Ashley Kelly

At MODEX 2026 in Atlanta, Scott Luton sat down with Dr. Stephanie Thomas, Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Arkansas and Founder & Executive Director of WISE, for a wide-ranging conversation about supply chain talent, AI, and the future of workforce development. One thing becomes immediately clear from the discussion: while technology may dominate the headlines, the future of supply chain still depends on people. Of course, that makes the ability for organizations to more effectively engage the new generations entering the workforce all that more critical.   The Industry’s Biggest Question Mark: AI and Talent When asked about the biggest priorities facing supply chain leaders today, Thomas doesn’t hesitate: AI is at the top of nearly every conversation. “Everybody’s trying to unpack what is it going to do? How is it going to change things?” she explains. Organizations are wrestling not only with how to adopt emerging technologies, but also with how to prepare their workforce for the transformation ahead. From upskilling current employees to redesigning workflows, the talent implications of AI are massive. At the same time, the broader business environment remains highly dynamic. Geopolitical shifts, ongoing disruption, and rapid technological change are forcing organizations to…

written by Deborah Dull, on site at GreenBiz 2026   It started over drinks, 80s music, and a shared frustration that has probably launched more good organizations than any strategic planning process ever has. The Circular Supply Chain Coalition, or CSCC, came out of a realization that a lot of the right work was already happening, in reverse logistics, in remanufacturing, in local procurement, in community-based value chains, but nobody had connected it. The people doing the work were not in the same room. The companies with the materials were not talking to the processors who could recover them. The states with enabling policies were not linked to the investors looking for exactly those environments. So the coalition became, as its founders describe it, a collector of collectors. The focus right now is on three priority waste streams: batteries, semiconductors, and e-waste. These were not chosen randomly. They have two elements in common. They carry geopolitical consequence, meaning the supply chains behind them are controlled by other countries and that is a known vulnerability. And they have business cases that a CFO can actually evaluate. That second part matters more than people in the sustainability world usually admit. The hub…