“The culture of your company will make you or break you. It matters so much. It’s not just how much money am I making, it’s, am I in an environment that’s comfortable? Am I learning? Am I growing? Is this challenging for me? Are the people around me wanting me to succeed? Or can I not communicate with them? The culture that your company instills in its people, going back to “know your mission and your vision,” is huge for employees. And I think students who are about to enter the workforce are quite aware of that.”

Bulldog blood runs deep here at Supply Chain Now. Meanwhile, the Terry College of Business’s Supply Chain Advisory Board continues to grow and flourish at the University of Georgia and beyond. So it’s only natural that we’d join forces and hear from the next generation of supply chain leaders, starting with Elena Griggs and Jesse Bailey. We get their take on current trends and challenges, what they look for in an employer, and much more. Whether you’re a student looking to learn more about educational opportunities in supply chain or simply curious to meet tomorrow’s leaders and practitioners, this episode has something for you.

Intro/Outro (00:03):

Welcome to Supply Chain Now, the voice of global supply chain. Supply Chain Now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues, the challenges, and opportunities. Stay tuned to hear from those making global business happen right here on Supply Chain Now.

Scott Luton (00:32):

Hey. Hey. Good afternoon, everybody. Scott Luton with you here on Supply Chain Now. Welcome to today’s livestream. Welcome to two special cohosts here today, Dr. Troy Montgomery and Mr. Marty Parker. Hey, how are we doing folks?

Troy Montgomery (00:47):

Doing great, Scott.

Scott Luton (00:48):

Marty, how are we doing?

Troy Montgomery (00:49):

Marty isn’t doing too well today, I guess, Scott.

Scott Luton (00:52):

Murphy’s Law is alive and well. This is how it goes sometimes. So, as I tee up the episode, we’ll see if we can get all the connections in. But great to have you all here today. In today’s show, we’re going to be talking about, of course, supply chain. We’re going to be talking with a couple of extremely bright supply chain students from the supply chain program at the University of Georgia. Troy, Marty, you all been on fire for a long time now. And the program has blown up. And we’ve been fortunate to interview a variety of students coming through the program. So, we look forward to doing that just today.

Scott Luton (01:26):

So, before we say hello to a few folks, and before we cover a couple of events, before we get the conversation going, I want to just formally introduce our special cohost here today. So, Dr. Troy Montgomery is part of the Management Faculty at the University of Georgia Terry College of Business. And he’s joined by Marty Parker, an award-winning lecturer at UGA, but he also founded the school’s first Supply Chain Advisory Board. So, great to have y’all both with us here today. So, we know we’ve got Troy. Troy’s locked in. He’s locked and loaded and ready to go.

Troy Montgomery (01:59):

I’m ready to go.

Scott Luton (02:00):

We’ll see if we’ve got Marty.

Marty Parker (02:00):

I can hear you. Can you hear me?

Scott Luton (02:02):

We got you.

Marty Parker (02:03):

All right. My earphones just stopped working for some reason. Sorry about that.

Scott Luton (02:08):

That is okay. The Murphy’s Law is alive and is having the year of its life in 2021. So, it’s great to have you with us. So, Marty, we’ve known each other quite some time. And through you, we met Troy as well. We love what y’all are doing at UGA. And we’re going to talk about it at the end of conversation, some of the things that is working well for the program. But I’m pretty excited to talk with our two students. How about y’all?

Marty Parker (02:34):

Yeah. The students are just phenomenal, and these are two of the best of the best on our supply Chain Advisory Board. We’ve had them in our classes and they’re terrific.

Scott Luton (02:44):

I love that. Troy, you would agree?

Troy Montgomery (02:47):

Both Jesse and Elena are excellent. I had the privilege to have both of them in operations class and then supply chain management. And they’re not kind of at the ballpark in their internships, so they represent our students very well.

Scott Luton (02:59):

I love it. Well, we’re going to bring in Jesse and Elena momentarily. But really quick, we got to do some housekeeping. I’m going to share a couple of events and we’re going to say hello to a few folks. But before we do that, I want to surprise y’all with a little factoid here. So, today, Marty and Troy, is National Hammock Day. How about that? I never knew there was a national day for that. Now, the hammock, of course, the global symbol for relaxation, originally developed, – did you all know? – by the Mayans of Central and South America. Well, initially it was made from the hamack tree, H-A-M-A-C-K – I’m sure I’m mispronouncing that. But the hamack tree, which is, of course, one of the reasons it got its name. So, my simple question to both of y’all before we dive in here, Marty, if you could be anywhere right now, relaxing and chilling in a hammock, where would that be?

Marty Parker (03:50):

So, I would say I have two daughters in their 20s, so I know all about emos and they’re all over campus, you know, and they’re very relaxing. And I would be on Sanibel Island in South Florida watching the waves crash, seeing the beautiful seashells, and the sunset.

Scott Luton (04:08):

Oh. What a picture? It’s like an artist. Marty is painting that picture in our minds. Troy, he set a high bar. Where would you be?

Troy Montgomery (04:15):

That’s a good one. That’s actually where my wife and I got married, in Sanibel. I’d say over in Hilton Head. We’ve been spending a lot of time there throughout the pandemic. It’s a short drive from Athens. And when I’m there, it just means family time on the beach. So, we’d love to be sitting in a hammock there.

Scott Luton (04:33):

Okay. Well there’s still some summer left, so we’ll see if we can get there. But welcome to you both. I look forward to having this conversation with you. A couple of quick events. So, folks, there’s still time to join us for the July 27th free webinar on digital transformation. And we’re hearing plenty of that. And in particular, it’s not just accelerating, but strengthening your supply chain. So, join Kevin and I as we host Dr. Swink from TCU and our friend, Nick Carpenter, at Esker. I think the link to join is in the comments.

Scott Luton (05:04):

Mini-Master Class. I bet Marty and Troy get this question a lot. Hey, how can I not just get a job, but how can I advance and get promoted and become a better leader? We’ve got a great panel here between Maria, Crystal, Peter, Rodney, and Mark addressing those questions. They’ve given up their time on July 29th from 4:00 to, about, 7:00. So, join us if you’re looking to get some insights around, not just how to find a job and how to work with recruiters, but how to gain some skillsets that will help you develop your leadership skills. And the link to that is in the comments as well.

Scott Luton (05:38):

And then, finally, we are, at Supply Chain Now, very happy to be the exclusive virtual provider of Lora Cecere’s event that it has every year, the Supply Chain Insights Global Summit, September 7th through the 9th. It’s a hybrid event. She’s going to be gathering a small group of folks in Franklin, Tennessee. And then, we’re going to be broadcasting the virtual version of that for folks who register. You can learn more at supplychaininsightsglobalsummit.com.

Scott Luton (06:05):

Okay. Marty and Troy, we have got two outstanding guests, the stars of the show, along with our folks in the sky boxes, as we call them. In fact, before I introduce our guests, let’s say hello to a few folks who have already joined us here. So, Srinivas is back with us via LinkedIn from India. Srinivas, great to see you. Let us know how you and your family are doing. John Martinez. Hey, John. Great to have you back. I really enjoyed your questions around agile, which I bet Troy, and Marty, and Jesse, and Elena know something or two about. I’m looking forward to hearing your comments today. Nurfad, which – Troy and Marty – always brings a nice sense of humor. It’s been important to maintain through these crazy times. Hey, Marie Hurst is back. Great to see you back. And it looks like she’s a big Marty Parker fan too.

Marty Parker (06:54):

Well, I had her daughter in class. Her daughter is a wonderful student.

Scott Luton (07:00):

Really? Well, now, Marie’s got some supply chain chops as well.

Marty Parker (07:04):

Absolutely. I know Marie too. She’s wonderful.

Scott Luton (07:07):

Yes. Absolutely. All right. So then, Christopher Keegan is with us, “Go, Dawgs.” – fellow UGA. You got to love there – via LinkedIn.

Marty Parker (07:14):

Go Dawgs.

Troy Montgomery (07:16):

Chris presented our PMBA program most recently.

Scott Luton (07:18):

Oh, really? Well, Christopher, great to have you. We look forward to your POV as we progress through this conversation here today. Arivan is back with us. Great to have you again. We really enjoyed your contributions. Musawer is back with us from Pakistan via LinkedIn. Great to have you back. Ryver – I think I said that right. If I didn’t, let me know – “Go Dawgs and Jesse Bailey.” Hey. Hey. He’s a big Jesse Bailey fun. I wonder if he may be part of the baseball organization that we’re going to ask Jesse about. We’ll see. Great to see you, Ryver. Hey, Peter Bolle, all night and all day, great to see you here. Sergei is here from Southern California. Great to have you here and welcome. Welcome to everyone else. We’re going to try to get to everybody here momentarily. Hey, one more. Davin is back with us. Davin, I know you’ve been busy. I love that you’re tuned in via LinkedIn from beautiful Calgary, Alberta. Maybe you got some pictures of your Jeep navigating off-road. We’ll see.

Scott Luton (08:15):

Okay. So, folks, with no further ado, Marty and Troy, I want to introduce our two special guests here today. So, we are going to be having Elena Griggs, who is a rising senior at the University of Georgia, and President of the UGA Supply Chain Advisory Board. And Jesse Bailey, also a rising senior at UGA, and Treasurer of the UGA Supply Chain Advisory Board as well. So, let’s welcome in Jesse and Elena. Hey. Hey. Good afternoon. Elena, how are you doing?

Elena Griggs (08:45):

I’m good. It’s been a busy day at work so far. And I’m glad to be on here with everybody.

Scott Luton (08:49):

Wonderful. And, Jesse, good afternoon.

Jesse Bailey (08:52):

How are y’all doing? I’m doing good. I agree with what Elena said, been a little bit of a busy day. But glad to be here, taking a little bit of a respite.

Scott Luton (08:59):

Awesome. Awesome. Well, we’re really excited to have you both. And I want to make sure folks know, so Clay Phillips is a proud UGA alum, as is Allie, who’s also behind the scenes. So, there’s a lot of Bulldog blood that runs through the team here at Supply Chain Now. And it’s great to meet four others.

Scott Luton (09:17):

So, let’s start with just getting to know you all a little better. And, Elena, I want to start with you. So, as I was doing my homework and our team was doing our homework on your background, you’ve got to have some clones because all these activities you are involved in, I don’t know how you get any sleep at night. Let’s see, beyond what we already shared, President of the UGA Supply Chain Advisory Board. You’re also a global supply chain intern for Lockheed Martin. A little company folks may have heard of once in a million times. You’re Vice President for the Management Society. And you’re also involved with the Mentor Program and Rotaract. So, how do you get any sleep at night?

Elena Griggs (09:52):

Sleep is pretty overrated in my life, I’d have to say. I do get sleep. It’s just a lot of hard work, and a lot of hard hours, and just putting in that time. And I’m not going to get the opportunity to do this the rest of my life, so I got to make the most of it now while I’m here in college.

Scott Luton (10:08):

I love it. I love it. Okay. So, really quick, where did you grow up?

Elena Griggs (10:12):

So, I’m from a little town called Blairsville, Georgia up in the north Georgia mountains. A tiny little town. It’s beautiful. It’s great. I live about five minutes away from the North Carolina border. And coming down to UGA has been great. I’ve been here since I was a little kid, but my parents are alum, so Bulldog blood runs deep in our family.

Scott Luton (10:31):

Awesome. Now, Marty, one of the founders of the Supply Chain Advisory Board at UGA, your president here, Elena Griggs, give us an observation about her leadership style.

Marty Parker (10:41):

So, Elena, she’s already said, being so hard working. It’s all about the details. Like, it isn’t supply chain, right? The things we do as a board seem like they’re easy, but they’re not. And so, Elena’s up with me at 7:00 a.m. for our meetings and, you know, we do those live, so that means getting up even earlier and getting the Chick-fil-A biscuits. And it’s a student-run board and she involves the exec team and the students. Matter of fact, she has an idea moving forward about how to bring more of them actively in because our program is growing so much.

Scott Luton (11:21):

I love that. And we’re going to touch more on that. And, by the way, I also love what Arivan says, “Red to green, all supply chain blood.” It is a unifying industry, for sure. So, Elena, great to have you. We look forward to picking your brain here momentarily.

Scott Luton (11:36):

Your colleague there, Jesse Bailey, beyond what we shared with him as we introduced him, also part of the Supply Chain Advisory Board Leadership Team. But he is a supply chain intern at Central Garden & Pet. And you’re cofounder of the Georgia Liberty Baseball Organization. So, I’m going to talk baseball with you in just a second. But, first, where’d you grow up, Jesse?

Jesse Bailey (11:55):

So, I grew up in a little town called Hoschton, Georgia, kind of nobody’s heard of it. But it’s in Jackson County. It’s 45 minutes from campus in Athens. So, I knew I wanted to be a Bulldog since I was in elementary school and kind of living out my dream.

Scott Luton (12:09):

I love that. I love that. A little passion in these two here. So, you cofounded the Georgia Liberty Baseball Organization. What is that?

Jesse Bailey (12:18):

So, it is a travel baseball organization based out of Gwinnett County, Georgia. Last year, my partner and I knew a couple of kids that were 16 at the time. They needed a team because COVID had shut their travel team down. And to be honest with you, I never thought we would actually fuel the team and play. But since last summer, we’ve grown. We’ve now got three teams that will be playing this fall, 16U, 17U, and 18U. And so, I run the organization on that side and coach one of the teams. It’s a ton of fun.

Scott Luton (12:48):

I love that. Now, also here, the Braves have brought you in as a consultant to figure out how we can straighten out the season, right?

Jesse Bailey (12:53):

Yeah. That’s my toughest job that I’ve got on the table by far.

Scott Luton (12:57):

All right. I love that. Well, welcome to you both. Really quick, before I pass the baton over to Troy, I want to say hello to a few more folks. I love this what Nurfad says – so Peter Bolle, a wonderful contributor to all livestreams. He’s part of the event next week. I love his headshot there. And Nurfad says, “I’ve worked hard all my life. Now, I am the king pose.” I like that, Nurfad. Hey, Brijesh. Welcome via LinkedIn. Great to have you. I think you were part of our earlier livestreams. Let us know where you’re tuned in from via LinkedIn. Rogers, great to have you here a part of this discussion. I look forward to your POV. And, finally, Alaa from Sudan. Hey, great to have you back. I really have enjoyed your contributions. And buckle up for a great conversation once again here today.

Scott Luton (13:42):

Okay. So, Troy, where are we going next with Jesse and Elena?

Troy Montgomery (13:46):

Yeah. Well, we’ve got a question here related to interest in supply chain. So, I’ll direct it to Jesse first. And then, Elena, I’ll let you jump in. And, Jesse, you keep running that baseball team in about ten years. I got a good prospect, my son is about seven years old right now. So, you keep running that team and keep it warm for my son. So, let’s talk a little bit about your interest in supply chain. So, Jesse, tell us why did you choose supply chain as your management emphasis? And then, also give us a little insight in what’s your favorite class or favorite experience here at UGA?

Jesse Bailey (14:20):

For sure. So, like I mentioned earlier, I grew up 45 minutes from campus. I knew I wanted to go to Georgia since I was in elementary school. I knew I wanted to be a business major since, probably, middle school and really focused on management at that time too. And I don’t know if this is the best answer, but the simplest answer of why I wanted to do supply chain is, because I really didn’t want to do HR. And so, that was the two options at Georgia. But it matched up perfectly with what I love to do. I’ve been lucky. A lot of my friends have changed majors four or five times, I haven’t had to do it. I fell in love as soon as I got in the program. That’s been perfect.

Troy Montgomery (14:55):

Yeah. So, tell us about your favorite class. And I’ll caveat it with it, it doesn’t have to be one of mine. It could be Marty’s or one of Dr. Zantiga’s. And just to lay this out there, both Jesse and Elena had both my classes, so they can’t have me again to butter me up to give them an A in the future. They’ve already earned those days. So, what do you think, Jesse?

Jesse Bailey (15:15):

Yeah. I feel compelled to say one of the three classes I’ve taken with y’all. But to be honest with you, it’s the Project Management class that I took Dr. Zantiga. It was the most challenging class I’ve had at UGA. I had to put in the most time and really figure that out. And just the rewarding experience of getting the grade that I got in that class. And learning things that are going to be very useful to me no matter what kind of organization I’m in as I move forward.

Scott Luton (15:41):

What an answer.

Troy Montgomery (15:43):

So, let’s move over to Elena. And I will say, especially in the period that we just finished in the semester, we had the opportunity for students to come in-person or attend via Zoom, both Elena and Jesse were in my supply chain class. And they’d always sit over on the left. One of the few that actually attended in-person, which I think makes a pretty big difference. Elena, so tell us a little bit about how you ended up in supply chain management with an emphasis in supply chain management?

Elena Griggs (16:11):

So, I was placed on business by the time I’d gotten to my senior year in high school. It was between microbiology and business. So, not exactly close majors. But with the business route and looking at the emphasises that UGA had to offer, so HR or supply chain. And figured I might as well do one that doesn’t add on, you know, extra credit hours. And by then, I had never really heard of the term supply chain before. That’s not something that’s usually discussed, you know, when you’re a high school student. And it’s just now coming on the rise and in the news. And, especially since COVID, now it’s a big name. And so, I did a little bit of research into supply chain and figured, “Oh my goodness. This is exactly where I want to be.” It’s a puzzle trying to figure out how to be, you know, the most efficient and where can you shave pennies and, you know, really start saving money kind of from the bottom of the company up. And it’s a great opportunity, you know, [inaudible] investment into your employees, in your company. I mean, it impacts the company in a huge, huge way, which is why, to me, it’s so surprising that the name is just now becoming so well known, the term supply chain.

Troy Montgomery (17:19):

Yeah. And I think we’re seeing that more and more. It’s excellent students like the two of you come through our program, get the word out. We’re going to see more and more that truly target it. So, how about your favorite class or maybe your favorite experience that you’ve had so far?

Elena Griggs (17:35):

So, I’ve enjoyed both of your classes very much. I got good grades. That helps a lot. But I will say that one of the most interesting things that we did – Jesse can add into this as well – was the beer game that we played in Professor Montgomery’s class. And we were all in charge of being a distributor, a wholesaler, a retailer. We all had certain roles that we were assigned. Jesse and I were on the same team. And it really made us realize just how quickly things could go wrong within the supply chain. We did not do a great job, which is kind of unfortunate.

Scott Luton (18:09):

Well, hey, you can mess with our toilet paper supply chain. You can mess with our computer chip supply chain. You mess with our beer supply chain, things go crazy. All right. Well, I really appreciate that line of questioning, Troy. I love the answers. Before I flip it over to Marty and we talk more about kind of what’s going on today, I got to recognize Fred Tolbert. Now, Greg has coined Fred as – why do I always get this wrong? Who’s the guy from – thank you, Amanda, from around the corner – Doc Holliday of Supply Chain. I can never remember that name from tombstone. But if you’ve ever heard Fred, tell it like it is. The name really makes a lot of sense. But great to have you here. And as he points out, “Jesse: In the fall semester is going to be with the returning captain of Team Supply Chain.” So, love that. Okay.

Jesse Bailey (18:59):

Scott, if I could say one thing. Fred brought me in to be part of the mentorship group that he calls Team Supply Chain. And he found out about the baseball team that I was running and he made a very generous gift to the team. That made it a lot cheaper for the parents of those kids. And I hadn’t really got to thank him publicly yet, but this is a great time to do it. Fred is an amazing guy. He spent a lot of time with me. I mean, he really is. He’s the best one we’ve got.

Scott Luton (19:28):

Jesse, spoken well beyond your years. I love that. And you’re right. Absolutely. You know, I’ve known Fred a long time and he’s given a lot of his time to associations and folks working their way through their craft, the industry. And it doesn’t surprise me at all that he found out what you’re up to and got behind that too. So, Fred, we love you here. And, Jesse, thanks for pointing that out. I should also point out, as I was struggling with Doc Holliday, David says he totally heard that mom voice from Amanda shouting around the corridor. Some things just don’t stick. Okay. So, Marty, where are we going next?

Marty Parker (20:06):

So, we’re going to talk about what’s happening in the industry right now. And both of you know that I talk about how supply chain is in the most exciting time in its history. It’s like marketing went through when the internet came and disrupted – Don Draper, is the example I use, and how he would drink liquor and put an advertisement out and hope people saw it – and, now, marketing can target an individual. Well, we are in the midst of the biggest change, I think, we’ve ever seen for the good. So, we’d like your insight. And I’ll start with you this time, Jesse. Tell us a little bit about some of the challenges, or developments, or topics that you’re tracking right now more than others.

Jesse Bailey (20:59):

I think the biggest thing maybe across any industry right now is the labor shortage that’s going on. Working in Madison, I’m at a distribution center with Central Garden & Pet the majority of my time, and just all across our network, across all networks, finding people to work right now is very difficult with the environment that we’re in right now. So, that’s been quite the challenge. And then, secondly, probably the next biggest thing for us, is, the inflation that we’re encountering. The pricing that is going on throughout our network with our customers, with our suppliers, making things very challenging, straining some relationships sometimes. So, those are the things that we’ve got to deal with, and I’m hoping they get better.

Marty Parker (21:38):

That’s a great response in the inflationary piece, like of the freight costs and skyrocketing labor costs. It’s unprecedented in my career. I’ve been doing this a long time and I’ve never heard of, you know, $17,000, $18,000, $19,000 containers and wages jumping 20, 30 percent in less than a year. Those are great ones and difficult. And the brains of our supply chain teams will figure out ways to make things more efficient and make things better and address those. Fun fact, Jesse, Central was my first meeting for our Supply Chain Advisory Board before it was even an idea hardly. And they were a founding member. So, tell the team over there, thank you and it’s great that they have you there.

Scott Luton (22:32):

Marty, really quick, before you move forward, that’s critical, right? Having corporate support getting involved in these programs and being able to facilitate opportunities for others so they can learn and move into industry. You know, for some of that, Troy, he was setting up a plant tour at Caterpillar and giving the students the opportunity to kind of put their eyes and ears on what goes on in factories. Those are critical experiences. So, I appreciate you pointed it out.

Scott Luton (23:00):

Really quick, I want to recognize a few folks before we move over to Elena. Brandie, congratulations, starting a new role this month in consulting. Wonderful. Congrats. I hope you can lift an adult beverage later this evening and celebrate. And great to have you back here, Brandie. And then, John, I agree. I agree, “Supply chain is an ever changing organism. We, as supply chain practitioners, are like doctors who diagnose the symptoms of the illnesses in organizations.” And, Charles Heeter, great to have you back. You missed a lot. But I’m sure we get you caught up quick. You’re fast on your feet. So, great to have you here.

Scott Luton (23:34):

Okay. Marty, where are we going with Elena next?

Marty Parker (23:37):

Well, Elena, the same question. From your perspective, what are the challenges, developments, topics that you’re seeing? And tell us about your perspective on that.

Elena Griggs (23:50):

Sure. Well, everything that Jesse just touched on, getting to witness all that happening from my internship firsthand has been a really interesting thing to kind of watch go down. I worked in production shortages, and so we’re having to deal with these shortages every single day. And there’s a new person on the list every single day, because there’s labor shortages, because we can’t afford prices of certain things. We’re running into these problems all the time. And so, from a work perspective, you see it. It’s happening daily right in front of my eyes.

Elena Griggs (24:26):

So, from a personal perspective, what’s really been interesting to me is just the food shortage. If any of y’all are Chick-fil-A fans out there, you’ll know that there’s Chick-fil-A sauce shortage that occurred for weeks on end. And here in Athens, they were limiting one sauce per order, which is, like, crazy to an average Chick-fil-A fan. But we’ve been seeing that a lot. Starbucks can’t make a lot of their drink menu items. I drove to Sonic last week, and on the menu is just crossed out multiple items that you just can’t get. So, it’s fascinating to see how COVID-19 has highlighted all the issues that occur within the food supply chain, which is, obviously, so problematic because food is necessary in every single body’s lives. So, it’s a big problem now.

Scott Luton (25:19):

A huge problem. Hey, really quick, speaking of food challenge, I got this text from one of our regular listeners, Neil. In fact, I went to high school with Neil way back when. He shot me this note yesterday. He said, “I’ve just boarded a plane with my kids. Delta says that they’re in a national juice shortage and they’ve got nothing for kids. Put that in your supply chain pipe and smoke it,” he says.

Scott Luton (25:42):

So, Marty, you’re shaking your head there. I mean, you’ve heard of this juice shortage here recently, is that right?

Marty Parker (25:49):

You’re talking about me? I’m sorry. You get all like me it’s hard to hear. So, I wanted to say Chick-fil-A is on our board, Solandre Rypin, and she guests lectures. And when they opened their first store in New York City, they were at 10,000 lemons a day, a day. And, now, it’s probably like 30,000, I would guess. How in the world do you get 30,000 lemons into New York City every day? And, now, they’ve opened a second large store. So, a lot of folks don’t realize how important supply chain is in our food supply. And they just think, “Hey, it’s in the background. It happens every day.” But I’ve learned from Chick-fil-A that it is a major part of their business to deal with. Also, to ramp up, right? Because a whole lot more people are eating food at Chick-fil-A every year, especially during COVID.

Scott Luton (26:48):

Agreed. Look at what Clay says, “Local chicken wing joint is charging 20 bucks for 12 wings. It’s a crisis.” It’s a crisis. I got to share a couple of these other comments here before we move forward. Gaurav – I think that’s right. If I said it wrong, I apologize. Let me know – “I am in the supply chain by choice, not accident,” he says. “Worked for over nine years in supply chain management. I’m proud of my decision after engineering.” I love that. Let’s see here. Sarni says, “Marty, blockchain technology is an emerging concept that I’ve been working on for efficient transportation between two points. Effective especially in the e-commerce delivery services.” And then, finally, John says, “With topics such as inflation and prices and employee shortages, Jesse and Elena, how much of your programs focused on lean manufacturing, strategic sourcing, Six Sigma, restructuring,” you name it. Any comments there, Jesse or Elena? Would you like to address that?

Jesse Bailey (27:45):

I would say at Central right now, we are really challenged in our lean philosophy because there’s so many stockouts. The focus is on just getting items back on shelves. I was actually with the SNOP team in Atlanta yesterday, getting to ask the director there kind of what her thoughts on this was. She said, “Right now, we just got to get things back on shelves. We’ll try to get laid again later.” So, that’s one thing that’s going on right now. And definitely interesting decisions that have to be made.

Scott Luton (28:18):

Absolutely. Thanks for sharing that, Jesse. Elena, anything else to add?

Elena Griggs (28:22):

Yeah. I will say from a defense contracting perspective, it’s not exactly secret that it’s a little bit more behind the times in terms of lean, and just in time, and Six Sigma just because there’s so many government compliance or challenges that you run into. And so, without already having those things in place, it’s almost even more of a challenge for us because we already have those things that the whole industry struggles with, for one. And then, two, you have everything on top of it and it just adds additional problems on top.

Scott Luton (28:54):

Agreed. Agreed. You know, one of the silver linings though about this pandemic is, because we’re having to solve things through different means and unforeseen means, we are going to be stronger if we can apply what we’ve learned, the problems and then some, especially with root cause as we get through. So, that post-pandemic environment global supply chains are truly more resilient in a meaningful way, not in a cliche way. Which, I know we’ve heard that term [inaudible] a thousand times a day these days.

Scott Luton (29:21):

Before we move on, because we want to pick Jesse and Elena’s brain about what they’re looking for in an ideal organization, employer, you name it. But Marty and/or Troy, would, y’all like to add any other thoughts or observations around what we’re seeing across global supply chain right now?

Troy Montgomery (29:37):

Yeah. I’ll jump in with one, and kind of thank John for that Lean Six Sigma plug there. It’s something that, through the exec ed program at UGA, we’ve been building a yellow belt, a green belt, and then we’re working on having a black belt. And we offer that opportunity for our students to get that yellow belt certification. And just like you guys are saying, not just to follow that structured approach of Lean Six Sigma, which I think is great. It’s about solving problems and figuring out how to solve problems that we’ve never faced before, either as an industry, an organization, or as a team. So, having that kind of structured problem solving approach is extremely important. It’s something that we really stress to our students here. We’re in the business school and most of our students are not engineers, but we’re competing against engineers in the workplace. And so, as long as our students can prove they can solve problems and have those management communication skills, then they have the potential to have a leg up against some of their other peers who may have an engineering degree.

Scott Luton (30:41):

Well said. Well said. You know, aside from that – we all saw the news this morning, perhaps, that we had acquired [inaudible]. And just the latest reminder of just the hot deal-making market that we’re in and, especially, with a big emphasis on all things supply chain tech, freight tech, some call it logistics tech. So, it’s really an intriguing time to be in supply chain right now. Marty, anything else to add before we switch gears?

Marty Parker (31:05):

Yeah. I would add a couple of things. I’m going to talk about how Troy and I and Jan are all practitioners. I’m a C-suite executive in a manufacturing company, in a diverse hair care products company, in an IoT company, in a 3PL, in various roles, fractionally. We are living the beer game because we have such huge oscillations in demand. You know, this summer, I was at a client that had to order pool supplies almost a year in advance. And these students being with a business degree know, well, that means a ton of working capital because you’re not going to get paid for that until a year later. And then, you’re placing a massive bet. Well, are folks going to be hanging at the pool next summer, right? So, we’re living the beer game and the oscillations that you see in demand.

Marty Parker (32:03):

And a lot of the forecasting techniques of the past are worthless. And you’re having to use more qualitative methods. And then, the other thing we’re living is the bottleneck. If a single point in this entire chain is bottlenecked, that’s as fast as it goes. So, we are seeing that with ships. I saw an article where they are going to make ships go faster, which is hard to imagine trying to deal with the ship bottleneck. We’ve had bottlenecks in labor. And so, we’re seeing it in the news every day. And so, I think, those were great examples. And A-plus, by the way, to Jesse and Elena, since you learned about that in both of our classes. Great answers.

Scott Luton (32:45):

Well, you know, Marty, somewhere, Greg White is singing out one of the points you just made – well, all y’all make great points – about how the forecasting approaches of years gone past. You throw it out the window in many ways. And what has happened previously, there’s no guarantees that will continue happening moving forward, right? There’s a cliche there that I’m butchering. Everyone’s nodding their head, so everyone knows what I’m talking about.

Scott Luton (33:12):

So, I want to switch gears here for a second. I want to share a couple comments. And then, we’re going to be talking with Jesse and Elena of what they’re looking for in an organization. Let’s start, Nurfad says, “Jesse, I heard the Florida Gators have an opening to handle football supply chain. Interested and waiting for your reply.” So, we’ll see. You may be reached out to by the Gators down there. Which, I don’t think Jesse, you’re going to be taking any calls from this, right?

Jesse Bailey (33:39):

That’s going to have to be a hard pass. I’m sorry. That’s sacrilegious.

Scott Luton (33:45):

This goes back a little ways earlier, I think, Jesse made. Ziggy says, “That’s the issue I’m facing today. They don’t want me lean because their supply chain has been disrupted. Even if, as a consultant, I can get client to secure a manufacturing source. Just doesn’t understand it.”

Marty Parker (34:03):

Just a comment, Ziggy, that’s a great point. You know, lean is a lot of things. It isn’t just a constrained inventory. You know, there’s a hundred of improvements you can do using lean techniques that have nothing to do with reducing inventory. So, management, in the C-suite often doesn’t really understand the idea and we have to explain it.

Scott Luton (34:28):

I love that. Everybody has been beating up on lean this last couple of years. But you’re right, Marty, it’s been misapplied way too often. Lean is a very powerful methodology if you think about it in its truest sense. And, hopefully, organizations and their leadership are going to get reacquainted with the right way to apply it. So, appreciate that, Marty and Ziggy. Thanks for sharing there.

Scott Luton (34:54):

Alaa says, “We need to think big and we need to think cheap.” We’ll see if we can’t do both of those at the same time. And then, finally, Ryver says, “My company, and all sports equipment companies, biggest supply chain issues are aluminum, steel, and foam. Foam in particular has been very hard to get with prices seeing steep inflation.” You know, on that note, porch furniture of all things, the backlog there. Folks are ordering via catalog, you know, it’s 8 months, 10 months, 12 months. Intriguing times we’re living in.

Jesse Bailey (35:25):

Scott, Ryver is a dear friend of mine. We graduated high school together. He’s doing big things at Gill Athletics up in Illinois as a marketing major. And he’s doing all of their track and field marketing there for them. So, I wanted to give him a little bit of shoutout. I appreciate him listening and to hear me on this.

Scott Luton (35:43):

Thank you. And it’s Ryver, not Ryver.

Jesse Bailey (35:46):

It is Ryver. But he gets called Ryver so much, he’s used to it.

Scott Luton (35:51):

Okay. And Peter makes a good point too, “Nurfad, we can source. We simply can’t get it in a time cost effective manner.” That is one of the biggest problems right now. All right. So, for the sake of time, I know we could make this a four or five hour discussion talking shop, right? But one of the things that we want to really hear from Jesse and Elena on, you know, as everyone has pointed to, hiring great talent is a huge challenge. And as Troy have mentioned, supply chain is competing for top talent, perhaps, unlike ever before.

Scott Luton (36:22):

So, I want to start with Elena here. So, Elena, imagine you’re speaking or you’re giving a keynote – which is I’m sure in your future, if it’s not already here – and it’s thousands of hiring managers that really want to know what your generation is thinking in terms of where they want to work and what does the culture look like? Paint a picture there. What does that look like, Elena?

Elena Griggs (36:43):

I think it is a couple of things and you just hit on one of them. The culture of your company will make you or break you. It matters so much. It’s not just how much money am I making. It’s am I in an environment that’s comfortable? Am I learning? Am I growing? Is this challenging for me? Are the people around me wanting me to succeed? Or can I not communicate with them? The culture that your company instills in its people, going back to your mission and your vision, is huge for the employees. And I think students who are about to enter the workforce are quite aware of that. The second thing is, is the opportunity to apply your critical thinking skills. If you’re looking for the best talent, that best talent is going to want to be able to flex that ability. Supply chain is constantly evolving, it’s ever changing, and it needs adaptable, flexible minds to go with it.

Scott Luton (37:36):

I love that. And allowing those minds to make an impact, make decisions and have at least some of the destiny in their hands. Elena, I love that. And I couldn’t help, you know, Marty, as you are flexing pre-show, that’s exactly where my brain went when she said flex there. So, Jesse, same question to you. If you’re speaking to that auditorium full of hiring managers, what are you looking for in an organization?

Jesse Bailey (38:00):

Well, I’ve actually had plenty of practice answering this question recently, because my bosses at Central had put a big emphasis on that. And that’s really the first thing, I want to see a company that is willing to learn and listen on what we do want. So, that, first and foremost, is the baseline. But in terms of the actual things that we want, you know, I told them, all of us at UGA, we’re not stressed with money because everybody wants money. Everybody, that’s level. We want to see a culture that aligns with our values. Me, personally, I want to see ways that I can advance. I want that to be laid out where I can see, “Okay. I have all these different options and we’re going to invest in you,” that is another thing is the investment that they would be willing to make in us. But the most important thing, kind of like Elena touched on, it is culture. It’s going to a place where you feel comfortable and your values align with theirs.

Scott Luton (38:56):

I love that. Okay. I want to take a couple of quick comments here. So, we’ve deemed Gregory as the Shakespeare of supply chain. He’s oftentimes very well-spoken. He needs his own show. Gregory says, “Very crucial operational capabilities continue to be disrupted due to the lack of infrastructure, shortfalls in efficacies, and resilience in supply chains/value chains, they all existed pre-COVID. But the impact by COVID threw many off their feet and many are unable to get back up.” How true there. Ziggy, appreciate it. Your follow-up comments on his contribution. Carter says, “Shoutout to Jesse Bailey.” So, Jesse, what’s the story with Carter?

Jesse Bailey (39:37):

Carter is another good friend. He is at UGA as well. He just got accepted into the Terry College of Business. He’s going to be a management information systems major. So, big things are ahead for Carter. I appreciate him listening in as well.

Scott Luton (39:50):

Awesome. Jose absolutely agrees with y’all on culture. Lexie loves what you said there about culture, Elena. And then, John shares, “In my experience, to get the buy-in from senior leadership for lean practices/ Six Sigma. Illustrate the issues with Pareto charts and Multi-Vari charts -” multi-variant charts “- to show the trends, obstacles, and to speak dollars, speak money. I think this is where project management skills and education can help supply chain professionals.” Vilfredo Pareto. Vilfredo Pareto.

Marty Parker (40:22):

I was going to say, Scott, John, thank you for that. Because both students know I talk about Pareto. I teach Pareto. I use Pareto every day just to pick the 20 percent of the things in my life that have 80 percent of the outcomes. Like, Supply Chain Now Radio, right? So, you know, I pick and choose, and I teach my students that, and I use it every day in my consulting. You can get so much more done. So, thanks for pointing out that old, but very powerful tool.

Scott Luton (40:53):

Agreed. And, Troy, I bet you’re chomping at the bits to weigh in on that as well.

Troy Montgomery (40:58):

Yeah. And one other thing that was included there from John is what I deemed the language of finance. And if we can’t put dollars to a project to an initiative, then while it may be important, the C-suite is probably not going to hear it. So, I challenge people over and over again is, turn that lead time, that productivity, turn that into something that looks like dollars. And partner with somebody in finance to help you do that and build your business case.

Scott Luton (41:25):

I love that. Very powerful. So, folks, when you’re coming to Jesse and Elena in the CEO’s office, you better bring your business case. Is that right, Jesse and Elena?

Elena Griggs (41:34):

Absolutely. It is.

Jesse Bailey (41:37):

[Inaudible].

Scott Luton (41:38):

That might be the case right now at the Advisory Board. I love that. Okay. Before we’re going to talk about some of the elements behind UGA’s growth here as we start to kind of wind the conversation down. But, Jesse and Elena, I want to surprise one more question with y’all. So, fill in this blank, global supply chain would be better if – finish that sentence for me. Think about that for a sec and finish that sentence. And while you think about that, we’re going to move on and talk about UGA. And I’m going to circle back and that will be one of the last questions we pose to you. Okay.

Scott Luton (42:06):

So, Marty and Troy, we’ve been fortunate to rub elbows and kind of see the UGA [inaudible] when it comes to supply chain program and then blossom into just such a great story. So, Marty, starting with you, what has made UGA’s supply chain program to be on the move? What are some of the secrets sauce there?

Marty Parker (42:27):

Yeah. So, I call up pastors. I’m going to boil it down to three things. The students, the alumni that pour into our program, and the fact that Troy and Jan and I are practitioners of this on a daily basis. We’re not just teachers, but we’re also practitioners. So, the students segues perfectly. You’ve gotten to see extraordinary students in these two. And so, they run our board of directors and they are the product. All I have to do is place them at a company and more will be hired. So, five, six years ago, we had virtually no students from our program at the Home Depot,at Georgia Pacific, at WestRock, at all of these places. We have tons of students and it’s almost like a pay it forward because those students will help current students.

Marty Parker (43:22):

But I also designed internship programs for companies and I have these students working for me. They’re phenomenal. I’ve had a student design, and install, and set up an ERP system, [inaudible]. I have had a student do all the new products setups in an ERP system, including pricing and costing and doing all the labor cost analysis. I’ve built out three websites with these students in a distribution company and a hair products company. And I have them hire their replacements. And so, around that comment that they made about what they like, I push them to make their own decisions and have their own autonomy. And so, they’re phenomenal if you hire any of them, you will want more. And so, that puts a tremendous demand on our program.

Marty Parker (44:17):

The second one, you know, I’d like to join the Fred Tolbert Love Fest. Fred, hopefully you’re still on here. Our alum are amazing. Fred, Heather Tenney, and Erin Donnelly over at The Home Depot, Annant Patel and Chad McCrary over at Georgia Pacific, Johnny and Dean and others at Central, and Melissa Murphy at WestRock, I mean, I could go on and on and on. And I think Fred is sort of the embodiment of that. I met Fred for lunch and he said, “I’m in.” And, boy, did he mean it. He guest lectures in our classes. He mentors through teams supply chain. He’s going with us to take students to the ASCM Conference. And without that, without the alum advocating, I don’t think our students would have a chance. And so, that makes a big difference.

Marty Parker (45:11):

And then, lastly, on this issue of practitioners. You know, UGA is big into experiential learning. I take six to eight students each year to improve the supply chain at the masters golf tournament because some one has to do it. We took 40 supply chain students to the NRF Foundation, pre-COVID, up in New York City to see all the retailers that are hiring.

Scott Luton (45:34):

The big show. The big show.

Marty Parker (45:36):

Yes. Phenomenal show. We have seen New York. We got to do that. We’ve entered several case competitions. Georgia Pacific has provided a $5,000 case study in Troy’s class, I’ll let him talk about. We have two scholarships. The Trucker Profitability Strategies Conference has given us a foundation grant for $5,000 a year scholarship. We give two $2,000 year scholarships ourselves. We have started a student ASCM chapter. We’re going to take them to San Antonio. I mean, Scott, it goes on and on and on. And we couldn’t do it without the students because they organize it and they do the work.

Scott Luton (46:19):

GSD, Get Stuff Done.

Marty Parker (46:21):

Yeah. I go to the masters and, really, what I do is just kind of come alongside them, and behind them. And sort of watch golf, and hang out, and eat the food and drink beer. They do the hard work. And so, you know, I just want to say, it’s about them. And these two, Elena and Jesse, are two of the best.

Scott Luton (46:42):

I love that. What a great message. And Jesse and Elena aren’t outliers. I mean, we’ve been fortunate to interview a wide variety of students. Thanks to Fred’s help and thanks to Troy’s help. And it’s amazing the talent and the can do ability of students here. So, Troy, what else would you add to that? And then, we’re going to finish off our interview with Jesse and Elena.

Troy Montgomery (47:05):

Yeah. Well, I want to give a lot of credit to Marty who’s been with the program for a little bit over five years now and started the Supply Chain Advisory Board. And we’re up to about 30 or so corporate sponsors. And credit to Marty using his network and his experience previously as a COO in building that. And then, handing it over to students. So, it’s one thing to build it. And then, it’s another to build something that’s sustainable and that can be student run. So, a lot of kudos to Marty to getting that started.

Troy Montgomery (47:36):

The other thing I’ll add on – because I completely agree with Marty – the students and faculty that we have, the alums. But then, also, we’re sitting inside one of the best business programs for undergraduates in the nation. So, we’re ranked 14th among public institutions in the top 25 overall. So, right off the bat, we’ve got great students that are coming in through our program. The other thing that I’ll mention is, you know, we’re continuing to push kind of that real life experience that Marty mentioned. We’re also seeking to give our students additional credentials. So, I mentioned the yellow belt credential that the students have an opportunity to get. If they take the project management course, they can go through the cap then. And then, we’re also seeking to start to get some students through a pilot of some of the ASCM credentials, formerly known as APEX. So, we want our students to be at the top of the list when it comes to somebody reading through a resume, not just through our program, but also through the real life experience and potential to gain credentials.

Scott Luton (48:37):

I love that. Okay. Lots of reasons behind UGA’s growth when it comes to supply chain programming. And I love to see the product, as Marty put it. These incredible people sitting for us here today, Jesse and Elena. So, on that note, we had a fill in the blank question a moment ago, and I want to wrap it with that. And then, we’ll make sure everyone knows how to connect with each of y’all. But, Elena, we’ll start with you. So, global supply chain will be better off if what?

Elena Griggs (49:04):

I guess a couple answers. First one being, if everyone hired our students on our board, we have some really great students and also great talent. And then, the second answer is the answer that we just can’t have is, it would be better if it were simple. And it can’t be. If it were a much more streamlined process across everyone and everywhere, you know, it would probably come together a lot better. But because there’s so many different ways to go about supply chain and there’s so many moving parts, and it’s always changing, you just simply can’t have it. So, you do the best you can and you get the most efficient, effective ways out of it.

Scott Luton (49:43):

I love that. Okay. And, folks, if you want to connect with talent on the board, as Elena said, kidding aside, reach out to her. I’m sure that connecting folks is just one of our biggest responsibilities as leaders. So, Elena, I love that answer. All right. So, Jesse, same question, global supply chain will be better off if what?

Jesse Bailey (50:03):

Yeah. My first answer is going to be, if everybody would be taught by Troy and Marty.

Scott Luton (50:07):

Oh, wow, man. That’s great.

Jesse Bailey (50:09):

But the second answer is kind of like Elena’s, I think it’s investment for the future. I think the companies that are setting themselves apart in supply chain are the ones making large investments now, and not made them in the past. Obviously, I’m biased. I think all the budget should go towards supply chain investments. But that’s not feasible. But it does need to be a part of the capX expenditures. Because you see companies like Amazon, you see companies like Walmart that we’re able to study in our classes, those are the companies that are putting forth the budget now to make advancements in the future.

Scott Luton (50:45):

And they’re going to be positioned for return on that investment. So, I love that, Jesse.

Marty Parker (50:50):

By the way, for the kind comments, I’m going to Venmo, Troy, and Elena, and Jesse the 20 bucks I promised.

Scott Luton (51:01):

I love that. I love that. But, you know, it takes a village and it takes investment. And it’s a big organism – to steal whoever said that earlier, I think that might’ve been John and Jesse. I love that. That’s what I believe that the leading companies are doing. So, spending some of that profit on future return. So, very, very well-spoken, Elena and Jesse. One final question for each of y’all, how can folks connect with you? And, Elena, how can folks connect with you, whether they want to interview your buddies or if they want to get your thoughts on something else?

Elena Griggs (51:31):

Yeah. Please feel free to reach out on LinkedIn. And then, also, be sure to check out the Supply Chain Advisory Board website page. You’ll get to see our students. We need to be updated with our current students. But you can look into all of our corporate members that we have, and our student members, and learn a little bit more about the board as well.

Scott Luton (51:49):

Wonderful. Thank you so much, Elena Griggs, rising senior and President of that aforementioned UGA Supply Chain Advisory Board. Jesse, same question, how can folks connect with you?

Jesse Bailey (51:58):

The easiest way is by far LinkedIn. My URL is jessebaileyfive, all lowercase, no spaces or anything like that. Whether that be to connect with me or if you’re a company looking to join the board, it’s a great way to do that. Or if you’re trying to hire some of my friends, I’ll be sure to put you in contact.

Scott Luton (52:19):

Well, folks in the sky boxes have loved what both of y’all have shared today. On that last note, Charles says, “Boom. Invest in the future. Invest in supply chain students.” Man, well-said, Charles. And, of course, he was echoing what you were saying, Jesse. In fact, he said, “Jesse Bailey said it first.” I love that. Big thanks, Jesse Bailey, rising senior and Treasurer of the UGA Supply Chain Advisory Board. And I give a shout out to the Georgia Liberty Baseball Organization. I look forward to learning more about that.

Scott Luton (52:45):

Big thanks to you, both. Big old, bright future. I should have had my sunglasses as a prop here today. But I really appreciate what you shared and we’ll be tracking your future successes in the months to come. Thanks so much, Jesse Bailey and Elena Griggs.

Elena Griggs (53:00):

Thanks for having us. It’s been a pleasure.

Jesse Bailey (53:01):

Thanks, Scott.

Scott Luton (53:03):

Okay. Marty and Troy, that hour went fast. And Elena and Jesse, talk about cleanup hitters to continue the baseball analogy. So, for y’all – and I’ll start with Marty – there’s a lot shared and also the business maturity that they both exhibited right there. That’s been one of the common themes in my conversations with, certainly, UGA students. But, Marty, what was your singular favorite thing you heard there?

Marty Parker (53:30):

Yeah. So, I would say I’ve had the honor of going in to see, like, final presentations from these students at the end of their internships. And I wept at a couple of them. I tell you, Scott, that I’ve just been so amazed. And I feel like you described it best. They are ten years in advance of what you think. They start businesses. They run these boards. They start baseball teams. And they really are serious about this material and want to learn it and be practitioners of it. And I get these older people, that’ll say, you know, “What about this generation?” in a negative way. And I’m like, “They’re amazing.” So, that’s the one thing for me is just that poise you described.

Scott Luton (54:20):

I love that. And Troy, I’m going to come get your take in a second. But I want to point out. So, Larry is with us here today. Larry, you know, you’re talking about Pareto Principle, which is one of our favorites, especially to apply it. Larry has a slew of free resources that touch on things from Outlook to Excel, you name it. Larry, I would love for you to drop that link in the chat. Because he shares it to help people out. So, Larry, great to have you here today. Okay. So, Troy, what was your one big thing here?

Troy Montgomery (54:47):

Yeah. And, of course, I can’t just say one. So, I got to have two. So, the first one was something that Elena said right off the bat. She said, “I got to make the most of it now,” when you’re asking about how she get everything done. And I think if we could all just take that attitude towards life, no matter how old we are, no matter what stage of our career or education we’re in, that’s just such a great attitude that she exhibits all the time.

Troy Montgomery (55:10):

And then, the second one is what we were just hitting on there. And Jesse talking about investing in the future and he’s talking about companies, but I think we can also relate that to our students. And so, for your listeners, I love to have you invest in UGA time, money, whatever that may look like, or your alma mater. So, we’ve talked about Fred multiple times, who really exhibits that and really giving back to the future generation to make things better. So, just remember that. And take that call, take that mentorship, share some time with some folks that are undergraduate that are interested in supply chain.

Scott Luton (55:48):

Excellent challenge. And I appreciate what y’all both do and the way you go about it. It’s not business as usual at UGA, especially within the supply chain program. And if that isn’t directly relevant to everything else in the industry, and one of the big reasons why your programs are growing and you’ve got the following you do, I don’t know what is. So, really appreciate both you all sharing.

Scott Luton (56:06):

Peter, I agree with you. Peter Bolle, all night and all day, “The future is strong with all the youth taking an interest in supply chain and supply chain management.” I completely agree. And it’s good if you’re looking for it, for sure. And I think there are a lot of silver linings through these terrible and challenging times we live in. But one of them, for sure, is putting supply chain front and center, has had a seat at the table finally here in recent years. But as Greg likes to say, “We got to deliver. We’ve got our seat at the table. Now, we got to deliver.” But more importantly, folks are starting to connect what supply chain is. And there’s more interest, and appeal, and awareness of why we can have things in two hours, and then send things back, and have it instantly. It makes it easy and seamless, those wonderful and smart supply chain professionals that make that happen.

Scott Luton (56:59):

Okay. So, let’s make sure folks can connect with both of y’all. And, Larry, thank you very much. I think he dropped – yeah – I’ve seen a number of links that you put out there for the public good. But y’all check out that link. A lot of really neat things I never knew Excel could do. But I’m a slow learner, unlike Marty and Troy here. But thanks, Larry. So, let’s make sure folks can connect the dots and connect with y’all. So, Marty, what’s the easiest way for folks to connect with Marty Parker?

Marty Parker (57:26):

Actually, you just Google Marty Parker UGA or Marty Parker TechCXO. I’m a partner at TechCXO. Either of those, I’ll pop right up and you can click on it and connect with me on LinkedIn. And I connect with anyone and everyone in supply chain because I want to help my students.

Scott Luton (57:48):

Right. And he does, and he acts, and it’s deeds, not words. And I’ve observed that about you for a long time, Marty. So, I appreciate that. Okay. Troy, same question. How can folks connect with you?

Troy Montgomery (57:58):

Yeah. Similar answer, LinkedIn, go through UGA, you can find me there. Or I’ve got a small consulting firm, SC&E Partners. So, reach out in any of those avenues.

Scott Luton (58:10):

Wonderful. Okay. We’re going to wrap on this. So, we hope –

Marty Parker (58:13):

Scott wants to feature more of these students going forward in these interviews, I’m pretty sure is what he was getting ready to say. And Troy and I would love to be a part of that.

Troy Montgomery (58:23):

And we’re also going to challenge Scott to get back into the classroom here at UGA. I enjoyed having him a couple years in our classroom. He does such good in these podcasts with this audience, but does an excellent job with our students as well.

Marty Parker (58:36):

Yeah. He really does. He’s Mr. Supply Chain. And I’ve known him for a while and he’s got a heart of gold and he gives back to the industry. And we’re just honored to be a part of a Supply Chain Now Radio.

Scott Luton (58:50):

All right. Here we are. All right. I’m going to wrap then. Apologies for our technical difficulties here. Big thanks to Troy, and Marty, Jesse, and Elena. Hey, do good. Give forward. Be the change that’s needed. And we’ll see you next time right here at Supply Chain Now. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (59:08):

Thanks for being a part of our Supply Chain Now community. Check out all of our programming at supplychainnow.com, and make sure you subscribe to Supply Chain Now anywhere you listen to podcasts. And follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. See you next time on Supply Chain Now.