Supply Chain Now
Episode 959

As people start to break down their sustainability goals, they think, ‘Oh my goodness, this is really complex. Where do I even start?’ What we're doing is bringing together data that has to do with all the logistics movements and integrating that whole cycle of opportunity to increase visibility and then look for options to reduce emissions.

- John Rattay, Chief Commercial Officer, Redwood Logistics

Episode Summary

Everyone in the supply chain wants to be more sustainable, but it can be hard to know where to start and which actions will really move the needle.

Redwood Logistics recently announced a sustainability partnership with Cloverly that will bring together flexible access to data powered by the logistics integration platform RedwoodConnect and instant access to action through verified carbon credits via Cloverly.

Shippers can’t act on what they can’t measure. Redwood brings together the power of logistics + technology + sustainability, all in one integrated solution that helps them measure and act.

In this Supply Chain Now livestream episode, Scott Luton and Greg White were joined by Redwood Chief Commercial Officer John Rattay who explained how partners throughout the supply chain can benefit from this collaboration:

• The importance of visibility to achieving sustainability targets

• Improving decision making to strategically allocate the time, effort, energy, and resources invested to achieve a specific impact

• And then once that visibility is achieved, finding the right way to offset carbon emissions

Episode Transcript

Scott Luton (01:20):

Hey, good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. Wherever you are. Scott Luton and Greg White with you here on supply chain. Now. Welcome to today’s live stream, Gregory. How are we doing?

Greg White (01:30):

We’re doing okay. I can see that using a different camera did not help. So <laugh> we might be little, I might be a little bit Terminator ish today. So <laugh> yeah, island, miss bit towards strikes again. <laugh>

Scott Luton (01:44):

Murphy’s law. I’ll tell you is live and well, uh, especially with live programming, live remote program, but Hey, there’s blue skies ahead. Cause we’re, we’re gonna get it fixed and we’re gonna have Greg in four and full 4d fived metaverse whatever. Very, very soon. And Greg, I see you’ve got your Kansas city. Chief’s uh, apparel ready for the season.

Greg White (02:05):

It’s ready for the season. Yeah, actually first, uh, golly, what is it? The 13th, the, our first, uh, pre-season game against the Chicago bears right in Chicago,

Scott Luton (02:16):

Chicago. All right. No bears, wait. <laugh> one of the best SNL acts skits of all time. Uh, Hey, football is a punish, but today, today, Greg speaking of subjects and important subjects to punish we’re talking sustainability, especially when it comes to moving freight, where are we today? Where are we headed? We’ll be PO all these questions and more to an industry leader that is on the move and is doing a lot of, uh, innovative work in global supply chain. Greg, you ready for this?

Greg White (02:46):

I am ready that we’ve got some interesting connections here.

Scott Luton (02:49):

There is, right. Let’s be the ties up bond.

Greg White (02:52):

Yeah.

Scott Luton (02:54):

Uh, but folks, we’re gonna say hello to a few folks in just a minute. Hey, we want to hear from you too. So, uh, feel free to take some time over the next hour or so. Drop your comments in. We’re glad to have you here. We’re gonna try to work those comments in as we, uh, have our chat with our guest. Uh, and we’d love to hear from you. So speaking of before we bring on our guest, uh, here in just a second, let’s say hello to a few folks, Greg. Hey, one of our old time FAS is back with its Benjamin gold claim. Do you remember Benjamin Greg?

Greg White (03:21):

Wow. Yeah. Uh, yes. Traveling from Texas to New York, Connecticut

Scott Luton (03:28):

Up there. I think <laugh>, I think you’re right. I wanna say Benjamin was a proud product of the UGA supply chain program if, if I’m right Benjamin and he has since moved into supply chain roles, doing big things. So great to have you here with us today, Benjamin, uh,

Greg White (03:45):

Give us your recent history and current location.

Scott Luton (03:48):

That’s right. Uh, gosh, Jonathan, great to have you back, uh, the pride of Louisiana, uh, and doing a lot of good planning work out there in global supply chain. Great to see you, Stephanie, uh, bento via LinkedIn. Good morning. Good afternoon. Hey, let us know Stephanie, where you’re tuned in from we’d love to connect the dots. Remember Tempest Greg from Texas.

Greg White (04:10):

We got a lot of people tuning back in don’t we

Scott Luton (04:13):

That’s right. Do you remember what we asked her about her first name

Greg White (04:16):

Or sounding off? At least maybe they’re always tuned in, but <laugh> sorry. Say that again,

Scott Luton (04:21):

Tempest, uh, named after, uh, Tempest, I wanna say Bledso from the Cosby show. You remember that on an earlier livestream? Really? Yeah. Uh, or,

Greg White (04:31):

Yeah.

Scott Luton (04:32):

Great to have you, uh, back with us Tempest. That

Greg White (04:34):

Was Rudy, right? Tempest was

Scott Luton (04:36):

Rudy. Uh, no temp. Tempus was the middle child. Um, Vanessa, I can’t remember. Gosh,

Greg White (04:45):

The eighties. I bet Tempus can tell us.

Scott Luton (04:47):

<laugh> Vanessa. Amanda weighed in. Thank you, Amanda. Okay. Uh, so that is right. So great to see you Tempus, uh, Catherine of course, Amanda and clay, all part of the production team, helping to make it happen, uh, who is ready to learn about sustainability. Katherine raises her hand. Nice little emoji action there. <laugh> uh, Shelly Phillips is back with us. Good morning from colorful Colorado via LinkedIn. Shelly. Great to have you back. Uh, Mike tuned in from Lufkin, Texas ever been to Lufkin, Texas, Greg,

Greg White (05:15):

I don’t know. I don’t know where it is. <laugh>

Scott Luton (05:18):

That

Greg White (05:18):

Wasn’t, you know, a lot of those states in the Midwest and the Southwest have, you know, they have tons of tiny towns. You go through, get to the town, know if it’s ed or if it’s in <inaudible>

Scott Luton (05:30):

Yep.

Greg White (05:31):

Mike, no, if he is from <inaudible> they’ll know that

Scott Luton (05:35):

<laugh> well, one, so maybe Lufkin wasn’t one of those small towns that we drove the supply chain now van through a couple years back.

Greg White (05:43):

Uh, give us an idea where that is Mike that’s right.

Scott Luton (05:46):

Uh, Mike, great to have you here,

Greg White (05:47):

Right? Google maps. It

Scott Luton (05:49):

<laugh> Steven Bush is back with us ready for Friday. That’s for sure. Hey, your day, day early. Uh, hopefully Friday won’t be late, no late deliver

Greg White (05:58):

Space. Better to be prepared. This is supply chain right? Better to be prepared.

Scott Luton (06:03):

Uh, max rep

Greg White (06:04):

Heidelberg, both the town and the company.

Scott Luton (06:07):

That’s right. Uh, Hey, max is back with us from Mexico via LinkedIn. Great to see you max, uh, looking forward to your take here today. Uh, and finally we can’t hit everybody, but Marlow’s tuned in from Dallas, Texas, uh, and Benjamin is confirming from Georgia to now New York city. How about that Benjamin? Great to have you here today,

Greg White (06:29):

Tomorrow. Yeah.

Scott Luton (06:30):

Uh, so welcome everybody. We were looking forward to your comments about our, our conversation here today. Uh, we got a great one teed up with a great guest. We’ve enjoyed the pre-show conversation. Uh, so Greg with no further ado, uh, I’m gonna welcome in, uh, John rote, chief commercial officer with Redwood logistics, John, how you doing?

John Rattay (06:54):

I’m doing great. How you doing Scott?

Scott Luton (06:56):

Doing great to see you. Great to see you.

Greg White (06:59):

Yeah. Welcome aboard.

Scott Luton (07:00):

We enjoyed our pre-show conversation. You’re in beautiful Arizona. I believe I am, uh, enjoyed talking a little bit of sports, a little bit of supply chain. You name it, uh, in the pre-show, but as we launch this conversation, Greg and John, we’ve got a special holiday to acknowledge, uh, it’s India pale ale day across the globe today who would’ve THK had no idea. Yeah. Um, so I wanna ask you both starting with John, John, what’s your favorite beer or adult beverage as we look to celebrate, you know, do the right thing and celebrate at today’s holiday.

John Rattay (07:34):

I appreciate you giving me a little bit of a heads up in the pre precall on this one. It is it’s 9:00 AM in the morning,

Scott Luton (07:40):

Right?

John Rattay (07:40):

So, uh, it’s not the first thing on my mind, uh, which as we mentioned is a good thing, but, uh, our friend in Europe and, and other time zones might be a little bit more applicable. Um, I, I would say a couple probably come to mind and it may be more location based. Uh, I lived in Chicago for four and a half years.

Scott Luton (07:57):

Nice.

John Rattay (07:58):

Uh, goose island is, uh, is, is a pretty strong brewery. That’s out there, uh, in the, in the heart of Chicago. If you go right around the lake, uh, you have founders, founders has, uh, some pretty strong options from brewery perspective. And then obviously being from Arizona now, uh, four peaks is, is definitely one that, uh, that comes to mind. So gotta, gotta get a little shout out, probably more location based than anything

Scott Luton (08:21):

Out, man. John, I love, uh, Greg, I love how he kind of took us on like a, a brewery tour right there. Huh? All right. So, uh, we’ve got a little bit of a connection issue that happens. That’s alright. Uh, Katherine, let’s drop Greg out of the stream really quick and once we get him back, we’ll bring him back. So, so John, I love the brewery tour. You just took us on, uh, you know, we’ve got a variety of breweries here, uh, in Georgia red hair brewery comes to mind kind of on the, uh, Northwest side of town, uh, Terrapin, uh, in Athens, Georgia, if you ever heard of that one, John. Okay. Yeah. Um, and I’m gonna mess the, the biggest one here. Um, craft beer is right off the connector right off 85. Amanda, you might have to help me out <laugh> um, and, and they will, so, so, uh, I wanna say 4, 1 11, but that’s not it. So we’ll come back to that. It’s still early. It’s early for beer, isn’t it? John

John Rattay (09:17):

It’s early. It is it’s early, but, uh, it’s always good to tie in, uh, an experience in that way to, to something local.

Scott Luton (09:23):

That is right. Wait, Mike aver saves the day four 20. Yes. 4 24 20, uh, Sweetwater, uh, Sweetwater breweries, who I was trying to think of. So thank you very much, Catherine and Michael. Yes. Clay. We’re talking beer and sustainability and supply chain all today. Uh, Sandra, great to have you here from Ghana via LinkedIn, looking forward to your perspective here today. Uh, Cecil’s back, Sohi tuned in from Portsmouth, uh, UK. Great to have you here, sushi. Um, okay. So, uh, John, what I wanna do, uh, we’ve, we’ve covered some of the bases here, right? Uh, we’ve talked beer, right? It’s a big check box. So moving right along. Uh, what I wanna do is, is kind of level set a bit before we get into talking about some big news with, uh, Redwood and Cloverly before we get into, uh, more, uh, the sustainability conversation let’s level set a bit, uh, tell us for the three people that may not know, tell us about Redwood logistics and what the company does kinda in a nutshell.

John Rattay (10:18):

Yeah. I appreciate that. Um, as a look at it, so Redwood is, and I guess as I would describe it, it’s really a technology first supply chain orchestration company. Uh, as, as we look at servicing our customers, it’s really about bringing innovation, uh, into the world of logistics and helping businesses navigate. And we all know the high demand that’s we go through on a day to day basis. Uh, you know, it’s interesting at the end of 2021, Redwood actually celebrated the 20th anniversary as a company. And, uh, I

Scott Luton (10:47):

Would say 20 years in global supply chain tech it’s <laugh>, that’s, that’s something to celebrate, right?

John Rattay (10:54):

It’s a big deal. Yeah. It’s, uh, it’s been fueled by just tremendous growth. Uh, and, uh, you know, now, as we look at what Redwood does, it it’s really about a portfolio of services and solutions that offer flexibility for our customers. Uh, we look at it in a couple of different core segments, move, manage, and innovate. It’s really about digital freight brokerage, flexible freight management, and, and even a bit of logistics consulting powered by an, an entire SaaS platform. We roll all that up into, uh, delivery mechanism that we call LPA, which is logistics platform as a service. It’s been something from a, a brand perspective, uh, that, uh, has really connected with our customers and, uh, and the market that, uh, that we have so excited about where we, where we’ve come from, uh, the history that we have and, uh, and really the, the Swedish services that, uh, that we offer for, for the market today,

Scott Luton (11:41):

Well said. And I wanna go back to, to where you started with that level setting the word orchestration. That’s one of my favorites. It, it always brings an image of a conductor, right. A really experienced conductor and a big old orchestra, which is, you know, that’s a great analogy for global supply chain and just having everybody work, uh, you know, all on the same sheet of music and all playing a symphony together, you know, note for note, uh, that is just a great image for how global supply chain should work. Right, John?

John Rattay (12:12):

Yeah, it’s right. You know, what’s interesting is, uh, in the experiences and engagements that we’ve had. So it’s so critical to meet our customers and partners where they’re at. Uh, we’re gonna talk sustainability, and we’re gonna talk about that path here today and focus in on that, but across all services, uh, each shipper, each partner, each customer that we have has a different set of not only current situations that they’re really looking to move forward in advance, uh, but then also goals and where they want to go. Uh, we feel, uh, that meeting them where they are and being able to, to help in all of those different suite services and really push the technology portion of not just that individual transactional component and how we can digitize together means, uh, means a lot

Scott Luton (12:53):

Digitizing together. I love it. Okay. Lemme take a couple quick comments. Uh, conchen is tuned in via LinkedIn. Great to have you back, uh, via from India. Uh, looking forward to your perspective here today. Look at us, Steven is right on the money he’s sharing URL and he’s helping us connect and all digitized together. So Steven appreciate that. Dr. Ron is back with us three times this week. Rhonda is so good to have you with us. Uh, she, by the way, uh, John is also in Arizona. Uh, she, uh, is a great person to fall on social, always out there, hiking in that beautiful, uh, um, uh, landscape y’all have out there. Yeah. Uh, Jane, I think really appreciated the fact that, uh, clay was, uh, asking us about talking beer, Jane don’t, you know, we gotta talk beer for it. It it’s part of how we deal with global supply chain. Um, alright, so let’s keep driving here. Um, what I wanna get into next, um, is Redwood and, and by the way, congrats again, on 20 years, that’s a, uh, great, uh, accomplishment, especially all the expansion, the growth, how, how, in many ways you’re, you’re changing how business is done, which you kind of alluded to a couple times, um, recently you’ve announced a big partnership with Cloverly. Right. So tell us about this big development, how it all works and perhaps most importantly, what it means for the market, John.

John Rattay (14:09):

Yeah, we are, uh, I appreciate you bringing it up. We’re extremely excited about what this means. Um, so at, at Redwood, we offer a full suite of solutions in this category, uh, and adding this integration and, and really the extended capabilities with Cloverly, it’s just another catalyst for helping our customers to be able to measure and deliver really around their sustainability goals, um, at the highest level at Redwood, uh, and our customers may see this and know this, uh, a little bit more it’s it’s about the Hyperion solution, which is that all encompassing solution to sustainability and, uh, walking that path and really developing a program, uh, with our customers to, to deliver on sustainability goals. If we break that down, the Hyperion segment, uh, there’s really gonna four key areas. So all starts with visibility and that’s getting complete transparency into freight emissions across all modes and across all shipments. Yep. Not just the Redwood ones specifically, but giving a footprint and a platform that can drive that insight to establish visibility and then looking for options to be able to reduce, uh, the carbon footprint, uh, that they actually have.

Scott Luton (15:14):

So kinda assessing the whole, the whole enterprise there.

John Rattay (15:16):

That’s exactly right. And what’s interesting is, uh, and, and we’ll get into this I’m sure a little bit is, is folks get visibility. There’s so many options at their disposal when they work with the right partners. There’s not only about what we’ll talk about from the offset component of it, but there’s also creativity around working with partners, selecting the right carriers, looking for consolidation opportunities, uh, model selection and understanding goals and how they actually align both sustainability to the overall OKRs for a company, all that option. When you, when you actually partner with the right folks, we believe it to be Redwood, uh, gives that plan and that playbook for folks to really execute, kind of take that forward and really in that third, sorry, go ahead.

Scott Luton (15:58):

And, and, and it’s, that’s really critical so that you can measure your progress all right. And make sure you’re, you’re, uh, actually making progress, right, John. Sure.

John Rattay (16:07):

It is, uh, you know, it’s, uh, it’s really about planning the work and working the plan. Mm. Uh, if you don’t know what you’re measured, you don’t know where you wanna go. Uh, it’s difficult to know is the impact that we’re spending time, effort, energy, and resources on actually making the impact. And is it the right impact? Cause it’s a lot of activities that you can actually choose, uh, and being able to get that visibility and then align on what path makes the most sense, short term, medium term and long term becomes part of that, uh, that overall established goal set and, uh, the ability to kind of take those right. Those right next steps.

Scott Luton (16:39):

My seventh grade social studies teacher just made an appearance with that, that cliche you shared, uh, making the plan and, and working the plan. <laugh> yeah. So, uh, alright. So visibility, uh, what was the second one, again, John, as we laid out the four point plan,

John Rattay (16:54):

It’s really about targeting reduction. Okay. Identifying path and, and, uh, different options and solutions to plan reduction. Okay. That third one’s about offset. And this is really where the partnership with Clover league comes in is not only about providing access and driving acceleration to how to measure, create visibility, but then say, what do I do with it? Uh, one of the, the biggest components to being able to take that next step is how do I actually offset it? How do I partner with folks that have a marketplace that can really drive sustainable projects for us to create offset? And the partnership with Cloverly is really that acceleration. It gives access to a marketplace it’s verified projects where shippers can really access direct carbon credits and, uh, and make that exchange. Ultimately <inaudible> API. It calculates in real time, uh, the quality of the carbon emissions that a shipment creates and then takes that next step next step, to be able to, to, uh, uh, deliver a mechanism, be to, to offset it as well.

Scott Luton (17:51):

Okay.

John Rattay (17:52):

That last part, uh, from a program perspective is really about reporting an integration. The interesting piece, uh, about sustainability is the segmentation that can be created, uh, and how folks look to execute, uh, that larger goal and that larger plan. And then the, the myriad of options and solutions that we talked about, but really bringing in. And as we mentioned, how do you measure it? Yep. How do you actually bring that all together, having access to be able to view it, share those successes internally with the, the teams that, uh, are now created around sustainability becomes just as paramount to the actual activity that’s being done when you combine the approach that Redwood is using in the overall Hyperion, integrate that with platforms like Redwood connect, right. To be able to integrate the information between all those parties. It really becomes a, a powerful tool,

Scott Luton (18:38):

You know, on that last one, uh, uh, reporting and integration, two of, uh, when it comes to sustainability, one of the biggest challenges and weaknesses is that reporting and, and transparency and, and really are you making progress going back to a, a point John made earlier, and then secondly, with all the different technologies out there, integration just in general, it’s sustainability and beyond integration is, is an ongoing challenge. Um, just, uh, you know, for, for every supply chain practitioner, especially as you’re implementing new technologies that maybe certain numbers of the team are, are a bit unfamiliar with. Uh, so I love that four step plan. Um, lemme take a couple quick comments, uh, John and folks wanna hear from you, uh, let us know what you’re hearing, you know, your take on, uh, what John is sharing or your thoughts in general when it comes to sustainability, uh, in, uh, supply chain, uh, backing up a little bit here, we have got, uh, uh, Alexander is tuned in via LinkedIn. Hey, let us know where you’re tuned in from sometimes the flag that it, um, the flag via LinkedIn, the emojis don’t always translate via comments. So let us know where you’re tuned in from great to have you here, Russ, uh, Russ. Great to have you back, uh, and enjoyed your comments on our previous, um, live streams tuned in via LinkedIn from London, John ever been to London.

John Rattay (19:52):

I have actually, uh, I took a, uh, an expat assignment for two years and lived in Glasgow, Scotland. So nice was a frequent, I didn’t wanna get into that in terms of our, our earlier conversation, but, uh, there’s plenty of options out there as well.

Scott Luton (20:07):

Well, uh, you know, I gotta you say Scotland. I gotta you’re, you’re quite the athlete. I bet you got in a couple nice rounds of golf while you were there.

John Rattay (20:15):

Uh, I got, I got a few and, uh, and also in the midst of those rounds, frustrated a few caddies as well. <laugh> so apparently my game and, uh, the courses, uh, don’t don’t don’t, uh, exactly mix

Scott Luton (20:27):

Out there. Hey, spirits, John kindred spirits. Uh, alright. Uh, Melanie, great to have you here, uh, with us via LinkedIn, uh, weighing in on a couple different things, uh, focusing on scope three in our new role problem with calculating, uh, CO2 is the internal data of shipping terms, modes, country awards, and all that good stuff. Little visibility on that excellent point, Melanie, we were just talking about that a second ago. It’s great to have you here looking forward to your perspective, Dr. Rhonda, thank you. I thought yesterday’s, uh, session with Mike Griswold and Gartner was a great one. Uh, Murphy’s law was with us again, but, uh, eight, if it’s great to have Mike, at least in, in, uh, with ya audibly, even if you can’t always have 3d 40, uh, John, sometimes that happens Muhammad tuned in from Oman via LinkedIn. Great to see you here, Moham, let us know what you’re, uh, thinking as we tackle sustainability and supply chain visibility and how the two, uh, mesh together so critically and Hugh, great to have you back. Um, great. You know, I bet your work has taken you everywhere, but some of our live streams, so great to have you here. Always an interesting broadcast. Okay. Y’all keep weighing in. We’re gonna try to get to as many of these as we can. I think John, I think we might just have the one and only Greg EB white back with us. Let’s swoosh Greg in if we can. All

Scott Luton (21:46):

Right.

Scott Luton (21:50):

Hey, Hey Greg.

Greg White (21:52):

I don’t know what to do with my hands <laugh>

Scott Luton (21:57):

Oh man, you were wild ride

Greg White (22:00):

Courtesy of your local, uh, cable company. So we, we asked for an upgrade to gig speed. I think they just sent it so

Scott Luton (22:11):

<laugh>

Greg White (22:13):

Don’t schedule it. That’s right. It just comes. So we’ll see any faster

Scott Luton (22:19):

<laugh> I think you’re better. You’re better. And it’s great to have you back. I’ll tell you we’ve tackled a lot on the front end thus far with John. Uh, he’s been, but I missed

Greg White (22:26):

John.

Scott Luton (22:27):

John, give us the whole thing in, in 30 seconds. Yeah. 30 seconds. 32nd run ball. <laugh> yeah, a good old Chris Berman, uh, throwback. Uh, he had just, we just dove into Greg, uh, Redwood’s fascinating partnership with Cloverly and what it means for the market. Uh, John kind of took us through a, a forced for, uh, item framework there. Um, and you know, John really quick, I wanna get back to talking sustainability with you in just a second, but Greg, you’re familiar with Cloverly mm-hmm <affirmative> weigh in on, on, you know, what the company’s doing and maybe what you see between Redwood and Cloverly here.

Greg White (23:03):

Yeah. I mean, I think what’s great about what Redwood is doing with Cloverly is it’s a third party validation of the goodness that you’re doing, John, you mentioned in the pre-show that a lot of companies are building their own reporting mechanism. Right. There’s a lot of potential for self interest there. I think long term you’ve done the right thing because I think long term, the industry won’t accept self certification, right? Yeah. PhD, by the way, uh, just to turn that myself. Yeah. Um, so I, I think that’s the important thing to do and what Cloverly is doing, John probably shared some of this is, is finding carbon offsets and that is the most difficult part of the entire process is to find them. So they’re consolidating all the people that are creating these carbon offsets by planting trees and eliminating waste and all of these other things, and then giving people a central place to go to, to be able to offer these I’ve actually, I, I don’t know exactly what e-commerce site, but I was talking to Jason Reba, the CEO of Cloverly the other day. And he said, yeah, when you bought that 16 cent or whatever, it was 25 cent for a consumer carbon offset that went through us. So I think that’s, you know, that enablement so that we can all contribute, we all want to is, uh, is really powerful.

Scott Luton (24:27):

Uh, coincidental. I’ll tell you, it’s amazing how things works. The world gets a lot smaller, John. Uh, the offsetting was number three in terms of the four point framework, uh, comment on that really quick, and then we’re gonna move into, um, you know, sustainability programs.

John Rattay (24:46):

Yeah. I mean,

Scott Luton (24:47):

It’s difficult to find the different ways offset, which is, you know, what Greg was just sharing, right, John.

John Rattay (24:51):

Yeah, it is. And, and uh, I think one of the, the key parts is, is the visibility aspect of it. You think about sustainability programs. Uh, the first thing that folks think about is here’s my goals. And then as they start to break down how to get to those goals, they just think, oh my goodness, this is really complex. Where do I even start? What do I do first? Ah, really what we’re looking at doing is bringing together this information and data that has to do with all the logistics movements across and integrating that whole cycle of opportunity to not only get visibility to it, then look for options to be able to reduce it. And then, and then also offset it. And that really completes that cycle and provides a plan for folks to say, I have the goal. Here’s how I can actually take a first step to be able to get there partnerships like this become so critical in being able to round that out. Cuz as folks look at a program, they say, if I can only get to here, then where do I go next? And how do I invest in that next? And Greg, to your point is what I’m doing, gonna be validated by external parties and, and other components. Cause I don’t wanna take those steps without actually having that, that right understanding. And what does that investment mean? This really creates that circle and uh, of influence and, and really closes the, the chapter and helps to really accelerate the programs and where they go. Hmm.

Greg White (26:04):

Yeah, I agree. And your team, as it turns out, John I’m guessing have day jobs. So also finding offsets right. And consolidating all of those into usable, uh, information is, you know, a usable network is that’s an additional part of your job or business that you don’t really wanna have a division for

Scott Luton (26:23):

Sure.

Greg White (26:23):

That’s right. So it provides a lot of leverage from that standpoint. Mm-hmm

Scott Luton (26:27):

<affirmative> um, really quick, uh, hu is tuned in now from North Carolina, you re relocated from Vermont hu getting closer, getting closer to, uh, Atlanta, our home base. Uh, and yes, swoosh is a technical term, uh, highly technical term here in industry. Um, alright, so John, you just touched on, uh, those initial steps of getting started, you know, how can, you know, the easiest way to get started for a shipper, uh, adopting a sustainability program? Um, anything else you want to add there to folks maybe listening and kind of, kind of asking themselves, where do I get started? You know, how can we, how can we do this the easy way John, anything else to add?

John Rattay (27:05):

Yeah, look, it’s a big focus for, for what we’re doing here at Redwood and, and also, uh, in the partnerships and, and that’s really, um, apparent in terms of, uh, the, the attention and investment that, that we’re making here. We, we want it to be something that, um, creates that path, uh, for our customers to be able to really drive change. Uh, we talked a lot about this and it’s, it’s probably the, uh, it’ll be the, the quote unquote easy button for folks as they come out of this. But it all starts with visibility, getting data that’s actionable understanding what that data actually means. So you can actually have a starting point is so critical and then being able to integrate that into whatever program plan that is critical, having that footprint and understanding that it’s the most digestible way to really get buy in for whatever program and options that you want. And then partnering with folks like Redwood that have that optionality that can actually establish different ways, leveraging that data, not only about the offset, but then actually in the, in your logistics and supply chain. I think there’s a, a really unique mix there.

Scott Luton (28:03):

So you mentioned the word buy in. Let’s talk about that for a second. Cause you know, yeah. Talk about, uh, the importance of really clear transparency, sustainability goals from all parties that may you know, that that’s part of the supply chain ecosystem. Yeah.

John Rattay (28:17):

There’s nothing more important and there’s absolutely nothing more important, right? Having clarity around goals, uh, for, for not only the internal organization, but how partners have an influence into that, uh, how far you can actually go and where that data actually looks. We talked about a little bit earlier if we don’t know what good looks like, we don’t know where we want to go. How do we know when we get there? Right? And if we are ahead of our, our goal or, or, or if we even even surpassed it and where do we go next? Um, if we claim to be making progress as a partnership, how do you measure it? Uh, and what are the participants, uh, what can they bring to the table to be a part of that? Uh, and what’s interesting is if you think about in supply chain, we’re constantly balancing the day to day demands with this overarching, many of OKRs, uh, and goals that, that are associated to it.

John Rattay (29:05):

Uh, I remember having a conversation with a supply chain director. This was not about sustainability, but it was just asking, Hey, how did you build your supply chain? How did you locate things? And he goes, frankly, uh, it was a series of continued asks and demands that just kept piling on it to my team’s credit. We just kept delivering. And that’s what you see today. But now that we have the data, now we want to go back and actually take the right steps to create resilience and, and actually apply it. Same thing as in sustainability, you gotta get a footprint for where you actually stand and then have a goal to be able to say, here’s where we want to go. Those two things come hand in hand, right. Just having the goal without that information or having all the information, understanding those goals, those two things, uh, really need to, to, to pull together to be, to be effective.

Scott Luton (29:50):

All right. So Greg, I’m gonna get you to weigh in, uh, uh, John covered a lot, uh, there and offered a lot of, uh, I think, uh, interesting insights into some of the back, uh, behind the scenes conversations, Greg, your take.

Greg White (30:02):

Yeah. I think, you know, John, you speak to a common conflict that people have. They’ve got all this data and they had no idea to do what to do with it. Right. Um, we talk about big data. Uh, sometimes it’s really just medium data. It’s not that big. Um, but whatever, you know, nonetheless, it’s more data than most people have had in their history. And they’re trying to find a job for it. I think working back from the goals, what do we wanna accomplish? How does, what segment of data that we have fit into that this is useful, doesn’t useful for maybe for another goal. So think starting with those goals and working back into how to apply the data is the absolute right way to go.

Scott Luton (30:46):

Well said. Um, alright, lemme share a couple quick comments and, and John, we’re gonna, we’re gonna dive a little bit deeper into what Redwood offers kinds of competitive advantage, uh, clay I’m with you. Thanks for being here. Old diesel. Cause the engine always, uh, is never stops. Uh, John, it’s a great see our body’s, uh, viewership numbers here today. Folks could do care about sustainability and we’ve got to right. We have a responsibility as an industry, um, or they all came to see John rote clay that, that factors in as well, I believe, uh, Byron, great to see you here via Texas. Uh, enjoyed your comments yesterday. The one only Kim winner from Dubai is here with us sustainability. He says to the four here as he’s MCing, uh, the first, uh, G C C U. That’s a, that’s a big old acronym, the ESG event, uh, October, October 20th. So Kim, great to see you here. Uh, and finally, one last comment and James, I’ll see your question. We’ll try to get to that question, uh, a little later on, but uh, cm says true. What does good look like that? The simple questions are the best questions so well said, uh, cm. Okay. So John, and by the way, Greg, I wrote down that medium, uh, data, I’m gonna completely steal that from you soon. <laugh> um,

Greg White (31:57):

Well, okay then if you’re gonna do that, then I have to confess that I stole it from the CEO of a company that I worked with. I talked to yesterday, so

Scott Luton (32:07):

I love it. Um, alright. So John Redwood is a unique company. Yep. Uh, especially to have carbon emission software and serve as a logistics service provider. Talk about that competitive edge, uh, that everyone’s looking for. New competitive edge, old competitive edge. You name it. Talk about what Redwood offers there.

John Rattay (32:25):

Yeah. We believe it’s a, it’s a strong, competitive advantage, uh, when, and, and it’s really backed up by the interactions that we’ve had with, uh, both new prospects and, and current customers in terms of where they want to go. Uh, you know, as, as the, the macro environment really thinks about being greener, uh, there’s a lot of folks that from a supply chain perspective, firmly believe we have an opportunity to lead the way. Uh, it seems complex and, you know, we’re, we’re really looking to change that. And a lot of what we talked about today builds the foundation for, uh, for those, those partnerships to take those right steps. And, and really, if you look at the overall perspective of Redwood in that LPA, it’s about tying together the digital and the physical footprint and the aspects of what supply chain actually means and all sorts of elements, including sustainability and allow customers to have access to that information and an open ecosystem to be able to make sure that we’re delivering, uh, associated with them truly, really be an extension of, of what they’re looking to do.

John Rattay (33:22):

And addition to what we’re talking about here about data, uh, Redwood is active in formalizing and really accelerating, uh, a current managed services offering that we are coining Redwood eco advisory umbrella that will fit under this Hyperion that also will guide shippers in their supply chain goals. And look for those efficiencies that can be measurable not only in the emission side, but also look to reduce freight costs as part of it. It doesn’t need, as we look at it, it doesn’t need to be a one or the other by leveraging that information in data. And with this eco advisory, something that we believe can, can really go hand in hand. Yep.

Scott Luton (33:58):

Uh, gosh. So to dive into, and we’re about halfway through our conversation, Greg, uh, when it comes to conf uh, competitive advantage, right. And what John shared there, what really stood out, uh, to your ears.

Greg White (34:10):

Well, the, you know, the rule of the day for sustainability or supply chain transparency or visibility or whatever you wanna call it is it is transparency is being able to see into, and through your supply chain to understand who’s performing well, regardless of what the metric is, who, who isn’t right. Who’s a good actor who ain’t, um, and, you know, and understand who you do this with and to make judgment, not just with near four walls, cause now public companies, they’re responsible for the sustainability efforts of not just themselves, but also everyone that they do business with. And they have to have both visibility into it and a plan and then rate their execution, uh, against that plan to, uh, you know, as they report to the S E C to FINRA and others so that people can establish the risk that is, is, uh, apparent or, or is present in their supply chain finally. Right. We got what we asked for guys, finally, the world knows what supply chain is, knows how important it is to the business, but now we are going to have to establish the transparency that they have in sales and that they have in marketing and that they have in finance and other core aspects of the business. So, um, it’s critical to have, have initiatives like this, to be able to understand their, you stand,

John Rattay (35:39):

You know, I’d, I’d add on. And, and I, uh, it probably falls into the bucket of a competitive advantage, but just to layer onto that point, Greg is, you know, when, when we think about the approach and what we’ve put together, it’s really based on technology. Uh, we have a, a solution, a platform solution called Redwood connect. Uh, it’s, it’s an integration platform that’s built for logistics teams, and it’s really about bringing together disparate systems, carriers, solutions, applications, and helping that information streamline in between and what you think about and what you talk about there is taking this information from supply chain and integrating that into an overall company’s perspective becomes so critical. And that integration is really a competitive advantage cuz creating individual silos as you execute, all of these becomes just another operational pillar that doesn’t share in that macro and understand from the goals, how do we adjust Mo more appropriately? What’s moving first, further than we think. And, and not we believe that to be a real competitive advantage around the integration, being able to take this data complete the cycle that we talk about and really push that back and integrate that back into a company system.

Scott Luton (36:44):

Good stuff, good stuff. Um, want share a couple, uh, comments here. Mohe is with us from the air capital of the world, Wichita, Kansas. Great to see you, uh, Mohe, uh, and T-square

Greg White (36:54):

Time for him to get back to class <laugh>

Scott Luton (36:56):

Right, right. Uh, T squared who holds down Fort the Fort force, uh, on YouTube says this is good, good, good nourishment in the parlance and digging the prize T squared came up with a trivia answer not too long ago and we, we got it. Finally. Finally, yes. Our prize supply chain was letting us down a little bit. Uh, but we made that connection. Okay. So John, uh, Redwood, uh, quite an innovative 20 years to date and it sounds like the next 20 is gonna be, uh, as, uh, as innovative, uh, looking to change the game, um, and, and bolt more and more services as you expand the comp uh, competitive advantage that the company offers your customers. So break out, uh, break out your eight ball, right? The old toy that we’ve played with in the eighties or your crystal ball, if yours is still working, I don’t know. Mine, mine has really been shaky. What did the next few years look like? Uh, when it comes to freight emissions management job?

John Rattay (37:54):

Whew. Uh, that’s a great question. Um, I think there’s a couple things that come to my mind and Greg, you hit on it before. I think customer demand will increase. I think the insight and transparency, the direct discussions that folks will have, whether it’s B2B, B2C, it’s gonna increase. Uh, and that’s gonna really create, uh, an opportunity for companies to, uh, to, to really move ahead. I think, I think that one comes to, to my mind first, uh, Greg, you mentioned this before, we’re seeing more regulations that are coming up mm-hmm <affirmative> uh, so, uh, call that carrot and a stick, maybe the balance between, between those two, uh, but change is, is definitely coming. Investment is coming and, uh, and I think in that investment, it’s gonna be interesting. We saw this in supply chain earlier. Uh, we’re now seeing, uh, C level folks with, with supply chain titles because they’re now getting a seat at the table. And the strategy as sustainability, I think is very soon, if not already, part of those conversations is gonna continue to get more and more investment. You see people hired in, uh, to top level organizations. So I, I think all of those things combined is really gonna create an environment that, uh, we’re gonna see a lot of change and, you know, you’re already seeing companies come out and put out those lofty goals about being net neutral and you know, net zero and 10, 15, 20 years and, uh, and starting to move, move forward. Mm.

Scott Luton (39:11):

You know, uh, it’s certainly better to digitize together with your partners, uh, borrowing your phrase from earlier, and I’ll tell you in these days, uh, evermore, um, and it’ll be even more important movement moving forward, but that integration orchestration piece, uh, as we’re leveraging a, a wide array of technologies to make supply chain happen, absolute critical. Uh, and Greg that’s where before we, um, we offer up a resource, uh, from John and the Redwood team way in, on, uh, on what you just heard there from John and, uh, the critical elements that will be part of the next 20 years, uh, that, that the Redwood team will, will be experiencing.

Greg White (39:51):

Yeah. The whole world will be experiencing, right. I mean, I think, um, that, which is a com I would say, jump in now while all this integration, while all this transparency is a competitive advantage, because it will become table stakes in the very near future, as the regulations come in, as consumers demand it more and more, you’re either gonna have to have it or be left out. Um, so while you can still get some competitive advantage from it yeah. Do it. And, and then you’re that much farther ahead of the game in, in terms of maturity curve, when it becomes table stakes, which it inevitably will, all of these kind of developments eventually do. So, um, there, there’s a, there’s a very, uh, concise window in which you can actually take advantage and actually make profit from it. And then you’re avoiding being left out in the cold in five to 10 years, whenever this just becomes part of the game

Scott Luton (40:52):

First mover or early mover advantage, uh, in many ways mm-hmm <affirmative> Greg. Okay. Uh, Mohe is busy with research. That’s why he’s been missing here. Well, Hey, it’s great that, that you snuck in and took this conversation and he has great thoughts and POV from John and Redwood team and yes, clay, uh, although I stole that John heavily, uh, influenced my poetry certainly better to digitize together, almost flows right off the tongue. There you go. Yeah. Um, <laugh> all right. So, uh, John, we definitely want, there’s a lot of different resources as you’ve already laid out and, and a lot we can’t get to here today that Redwood team has, we definitely want to drop the sustainability kinda landing page, uh, for folks to learn more specifically about that topic and what Redwood’s doing. So, so team Catherine, Amanda, if we can drop that, uh, in the, uh, comments, that’d be great.

Scott Luton (41:40):

That’d be good. And as we start to kind of come down to homes stretch here, I wanna shift gears a little bit, uh, John, and bring something up, uh, that, uh, we’ve talked about here quite a bit, Greg, uh, and that is, uh, Redwood’s commitment to the veterans community. Yeah. Um, I was really, uh, honored to be a part of this veterans and logistics event, which I think this was a third year in a row that Redwood has, uh, invested in this, uh, critical type of programming had a blast. Uh, Steve, uh, uh, yeah, Steve rose was my kind of MC partner. Yeah. Steve, Steve is like the John Wayne of supply chain. I love it. Um, he really is no nonsense. He, he shared some great experiences from his time transitioning, uh, as a Marine, a Marine veteran into supply chain and kind of how, what, how he approached that, uh, we had, uh, a variety of great speakers. Uh, but, but from what you have been able to see or be a part of, or hear the Redwood team talk about any key takeaways from that event, uh, just a week or two ago,

John Rattay (42:39):

Yeah. Event was, uh, uh, it was meaningful for me and appreciate, uh, you being a part of it and, and working with our folks. Uh, it’s great to hear from Steve and, and Carlos and, uh, you know, one of the, one of the big things that, uh, that came out for me was just the importance of resources. They talked a lot about resources that are available to them in the short term, uh, whether it be internally at, at, at certain companies and, and where, where the position is, and then also externally how much access to data and information that’s out there. I, I, uh, I thought that was just a, an incredible message and, and one that, you know, even kind of, uh, dove into to me as well. And, you know, it’s, uh, there’s a ton of investment that’s been done by Redwood. It’s something that, uh, Redwood university, I think Steve brought up yep.

John Rattay (43:21):

On the time there and the advancement that that’s been done, not only just about product knowledge or information about these different categories, move, manage to innovate or sustainability, but really kinda looking at broadening their horizon and just educating folks. There’s so much in this industry to learn, uh, folks that, you know, dive in, uh, that don’t ever leave, right. As, as we all have, uh, have, uh, you know, really grasped that education component because it’s ever changing, it’s a lot of fun and, you know, really proud of the Redwood folks for what they’ve done and where they’ve invested and the, the materials and information they’ve had. I was just a, uh, uh, it was a great session for me.

Scott Luton (43:56):

Yeah. I, so, um, from, on, on behalf, our entire team here, right? Uh, I’m an air force veteran we’ve spent 20 years trying to find ways of, of helping people avoid some of the transition pitfalls. I personally experienced due to a lot of, uh, a lot of blind spot, uh, stuff in the blind spot and just, you know, bad decisions as you’re trying to figure out the transition into the private sector. Um, I really admire, and our team admires companies like Redwood that invest in the veteran experience and the veteran transition. And, uh, one other side note, um, you know, our, our, uh, collaboration with Redwood owned that event allowed us to donate, uh, a, a, a nice donation to, uh, vets, to industry, which is nonprofit out there helping veterans and, and military families, uh, with all the different, unique and common needs that they have so big, thanks from our team to your team. Uh, John appreciate what you do. Um, Greg, I’m gonna get your take on what John just shared and of course supporting our veteran and really the unique career opportunity that supply chain and, and logistics, transportation, all different elements of, of global supply chain really offers veterans, but really quick. Yes, Samm Redwood does absolutely deeds, not words, support veterans. Uh, Sam Steve rose is John Wayne in the longest day. Great salesperson, incredible person. Thank you, Sam, for that, uh, master

Greg White (45:20):

Sergeant, I was thinking more from the clinic, but, but longest day is good. Also

Scott Luton (45:24):

It is, uh, master Sergeant Jeremy during, I think if I got that right, uh, was at the event and he also shares, uh, this podcast is helping me bridge the language barrier, being a military logistics pro log, as he says, mm-hmm <affirmative>, Hey, appreciate your service. Thanks for being apart. Let us know how we can help. And, uh, maybe we’ll have a tip or two here right before we wrap. Uh, but Greg way in on what John shared, uh, some of his takeaways from the event and, and, uh, just kind of in general.

Greg White (45:55):

Yeah. I think generally, um, veterans are critical to, to the supply chain and I think their training is very applicable. There are some bridges we need to cross. First of all, they’re very mission oriented, right? Not vision oriented. And I think if we can bridge the, here’s, what we’re trying to accomplish, boys, girls to here’s the brute force and the intellectual, uh, capital that needs to be expended to, to, uh, you know, to accomplish it. Then I think we can do that. What I see commonly, and I don’t know if you guys have seen this too, is it’s as hard for, uh, a military log to, to relate to how that could relate in the, in the real world. And I think we have to help them understand that, tell us not just what you did, but what meant, right. What it accomplished, right. What it supported in terms of a, in terms of a higher purpose.

Greg White (46:53):

And, and when they see that and they see that that’s a core part of business that they’re not usually exposed to at the execution phase that helps them contribute even more. But man, the discipline that, you know, my favorite thing that human beings do and that they teach you to do so well in the military is make life and death decisions within sufficient or inaccurate data immediately. Right? Yeah. And, and that is so such a critical skill in supply chain because every single disruption, every single surprise, every single blind spot presents an opportunity for a human to engage and do that. And I think that’s what makes vets really particularly well suited for logistics and supply chain

Scott Luton (47:36):

Well said very well said, John and Greg bringing it here today. I wanna go back, uh, before we move forward, this is Herta I believe. And Herta great to have you here via LinkedIn, uh, agrees, great point, Greg. She says 65% of the world economy is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2050. There’s gonna be a lot of policy driven impacts. We’ll see over the next few years well said Rashida and thanks for sharing. Thanks for being a part of the conversation here. Yeah. Um, alright. So, um, John, let’s also talk, uh, Redwood is doing a lot of hiring from what I’ve seen. Uh, you know, that, that was a big part of the conversation with veterans, uh, and logistics, uh, Steve pointed out and invited people to check it out. Um, so talk, talk about, you know, some of the talent y’all looking for and, um, you know, as y’all continue to grow.

John Rattay (48:25):

Yeah. You know, culture is such a big thing for us, uh, at Redwood, as we looked to grow, uh, we wanna make sure that we’re bringing the right folks, uh, that can balance out that execution and vision, and really be a part of that. You know, not only from a military perspective, but I think we also have one coming up, women in logistics as well, that diversity of thought those experiences so applicable to supply chain in all different areas. And as we look at, uh, the opportunity for, for Redwood and, and our customers really where we want to be and where we want to go, it, it means kind of having that right perspective and, uh, the, the right talent, uh, as part of that, uh, I think if you go to our page that is open positions, it, uh, probably would, would, would print off on a few pages.

John Rattay (49:08):

Uh, there’s, there’s a lot of positions that are out there, uh, and it spans a across all different categories and segments from sales, operations, data and analytics technology is this, uh, you know, really growing perspective for us in so many, uh, of the different sectors. We, we have a full SaaS division that, that rolls up in our innovate group, uh, you know, safety operations, and, and so much more, I mean, from a perspective across there is something for everyone. And, uh, we’re looking to have great people to, to continue to provide great service for, for our customers. So please, uh, please check it out

Scott Luton (49:43):

Pages. And, and, but, but to our listeners, don’t print out all, we’ll

John Rattay (49:46):

Print it out exactly pages,

Scott Luton (49:51):

But check it out. Uh, you know, we dropped the link. What what’s that? Greg

Greg White (49:55):

Scroll?

Scott Luton (49:56):

<laugh> scroll that’s right. Just scroll, scroll. There you go. Just scroll, um, Redwood logistics.com. We also included the link, uh, dropped the comments to the sustainability page in particular, but you could use that same link to navigate over to what they’re hiring for and check it out. Uh, and as I mentioned, cause I do like beating a dead horse from time to time. They’re, they’re very deliberate in hiring veterans and, and, and, um, I’ll call it, um, not under employing veterans. That’s a big challenge across industry, not just in supply chain, but just in general. So check it out and, uh, would love, um, who knows, maybe you get a conversation you need right around the corner. Um, okay. So I wanna

Greg White (50:33):

Offer, I’m really enjoying Jeremy’s, uh, comments in <laugh>

Scott Luton (50:38):

Seriously.

Greg White (50:39):

Don’t print it. It wouldn’t be sustainable. <laugh>

Scott Luton (50:41):

This one here, uh, back to a master Sergeant Jeremy duing there, that would not be sustainable. Right? So just scroll as Greg suggested, just scroll, but whatever you do, make sure you lean in and apply. They’re hiring a lot of great roles, a lot of great talent. Uh, speaking

Greg White (50:56):

Eight, I didn’t know they could stack paper that high <laugh>

Scott Luton (51:00):

Speaking of poetry a second ago, as clay shared, uh, the supply chain poetry from a heat there, the optimal models for aggregated distribution and carbon emission are still under development. A lot more hands on collaborations between academic researchers and corporate practitioners are needed to make the future world a better place to breathe in. Nicely said Mohe. Now Steven says, Heidelberg, print it out, print it out, print it out.

Scott Luton (51:28):

<laugh>

Scott Luton (51:29):

That’s good.

Greg White (51:29):

They’re doing a lot of electronic at Heidelberg now, too, but that’s right. You know, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Heidelberg printing press. This is what they used to print when they used to print a lot newspapers on the big 2, 3, 4 story ones and magazines and things like that. Now they’ve got every manner and now they’ve got more companies. What an impressive machine it is. I used to be in the printing industry and Heidelberg was Heidelberg was like going to the super bowl in printing

Scott Luton (51:59):

<laugh> yeah.

Scott Luton (52:01):

Uh, I wanna offer up one more other comment, uh, and Josh, great to see ya from Seattle. Uh, I have to give us weather report today, but knowing which bridges to burn and which one’s across, that’s certainly not just good supply chain knowhow. That is global business and beyond knowhow. So Josh, good point here. Um, okay, so John, uh, I tell you, we blink and we’re right around near the top of the hour. If I said that correctly always get top and bottom hour, uh, confused, kinda

Greg White (52:30):

Like headwinds and tailwinds. Yeah.

Scott Luton (52:31):

It kinda like tailwinds and headwinds. What

Greg White (52:33):

Does that think of the way that the big hand is pointing?

Scott Luton (52:35):

<laugh>

Scott Luton (52:38):

Thank

Greg White (52:38):

You. That’s how I do it,

Scott Luton (52:40):

Man.

Greg White (52:41):

For those of you who haven’t read a regular clock in your lifetime, they used to have hands that indicated the time

Scott Luton (52:48):

<laugh>.

Scott Luton (52:50):

Um, alright, so you’re so right, Greg, uh, and now forever more, I will get it right. Uh, just think the analog hands, uh, John, oh, uh, really enjoyed your perspective, enjoyed, uh, the pre show conversations we had. Uh, it’s really, I’ll tell you, um, uh, Redwood is doing some exciting, innovative things to, as we all know the industry and how we do business. So much of it has to change based on not just challenges that have been really made visible these last couple years, but longstanding challenges and, and, and based on the environment and, and, uh, and some of the evolutions out there, so appreciate what you and the Redwood team is doing. How can folks connect with you and the Redwood team, John?

John Rattay (53:32):

Yeah, as always, uh, head to our website, uh, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn. I think you posted it here earlier. I’d love to love to chat and you know, not just about sustainability, all supply chain, technology initiatives, uh, experiences, uh, just en enjoy having these, these types of conversations and, uh, and being a part of it.

Scott Luton (53:50):

Wonderful. Well, I, we appreciate your time here today. Look forward to having you back, especially as y’all yeah. Uh, embark upon the next 20 years. Uh, absolutely big. Thanks to John rote, chief commercial officer with Redwood logistics. Thank you, John.

Greg White (54:06):

Thanks, John.

Scott Luton (54:11):

All right, Greg, we’re going, we’re gonna, uh, wrap up quickly to,

Greg White (54:14):

We’re gonna talk about John. Like he’s not here cuz

Scott Luton (54:16):

That’s right.

Greg White (54:17):

He’s not

Scott Luton (54:18):

<laugh> you’re uh, while we, while we got you, you, your big takeaway from, uh, what John shared here today at folks gotta leave here with

Greg White (54:27):

Yeah. The biggest takeaway is that everyone has to, has to contribute to the sustainability initiative. And I think Redwood has done a stellar job of doing that both with their own internal technologies and processes and, and principles, but also in reaching out into the marketplace Cloverly is a great example and I’m sure they have others where they are finding specialists in the area to make sure that they’re doing the best they can in sustainability. You can’t do it just inside your four walls and you can’t do it supply chain or I mean, uh, sustainability, or even just supply chain transparency just inside your four walls, you have to do it with, and maybe even sometimes four, the rest of your trading partners, because some of them may not be able to stand alone.

Scott Luton (55:11):

That’s right. Well, Hey, y’all kick the tires on the Redwood team and all that they offer that John walked through here today. It’s a great way to explore, uh, uh, increasing your competitive advantage and winning here in the global obstacle course. That is, uh, supply chain right now. Uh, make sure you check out the resources we drop connect with John and the team. Uh, again, big, thanks to Redwood for supporting our veterans, uh, community. Okay. Folks on behalf of Greg and the whole supply chain now team first off, big, thanks. All the folks that showed up in the comments. I know we couldn’t get to all of them. Uh, some of the questions we got to, hopefully they can connect with the Redwood team maybe after today’s show. Uh, but Greg, always a pleasure doing these conversations with you. Yeah. Uh, you know, we gotta challenge folks, right? Not just deeds, not words, you know, it’s all about the actions you take. And with that said, Scott Luton challenging everyone. All of our listeners will do good to give forward and to be the change that’s needed on that note. We see next time, right back here at Apache now. Thanks everybody.

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Featured Guests

John Rattay serves as a Chief Commercial Officer for Redwood Logistics, one of the fastest-growing supply chain and logistics companies in North America. Prior to joining Redwood, Rattay served as Vice President of project44 where he played an instrumental role in accelerating the company’s strategy, revenue and team growth. Throughout his tenure, Rattay’s leadership covered all commercial teams including Sales, Account Management and Network Partnership Collaboration. He also has extensive expertise with international market expansion including Europe, Asia, and Latin America, where he’s been instrumental in a wide range of successful integration projects. Connect with John on LinkedIn.

Hosts

Scott W. Luton

Founder, CEO, & Host

Greg White

Principal & Host

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Demo Perez

Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol

Demo Perez started his career in 1997 in the industry by chance when a relative asked him for help for two just weeks putting together an operation for FedEx Express at the Colon Free Zone, an area where he was never been but accepted the challenge. Worked in all roles possible from a truck driver to currier to a sales representative, helped the brand introduction, market share growth and recognition in the Colon Free Zone, at the end of 1999 had the chance to meet and have a chat with Fred Smith ( FedEx CEO), joined another company in 2018 who took over the FedEx operations as Operations and sales manager, in 2004 accepted the challenge from his company to leave the FedEx operations and business to take over the operation and business of DHL Express, his major competitor and rival so couldn’t say no, by changing completely its operation model in the Free Zone. In 2005 started his first entrepreneurial journey by quitting his job and joining two friends to start a Freight Forwarding company. After 8 months was recruited back by his company LSP with the General Manager role with the challenge of growing the company and make it fully capable warehousing 3PL. By 2009 joined CSCMP and WERC and started his journey of learning and growing his international network and high-level learning. In 2012 for the first time joined a local association ( the Panama Maritime Chamber) and worked in the country’s first Logistics Strategy plan, joined and lead other associations ending as president of the Panama Logistics Council in 2017. By finishing his professional mission at LSP with a company that was 8 times the size it was when accepted the role as GM with so many jobs generated and several young professionals coached, having great financial results, took the decision to move forward and start his own business from scratch by the end of 2019. with a friend and colleague co-founded IPL Group a company that started as a boutique 3PL and now is gearing up for the post-Covid era by moving to the big leagues.

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Mary Kate Love

VP, Marketing

Mary Kate Love is currently the VP of marketing at Supply Chain Now focused on brand strategy and audience + revenue growth. Mary Kate’s career is a testament to her versatility and innovative spirit: she has experience in start-ups, venture capital, and building innovation initiatives from the ground up: she previously helped lead the build-out of the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific and before that, MxD (Manufacturing times Digital): the Department of Defense’s digital manufacturing innovation center. Mary Kate has a passion for taking complicated ideas and turning them into reality: she was one of the first team members at MxD and the first team member at the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific.

Mary Kate dedicates her extra time to education and mentorship: she was one of the founding Board Members for Women Influence Chicago and led an initiative for a city-wide job shadow day for young women across Chicago tech companies and was previously on the Board of Directors at St. Laurence High School in Chicago, Young Irish Fellowship Board and the UN Committee for Women. Mary Kate is the founder of National Supply Chain Day and enjoys co-hosting podcasts at Supply Chain Now. Mary Kate is from the south side of Chicago, a mom of two baby boys, and an avid 16-inch softball player. She holds a BS in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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Joshua Miranda

Marketing Specialist

Joshua is a student from Institute of Technology and Higher Education of Monterrey Campus Guadalajara in Communication and Digital Media. His experience ranges from Plug and Play México, DearDoc, and Nissan México creating unique social media marketing campaigns and graphics design. Joshua helps to amplify the voice of supply chain here at Supply Chain Now by assisting in graphic design, content creation, asset logistics, and more.  In his free time he likes to read and write short stories as well as watch movies and television series.

Donna Krache

Director of Communications and Executive Producer

Donna Krache is a former CNN executive producer who has won several awards in journalism and communication, including three Peabodys.  She has 30 years’ experience in broadcast and digital journalism. She led the first production team at CNN to convert its show to a digital platform. She has authored many articles for CNN and other media outlets. She taught digital journalism at Georgia State University and Arizona State University. Krache holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the College of William and Mary and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of New Orleans. She is a serious sports fan who loves the Braves. She is president of the Dave Krache Foundation. Named in honor of her late husband, this non-profit pays fees for kids who want to play sports but whose parents are facing economic challenges.

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Vicki White

Controller

Vicki has a long history of rising to challenges and keeping things up and running. First, she supported her family’s multi-million dollar business as controller for 12 years, beginning at the age of 17. Then, she worked as an office manager and controller for a wholesale food broker. But her biggest feat? Serving as the chief executive officer of her household, while her entrepreneur husband travelled the world extensively. She fed, nurtured, chaperoned, and chauffeured three daughters all while running a newsletter publishing business and remaining active in her community as a Stephen’s Minister, Sunday school teacher, school volunteer, licensed realtor and POA Board president (a title she holds to this day). A force to be reckoned with in the office, you might think twice before you meet Vicki on the tennis court! When she’s not keeping the books balanced at Supply Chain Now or playing tennis matches, you can find Vicki spending time with her husband Greg, her 4 fur babies, gardening, cleaning (yes, she loves to clean!) and learning new things.

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Ben Harris

Host

Ben Harris is the Director of Supply Chain Ecosystem Expansion for the Metro Atlanta Chamber. Ben comes to the Metro Atlanta Chamber after serving as Senior Manager, Market Development for Manhattan Associates. There, Ben was responsible for developing Manhattan’s sales pipeline and overall Americas supply chain marketing strategy. Ben oversaw market positioning, messaging and campaign execution to build awareness and drive new pipeline growth. Prior to joining Manhattan, Ben spent four years with the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Center of Innovation for Logistics where he played a key role in establishing the Center as a go-to industry resource for information, support, partnership building, and investment development. Additionally, he became a key SME for all logistics and supply chain-focused projects. Ben began his career at Page International, Inc. where he drove continuous improvement in complex global supply chain operations for a wide variety of businesses and Fortune 500 companies. An APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP), Ben holds an Executive Master’s degree in Business Administration (EMBA) and bachelor’s degree in International Business (BBA) from the Terry College at the University of Georgia.

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Page Siplon

Host, The Freight Insider

Prior to joining TeamOne Logistics, Page Siplon served as the Executive Director of the Georgia Center of Innovation for Logistics, the State’s leading consulting resource for fueling logistics industry growth and global competitiveness. For over a decade, he directly assisted hundreds of companies to overcome challenges and capitalize on opportunities related to the movement of freight. During this time, Siplon was also appointed to concurrently serve the State of Georgia as Director of the larger Centers of Innovation Program, in which he provided executive leadership and vision for all six strategic industry-focused Centers. As a frequently requested keynote speaker, Siplon is called upon to address a range of audiences on unique aspects of technology, workforce, and logistics. This often includes topics of global and domestic logistics trends, supply chain visibility, collaboration, and strategic planning. He has also been quoted as an industry expert in publications such as Forbes, Journal of Commerce, Fortune, NPR, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, American Express, DC Velocity, Area Development Magazine, Site Selection Magazine, Inbound Logistics, Modern Material Handling, and is frequently a live special guest on SiriusXM’s Road Dog Radio Show. Siplon is an active industry participant, recognized by DC Velocity Magazine as a “2012 Logistics Rainmaker” which annually identifies the top-ten logistics professionals in the Nation; and named a “Pro to Know” by Supply & Demand Executive Magazine in 2014. Siplon was also selected by Georgia Trend Magazine as one of the “Top 100 Most Influential Georgians” for 2013, 2014, and 2015. He also serves various industry leadership roles at both the State and Federal level. Governor Nathan Deal nominated Siplon to represent Georgia on a National Supply Chain Competitiveness Advisory Committee, where he was appointed to a two-year term by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and was then appointed to serve as its vice-chairman. At the State level, he was selected by then-Governor Sonny Perdue to serve as lead consultant on the Commission for New Georgia’s Freight and Logistics Task Force. In this effort, Siplon led a Private Sector Advisory Committee with invited executives from a range of private sector stakeholders including UPS, Coca-Cola, The Home Depot, Delta Airlines, Georgia Pacific, CSX, and Norfolk Southern. Siplon honorably served a combined 12 years in the United States Marine Corps and the United States Air Force. During this time, he led the integration of encryption techniques and deployed cryptographic devices for tactically secure voice and data platforms in critical ground-to-air communication systems. This service included support for all branches of the Department of Defense, multiple federal security agencies, and aiding NASA with multiple Space Shuttle launches. Originally from New York, Siplon received both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering with a focus on digital signal processing from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He earned an associate’s degree in advanced electronic systems from the Air Force College and completed multiple military leadership academies in both the Marines and Air Force. Siplon currently lives in Cumming, Georgia (north of Atlanta), with his wife Jan, and two children Thomas (19) and Lily (15).

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Kristi Porter

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Kristi Porter is VP of Sales and Marketing at Vector Global Logistics, a company that is changing the world through supply chain. In her role, she oversees all marketing efforts and supports the sales team in doing what they do best. In addition to this role, she is the Chief Do-Gooder at Signify, which assists nonprofits and social impact companies through copywriting and marketing strategy consulting. She has almost 20 years of professional experience, and loves every opportunity to help people do more good.

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Sofia Rivas Herrera

Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol

Sofia Rivas Herrera is a Mexican Industrial Engineer from Tecnologico de Monterrey class 2019. Upon graduation, she earned a scholarship to study MIT’s Graduate Certificate in Logistics and Supply Chain Management and graduated as one of the Top 3 performers of her class in 2020. She also has a multicultural background due to her international academic experiences at Singapore Management University and Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg. Sofia self-identifies as a Supply Chain enthusiast & ambassador sharing her passion for the field in her daily life.

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Katherine Hintz

Sales and Marketing Coordinator

Katherine is a marketing professional and MBA candidate who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.

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Kim Winter

Host, Supply Chain Now

The founder of Logistics Executive Group, Kim Winter delivers 40 years of executive leadership experience spanning Executive Search & Recruitment, Leadership Development, Executive Coaching, Corporate Advisory, Motivational Speaking, Trade Facilitation and across the Supply Chain, Logistics, 3PL, E-commerce, Life Science, Cold Chain, FMCG, Retail, Maritime, Defence, Aviation, Resources, and Industrial sectors. Operating from the company’s global offices, he is a regular contributor of thought leadership to industry and media, is a professional Master of Ceremonies, and is frequently invited to chair international events.

He is a Board member of over a dozen companies throughout APAC, India, and the Middle East, a New Zealand citizen, he holds formal resident status in Australia and the UAE, and is the Australia & New Zealand representative for the UAE Government-owned Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), the Middle East’s largest Economic Free Zone.

A triathlete and ex-professional rugby player, Kim is a qualified (IECL Sydney) executive coach and the Founder / Chairman of the successful not for profit humanitarian organization, Oasis Africa (www. oasisafrica.org.au), which has provided freedom from poverty through education to over 8000 mainly orphaned children in East Africa’s slums. Kim holds an MBA and BA from Massey & Victoria Universities (NZ).

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Adrian Purtill

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Adrian Purtill serves as Business Development Manager at Vector Global Logistics, where he consults with importers and exporters in various industries to match their specific shipping requirements with the most effective supply chain solutions. Vector Global Logistics is an asset-free, multi-modal logistics company that provides exceptional sea freight, air freight, truck, rail, general logistic services and consulting for our clients. Our highly trained and professional team is committed to providing creative and effective solutions, always exceeding our customer’s expectations and fostering long-term relationships. With more than 20+ years of experience in both strategy consulting and logistics, Vector Global Logistics is your best choice to proactively minimize costs while having an exceptional service level.

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Kevin Brown

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Kevin Brown is the Director of Business Development for Vector Global Logistics.  He has a dedicated interest in Major Account Management, Enterprise Sales, and Corporate Leadership. He offers 25 years of exceptional experience and superior performance in the sales of Logistics, Supply Chain, and Transportation Management. Kevin is a dynamic, high-impact, sales executive and corporate leader who has consistently exceeded corporate goals. He effectively coordinates multiple resources to solution sell large complex opportunities while focusing on corporate level contacts across the enterprise. His specialties include targeting and securing key accounts by analyzing customer’s current business processes and developing solutions to meet their corporate goals. Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn.

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Jose Miguel Irarrazaval

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Jose Manuel Irarrazaval es parte del equipo de Vector Global Logistics Chile. José Manuel es un gerente experimentado con experiencia en finanzas corporativas, fusiones y adquisiciones, financiamiento y reestructuración, inversión directa y financiera, tanto en Chile como en el exterior. José Manuel tiene su MBA de la Universidad de Pennsylvania- The Wharton School. Conéctese con Jose Manuel en LinkedIn.

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Nick Roemer

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Nick Roemer has had a very diverse and extensive career within design and sales over the last 15 years stretching from China, Dubai, Germany, Holland, UK, and the USA. In the last 5 years, Nick has developed a hawk's eye for sustainable tech and the human-centric marketing and sales procedures that come with it. With his far-reaching and strong network within the logistics industry, Nick has been able to open new avenues and routes to market within major industries in the USA and the UAE. Nick lives by the ethos, “Give more than you take." His professional mission is to make the logistics industry leaner, cleaner and greener.

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Allison Giddens

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Allison Krache Giddens has been with Win-Tech, a veteran-owned small business and aerospace precision machine shop, for 15 years, recently buying the company from her mentor and Win-Tech’s Founder, Dennis Winslow. She and her business partner, John Hudson now serve as Co-Presidents, leading the 33-year old company through the pandemic.

She holds undergraduate degrees in psychology and criminal justice from the University of Georgia, a Masters in Conflict Management from Kennesaw State University, a Masters in Manufacturing from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Certificate of Finance from the University of Georgia. She also holds certificates in Google Analytics, event planning, and Cybersecurity Risk Management from Harvard online. Allison founded the Georgia Chapter of Women in Manufacturing and currently serves as Treasurer. She serves on the Chattahoochee Technical College Foundation Board as its Secretary, the liveSAFE Resources Board of Directors as Resource Development Co-Chair, and on the Leadership Cobb Alumni Association Board as Membership Chair and is also a member of Cobb Executive Women. She is on the Board for the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s Northwest Area Councils. Allison runs The Dave Krache Foundation, a non-profit that helps pay sports fees for local kids in need.

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Billy Taylor

Host of Dial P for Procurement

Billy Taylor is a Proven Business Excellence Practitioner and Leadership Guru with over 25 years leading operations for a Fortune 500 company, Goodyear. He is also the CEO of LinkedXL (Excellence), a Business Operating Systems Architecting Firm dedicated to implementing sustainable operating systems that drive sustainable results. Taylor’s achievements in the industry have made him a Next Generational Lean pacesetter with significant contributions.

An American business executive, Taylor has made a name for himself as an innovative and energetic industry professional with an indispensable passion for his craft of operational excellence. His journey started many years ago and has worked with renowned corporations such as The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) leading multi-site operations. With over 3 decades of service leading North America operations, he is experienced in a deeply rooted process driven approach in customer service, process integrity for sustainability.

A disciple of continuous improvement, Taylor’s love for people inspires commitment to helping others achieve their full potential. He is a dynamic speaker and hosts "The Winning Link," a popular podcast centered on business and leadership excellence with the #1 rated Supply Chain Now Network. As a leadership guru, Taylor has earned several invitations to universities, international conferences, global publications, and the U.S. Army to demonstrate how to achieve and sustain effective results through cultural acceptance and employee ownership. Leveraging the wisdom of his business acumen, strong influence as a speaker and podcaster Taylor is set to release "The Winning Link" book under McGraw Hill publishing in 2022. The book is a how-to manual to help readers understand the management of business interactions while teaching them how to Deine, Align, and Execute Winning in Business.

A servant leader, Taylor, was named by The National Diversity Council as one of the Top 100 Diversity Officers in the country in 2021. He features among Oklahoma's Most Admired CEOs and maintains key leadership roles with the Executive Advisory Board for The Shingo Institute "The Nobel Prize of Operations" and The Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME); two world-leading organizations for operational excellence, business development, and cultural learning.  He is also an Independent Director for the M-D Building Products Board, a proud American manufacturer of quality products since 1920.

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Lori Sofian

Marketing Coordinator

Lori is currently completing a degree in marketing with an emphasis in digital marketing at the University of Georgia. When she’s not supporting the marketing efforts at Supply Chain Now, you can find her at music festivals – or working toward her dream goal of a fashion career. Lori is involved in many extracurricular activities and appreciates all the learning experiences UGA has brought her.

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Chantel King

Social Media Manager

My name is Chantel King and I am the Social Media Specialist at Supply Chain Now. My job is to make sure our audience is engaged and educated on the abundant amount of information the supply chain industry has to offer.

Social Media and Communications has been my niche ever since I graduated from college at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco. No, I am not a West Coast girl. I was born and raised in New Jersey, but my travel experience goes way beyond the garden state. My true passion is in creating editorial and graphic content that influences others to be great in whatever industry they are in. I’ve done this by working with lifestyle, financial, and editorial companies by providing resources to enhance their businesses.

Another passion of mine is trying new things. Whether it’s food, an activity, or a sport. I would like to say that I am an adventurous Taurus that never shies away from a new quest or challenge.

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Trisha Cordes

Administrative Assistant

Trisha is new to the supply chain industry – but not to podcasting. She’s an experienced podcast manager and virtual assistant who also happens to have 20 years of experience as an elementary school teacher. It’s safe to say, she’s passionate about helping people, and she lives out that passion every day with the Supply Chain Now team, contributing to scheduling and podcast production.

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Clay Phillips

Business Development Manager

Clay is passionate about two things: supply chain and the marketing that goes into it. Recently graduated with a degree in marketing at the University of Georgia, Clay got his start as a journalism major and inaugural member of the Owl’s football team at Kennesaw State University – but quickly saw tremendous opportunity in the Terry College of Business. He’s already putting his education to great use at Supply Chain Now, assisting with everything from sales and brand strategy to media production. Clay has contributed to initiatives such as our leap into video production, the guest blog series, and boosting social media presence, and after nearly two years in Supply Chain Now’s Marketing Department, Clay now heads up partnership and sales initiatives with the help of the rest of the Supply Chain Now sales team.

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Amanda Luton

Vice President, Production

Amanda is a production and marketing veteran and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience across a variety of industries and organizations including Von Maur, Anthropologie, AmericasMart Atlanta, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Amanda currently manages, produces, and develops modern digital content for Supply Chain Now and their clients. Amanda has previously served as the VP of Information Systems and Webmaster on the Board of Directors for APICS Savannah, and founded and managed her own successful digital marketing firm, Magnolia Marketing Group. When she’s not leading the Supply Chain Now production team, you can find Amanda in the kitchen, reading, listening to podcasts, or enjoying time with family.

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Constantine Limberakis

Host

Constantine Limberakis is a thought leader in the area of procurement and supply management. He has over 20 years of international experience, playing strategic roles in a wide spectrum of organizations related to analyst advisory, consulting, product marketing, product development, and market research.Throughout his career, he's been passionate about engaging global business leaders and the broader analyst and technology community with strategic content, speaking engagements, podcasts, research, webinars, and industry articles.Constantine holds a BA in History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA in Finance & Marketing / Masters in Public & International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.

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Mary Kate Soliva

Host, Veteran Voices

Mary Kate Soliva is a veteran of the US Army and cofounder of the Guam Human Rights Initiative. She is currently in the Doctor of Criminal Justice program at Saint Leo University. She is passionate about combating human trafficking and has spent the last decade conducting training for military personnel and the local community.

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Kelly Barner

Host of Dial P for Procurement

Kelly is the Owner and Managing Director of Buyers Meeting Point and MyPurchasingCenter. She has been in procurement since 2003, starting as a practitioner and then as the Associate Director of Consulting at Emptoris. She has covered procurement news, events, publications, solutions, trends, and relevant economics at Buyers Meeting Point since 2009. Kelly is also the General Manager at Art of Procurement and Business Survey Chair for the ISM-New York Report on Business. Kelly has her MBA from Babson College as well as an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons College and she has co-authored three books: ‘Supply Market Intelligence for Procurement Professionals’, ‘Procurement at a Crossroads’, and ‘Finance Unleashed’.

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Enrique Alvarez

Host of Logistics with Purpose and Supply Chain Now en Español

Enrique serves as Managing Director at Vector Global Logistics and believes we all have a personal responsibility to change the world. He is hard working, relationship minded and pro-active. Enrique trusts that the key to logistics is having a good and responsible team that truly partners with the clients and does whatever is necessary to see them succeed. He is a proud sponsor of Vector’s unique results-based work environment and before venturing into logistics he worked for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). During his time at BCG, he worked in different industries such as Telecommunications, Energy, Industrial Goods, Building Materials, and Private Banking. His main focus was always on the operations, sales, and supply chain processes, with case focus on, logistics, growth strategy, and cost reduction. Prior to joining BCG, Enrique worked for Grupo Vitro, a Mexican glass manufacturer, for five years holding different positions from sales and logistics manager to supply chain project leader in charge of five warehouses in Colombia.

He has an MBA from The Wharton School of Business and a BS, in Mechanical Engineer from the Technologico de Monterrey in Mexico. Enrique’s passions are soccer and the ocean, and he also enjoys traveling, getting to know new people, and spending time with his wife and two kids, Emma and Enrique.

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Kevin L. Jackson

Host of Digital Transformers

Kevin L. Jackson is a globally recognized Thought Leader, Industry Influencer and Founder/Author of the award winning “Cloud Musings” blog.  He has also been recognized as a “Top 5G Influencer” (Onalytica 2019, Radar 2020), a “Top 50 Global Digital Transformation Thought Leader” (Thinkers 360 2019) and provides strategic consulting and integrated social media services to AT&T, Intel, Broadcom, Ericsson and other leading companies. Mr. Jackson’s commercial experience includes Vice President J.P. Morgan Chase, Worldwide Sales Executive for IBM and SAIC (Engility) Director Cloud Solutions. He has served on teams that have supported digital transformation projects for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the US Intelligence Community.  Kevin’s formal education includes a MS Computer Engineering from Naval Postgraduate School; MA National Security & Strategic Studies from Naval War College; and a BS Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy. Internationally recognizable firms that have sponsored articles authored by him include CiscoMicrosoft, Citrix and IBM.  Books include “Click to Transform” (Leaders Press, 2020), “Architecting Cloud Computing Solutions” (Packt, 2018), and “Practical Cloud Security: A Cross Industry View” (Taylor & Francis, 2016). He also delivers online training through Tulane UniversityO’Reilly MediaLinkedIn Learning, and Pluralsight.  Mr. Jackson retired from the U.S. Navy in 1994, earning specialties in Space Systems EngineeringCarrier Onboard Delivery Logistics and carrier-based Airborne Early Warning and Control. While active, he also served with the National Reconnaissance Office, Operational Support Office, providing tactical support to Navy and Marine Corps forces worldwide.

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Tyler Ward

Director of Sales

Tyler Ward serves as Supply Chain Now's Director of Sales. Born and raised in Mid-Atlantic, Tyler is a proud graduate of Shippensburg University where he earned his degree in Communications. After college, he made his way to the beautiful state of Oregon, where he now lives with his wife and daughter.

With over a decade of experience in sales, Tyler has a proven track record of exceeding targets and leading high-performing teams. He credits his success to his ability to communicate effectively with customers and team members alike, as well as his strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.

When he's not closing deals, you can find Tyler on the links or cheering on his favorite football and basketball teams. He also enjoys spending time with his family, playing pick-up basketball, and traveling back to Ocean City, Maryland, his favorite place!

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Chris Barnes

Principal, Supply Chain Now
Host of Supply Chain is Boring

Talk about world-class: Chris is one of the few professionals in the world to hold CPIM-F, CLTD-F and CSCP-F designations from ASCM/APICS. He’s also the APICS coach – and our resident Supply Chain Doctor. When he’s not hosting programs with Supply Chain Now, he’s sharing supply chain knowledge on the APICS Coach Youtube channel or serving as a professional education instructor for the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistic Institute’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) program and University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Center for Professional Education courses.

Chris earned a BS in Industrial Engineering from Bradley University, an MBA with emphasis in Industrial Psychology from the University of West Florida, and is a Doctoral in Supply Chain Management candidate.

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Greg White

Principal & CMO, Supply Chain Now
Host of Supply Chain Now and TECHquila Sunrise

When rapid-growth technology companies, venture capital and private equity firms are looking for advisory, they call Greg – a founder, board director, advisor and catalyst of disruptive B2B technology and supply chain. An insightful visionary, Greg guides founders, investors and leadership teams in creating breakthroughs to gain market exposure and momentum – increasing overall company esteem and valuation.

Greg is a founder himself, creating Blue Ridge Solutions, a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader in cloud-native supply chain applications, and bringing to market Curo, a field service management solution. He has also held leadership roles with Servigistics (PTC) and E3 Corporation (JDA/Blue Yonder). As a principal and host at Supply Chain Now, Greg helps guide the company’s strategic direction, hosts industry leader discussions, community livestreams, and all in addition to executive producing and hosting his original YouTube channel and podcast, TEChquila Sunrise.

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Scott W. Luton

Founder, CEO, & Host

As the founder and CEO of Supply Chain Now, you might say Scott is the voice of supply chain – but he’s too much of a team player to ever claim such a title. One thing’s for sure: he’s a tried and true supply chain expert. With over 15 years of experience in the end-to-end supply chain, Scott’s insights have appeared in major publications including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and CNN. He has also been named a top industry influencer by Thinkers360, ISCEA and more.

From 2009-2011, Scott was president of APICS Atlanta, and he continues to lead initiatives that support both the local business community and global industry. A United States Air Force Veteran, Scott has also regularly led efforts to give back to his fellow veteran community since his departure from active duty in 2002.

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