehouses in Colombia.
He has an MBA from The Wharton School of Business and a BS, in Mechanical Engineer from the Technologico de Monterrey in Mexico. Enrique’s passions are soccer and the ocean, and he also enjoys traveling, getting to know new people, and spending time with his wife and two kids, Emma and Enrique.
Host of Dial P for Procurement
Kelly is the Owner and Managing Director of Buyers Meeting Point and MyPurchasingCenter. She has been in procurement since 2003, starting as a practitioner and then as the Associate Director of Consulting at Emptoris. She has covered procurement news, events, publications, solutions, trends, and relevant economics at Buyers Meeting Point since 2009. Kelly is also the General Manager at Art of Procurement and Business Survey Chair for the ISM-New York Report on Business. Kelly has her MBA from Babson College as well as an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons College and she has co-authored three books: ‘Supply Market Intelligence for Procurement Professionals’, ‘Procurement at a Crossroads’, and ‘Finance Unleashed’.
Host, Veteran Voices
Mary Kate Soliva is a veteran of the US Army and cofounder of the Guam Human Rights Initiative. She is currently in the Doctor of Criminal Justice program at Saint Leo University. She is passionate about combating human trafficking and has spent the last decade conducting training for military personnel and the local community.
Host
Constantine Limberakis is a thought leader in the area of procurement and supply management. He has over 20 years of international experience, playing strategic roles in a wide spectrum of organizations related to analyst advisory, consulting, product marketing, product development, and market research.
Throughout his career, he's been passionate about engaging global business leaders and the broader analyst and technology community with strategic content, speaking engagements, podcasts, research, webinars, and industry articles.
Constantine holds a BA in History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA in Finance & Marketing / Masters in Public & International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.
Business Development Manager
Clay is passionate about two things: supply chain and the marketing that goes into it. Recently graduated with a degree in marketing at the University of Georgia, Clay got his start as a journalism major and inaugural member of the Owl’s football team at Kennesaw State University – but quickly saw tremendous opportunity in the Terry College of Business. He’s already putting his education to great use at Supply Chain Now, assisting with everything from sales and brand strategy to media production. Clay has contributed to initiatives such as our leap into video production, the guest blog series, and boosting social media presence, and after nearly two years in Supply Chain Now’s Marketing Department, Clay now heads up partnership and sales initiatives with the help of the rest of the Supply Chain Now sales team.
Administrative Assistant
Trisha is new to the supply chain industry – but not to podcasting. She’s an experienced podcast manager and virtual assistant who also happens to have 20 years of experience as an elementary school teacher. It’s safe to say, she’s passionate about helping people, and she lives out that passion every day with the Supply Chain Now team, contributing to scheduling and podcast production.
Social Media Manager
My name is Chantel King and I am the Social Media Specialist at Supply Chain Now. My job is to make sure our audience is engaged and educated on the abundant amount of information the supply chain industry has to offer.
Social Media and Communications has been my niche ever since I graduated from college at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco. No, I am not a West Coast girl. I was born and raised in New Jersey, but my travel experience goes way beyond the garden state. My true passion is in creating editorial and graphic content that influences others to be great in whatever industry they are in. I’ve done this by working with lifestyle, financial, and editorial companies by providing resources to enhance their businesses.
Another passion of mine is trying new things. Whether it’s food, an activity, or a sport. I would like to say that I am an adventurous Taurus that never shies away from a new quest or challenge.
Marketing Coordinator
Lori is currently completing a degree in marketing with an emphasis in digital marketing at the University of Georgia. When she’s not supporting the marketing efforts at Supply Chain Now, you can find her at music festivals – or working toward her dream goal of a fashion career. Lori is involved in many extracurricular activities and appreciates all the learning experiences UGA has brought her.
Director, Customer Experience
Katherine is a marketing professional and MBA candidate who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.
Chief of Staff & Host
Mary Kate Love is currently the VP of marketing at Supply Chain Now focused on brand strategy and audience + revenue growth. Mary Kate’s career is a testament to her versatility and innovative spirit: she has experience in start-ups, venture capital, and building innovation initiatives from the ground up: she previously helped lead the build-out of the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific and before that, MxD (Manufacturing times Digital): the Department of Defense’s digital manufacturing innovation center. Mary Kate has a passion for taking complicated ideas and turning them into reality: she was one of the first team members at MxD and the first team member at the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific.
Mary Kate dedicates her extra time to education and mentorship: she was one of the founding Board Members for Women Influence Chicago and led an initiative for a city-wide job shadow day for young women across Chicago tech companies and was previously on the Board of Directors at St. Laurence High School in Chicago, Young Irish Fellowship Board and the UN Committee for Women. Mary Kate is the founder of National Supply Chain Day and enjoys co-hosting podcasts at Supply Chain Now. Mary Kate is from the south side of Chicago, a mom of two baby boys, and an avid 16-inch softball player. She holds a BS in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Marketing Specialist
Joshua is a student from Institute of Technology and Higher Education of Monterrey Campus Guadalajara in Communication and Digital Media. His experience ranges from Plug and Play México, DearDoc, and Nissan México creating unique social media marketing campaigns and graphics design. Joshua helps to amplify the voice of supply chain here at Supply Chain Now by assisting in graphic design, content creation, asset logistics, and more. In his free time he likes to read and write short stories as well as watch movies and television series.
Director of Communications and Executive Producer
Donna Krache is a former CNN executive producer who has won several awards in journalism and communication, including three Peabodys. She has 30 years’ experience in broadcast and digital journalism. She led the first production team at CNN to convert its show to a digital platform. She has authored many articles for CNN and other media outlets. She taught digital journalism at Georgia State University and Arizona State University. Krache holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the College of William and Mary and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of New Orleans. She is a serious sports fan who loves the Braves. She is president of the Dave Krache Foundation. Named in honor of her late husband, this non-profit pays fees for kids who want to play sports but whose parents are facing economic challenges.
Controller
Vicki has a long history of rising to challenges and keeping things up and running. First, she supported her family’s multi-million dollar business as controller for 12 years, beginning at the age of 17. Then, she worked as an office manager and controller for a wholesale food broker. But her biggest feat? Serving as the chief executive officer of her household, while her entrepreneur husband travelled the world extensively. She fed, nurtured, chaperoned, and chauffeured three daughters all while running a newsletter publishing business and remaining active in her community as a Stephen’s Minister, Sunday school teacher, school volunteer, licensed realtor and POA Board president (a title she holds to this day). A force to be reckoned with in the office, you might think twice before you meet Vicki on the tennis court! When she’s not keeping the books balanced at Supply Chain Now or playing tennis matches, you can find Vicki spending time with her husband Greg, her 4 fur babies, gardening, cleaning (yes, she loves to clean!) and learning new things.
Creative Director, Producer, Host
Katherine Hintz, MBA is a marketing professional who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.