Jasmine Crowe

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…

This post is written by our friends at e2open. E2open is the connected supply chain software platform that enables the world’s largest companies to transform the way they make, move, and sell goods and services. Moving as one.™ Learn More: www.e2open.com.   Transportation teams feel pressure every day. Managing road, ocean, air, rail, and parcel means working across separate systems. When conditions change, teams scramble between tools, emails, and spreadsheets just to keep freight moving. Missed appointments, detention risk, tender fallout, and service failures are harder to avoid when execution lives in silos. A connected Transportation Management System (TMS) for shippers changes that model. Instead of managing each mode in isolation, transportation teams orchestrate execution across modes in one coordinated flow. Automated workflows handle routine decisions, multimodal transport data stays aligned, and planners focus on the exceptions that truly require human judgment. The result is faster response, fewer handoffs, and more confident execution when plans change.   Why “connected” logistics orchestration matters for modern shippers Most shippers didn’t design their transportation stack as a single system. Road, ocean, air, and parcel tools evolved separately, often from different vendors. That fragmentation shows up the moment disruptions hit, forcing teams to react…