Executive Platforms has collaborated with Competitive Solutions since its earliest days, and there are few organizations better positioned to speak to senior executives about how they have achieved success and what advice they would want to share with an audience of business leaders at all stages of their careers and working lives. In this episode we talk to Seth about the past, present, and future of his show in the hopes that some of our listeners will find it valuable as well. Enjoy!

Seth Davies
Executive Vice President
Competitive Solutions, Inc.

As EVP of Competitive Solutions, Inc., Seth runs the day-to-day operations of the Atlanta office.  He joined CSI in 1997 as Director of Sales and Marketing.  Prior to joining CSI, he worked in the printing and publishing industry serving as Southeast Regional Director for Enterprise Communications.  Seth is a popular speaker at   Human Resource, Operational Excellence and Quality Conferences.  He believes organizations today must create and sustain a culture with three non-negotiable attributes.  Those attributes include a sense of urgency, a clear and concise business focus and leadership driven, shared accountability. He has assisted a wide variety of organizations in the development of their key business metrics, documented communication strategy, and established a collective accountability across the company.  Organizations Seth has worked with include Pfizer, Genentech, Genzyme, Goodwill Industries, Revlon, Michelin Tire, Gerber Legendary Blades, National Institute Severely Handicapped (NISH), and several Army Depots. He is a graduate of Presbyterian College.
 
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With over 32 years of experience transforming businesses through effective leadership training, Competitive Solutions, Inc. is giving organizations the power to make decisions that are fact-driven and company-directed. We are providing meaningful ways to collect data that leads to the creation of a responsible business culture. We believe that by bringing transparency, unity, and stability to each company we work with, we help our clients drive success throughout their organizations.

We have had the pleasure of speaking with the experts at BCI Global at many Executive Platforms’ events over the years. In this episode we talk about which questions are always important, and also what is new and changing in this space. What do senior executives need to know when they make decisions about where their businesses are going to operate? What does good advice look like, and how do you get a well-rounded, multi-faceted understanding of all the factors and variables you need to make an informed decision? For all this and more, give this episode a listen! 

Johan Beukema
Managing Partner
BCI Global

Johan Beukema is Managing Partner at BCI Global, leading the global manufacturing footprint optimization and location & site selection practice. He has a degree in International Business at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. Johan started at BCI Global in 1999 and has since then supported hundreds of companies in their manufacturing, supply chain and location projects across the globe, including North and South America, EMEA and the full Asia region. He has a very strong experience base in different industries with references such as e.g. (sample only) J&J, IKEA, Novo Nordisk, Olympus, ThermoFisher, Insulet, Abbott, Silgan Closures, Pepsico, Mondelez, Yanmar, Cisco, Starkey, ExxonMobil, Navico Group, Elring Klinger, Mann + Hummel, Bausch & Lomb,  and many others. He is a regular speaker at conferences and seminars and he is a Member of the global Site Selectors Guild.

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BCI Global is a recognized global consulting leader in developing manufacturing footprint and distribution network strategies and location strategy & site selection consulting for production plants, distribution centers, engineering/software hubs in US, Mexico, LATAM, Europe, China and Asia. BCI has teams and offices in Atlanta, Bay Area, Los Angeles, Dallas; in Europe in the Netherlands and Frankfurt; and in Asia in Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei and India Clients acknowledge BCI’s combination of strategic thinking and operations focused action plans; its independent, result oriented and co-operative attitude; and its tailor-made, cost effective approach.

Matthew Delaney
Head of Enterprise Solutions
Covalent

Matt is the co-founder and Head of Enterprise Solutions at Covalent Networks, a multi-stakeholder software application that streamlines the hands-on learning in the field and on the floor and elevates mission-critical proficiency data to company leaders so that they can make informed workforce decisions.
 
 Covalent is an enterprise SaaS application that enables end-to-end workforce qualification processes on-the-floor and in-the-field. In doing so, we capture unique qualification data that can be operationalized to drive cross-training, accelerate time-to-productivity, inform manpower planning, and enable process control (e.g., qualification-based badging / work order sign-off). Customers include Fortune 500 aerospace and automotive OEMs.

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Covalent’s growing suite of tactical software solutions enables complex manufacturers to continuously maximize labor productivity by systematically:

>> Administering training programs — down to parts, processes & machines
 >> Closing performance gaps by leveraging production & quality data
 >> Optimizing who works on what, increasing throughput by up to 5%

Customers include Fortune 500 jet engine, automotive, and chemical manufacturers.

www.covalentnetworks.com

Andrew Siprelle
Founder
ChiAha

Andrew is driven by a passion to unlock the value of simulation and modeling in helping to solve real-world problems. Since founding Simulation Dynamics, Inc. in the early 90’s, he has been an educator, a consultant, a simulation tool developer, and a smart applications technology leader. Andrew coined the term “Discrete Rate Simulation”, and developed one of the earliest libraries for quickly building models of multi-stage plants that produce powder or bulk solids; for example a breakfast cereal plant. ChiAha is the culmination of a lifelong dream for Andrew, who has always wanted to reinvent and more widely distribute the benefits of the DRS worldview.

Tom Lange
Doctor of Reliability
ChiAha

Tom joins the ChiAha team after a long and successful career with Procter & Gamble.

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ChiAha’s Prediction Toolkit Can Help You Answer Your Factory Flow Questions. ChiAha can predict production line performance and OEE within 1% accuracy using high fidelity data-driven behavior. Get objective answers, at lightning speed, to many of your strategic questions related to the design, operation and improvement of high speed production. Let Chiaha help you accelerate your “raw data to prediction” journey!

In this wide-ranging, organic conversation, three manufacturing executives share their thoughts and experiences on the issues and ideas they care about. It is a fantastic deep dive into what is most relevant to manufacturing leaders today. Give it a listen!

Our roundtable panelists are…

Andy Hancock
Global Domain Advisor
SAP

Andy Hancock is a Global Vice President of the Centre of Excellence within SAP Digital Supply Chain. As a seasoned global executive who has held numerous leadership roles during his 15-year tenure at SAP, he has brought quantifiable results to leading global brands through innovation advocacy. Having worked in more than 40 countries and experienced a vast array of cultures, he understands the importance of challenging the status quo to drive business outcome and create a competitive differentiator in turbulent global markets. Andy brings thought leadership and a clarity of vision to businesses by merging a strong technical foundation, a passion for solving problems and leveraging a vast array of knowledge obtained from real world situations he has encountered during his career. He understands how to quickly uncover the root of a problem and articulate a clear path to a successful business outcome. Andy holds a Master’s in Computer Science and a Bachelor in Aeronautic Engineering from the University of Salford, United Kingdom. He is also a Professional Member of the British Computer Society, the Chartered Institute for IT.

Rakuya Artis
Vice President Global Operations & Supply Chain
DESTACO

 With over 18 years of experience in manufacturing management and operations in the Automotive industry, Rakuya is a seasoned executive who leads the global operations and supply chain functions for DESTACO, a world leader in clamping, gripping, transferring, and robotic solutions. As a key member of the executive leadership team, she develops and executes the global manufacturing and supply chain strategy, including production, procurement, and logistics, across nine facilities in three regions.

Rakuya is passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion, and have served on the DE&I councils at Dover and my previous company, MAHLE.

 Christina Upah
 Vice President Attack Helicopter Programs & Senior Mesa Site Executive
 Boeing

 Christina Upah is the vice president of Attack Helicopter Programs for Boeing Defense, Space & Security and the senior site executive in Mesa, Ariz. In this role, Upah leads more than 4,600 employees supporting the design, production and delivery of the AH-64 Apache and AH-6 Little Bird helicopters for the U.S. Army and allied defense forces around the globe.

Prior to this role, Upah was director of Mesa Site and Attack Operations. In this position, she was responsible for overall production of the Apache and Little Bird for global customers.

Upah has previously served as the director of International Apache Programs, where she led the program execution of foreign military sales and direct commercial sales supporting customers worldwide.

First joining Boeing in 1997, Upah hprogressed through program management positions of increasing responsibility, having led the successful program start-up of the Little Bird and Apache international and development programs, with a core emphasis on contracts, estimating/pricing, cost management and scheduling.

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Kawa Chiu
Chief Technical Officer
Abdera Therapeutics

Kawa Chiu is the Chief Technical Officer at Abdera Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company leveraging antibody engineering to design and develop next-generation precision radiopharmaceuticals for cancer.  Kawa joined Abdera in 2022 and built out Technical Operations organization and CMC capabilities.  During her tenure, Kawa and her team developed Abdera’s lead program, ABD-147, a targeted radiopharmaceutical biologic therapy designed to deliver Actinium-225 (225Ac) to solid tumors expressing delta-like ligand 3 (DLL3) with high affinity.  The FDA cleared the IND for the treatment of SCLC and LCNEC in May 2024 and recognized the potential of ABD-147 to become a transformative treatment option in areas of high unmet medical need by granting fast track designation in extensive-stage SCLC in June 2024, and an orphan drug designation for the treatment of neuroendocrine carcinoma in August 2024.

 Prior to Abdera, Kawa served as the vice president of CMC supply chain at Lyell Immunopharma, a cell therapy company focused on solid tumors.  At Lyell, Kawa oversaw CMC programs that enabled three IND approvals, established the company’s autologous patient supply chain, and implemented a progressive cloud based, integrated manufacturing systems.  Prior to Lyell, Kawa spent 14 years at Genentech in South San Francisco and at Roche in Basel, Switzerland in roles including head of Oceanside drug substance manufacturing, global head of technical operation strategy, global head of biologics operational excellence and global head of supply planning.  Kawa started her career and held a number of manufacturing positions at Merck & Co., Inc.

 Kawa holds a B.S. in operations from The Ohio State University, a M.Sc. in Engineering from University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from New York University, and a Master in Public Health from U.C. Berkeley.

The answer is surprisingly positive! 

Making the mental shift from working on the strategic big picture to the tactical best practices that day-to-day operations depend upon opens up many opportunities to give time, attention, and resources to the issues and ideas that are sometimes forgotten about or put to one side as ‘good enough’ or ‘not a priority.’ The truth is there are many easy wins and low-hanging fruits that are not worked on in times of stability and certainty that can add up to substantial improvements in productivity, profitability, and employee job satisfaction when leaders concentrate within their own operations and teams to optimize what they can control while waiting for greater clarity on what is still up in the air in the future.

For an optimistic and impactful conversation about what manufacturers can do right now to make impactful positive changes in their organizations right now, give this episode a listen!

Panelists:
 
 Allen Merriman
Partner, Manufacturing & Operations
AlixPartners

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allen-merriman-60480/

Bio: https://www.alixpartners.com/our-people/28094/allen-merriman/

Anna Horton
Senior Vice President
AlixPartners

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-horton/

Sudeep Saxena
Partner, Manufacturing & Operations
AlixPartners

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sudeepsaxena/

Bio: https://www.alixpartners.com/our-people/28167/sudeep-saxena/

Bhavik Mistry
Director, Manufacturing & Operations
AlixPartners

 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhavikkmistry/

Moderator:

Geoff MIcks
Head of Content & Research
Executive Platforms

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AlixPartners

https://www.alixpartners.com/

This roundtable includes…

 
Panelists:

 
Denise Abbott
Senior Vice President Human Resources
FedEx 

Denise Abbott has served as Senior Vice President HR for FedEx Express Corporation since November 2021.

In this Business Partner role, Denise leads the HR strategy and service delivery for FedEx International and Airline Operations with a focus on talent, human capital management and enhancing the employee value proposition.

Denise has more than 30 years of employee relations experience working with corporate professionals in a variety of industries. She joined FedEx Ground in 2011 as a Senior Attorney in the Labor Law Group and held various roles within the company before becoming Vice President Human Resources at FedEx Ground in 2017. In 2020, Denise joined the FedEx Express team in Europe, expanding her role to include a global remit in 2023.

Denise earned her bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and her law degree from Duquesne University School of Law. She is the recipient of the prestigious FedEx Five Star Award.

Denise currently lives in Amsterdam with her husband David where she enjoys traveling the world and learning to speak Dutch.

Karen Light
Vice President, Total Rewards
Walmart 

Karen Light has more than 20 years of experience as a senior HR executive responsible for People, Total Rewards, and Benefits Programs that drive talent retention and engagement, lead business transformations, and deploying solutions to decrease costs, reduce risk, and improve efficiency. At Walmart, she is responsible for supporting the well-being of more than 1.5 million associates.

Moderator:

Geoff Micks
Head of Content & Research
Executive Platforms 

Geoff joined the industry events business as a conference producer in 2010 after four years working in print media. He has researched, planned, organized, run, and contributed to more than a hundred events across North America and Europe for senior leaders, with special emphasis on the energy, mining, manufacturing, maintenance, supply chain, human resources, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, finance, and sustainability sectors. As part of his role as Head of Content & Research, Geoff hosts Executive Platforms’ bluEPrint Podcast series as well as a blog focusing on issues relevant to Executive Platforms’ network of business leaders. 

Geoff is the author of five works of historical fiction: Inca, Zulu, Beginning, Middle, and End. The New York Times and National Public Radio have interviewed him about his writing, and he wrote and narrated an animated short for Vice Media that appeared on HBO. He has a BA Honours with High Distinction from the University of Toronto specializing in Journalism with a Double Minor in History and Classical Studies, as well as Diploma in Journalism from Centennial College.

Mark Fordyce
Regional Director, US Southeast
Workvivo by Zoom

Mark Fordyce serves as the Digital Employee Experience Director of Workvivo dedicated to helping clients achieve their employee communications, engagement, and advocacy ambitions.  Having started his career in public relations for FleishmanHillard and Weber Shandwick, Mark transitioned to leading IT and consulting efforts at companies like McKesson Corporation to improve the overall employee experience.  The best part of working at Workvivo is to witness first-hand how clients manage to transform the way employees feel, getting to 80% or greater engagement.   That level of engagement turns employees into advocates, improves the execution of new or changing go-to-market strategies, helps attract and retain top talent for a competitive edge, and improves overall company culture.

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Workvivo by Zoom is an employee experience platform (EXP) that simplifies communication and increases engagement by empowering employees to be heard and helping everyone feel included, no matter where they work.

Founded in 2017, Workvivo has seen momentous growth, which led to its acquisition by Zoom in 2023. Workvivo regularly tops software review sites, including Gartner Digital, with a #1 spot on G2 for internal communications, intranet and engagement tool categories. For more information, visit www.workvivo.com.

Barbara Hess
Chief Human Resources Officer
CCS Medical

Barb Hess is an accomplished senior human resources executive with an impressive history of helping private equity-backed organizations build critical infrastructure, scale, and achieve successful exits. Her success in private equity environments is rooted in her ability to quickly diagnose situations, generate practical solutions, make thoughtful decisions, and drive consensus across executive teams/boards of directors.

Barb is currently Chief Human Resources Officer for CCS Medical and since 2021, has been an integral part in standing up the CCS Health business, growing company revenue, expanding headcount 20-30% YOY while doubling the patient base, and boosting talent retention by 30% in a highly competitive labor market. Prior to this, she served as Chief Human Resources Officer for private equity-backed Medical Specialties Distributors (MSD) where her leadership and talent/succession management expertise contributed to the company’s rapid growth ($350M to $800M in 2 years) and ultimate sale to McKesson.

Earlier in Barb’s career, she was Director of Organizational Development for Cardinal Health (Fortune 20), where she implemented enterprise-wide solutions that shaped global culture and sustained progress via gaining C-Suite support and skillful change management. Barb started her career with Nationwide Insurance as an HR Business Partner supporting 4.5K employees across the Financial Services and IT groups.

Barb earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Management/Labor Relations from Cleveland State University and a Master’s degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Capella University. Outside of work, she is active in the community with organizations such as Make-aWish (Executive Chair of Governance and Compensation Committee / Board Member for OH, KY, & IN) and The James Cancer Care Center fundraiser. Barb also enjoys having fun with friends and family, running, outdoor activities, and world travel.

At the 2025 edition of the North American Finance Executive Summit series we sat down with Elmar Licharz of Volkswagen, Guru Ramamurthy of Bayer US, and Tatiana Simonelli of Alfasigma —all members of the NAFES25 speaker faculty— for a wide-ranging discussion about the issues, ideas, challenges, and opportunities that are top of mind for finance leaders today, as suggested by the attendees of the event. Give it a listen!

This roundtable includes…
 
 Panelists:

Elmar Licharz
Chief Financial Officer, North America
Volkswagen 

Dr. Elmar-Marius Licharz, Chief Financial Officer for Volkswagen North American Region and Volkswagen Group of America, oversees the development and implementation of the financial strategy for Volkswagen Group of America.

Elmar joined Volkswagen AG in Wolfsburg, Germany, in 2005, and most recently served in the position of Head of Digital Finance. Prior to joining Volkswagen AG, Elmar worked for McKinsey & Company, Inc. where he was responsible for national and international projects in the pharmaceutical, aerospace and automotive industries.

Elmar earned his PhD at the University of Kassel.
 

Guru Ramamurthy
Chief Financial Officer, Bayer U.S.
Bayer US

Guru brings wide-ranging global finance and leadership experience across different businesses and countries.  He has a strong track record of enabling business turnaround and expansion and driving functional transformation. Guru has worked with Bayer in a range of roles over the past 20 years. He recently served as Chief Financial Officer of AskBio from March 2021 to July 2023. He was previously the Global Finance Lead for the Oncology franchise from January 2020 until February 2021; CFO of the North American business at Bayer Consumer Health from 2016 to 2019; and CFO of the Bayer Medical Care Division from 2013 to 2016. Prior to that, he held various finance roles in Germany (Berlin, Wuppertal); Italy; Japan; and Berkeley, California. Before Bayer, his career was focused on finance, audit, and accounting roles at various companies, including Siemens, Citibank, and PWC.

Guru holds an Executive Master of Business Administration degree from INSEAD, France, and a bachelor’s degree in commerce with emphasis in accounting and tax from St. Xavier’s College, India. He is an Associate Chartered Accountant (ACA) and Graduate Cost and Works Accountant (Grad CWA), both internationally recognized professional accounting degrees.

Tatiana Simonelli
Corporate CFO
Alfasigma 

Tatiana is a transformative international business and finance leader with significant experience in tackling today’s complex challenges. Over nearly 30 years of global experience, she has acquired expertise in financial strategy, business model transformation, commercialization excellence, crisis navigation, and large-scale M&A integration. 

Tatiana is currently Corporate CFO in Alfasigma, Italian multinational pharma company with very ambitious organic and inorganic growth plans. Prior to that, she built her career in Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) over 15 years starting as Finance Director in Italy, then progressing in various senior roles in Commercial Finance, Business Development and Business Insights & Analytics; her last role in BMS was Senior Vice President of Finance for Commercialization providing financial leadership to ~45+$Bln business. Before joining BMS, Tatiana spent 14 years in Finance leadership roles at Procter & Gamble in Russia and Italy.

Moderator:

Geoff Micks
Head of Content & Research
Executive Platforms

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Rob Konferowicz
Director of Operations
CCH Tagetik

 Rob Konferowicz is CCH Tagetik’s leading expert on Corporate Performance Management solutions and helps large enterprise companies make appropriate, long-term strategic decisions on CPM solutions during their software evaluation cycles. Rob translates customer requirements and industry challenges into best practices with CCH Tagetik.

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Wolters Kluwer | CCH Tagetik

 The award-winning CCH Tagetik expert solution provides the strategic & financial intelligence platform that enables CFOs and their peers, in global enterprises, to propel their strategy with faster and better-informed decisions. CCH Tagetik provides a comprehensive, data-driven, AI-based CPM platform for Financial Close & Consolidation, Extended Planning including financial & operational planning, ESG and Regulatory reporting, and Corporate Tax including Global Minimum Tax. With embedded AI and state-of-the-art governance, the open and extensible platform easily connects leading operational solutions to create enterprise-wide insights, drive growth, and navigate change for our customers to gain the greatest value, today and tomorrow.

This wide-ranging conversation will see four senior executives from four very different companies speaking to the issues, ideas, innovations, and inspirations that matter to all of them as prompted by their peers. It is a fantastic deep dive into what is most relevant to finance leaders today. Give it a listen!

This roundtable includes…

Panelists: 

Jennifer Cloherty
Chief Financial Officer
Dawn Foods Global

Jennifer Cloherty is Dawn’s Chief Financial Officer and member of the Dawn Leadership Team. In her role at Dawn, Jennifer is responsible for all financial and M&A activities of the multi-billion-dollar global enterprise. Jennifer has 29 years of global business experience in roles of increasing responsibility, complexity, and scale. Prior to joining Dawn, Jennifer spent 4 years as the CFO for Kellogg North America and has also been a segment CFO for the largest reporting segments of Aptiv and Owens Corning. She spent the first 20 years of her career with GE in numerous operational and commercial finance roles across both the United States and Europe.

 Wetteny Joseph
Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Zoetis

Wetteny Joseph is executive vice president and Chief Financial Officer of Zoetis, the world’s leading animal health company and a member of the Fortune 500. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing the financial management, planning, operations and indirect procurement functions. Mr. Joseph also has oversight responsibility for the company’s Human Health Diagnostics business. Mr. Joseph joined Zoetis in June 2021, after having spent 13 years in executive positions at Catalent, a global leader in pharmaceuticals, biologics and consumer health products. 

Daya Harvey
Executive Director, Enabling Functions Finance & Finance Innovation
CSL Behring 

Daya is the leader of the Enabling Functions Finance & Finance Innovation teams at CSL, a global biotech company. With over 20 years of experience across the US, Australia and Europe, and a passion for continuous improvement and innovation, my track record includes driving strategic projects. delivering financial excellence and value-added solutions. She combines deep financial knowledge with a strategic mindset to provide actionable insights, drive informed decision-making, and offer strategic advice to executive leadership. 

Heather Clayton
Chief Financial Officer
Vegas Golden Knights 

Heather Clayton is Chief Financial Officer for the Vegas Golden Knights and has worked in three positions within the Company over the past 5 years. Prior to her current position, Clayton held the Vice President of Finance and Accounting and Controller roles for the Company and assisted in the growth of the accounting and finance department jumping from two entities to the current thirteen entities in just over two years. Clayton oversees the financial accounts of all Knight- related venues and five partnering foundations and assisted with numerous hotel acquisitions. Prior to joining The Vegas Golden Knights, Clayton gained experience from a handful of other well-respected roles within the casino industry and educated herself to challenging levels.

Moderator:

Geoff Micks
Head of Content & Research
Executive Platforms

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Mandy Jacomet
Chief Financial Officer
NeighborWorks Toledo Region 

Mandy is the Chief Financial Officer for NeighborWorks Toledo Region located in Northwest, Ohio. NeighborWorks Toledo Region is a chartered member of NeighborWorks America focusing on community development initiatives by providing financial education, promoting homeownership, developing affordable housing, and performing Weatherization services for those who qualify in order to reduce energy costs, promote self-sufficiency, and improve the lives of individuals in our communities. 

Mandy has 25+ years of financial and managerial accounting experience in a variety of industries including manufacturing, construction, information technology, higher education and client services. She holds her MBA in Organizational Leadership and Development from Tiffin University and a Bachelor’s in Financial Accounting from the University of Findlay. Additionally, she is a licensed Mortgage Lending Officer and a HUD Certified Housing Counselor.

Jessica has 10 years’ experience in R&D, most recently serving as Head of Microbiome Discovery and Head of Trait Engineering driving new lead discovery and improvement for Trait Research in Pest, Herbicide and Disease Control. During this time, she led the operation to manage and screen BASF’s 100,000 microbial strain collection looking for input traits and natural product chemistries for a variety of research projects. Prior to this she led the Mode of Action team for Bater as well as several global projects related to scouting for new bio-based solutions for pest control, and worked with VC fluids for the creation of new start-ups.

Jessica earned her Doctorate in Genetics, Cell Biology and Biochemistry from the University of California, Irvine followed by a post doctorate at Duke University studying small molecule and protein interactions. Her passion is to apply scientific innovation in solving the world’s greatest challenges and proudly represents BASF’s commitment to sustainability.

Jordan Keller
Head of Renewable Carbon NA
BASF Renewable Carbon (BReC)

Jordan Keller joined BASF twelve years ago as an engineer and has held roles of growing responsibility ever since. Today she is the Head of Renewable Carbon for North America, after more than two years as the Senior Manager Biomass Balance Solutions North America. 

 Jordan graduated from the University of Texas in 2013 with a degree in chemical engineering and now works for BASF in Houston.

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BASF is a global chemical company that combines economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The company has around 112,000 employees in more than 90 countries, managing over 230 production sites, including 6 Verbund sites. In the United States, BASF runs over 100 production and research and development (R&D) facilities. The company boasts a diverse portfolio of more than 45,000 products for the segments Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care, and Agricultural SolutionsIn 2023, BASF reported a turnover of 68.9 billion euros.

BASF is committed to ambitious sustainability targets, including a 25% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and achieving net zero across all scopes by 2050.

In terms of the circular economy, BASF is committed to decoupling growth from resource consumption. The company aims to generate sales of € 10 billion from Loop Solutions for our customers by 2030 (2023: €5 billion). This encompasses revenue from circular products, which are based on renewable or recycled materials or support the recycling process (close the loop), as well as products that increase the durability or prolong the lifespan of materials (extend the loop). 

Mike Masnick
 Co-Host, Ctrl-Alt-Speech Podcast
 CEO and Founder, Techdirt

Ben Whitelaw
 Co-Host, Ctrl-Alt-Speech Podcast
 Editor, Everything in Moderation

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Compliance Architects LLC

Compliance Architects LLC delivers high-value compliance, quality, and regulatory consulting services to companies directly regulated by the U.S. FDA and other global regulatory authorities. With capabilities ranging from quality systems implementations to audits, inspection readiness, enforcement remediation, and outsourced compliance services, Compliance Architects LLC has the experience, expertise, and delivery capability to significantly improve your company’s business outcomes. Jack Garvey is CA’s founder and CEO, a chemical engineer and a practicing regulatory attorney, and has spent his entire career helping companies navigate the challenges at the intersections of science, engineering, business, and law.

Hari is a biopharmaceutical executive with experience in vaccine, biologics, mRNA, small molecule, gene therapy modalities, with a passion for value creation. He has enterprise-wide experience including platform and product development, cGMP manufacturing, and commercial, with geographies spanning North and South America, Europe, and Asia. 

Martin Müller
Director Technology Development - AMSAT - Technology Innovation
Novo Nordisk

Martin P. Müller joined Novo Nordisk in 2014 and currently directs development projects for innovative technologies within Aseptic Manufacturing, with particular focus on formulation, filling, wash & sterilization, and environmental monitoring.

Before moving to production in Novo Nordisk, Mr. Müller has served 10 years in Device R&D, driving the digital agenda of the area, external affairs and QMS-processes and project management, among others.

Mr. Müller earned his Master of Arts from Humboldt University Berlin, Germany, and his Master of Business Administration from Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.

Søren Thuesen Pedersen
Senior Director, External Affairs Regulatory Policy and Intelligence
Novo Nordisk

Søren Thuesen Pedersen is Senior Director, External Affairs, Regulatory Policy and Intelligence at Novo Nordisk. He is a Chemical Engineer by education and has been working 30 years in Novo Nordisk. During that that time he has been engaged and lead different areas within Manufacturing, QC-Laboratory and CMC Manufacturing Development. He has been one of the founding fathers of the Novo Nordisk External Requirements’ Process; How does Novo Nordisk ensure compliance of new external requirements? Mr. Pedersen is currently responsible for the External Representation and Advocacy strategy out of Novo Nordisk’s GMP&Q area and represents Novo Nordisk in various associations ISPE, EFPIA, IFPMA and BIO. Specifically, Mr. Pedersen is a member of the EFPIA Manufacturing Quality Expert Group (MQEG) since 2019 and member of the Board of Directors in IQ Consortium.

He has furthermore been member of the Novo Nordisk Board of Directors for 12 years as an elected employee representative.

His spare time interests include Danish and EU Politics.

 Panelists:
 
Jerry Murry
Senior Vice President, Process Development
Amgen

Tongtong Wang
Senior Vice President, Global Head Technical Development
Roche

Chris Horan
Chief Technical Operations Officer
Artiva Biotherapeutics

Aine Hanly
CTO
Vir Biotechnology

Tina Self
Senior Vice President, Global Biologics Manufacturing & Berkeley Site Head
Bayer

Takshay leads Supply Chain Growth Platforms and Alliances for the EY Americas Supply Chain and Operations practice. Takshay brings over 20 years of end-to-end supply chain experience in consumer products, retail, automotive, industrial and life sciences. He’s helped companies transform their operating models to provide better customer experiences and improve their productivity by leveraging technology and artificial intelligence capabilities using cloud and platform approaches. Takshay helps clients gain a competitive advantage via digital and analytics while becoming more agile.

Parag Jategaonkar
US End to End Supply Chain Strategy and Transformation Leader
Ernst & Young LLP

Parag is an innovative, people-oriented leader with over 25 years of management consulting experience helping clients improve business performance and achieve their goals.

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Ernst & Young LLP

In Consulting, we are building a better working world by transforming businesses through the power of people, technology and innovation.

The diversity and skills of 70,000+ people will help clients realize transformation by putting humans at the center, delivering technology at speed and leveraging innovation at scale.

www.ey.com/en_gl 

Northway Biotech is an end-to-end biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) supporting customers worldwide. The company’s wide-ranging expertise and vertically integrated service offering translate to the ability to rapidly execute multiple projects from its state-of-the-art GMP facilities while ensuring full process and product compliance at all stages of research, development and commercial manufacturing. Northway Biotech is a privately owned company founded in 2004 and located in Vilnius, Lithuania and Waltham, Mass., U.S.

In his current role as the Senior Director of Validation at Spark, John leverages over 24 years of expertise in the compliance and validation of enterprise computer systems, applications, and equipment regulated by the FDA and EU. John is a compliance and validation thought leader and has a deep understanding of 21 CFR Parts 210, 211, 606, 820, 11, and Annex 11. John’s experience spans a variety of analytical systems, including HPLCs and spectrophotometers, as well as computer systems such as ERP, LIMS, EDMS, EMS, PCS, and DCS, serving major pharmaceutical, medical device, and blood management companies. Before joining Spark in May of 2015, his career included roles at Pfizer, AstraZeneca, TEVA, Smith & Nephew, GE Healthcare, DSM, Haemonetics, and the American Red Cross, where he has consistently ensured compliance with predicate rules, 21 CFR Part 11, and GAMP 5 guidance. John holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from the Florida Institute of Technology.

Pascal leads Russell Reynolds’ operations in New York and Canada. He works closely with our healthcare clients around the globe, advising them on their talent strategy, including leadership assessment, succession planning, and the recruitment of directors, CEOs, and other senior executives.

Within the healthcare industry, Pascal specializes in biotech and pharma technical operations, including process development, manufacturing, quality, engineering, and supply chain leadership.

Pascal received his Bachelor of Engineering Physics degree from the Royal Military College of Canada and trained as an aerospace engineer with the Royal Canadian Air Force. He also earned master’s and doctorate degrees in business administration from Athabasca University in Canada, where he focused his research and dissertation on CEO succession. Pascal speaks fluent French and English.

Laurent Rossi
Former Chief Executive Officer
Alpine (F1) and Google Executive

Laurent Rossi serves as a senior advisor to the Renault Group and is the former Chief Executive Officer of Alpine Racing SAS and chairman of Alpine Racing Ltd. Rossi previously served as Renault’s Chief Strategy Officer and was appointed CEO in 2021 with the Alpine name joining the Formula 1 grid ahead of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

He began his career at Renault in Paris before earning his MBA from Harvard Business School and joining Boston Consulting Group, where he worked in the New York office. As an automotive expert, he was a consultant on several strategic and operational assignments, working with major global automakers and parts suppliers. He covered the entire value chain from design to sales, including powertrain strategy, manufacturing, and supply chain.

In 2012, he moved to Google, taking charge of developing commercial relations with major automotive industry companies, initially based in Paris for the Europe region, then in New York for the Americas region. Rossi eventually served as the head of Google’s Global Auto Practice, before returning to Renault in February 2018. After a short period heading the Organization Department, he was appointed as VP of Corporate Strategy and Business Development.

Rossi holds a Master of Science in Fluid Mechanics from ENSEEIHT (Toulouse) and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering / Automotive Engines & Petroleum Products from IFP School.
 

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Russell Reynolds Associates is a global search and leadership advisory firm. Our 425+ consultants in 46 offices work with public, private and nonprofit organizations across all industries and regions. We help our clients build teams of transformational leaders who can meet

Sathish Kumar Thirumoorthy has an extensive background in enterprise services, supply chain consulting, and IT consulting. With experience in companies such as ITOrizon Inc., Oracle, CGI, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Sathish has held roles ranging from Senior Support Consultant to Director, Consulting and Practice Leader. Sathish’s expertise focuses on consulting, solutioning, presales pursuits, and client relationship management across various industry verticals. Sathish's career has been marked by strategic leadership, solution-based project delivery, and proactive proposal development to drive business growth and enable transformation for global clients.

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UCBOS Inc.

Pioneering Zero Code Transformation

UCBOS, Inc. (“You See Boss”) is a visionary Zero Code software company based in the USA, committed to revolutionizing digital transformation for enterprises. UCBOS unique approach starts and ends with zero – zero data models, zero code, and most importantly, zero tech debt.

UCBOS offers an AI-enabled, zero-code business execution platform that integrates, optimizes, and orchestrates digital processes. Built on 100% No-Code, 100% Metadata, and 100% NoSQL technologies, UCBOS ensures seamless digital integration and a future-ready foundation for enterprise success.

Josh Chou
Chief Supply Chain Officer
McCormick & Company

Sarvi Bajwa
SVP Manufacturing
Danone

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Sight Machine

Sight Machine drives rapid increases in manufacturing productivity. Our technology platform delivers real outcomes in efficiency, sustainability and quality—in weeks. Manufacturers that deploy Sight Machine empower teams to better collaborate, innovate and accelerate their journey of continuous productivity improvement. Founded by a team with deep manufacturing expertise, Sight Machine has offices in San Francisco and Ann Arbor, Mich.

Rapid changes in technology, competition, and the workforce require a keen focus on becoming ever more agile, innovative, and efficient. That’s where Randal comes in. For one Fortune 50 company, he defined a new product segment and streamlined the R&D process by 30% – enabling the company to bring a new offering to market four months faster than it typically could. For another Fortune 20 company, he developed the market strategy for the smart buildings market supporting the transition to XaaS commercial model.

His expertise in internet of things (IoT) strategies – particularly product engineering, smart building, Industry 4.0, sustainability, and smart products – has led to many trusted advisor relationships. He has also optimized clients’ corporate IT, finance, and supply chain functions.

Randal joined West Monroe in 2022 from Cognizant. As vice president and global strategy lead for the IoT and Engineering practice, he helped the practice become the highest performing group and grow the firm’s reputation as an industry leader. Previously, Randal founded and built strategy and digital transformation practices at multiple companies.  These advisory practices have focused on helping manufacturing clients transform their product strategy, operations, supply chain, and sales via digital transformation.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in information systems and human resources management from the Honors Program at Boston College and an MBA in strategy and finance from Yale University.

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West Monroe

West Monroe’s Manufacturing practice partners with consumer and industrial product manufacturers throughout their initiatives, from strategy to execution. Specializing in Industry 4.0, supply chain resilience, and workforce transformation, we drive success in today’s dynamic manufacturing landscape, partnering with over 400 clients including Tropicana, Jacuzzi Brands, Nutrien, Skechers, Berlin Packaging, Babcock & Wilcox and many more to create last impact with their businesses.

Steven’s professional goal is to help manufacturing facilities manage their most critical assets - Motors, Gearboxes and Pumps in the most feature rich, robust, comprehensive management system. 

Steven found that most manufacturing facilities he visited had very little, if any knowledge of some of their most important assets and they struggled in a number of ways because of this. 

That is why Steven created Industrial Matrix, an all-encompassing asset management & predictive maintenance platform for industrial manufacturing facilities seeking to strengthen the reliability of their operation, increase asset lifetime and reduce unplanned downtime. 

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Industrial Matrix

Industrial Matrix is a tech company that provides disruptive digital solutions, offering a robust asset management and predictive maintenance platform for industrial manufacturing facilities seeking to prevent catastrophic failures in real time, maximize asset utilization and reduce operational costs.

We bridge the gap between Maintenance / Reliability teams and the latest, most advanced technologies for predictive maintenance and condition-based monitoring.

With a wide range of technologies and capabilities, the Industrial Matrix platform combines Vibration Analysis, Condition-based Lubrication, Ultrasound monitoring, (and many more) with the autonomous, predictive and prescriptive power of the cloud.

Come and see how we put any machine online.

Adam Chartier recently joined DSM-Firmenich after serving as the head of the EHS department for Kerry Ingredients & Flavours in Blue Earth, Minnesota.  His leadership is focused on proactive and preventative programs to increase employee and leadership engagement and to reduce/eliminate workplace incidents.
 
He is a transformational leader who is passionate about mentoring EHS professionals and acting as a culture change agent.  Adam has over 16 years of experience in EHS, holding the roles of Director of Safety, Regional Safety & Health Manager, and EHS Manager.  His business experience has crossed several major manufacturing companies such as Georgia Pacific, Conagra Brands, Mohawk Industries, and others.

Adam holds a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Environmental Health and Safety from the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater.

Joe Castaneda
EHS Manager
Winland Foods Inc.
 
With over 25 years of Safety and Emergency Management experience, Joe Castaneda has led cross-functional teams on Health and Safety Projects across the Middle East and the United States. Known for thriving in fast-paced environments and driving operational efficiencies, Joe’s leadership has reduced recordable injuries by 85% over five years. He holds a Bachelor’s in Health Care Administration, an Executive MBA from Colorado Technical University, is a Licensed Paramedic, Commissioned Fire Fighter, Arson Investigator through the state of Texas, and has several certifications in OSHA and Emergency Management.

Currently, as the EHS & Security Manager at Winland Foods San Antonio, Joe oversees all Health, Safety, and Security programs, ensuring compliance with federal, state, and local regulations. Previously, he was the Health & Safety Lead at Viatris, managing health and safety programs across multiple manufacturing sites.

Throughout his career, Joe has held key positions such as Captain of the Fire Training Division at District 4 ESD in Leon Springs, TX, Safety & Health Program Manager at CPS Energy in San Antonio, and Business Development & Claims Disability Manager for KBR in the Middle East & Central Asia. These roles have equipped him with a deep understanding of emergency management, occupational health operations, program management, and quality process improvement, consistently demonstrating his ability to lead and mentor teams and manage comprehensive safety and health programs.

Evan Bressler grew up as the third of eight children, in Lancaster County Pennsylvania. He studied occupational safety at Millersville University and went on to work in the food industry upon graduation. His passion is for igniting collaborative safety cultures and he is honored to have served as a safety professional at Ingredion Inc. and Pactiv Evergreen Inc.

Born and raised on a dairy farm in a small village south of Quebec City, Canada, eldest of a 4 children family, I was always pushed to be curious and exposed myself to new opportunities by my mother.

Wife, mom of 2 young adults, and grand-mother to a 5 year-old boy, I am the Kerry Ste-Claire plant manager. This plant works 24 hours, 7 days a week, unionized, and hires over 300 employees.

I have been with Kerry for over 16 years, relocating a few times throughout my career, never saying no to any career opportunities and learning challenges!

From an accounts receivable clerk, to now a plant manager, I have held many different positions in the manufacturing industry, mainly trough 2 major employers in the Quebec area.

My mantra? Be curious! The only real limitation is yourself.

With topics ranging from controlling costs, procurement and sourcing, digital transformation and AI, forecasting and S&OP, to managing growth and capacity in a changing business landscape while working to be an employer of choice in the battle for Top Talent, and much more, this is a conversation that should be of interest to every supply chain professional working today. Give it a listen! 

This roundtable includes…
 
Panelists:

Phyllis Dyson
Vice President, Global Product Supply
Duracell

Phyllis is an experienced Supply Chain executive with expertise in Manufacturing, Total Productive Maintenance, Program Management, Planning, International Logistics and Supply Network Design. Results oriented leader with a passion for developing the capabilities of future leaders. Phyllis began her career with Procter & Gamble, which eventually spun off Duracell into an independent company. Phyllis has held roles of increasing authority in both organizations throughout her career. She holds a Bachelor of Science – Engineering from Cornell University.

Sidra Tufail
Director Supply Chain Operations Customer Service
Philip Morris International

Sidra is a mechanical engineer and a supply chain enthusiast with 18 years of experience in manufacturing and planning across multiple geographies including Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

In her current role as Director Operations Customer Services Americas (Supply Chain), Sidra’s main focus area is ensuring service superiority in markets with high innovation portfolios. Her key focus areas are: planning and response, loss elimination across the value chain (B2B & B2C) and in-market customer collaboration programs at the same time driving efficiencies through cost to serve.

Joanna Kostecka
VP Cloud Global Supply Chain Planning
Microsoft 

Joanna Kostecka is privileged to be the VP of Cloud Global Supply Chain Planning at Microsoft. She has 20+ years’ of experience providing executive leadership to high-profile Fortune 500 companies with expertise leading major corporate supply chain initiatives and has earned a reputation for complex global planning and materials process transformation in dynamic environments. 

Becky Crane
Vice President, Manufacturing & Engineering
General Mills 

Becky Crane has 20 years’ experience at General Mills working across the company’s end-to-end supply chain, in multiple U.S. and international locations. Highlights include plant manager at one of our largest facilities (Hannibal, Mo.), as well as standing up a global procurement organization in Switzerland as an expat. She’s known for leveraging her breadth of experience to build bold strategies and highly effective cross-functional teams to solve problems and create long-term advantage for our businesses.

Crane leads manufacturing, engineering and global safety teams with accountability for over 9,000 employees (approximately 30% of the company’s employee base). This includes responsibility over $1B in capital across the enterprise, standardizing processes and establishing strong business partnerships to enable advantaged agility and accelerate innovation.

Moderator:

Geoff Micks
Head of Content & Research
Executive Platforms

Val Blatt focuses on solutions that help SAP customers and their partners leverage the power of the network to improve collaboration and drive success. She is responsible for SAP Business Network global Customer Success and Go-to-Market teams, delivering on global revenue targets, defining to-to-market strategy, and influencing product strategy to maximize value for both by and supply-side participants.

Panelists:

Monique Picou
Global Executive: VP, Cloud Supply Chain & Operations
Google

Monique is accountable for creating a transformation organization with a mandate to make Alphabet the trusted partner for customers by delivering unmatched speed, unwavering reliability, and unparalleled efficiency of our technical infrastructure. Prior to joining Google, Monique was the Chief Strategy & Supply Chain officer for Sam’s Club. 

Paul Gallagher
Chief Supply Chain Officer
General Mills 

Paul is responsible for all facets of General Mills supply chain strategy & execution, including Sourcing, Planning, Manufacturing & Engineering, Logistics & Customer Operations, and Healthy, Safety & Environment. Paul is also the Executive Sponsor for General Mills’ Black Champions Network. Paul joined General Mills in 2019.  Prior to joining General Mills’ in 2019, Paul worked for Diageo for 26 years in a number of senior leadership roles. 

Kyle Carlyle
Vice President Surety of Supply and Innovation
Walmart

Kyle Carlyle leads a team dedicated to strengthening the resilience of Walmart’s supply chain and improving access to key product categories and creating strong relationships with suppliers. His team transforms the company’s global sourcing practices and has introduced innovative approaches and strategic partnerships. 

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This roundtable was sponsored by… 

SAP

As a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, SAP stands at the nexus of business and technology. For over 50 years, organizations have trusted SAP to bring out their best by uniting business-critical operations spanning finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience.

Learn how SAP Business Network helps companies:

• Build stronger supply chains by addressing process gaps that can impede collaboration with suppliers
• Enhance co-manufacturing partnerships
• Meet business imperatives pertaining to operational efficiency, regulatory compliance, sustainability, and customer satisfaction

Pieter de Wit studied Supply Chain Management at the Transport Academy in Venlo and the TIAS (MBA) in Tilburg, the Netherlands and has been associated with BCI Global since 2021.

Pieter has fulfilled various leadership roles for decades at large logistics service providers both nationally and internationally (particularly in Asia: Hong Kong 5 years, Shanghai 5 years and Singapore 5 years). He is an expert in supply chain optimization and logistics outsourcing in various sectors, both up-stream (mostly control towers) and down-stream (with many e-fulfillment solutions recently).

 Over the years, Pieter has led dozens of projects and operations. Examples are: Amazon, L'Oréal, LVMH, FastRetail, Lego, SC Johnson, JnJ, 3M, Honeywell, Kärcher, Bosch, Schneider Electric, Samsung, Ericsson, Nokia, Cisco, Yamaha Music, Belkin, Baxter, BD, Sanofi, Airbus.

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BCI Global

BCI Global is a specialized consultancy and leader in developing comprehensive, practical manufacturing and supply chain footprint strategies as well as selecting sites worldwide for new operations in the US; in Europe, Middle East and Africa; and in the Asia Pacific region (including China and India). In the last 36+ years BCI has supported more than 1,000 clients. Our location strategy work combines proven frameworks with in-depth global knowledge of manufacturing hotspots, detailed labor analytics, cost factors, qualitative factors, incentives and risks. Supply chain advice ranges from transformation of supply chains, network design, COEs, Control Towers, procurement of logistics services, to location strategy for warehousing, go-to-market strategies into new markets, risk & resilience assessment. BCI Global is ISO-9001 certified, Llamasoft certified partner and recognized on Forbes Best Management Consultants list for the third year in a row.

www.bciglobal.com

Chris is an experienced sales Consultant working with organizations of all sizes across the United States effectively think about their business model and reshape with digital innovation at the forefront of their brand. He has spent much of his professional career focused on enabling organizations to choose their technology destiny by selecting best-of-breed software powered by the open source movement. Digital Experience Management has drastically changed the way organizations approach their customers and brand recognition. 

Currently, Chris is supporting project44's new business efforts to help the largest shippers in the world gain real time visibility, insight, and digitization to their global supply chain. project44 supports over 500 enterprise shippers globally by providing the most robust, connected carrier network across all modes of transportation.

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project44

project44 is the world’s leading Advanced Visibility Platform for shippers and third-party logistics firms. project44 connects, automates, and provides visibility into key transportation processes to accelerate insights and shorten the time it takes to turn those insights into actions. Leveraging the power of the cloud-based project44 platform, organizations are able to increase operational efficiencies, reduce costs, improve shipping performance, and deliver an exceptional Amazon-like experience to their customers.

 www.project44.com

Crane leads manufacturing, engineering and global safety teams with accountability for over 9,000 employees (approximately 30% of the company’s employee base). This includes responsibility over $1B in capital across the enterprise, standardizing processes and establishing strong business partnerships to enable advantaged agility and accelerate innovation. In less than one year, her team stabilized line performance, reduced open headcount to less than 4% (industry leading), while delivering the capital plan.

Becky Crane joined General Mills in 2003 as a Distribution Management Associate at the Buffalo, N.Y., Flour Mill. Over the next 10 years, she held various roles with increasing responsibility moving around the U.S. in the process. Roles included Logistics Operations Planner (Minn.) for Yoplait, implementing a new planning system (Minn.), Logistics Manager (Avon, Iowa, and Buffalo, N.Y.), Operations Manager (Hannibal, Mo.) for Progresso Soup and Chewy Bars, and Supply Chain Development Manager (Walmart Sales; Bentonville, Ark.).

Crane stepped into two Plant Manager roles – first in Vineland, N.J., and shortly thereafter was approached to lead one of General Mills’ largest facilities in Hannibal, Mo. Continuing to broaden her experience, Crane embraced a unique opportunity as Director of Global Sourcing Packaging for Sourcing in Nyon, Switzerland. Upon her return stateside, Crane joined an executive leadership team, leading Supply Chain Transformation and Business Performance Management (BPM) for the North America Retail segment.   Crane then stepped into an executive business leadership role as the Supply Chain Leader for the Morning Foods Operating Unit where she had accountability for the end-to-end supply chain.

Crane grew up in Golden Valley, Minn. and attended the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management where she holds degrees in Marketing and Supply Chain Management. She and her family currently reside in the Minneapolis.

Paul Gallagher
Chief Supply Chain Officer
General Mills

Paul Gallagher is the Chief Supply Chain Officer at General Mills. He is responsible for all facets of supply chain strategy & execution, including Sourcing, Planning, Manufacturing & Engineering, Logistics & Customer Operations, and Healthy, Safety & Environment.

Paul joined General Mills in 2019 as VP of North America Supply Chain, where he was accountable for operations in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. with 30+ sites and 10,000 employees. His responsibilities for North America – and his focus on transforming the network to drive competitive advantage for the business – continue in his role as Chief Supply Chain Officer. Paul is also the Executive Sponsor for General Mills’ Black Champions Network.

Prior to joining General Mills’ in 2019, Paul worked for Diageo for 26 years in a number of senior leadership roles, building an end-to-end global supply chain and procurement experience. Originally from Ireland, Paul started his profession brewing Guinness and grew his experience to taking on global supply chain roles across Europe, Africa, Latin America, North America, and Asia Pacific.

Paul is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin in Ireland where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Engineering. He has a passion for sports, especially soccer, and spends his spare time restoring classic cars. He lives in Minnesota with his wife and has four children.

 Danielle Hansen is a Vice President of Global Sourcing at JBT Corporation (a global food tech company) and an adjunct at the University of St. Thomas with extensive experience in international supplier relationship management, negotiation, and continuous improvement. She is also the President of Strategic Training Endeavors, and a published author of Upward: Leadership Lessons for Women on the Rise. A double Tommie, Danielle graduated Cum Laude with a triple major in Legal Studies in Business, Spanish, and Operations Management and completed her MBA with a focus on International Marketing from the University of St. Thomas. She is a certified Lean & Six Sigma Black Belt (LSSBB), Certified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM), and Certified in Online Teaching. Danielle has received numerous awards including: 2018 Mentor of the Year Award, 6 Star Financial Results Award, Employee of the Month, People’s Choice Award, and Collaborative Inquiry Research Grants. Danielle continues to train individuals and companies on negotiation, contract management, continuous improvement, emotional intelligence, and strategy while pursuing her passion for empowering and improving people’s lives.

How should supply chain leaders work with their partners to control shipping costs in a world of inflation, rising labor costs, increasing fuel costs, and frequent disruptions? Many 3PLs are under extraordinary pressure to pass their costs on to their customers, and negotiating contracts can be a complicated business. How should executives best approach this situation with both their long-term business partners, and also new shippers as they optimize their footprint and build resiliency into their operations? AFMS is uniquely positioned as a resource built upon expertise from the other side of that negotiating table. They understand the pain points shippers are working through, and can facilitate the conversations that generate win-win scenarios Where can they get the information they need to have the right conversations the right way? Listen to this interview for more. 

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AFMS, LLC

For 30 years AFMS has helped over 3,000 companies reduce their shipping costs by 15-25%. Specializing in transportation benchmarking, carrier contract negotiations, full RFP and RFQ support for carrier optimization & invoice auditing, for all modes of transportation. Our expert team of former carrier pricing executives and strategists from UPS, FedEx, DHL, USPS, Hyundai, US lines, Panalpina, Topocean and the major LTL carriers has over 500 years of combined industry experience. AFMS will provide a NO Charge full shipping analysis and profile of where you stand in the market today.

www.afms.com

Pioneering Zero Code Transformation

UCBOS, Inc. (“You See Boss”) is a visionary Zero Code software company based in the USA, committed to revolutionizing digital transformation for enterprises. UCBOS platform empowers businesses to rapidly compose on-demand supply chain solutions that are smarter and more agile, delivering new business outcomes up to 10x faster. UCBOS unique approach starts and ends with zero – zero data models, zero code, and most importantly, zero tech debt.

UCBOS offers an AI-enabled, zero-code business execution platform that integrates, optimizes, and orchestrates digital processes. Built on 100% No-Code, 100% Metadata, and 100% NoSQL technologies, UCBOS ensures seamless digital integration and a future-ready foundation for enterprise success.

ucbos.com

TraceGains is revolutionizing CPG supply chain agility through an innovative Networked Ingredient Marketplace. The ability for businesses to seamlessly connect with partners through a networked marketplace is essential for collaborating to solve today’s unprecedented supply chain challenges. Information about ingredients and supply chain partners flows instantly using intelligence and automation. Our patented PostOnce™ technology allows authorized stakeholders to share and receive vital information, precisely when, where, and how they need to operate efficiently and remain competitive. Through the power of a global network, supply chain agility is achievable.

For 15 years, TraceGains has provided the world’s only holistic networked solution for global brands gaining speed and control over compliance and product development. Using the power of a network, brands collaborate on 466,000 ingredients/items from more than 64000 supply chain locations creating greater agility, resilience, and joined sustainability within the business ecosystem that masters the modern supply chain.

https://tracegains.com/ 

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Erik creates and executes social media marketing strategies for C-suite executives and thought leaders across industries. He leads writers on Qnary’s editorial team to craft social media content that best serves the business objective and professional aspirations of their clients. Qnary specializes in empowering executives to reinforce their reputation and magnify their digital presence. Their multifaceted approach incorporates tailored social media content, promoting thought leadership, and fortifying personal branding. The result is a comprehensive upliftment of their personal and organizational digital profiles. This directly influences and increases personal brand awareness and unlocks a myriad of media and business opportunities. Erik has been fortunate to partner with leaders from startups to Fortune 500 companies. This includes Founders, VC Partners, CEOs, CMOs, CHROs, CAOs, CIOs, CTOs, CISOs, and individuals across a range of industries with particular domain expertise in cybersecurity. Together, they leverage the power of social media to attain their goals, crafting narratives that resonate and inspire.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/erik-liederbach/

https://www.qnary.com/ 

Geoff joined the industry events business as a conference producer in 2010 after four years working in print media. He has researched, planned, organized, run, and contributed to more than a hundred events across North America and Europe for senior leaders, with special emphasis on the energy, mining, manufacturing, maintenance, supply chain, human resources, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, finance, and sustainability sectors. As part of his role as Head of Content & Research, Geoff hosts Executive Platforms’ bluEPrint Podcast series as well as a blog focusing on issues relevant to Executive Platforms’ network of business leaders.

Geoff is the author of five works of historical fiction: Inca, Zulu, Beginning, Middle, and End. The New York Times and National Public Radio have interviewed him about his writing, and he wrote and narrated an animated short for Vice Media that appeared on HBO. He has a BA Honours with High Distinction from the University of Toronto specializing in Journalism with a Double Minor in History and Classical Studies, as well as Diploma in Journalism from Centennial College.

Mickey Desai, a seasoned entrepreneur and host/producer of the Nonprofit SnapCast podcast, is dedicated to enhancing nonprofit organizations’ effectiveness. He pioneered The Nonprofit Snapshot, a revolutionary micro-assessment and dashboard tailored for nonprofits. Desai’s ongoing commitment to the nonprofit sector is evident through his podcast production and consultancy services.

With academic credentials from The University of Denver and Stetson University, Mickey Desai brings a wealth of expertise, insight, and a distinctive viewpoint to every engagement. His passion lies in advocating for clients, ensuring their narratives are accurately represented while respecting organizational nuances.

Driven by a deep-seated curiosity and empathy cultivated through academic pursuits and diverse professional experiences, Desai excels in fostering inclusive dialogues and facilitating problem-solving. He firmly believes that attentive listening is paramount to meaningful conversations, consistently prioritizing understanding and empathy in his interactions.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickeydesai/

Lauren has spent her career at the intersection of creativity and community. Her professional experience includes building a membership program at a new museum in San Antonio as well as directing the membership department at the oldest and largest national design association based in New York City. Through her work in nonprofit and association management, she has led member-facing teams, advocated for member needs, and strategized plans for community engagement.

Lauren attended The University of Texas at Austin where she earned undergraduate degrees in Art History and Italian. She received a graduate degree in International Arts Administration from St. John International University in Turin, Italy. She also earned a certificate in Business Perspectives for Creative Leaders from Yale School of Management.

Fun facts about Lauren:

• Lauren is a great listener, she gets told weekly by friends, family, and Lyft drivers that she should be a counselor.
• Her most recent obsession is boxing, and she’s training to level up at her women-only gym.
• She speaks Italian fluently, and shamelessly looks for any chance to use it—dai, parliamo!

Our digital supply chain operations platform improves patient outcomes by ensuring compliance, quality, and timely delivery of sensitive therapies. The platform provides a “command center” to predict at-risk situations in the supply chain by monitoring the performance of every entity, flagging quality and compliance risks, automating workflows across organizations, fostering collaboration to resolve issues and prevent waste, and to bridge the gap in planning and execution cycles by automatically delivering real-time updates to planners. 

www.parkoursc.com

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Teresa Gorecki comes to Compliance Architects® from Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, where she was most recently Vice President, Market Quality.   At Johnson & Johnson, Teresa was one of J&J’s top Quality professionals, known for her ability to manage inspections and remediate and improve deficient operations.  Teresa had senior level roles across all three sectors within Johnson & Johnson:  Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Products and Medical Devices.

Teresa is one of Compliance Architects’® lead subject matter experts, and has primary responsibility for strategic client engagements.

At Johnson & Johnson, Teresa’s key accomplishments included:

·       Chair of Johnson & Johnson Cross Sector Business Quality Governance Team responsible for developing a Governance Model and Organizational Structure to develop and oversee an aligned Quality Management System, Processes and Procedures across the J&J Enterprise Business/Marketing Company Quality Units.

·       Member of J&J Company Leadership Teams/Boards including Regional Management  Board for North America; J&J Consumer Healthcare Company (CHC) Board; and Neutrogena Management Board.

·       Management of all aspects of Quality Systems, Quality Assurance, and Regulatory Compliance with Worldwide Regulatory Authorities including FDA (CBER, CDER and CDRH), MHRA,EMA, ANVISA, CFDA, Health Canada, etc.  Extensive experience in combination products, pharmaceutical dosage forms for both OTC and Rx products; biological (r­ DNA and monoclonal antibody) products and a wide range of consumer products (class I and II medical devices, OTC drugs, cosmetics and consumer products) in the US and Puerto Rico.

·       Over 20 years’ experience and lead J&J subject matter expert in handling FDA inspections (routine, special cause, and PAI) for Cosmetic and Consumer, Combination Drug/Device, Pharmaceutical, and Biological products.

·       Extensive experience with new product introduction; product and technology transfer, and commissioning of new/re-constructed facilities.

·       Leadership of ERP System (SAP) implementation for Pharmaceutical Sourcing Group of the Americas Sites in New Jersey and Puerto Rico. Management of large-scale Supply Chain projects for “Demand Pull,” or LEAN Manufacturing.  Sponsorship of Six Sigma initiatives in Manufacturing and QA, which increased quality and compliance and yielded business benefits.

Teresa received her B.S. in Microbiology, with a minor in Chemistry from South Dakota State University.

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Compliance Architects LLC delivers high-value compliance, quality, and regulatory consulting services to companies directly regulated by the U.S. FDA and other global regulatory authorities. With capabilities ranging from quality systems implementations to audits, inspection

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Robert “Bob” Honer is a seasoned professional with a solid background in finance, supply chain management, and software solutions. He currently holds the position of Senior Director, Supply Chain Practice at Anaplan where he leverages his vast experience to develop effective supply chain strategies and support new software launches. Robert’s education background includes a Masters degree in Finance and Supply Chain Management from Syracuse University. Prior to joining Anaplan, Robert spent over a decade at Blue Yonder, serving in various supply chain-focused leadership roles.

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Anaplan transforms the way you see, plan, and lead your business. By dynamically connecting financial, strategic, and operational plans in real time, Anaplan gives you the power to anticipate change, address complexity, and move at market speed. Anaplan’s Connected Planning platform lets you view and contextualize current performance, forecast future outcomes to fuel growth and mitigate risk, and optimize costs so you can make faster, more strategic decisions. Anaplan helps more than 2,400 market-leading customers in over 50 countries navigate their daily planning challenges with confidence.

anaplan.com

During his career in pharmaceuticals Rx, OTC, consumer goods, and medical devices, Bart managed large E2E manufacturing and supply chain networks (including procurement, planning, manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution); acquired and divested businesses and manufacturing operations; lead strategy and technology innovation teams; and oversaw large scale business transformation programs. He also successfully executed an FDA Consent Decree and re-certified multiple sites.

A dynamic and resilient leader with vision, Bart thrives on big challenges and stretch goals. He excels at mobilizing and guiding organizations through large transformations, as well as delivering step-change performance improvements. With a focus on customers and people, he energizes large organizations by inspiring confidence in others, through strong communication, influencing skills, and an open & authentic leadership style.

Bart is a strong believer in the power of collaboration. At Johnson & Johson he successfully established global eco-systems and strategic partnerships (with academia, industry consortia, industry, technology providers, and governments) that were leveraged to advance technology innovation and supply chain capabilities. He participates in forums to contribute and influence the global innovation and I4.0 agenda, driving progress across industries and economies.

Bart is also a frequent speaker at manufacturing, supply chain, and innovation conferences. Past speaking engagements include Executive Platform events (e.g. NAMES); WEF advanced manufacturing and supply chain forums; NAM/MLC Rethink Summits; IoT Solutions World Congress; and the Cambridge International Manufacturing Symposium. Bart has also done multiple podcast interviews with Gartner, McKinsey, and Executive Platforms.

After 27 years, he retired from Johson & Johnson on October 1, 2023. Now he is an Executive Fellow at the World Economic Forum for the Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains Center and a member of WEF’s Global Future Council. Bart is actively evaluating company advisory and coaching commitments, has ongoing external speaking engagements, and continues to participate with the Manufacturing Leadership Council (MLC) in various capacities.

Bart’s drive, energy, and passion for excellence radiates in everything he does, including his personal life. He is an avid workout and fitness fanatic, having attempted and broken (but not officially certified) Guinness World Records in pushups and chin-ups, affirming his believe in the power of setting

As the enterprise IT management division of Zoho Corp., ManageEngine empowers you to take control of your IT, from your security, networks, and servers to your applications, service desk, Active Directory, desktops, and mobile devices.

www.manageengine.com

Wolters Kluwer is a global leader in professional information, ESG, and software solutions. Our award-winning CCH® Tagetik expert solution enables business leaders to optimize profitability, and drive strategy with faster and better-informed decisions. Our AI-based solutions streamline supply chain and integrated business planning to improve accuracy, collaboration, and resilience with real-time and connected Demand, Supply, Production, and Sales and Operations (S&OP) planning. Wolters Kluwer serves mid-market and enterprise customers worldwide and has annual revenues of €5.5 billion.

www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/cch-tagetik/supply-chain-planning

Jerry Carlson has over three decades of IT and Security expertise, with 23 of these years spent at Microsoft. He currently leads a team of cyber security experts for Bulletproof across the United States. His team is driven by helping organizations protect themselves from cybercrime because they believe stealing is wrong. Jerry is an expert in the Microsoft security portfolio, including M365 Security (Defender for Endpoint, Defender for Email, Defender for Identity), and Entra Cloud Permissions Management, as well as Microsoft Copilot for M365 and Copilot for Security. He has assisted many small and large businesses in transitioning from an outdated best of breed model to a Microsoft best in class integrated security platform, lowering their security expenses, enhancing their visibility, and ultimately decreasing risk.

Jack M. Wilson
CRO
Bulletproof

Jack Wilson is an accomplished Senior Executive, Entrepreneur, and Advisory Board Member with more than 25 years of successful executive leadership experience in various industries. Wilson is currently the CRO of Bulletproof, a leader in the cybersecurity industry, leveraging extensive experience in developing strategies, building high-performance teams, and delivering revenue and profitable growth. 

I love winning, I love building a business to address a new market opportunity and I love making people better at what they do. Experienced in building and leading highly motivated, global revenue and customer success teams solving complex challenges to arrive at successful solutions. 

I’m an avid runner who has participated in many Marathons (2:23PR), and numerous Ultra Marathons including the Moab 240, and placed in the top 20 (10:21) in the Ironman.

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Bulletproof offers comprehensive IT, security, & compliance solutions for your business. We work with any industry, any size – to help you mitigate risk, improve your technologies, processes, systems, business infrastructure, and ensure compliance while securing your data.

Bulletproof was named Microsoft’s global Security Partner of the Year in 2021 for delivering excellence and innovative end-to-end security solutions – let us help you deploy and optimize your technology, security, and compliance, empowering you do to more with your teams.

https://bit.ly/4aMv39Z

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HighRadius offers cloud-based Autonomous Software for the Office of the CFO. More than 800 of the world’s leading companies have transformed their order to cash, treasury, and record to report processes with HighRadius. Our customers include 3M, Unilever, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Sanofi, Engie GBS Solutions, Kellogg Company, Danone, Hershey’s, and many more. Autonomous Software is data-driven software that continuously morphs its behavior to the ever-changing underlying domain transactional data. It brings modern digital transformation capabilities like Artificial Intelligence, Robotic Process Automation, Natural Language Processing, Connected Workspaces, and LiveCube, a No-code Platform, as out-of-the-box capabilities features for the finance & accounting domain.

www.highradius.com

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Christopher Shryock served as Sam’s Club’s Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer. In this role, he oversaw all aspects of human resources for Sam’s Club and was responsible for attracting, developing, rewarding, and retaining talent as well as building a diverse and inclusive organization.

Prior to Sam’s Club, Christopher spent nearly 14 years at PepsiCo in a variety of global HR leadership roles in Plano, Texas; Geneva, Switzerland; Moscow, Russia; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and New York. Most recently, he was senior vice president of human resources for the PepsiCo Foods North America sector’s Commercial organization where he led the HR agenda across the sales, marketing, and strategy and transformation organizations. 

Christopher earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Xavier University (OH) and a Master of Arts in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Hofstra University.

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Andrew Knez
CEO 
Covalent Networks 

Andrew Knez has several years of work experience in various roles and industries. Andrew is currently the CEO and Co-Founder of Covalent Networks, a company that specializes in workforce operations in complex manufacturing environments. Prior to this, Andrew worked as the Chief of Staff at NatureBox from 2013 to 2016. Andrew also served as an Associate at General Catalyst Partners from 2011 to 2013. Additionally, they worked in marketing at FanSnap for a brief period in 2010 and interned at the Boston Scholar Athlete Program in the same year. Andrew began their career as an Analyst at KAYAK in 2009. 

Andrew Knez attended Williams College from 2007 to 2011, where they earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) degree in History. Andrew then pursued further education at Harvard Business School from 2016 to 2018, obtaining a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) degree.

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Covalent Networks Inc.

Covalent’s enterprise SaaS platform enables technical training programs in complex industrial environments. It replaces all paper training and evaluation forms.

In doing so, it auto-generates real-time Workforce Intelligence for frontline leaders, including skill matrices and audit trails. Our clients further operationalize this data for coverage planning and process control. Our shared goal is to increase labor productivity and decrease the cost of poor quality (COPQ). Customers include Fortune 500 jet engine, automotive, and chemical manufacturers.

www.covalentnetworks.com.

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JR Humbert is currently the VP, Quality at INCOG BioPharma Services, and created and implemented the quality system at INCOG, which in three years went from company creation through successful FDA inspection in 3 years.

JR has over 20 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry experience in validation, quality, technology transfer, process engineering, and program management. Some of JR’s previous companies include Piramal Pharma Solutions, Roche/Genentech, Hospira, and Cook Pharmica.

JR has participated in multiple global health authority inspections and developed inspection responses. JR has an MBA from Indiana University, and a BA in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Colorado-Boulder.

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INCOG BioPharma Services Inc. has been designed and built from decades of experience with a clear purpose: to deliver better CDMO services in the injectable drug product space.

With our dedicated team, best-in-class processes, and state-of-the-art equipment, we deliver meaningful results and stand-out customer experiences. We are here to strive for the best—for our team and for our customers. We are in it with you from the moment we start work on your project. We go above and beyond to understand your requirements, meet your needs, and foster a truly collaborative partnership.
 
 Founded in June 2020, INCOG BioPharma Services offers development and manufacturing services to both early phase and late phase biopharmaceutical companies. We are located on the northeast corner of Indianapolis in Fishers, IN.

www.incogbiopharma.com

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WorkJam is the world’s first digital frontline workplace; a fully modular super app that solves the biggest problems faced by frontline employers around the world: Employee turnover and engagement, productivity, task management, communications, and upskilling/learning. WorkJam’s modules adapt to your specific workflows and integrate seamlessly with all WFM platforms. WorkJam is the most cost-effective, scalable & uncomplicated way to connect your frontline, so you don’t miss a beat!

www.workjam.com

In most manufacturing facilities, an alert, an alarm, a warning, or a notice is going off somewhere every few seconds. Different machines inform different operators of different data. Very few manufacturers have a clear overview of what is being flagged everywhere at any one time, and the human operators who work with their systems day in and day out quickly learn to ignore some alarms while perhaps putting too much time and attention into monitoring others. Would it not be to everyone’s advantage to have an overarching system that brings all alarms up to the same level of visibility and then helps human operators recognize which ones to focus on at any one time? As luck would have it, the ever-evolving semiconductor manufacturing space has already created a system that operates in an even more fast-paced and exacting manufacturing environment than the one most pharmaceutical companies operate in, and Applied Materials is helping taking the hard-won lessons of Alarm Management from that industry and bringing it to the tightly regulated, patient-focused, quality-centric pharmaceutical manufacturing space. For every pharmaceutical executive who worries things are getting missed in their manufacturing facilities, give this episode a listen! 

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Applied Materials provides pharma manufacturers an opportunity to leverage decades of experience in increasing productivity in semiconductor manufacturing. SmartFactory Rx™ is a suite of advanced manufacturing software which enables pharma companies to achieve unprecedented levels of productivity, quality and compliance from their plants and supply chain refined through 30 years of leadership based on Industry 4.0 principles. Our software solutions provides a real-time, data-driven plant environment that senses factory activity, predicts performance, prescribes effective actions, and optimizes DoE and control. Our pharma team, powered by SmartFactory Rx Digital Platform, enables customers to optimize quality and productivity in pharma manufacturing. This intelligent and flexible platform allows non-programmers to enable data-driven decisions from shop floor to top floor.

www.appliedsmartfactory.com/pharmaceutical

For all the wonderful things AI promises to do for businesses, perhaps the most important contribution will be improving training and putting institutional knowledge, instruction, advice, and instructions in the hands of everyone in an interactive and highly useful and actionable way. It is the right solution arriving at the right time to make a serious impact on a growing challenge. Give this episode a listen to learn more! 

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Willem Sundblad
CEO and Co-Founder
Oden Technologies 

Willem Sundblad is the co-founder and CEO of Oden Technologies, a company empowering operators by providing real-time, AI-driven prescriptive process setting recommendations and predictive quality directly to the front line. In his spare time, he is a contributing writer to Forbes.com and takes every chance he gets to enjoy the Green Mountains of Vermont.

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Oden Technologies

The information inexperienced operators need to become high performers, available in one click. Oden Technologies’ Process AI provides real-time, AI-driven prescriptive process setting recommendations and predictive quality directly to the front-line. Our turnkey models and hands-on service ensures realized value in weeks, not years.

oden.io

As president of managed services, Jordan Kass has global responsibility for C.H. Robinson’s transportation management technologies and supply chain consulting services through TMC, a division of C.H. Robinson and Freightview. Shortly after joining C.H. Robinson in 1999, he led a team to develop a new service, Managed TMS®, under a newly formed division, TMC. Today, Jordan leads a team of supply chain experts who have built TMC into an international business helping to connect, automate and optimize supply chains for some of the world’s largest companies.

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C.H. Robinson | TMC

C.H. Robinson solves logistics problems for companies across the globe and across industries, from the simple to the most complex. Our single, global multimodal transportation management system, Navisphere, connects our entire network of 200K companies to provide customers with greater supply chain efficiency, real-time insights, and visibility. Through our TMC division, we combine global TMS technology with a full suite of logistics managed services and consulting to help shippers optimize and automate their supply chain across all modes and regions.

www.chrobinson.com/tmc

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René Buck

CEO at BCI Global

René Buck completed his study in Economic Geography and Planning (cum laude) at the Radboud University of Nijmegen in 1985. After his study he started the research and consultancy firm Buck Consultants International. Through more than 30 years of experience, René knows the backgrounds and concerns of many stakeholders and he speaks their ‘language’: from international to regional companies; from universities and to specialized research institutes; from broad interest groups to sectoral sector organizations; from (real estate) project developers to investors/investors; and, from municipalities and provinces to ministries and the European Commission.

René is a leading consultant in the areas where BCI Global is active and he is a prominent speaker at conferences throughout the world. He is seen by international news media as a leading expert.

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BCI Global

BCI Global is a specialized consultancy and leader in developing comprehensive, practical manufacturing and supply chain footprint strategies as well as selecting sites worldwide for new operations in the US; in Europe, Middle East and Africa; and in the Asia Pacific region (including China and India). In the last 36+ years BCI has supported more than 1,000 clients. Our location strategy work combines proven frameworks with in-depth global knowledge of manufacturing hotspots, detailed labor analytics, cost factors, qualitative factors, incentives and risks. Supply chain advice ranges from transformation of supply chains, network design, COEs, Control Towers, procurement of logistics services, to location strategy for warehousing, go-to-market strategies into new markets, risk & resilience assessment. BCI Global is ISO-9001 certified, Llamasoft certified partner and recognized on Forbes Best Management Consultants list for the third year in a row.

www.bciglobal.com

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Jason Lioy

Chief People Officer at Dawn Foods

Jason leads a global team responsible for recruiting, developing, and celebrating diverse top talent. He is focused on building and maintaining a people-first culture for more than 3,500 team members across the world. He also helps cultivate a culture that attracts, motivates, and retains talented collaborators. He has been a People leader at Dawn since 2014.

Jason has a strong background in global HR and operations with companies including Philips, GE, and Armstrong World Industries. He continues to build on his experience of valuing intangibles for an organization like, culture, work environment, engagement, wellbeing, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

With topics ranging from workforce development, training, and optimization, through to Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement, to Digital Transformation, Change Management, automation, AI, controlling costs, and much more, this wide-ranging conversation will see five senior executives speaking to the issues, ideas, innovations, and inspirations that matter to all of them as prompted by their peers. It is a fantastic deep dive into what is most relevant to manufacturing executives today. Give it a listen!

Our roundtable panelists are…

Moderator:

Jon Sobel
CEO & Co-Founder
Sight Machine

Panelists:

Bart Talloen
Former VP Strategy, Innovation & Deployment at Johnson & Johnson
Executive Fellow at the World Economic Forum for the Advanced Manufacturing & Supply Chains Center
World Economic Forum

Kelly DiPucchio
Former VP of Global Manufacturing Engineering
General Motors

Magdi Batato
Fmr. EVP, Global Head of Operations
Nestlé

Maciej Stawicki
Global VP of Manufacturing
Procter & Gamble

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Robert Honer, PMP CPIM

Senior Director, Supply Chain Practice

Anaplan

Robert Honer is a seasoned professional with a solid background in finance, supply chain management, and software solutions. He currently holds the position of Senior Director, Supply Chain Practice at Anaplan where he leverages his vast experience to develop effective supply chain strategies and support new software launches. Robert’s education background includes a Masters degree in Finance and Supply Chain Management from Syracuse University. Prior to joining Anaplan, Robert spent over a decade at Blue Yonder, serving in various supply chain-focused leadership roles.

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Anaplan
 
 

Leverage connected planning to fast-track better supply chain decisions

When it comes to your supply chain, the most precious resource you have is time. With the onset of connected supply ecosystems, fast action is key for sustained success. Your planning needs to help you anticipate change and prepare for any possibility. By integrating supply chain planning with sales and operations plans (S&OP), demand planning, and workforce planning, you can set a more robust strategy and shorten the time from events to decisions. Anaplan for Supply Chain lets you shift from siloed, sequential, reactive plans to real-time proactive planning. Sense shifts, analyze opportunities, draw insights and build consensus with a single platform solution. When you elevate your supply chain planning, you have the power to get ahead of change and take control of your outcomes.
 
 

www.anaplan.com/solutions/supply-chain-management

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Jon Sobel is the CEO and cofounder of Sight Machine, a venture-backed technology company that serves global manufacturers. Sight Machine’s investors include GE and leading venture capital firms from the Midwest and West Coast. The company has operations in Michigan, California, EMEA, and Asia. Sobel previously served as general counsel and as a member of the executive leadership teams of several pioneering technology companies, including Tesla Motors and, in its early years, Yahoo!. Sobel received a JD from the University of Michigan Law School (1990), an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and an undergraduate degree in public policy from Princeton University.

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Sight Machine drives rapid increases in manufacturing productivity. Our technology platform delivers real outcomes in efficiency, sustainability and quality—in weeks. Manufacturers that deploy Sight Machine empower teams to better collaborate, innovate and accelerate their journey of continuous productivity improvement. Founded by a team with deep manufacturing expertise, Sight Machine has offices in San Francisco and Ann Arbor, Mich.

sightmachine.com

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Julie McGill is the Vice President of Supply Chain Strategy and Insights at Trustwell, (formerly FoodLogiQ and ESHA Research). From food and supplement manufacturers to retail grocers and restaurant chains, food companies around the world use Trustwell software as their trusted source for nutrition labeling, supplier management, recalls and traceability in the food industry.

Julie monitors food regulations, is engaged with evolving industry work, advises, and educates internal stakeholders and external partners on impacts to the food supply chain. Prior to joining FoodLogiQ, Julie led initiatives in foodservice and convenience retail at GS1 US. She also was a founding team member at Transora, which was one of the first GDSN data pools. Julie started her food and beverage career at Coors Brewing Company in Golden, Colorado.

She participates on various industry initiatives and is the co-chair of the AIM North American Food Supply Chain workgroup, co-chair of the PTI Technology and Retail FSMA 204 workgroups, and serves on the PTI Leadership Council.

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Trustwell is on a mission to change the food industry. Combining FoodLogiQ’s supply chain management software with Genesis’ nutritional analysis and label development solution, the Trustwell platform creates the food industry’s only software platform connecting product development and regulatory-compliant labeling into supplier compliance, enhanced traceability, and automated recall management. We are committed to advancing innovation and technology in the food industry together with our customers while delivering the highest standards of products and services.

www.trustwell.com

Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope

Professor, Author, Documentarian,

and National Instructor for Becker

Kelly Richmond Pope is a forensic accountant, a professor at DePaul University, and a filmmaker who analyzes corporate crime. Her 2017 documentary on Rita Crundwell's embezzlement from the city of Dixon, Illinois, All the Queen’s Horses, won the HBO Spotlight Award for Best Documentary at its World Premiere in 2017 and the Golden Laurels Award at the 2018 Beloit International Film Festival. In 2023, her book Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry was published by Harvard Business Review Press.

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Becker Professional Education

Becker, known for more than 60 years as the leader that people trust for the best in CPA Exam Prep, has over the years invested in an extensive library of CPE courses, designed both for credentialed and non-credentialed accounting and finance professionals. With more than 700 On Demand courses available for streaming 24/7, and 100+ scheduled Webcasts per month, Becker has you and your team covered. Also, as a strategic partner of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), we’ve enhanced every aspect of our CMA Exam Prep to be as close as you can get to the exam. Becker remains fully committed to CPA Exam Prep, with over 1 million candidates and counting! We are proud to share that the top 100 accounting firms and an expanding clientele of corporations, rely on us for their staff’s exam preparation.

www.becker.com

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Compliance Architects LLC delivers high-value compliance, quality, and regulatory consulting services to companies directly regulated by the U.S. FDA and other global regulatory authorities. With capabilities ranging from quality systems implementations to audits, inspection readiness, enforcement remediation, and outsourced compliance services, Compliance Architects LLC has the experience, expertise, and delivery capability to significantly improve your company’s business outcomes. Jack Garvey is CA’s founder and CEO, a chemical engineer and a practicing regulatory attorney, and has spent his entire career helping companies navigate the challenges at the intersections of science, engineering, business, and law.

www.compliancearchitects.com

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Jessica Jones

VP of Human Resources & Legal Compliance at Alliance Technical Group

Jessica Jones specializes in helping companies establish fair policies and procedures that help support employees while protecting the company. With Alliance, she has helped the company with dramatic growth and shifting its HR/business operating strategies. Jessica has redesigned all aspects of the company’s Human Resource structure (on-going project), while ensuring the protection of the Company’s values and building culture. She enjoys all facets of HR from benefits and compensation to employment and labor law. She has extensive experience with greenfield and turn-around projects, HR project management and analytics, acquisitions and culture transfer.

Cynthia Kaiser

Deputy Assistant Director, Cyber Division at Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Cynthia Kaiser is a Deputy Assistant Director with FBI Cyber Division, where she leads the FBI’s cyber threat intelligence, cyber policy, and cyber partner engagement efforts.

Cynthia has covered cyber, technology, and counterintelligence issues for almost 20 years for the FBI, served as a PDB Briefer in two presidential administrations, and has led FBI cyber threat analysis and served as an FBI election lead since 2017. In these roles, she has reshaped FBI information sharing and collaboration with the private sector and federal, state, and local government officials to be robust, proactive, and aimed at imposing risks and consequences on malicious cyber actors.

Cynthia is also passionate about increasing diversity in cyber and tech professions. She was named a Women Tech Leader Ambassador by GovCIO in 2022, a Top Government Tech Leader to Watch by WashingtonExec in 2023, and received Cyber Guild’s “Warrior Award” in 2023. She holds a Master’s degree in security policy focused on science and technology and an Executive Master’s degree in leadership.

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Steven is a Value Engineering Vice President and supply chain expert at Celonis.  Steven’s 25 years’ experience as a management consultant and leading technical and value-oriented engineers affords him insights and lessons learned from helping hundreds of companies and operating units improve their business processes.  Today, Steven heads up a team of value engineers focused on finding, framing and fixing valuable business problems in their enterprise processes through process mining.  Steven and his team are proud to have helped nearly 100 diverse manufacturing, energy, automotive and distribution Celonis customers realize over $700M in cost reduction and working capital improvements.

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Celonis

Celonis enables customers to optimize their business processes. Powered by its leading process mining technology, Celonis provides a unique set of capabilities for business executives and users to continuously find improvement opportunities within and across processes, and execute targeted actions to rapidly enhance process performance. This optimization yields immediate cash impact, radically improves customer experience, and reduces carbon emissions. Celonis has thousands of implementations with global customers and is headquartered in Munich, Germany and New York City, USA with more than 20 offices worldwide.

www.celonis.com

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Kim Daniels is RQA’s Director, Crisis & Risk Management.  She has more than 20 years of experience in the food and beverage alcohol industry including Quality, Food Safety, Recall, Crisis Management, Supply Chain Management, GFSI Auditing, Governance and Consumer / Customer Care.  Since 2018, Kim has consulted in a variety of consumer products industries including preparing organizations for GFSI audits, conducting 3rd party due diligence audits, training on Recall, Crisis Management, Food Defense and Allergen Cross Contact Prevention, leading global Consumer Care gaps analysis and optimization and supporting organizational program maturity development, design, and strategic talent planning initiatives. Kim was the Director of Quality Excellence at Diageo responsible for Design Quality, Supplier Quality, Manufacturing Quality and Consumer / Customer Quality. Kim was responsible for developing and delivering Global Quality strategy and identifying best practices solutions to improve organizational effectiveness.  She implemented Diageo’s first Consumer Care program for North America and Latin America, developed a Global Consumer Care strategy, completed a 12-month program focused on developing Woman in Leadership for Supply Chain Excellence and received two President Spirit of Supply awards for Brilliant Execution in Global QualityExcellence and Crisis Management. Kim holds an Associates in Science, and an undergraduate and MBA in Organizational Leadership. She is certified in the following disciplines:  Certified CQI & IRCA FSSC Lead Auditor, Implementing SQF Systems, FDA FSMA PCQI for Human Food, Foreign Supplier Verification Program, Intentional Adulteration Vulnerability Assessment, HACCP, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, Supply Chain Professional, and as an Agile Scrum Master. 

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RQA, Inc.

Founded in 1989, RQA is the global leader in providing quality assurance and food safety consultancy, training and services to the food and beverage industry. RQA offers Retail Quality Audits, Counterfeit Investigations, Consumer Complaint and Product Retrieval, Crisis Planning and Management and Product Recall Services globally. RQA Food Forensics™ is the leading provider of foreign material identification services. FSMA compliance training includes PCQI for Human and Animal Foods, Foreign Supplier Verification Program, and Food Defense Programs. RQA’s consultancy team also assists with the development of these programs.

www.rqa-inc.com

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Yash Sabharwal

Director, CEO, Co-Founder

Yash Sabharwal is an accomplished inventor, entrepreneur, and executive specializing in the funding and growth of early-stage technology companies focused on life science applications. He has started 3 companies and successfully exited his last two, bringing a wealth of strategic and tactical experience to the team.

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QbDVision, Inc.

QbDVision is an innovative software company pioneering the development of modern digital solutions for the pharma/biotech industry to accelerate the manufacturing development cycle, increase the probability of technical success, and help get therapeutic breakthroughs to patients that much faster.

For many of the newest therapies being developed, the associated manufacturing processes are complex and the next generation of software solutions need to move the industry away from document-centric and spreadsheet-centric information management. QbDVision has assembled a group of industry veterans with 100+ years of collective experience in process development, tech transfer, pharmaceutical quality, and regulatory compliance to develop the next generation of structured data solutions that will dramatically increase R&D efficiency.

www.qbdvision.com

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In 2021, Craig became interested in the climate space after learning about the destruction of our oceans and planet due to global warming. As a sailor and scuba diver, it horrified him that his children may never get to swim on a living reef. With over 20 years of commercial experience in sales, business development, and product marketing, Craig is inspired to apply his background and experience to such an important role and go to work each day with a real purpose.

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Carbonfuture is the Trust Infrastructure for durable carbon removal. Today, the Trust Infrastructure consists of two products that seamlessly connect the entire carbon removal lifecycle: Carbonfuture MRV+, the most comprehensive MRV solution for durable CDR, and Carbonfuture Marketplace, the leading marketplace for durable CDR.

At Carbonfuture, we build trust throughout the carbon removal journey with our rigorous, data-driven approach, ensuring unmatched quality and reliability of carbon removal. We empower suppliers by providing the essential project support and finance needed to transform their carbon removal projects into fully certified carbon credits. For corporate buyers, we offer access to portfolios of carbon removal credits adhering to the highest quality standards and provide visibility at each step of the carbon removal lifecycle. We work with some of the world’s most ambitious climate leaders such as Microsoft, Swiss Re, and the World Economic Forum First Movers Coalition.

carbonfuture.earth

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Leo Howell

Interim Vice President of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer at Georgia Tech

Leo Howell, a visionary IT leader with over two decades of experience, currently serves as the interim vice president for IT and chief information officer at Georgia Tech. In this role, he provides vision, leadership, and oversight in the development and implementation of information technology. He is also responsible for establishing the strategic direction of how the university handles its information technology resources. He formerly served as the Institute’s chief information security officer (CISO). He previously served as the CISO of the University of Oregon where he showcased his leadership in cybersecurity and information technology. His dedication to leveraging data for decision analytics sets him apart. Leo holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Electronics from the University of the West Indies, and an MBA from NC State University. As a CISSP and CISA, he demonstrates deep knowledge and commitment to cybersecurity. Leo’s distinguished career is marked by strong collaborative leadership and the recognition of data as a strategic asset for decision-making in the ever-evolving information technology and cybersecurity landscape.

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Kristen Bailey
VP, Talent Acquisition
 Paradox

Kristen has dedicated her life’s work to building TA organizations that drive business success. Prior to joining Paradox, Kristen spent 12 years at Amazon, last serving as Director of Talent Acquisition. Now, she is responsible for building the teams, systems, and strategies that help Paradox scale. And yes, that means thinking about how we use Paradox tech at Paradox!

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Paradox Inc.

Paradox is building the world’s leading conversational recruiting software to drive automation with a human touch. Serving global clients with hiring needs across high-volume hourly and high-skilled professional roles, our conversational assistant Olivia does the work talent teams don’t have time for — streamlining tasks like screening, interview scheduling, and more through fast, easy, mobile-first interactions. We just acquired Traitify, adding simple, visual personality assessments to our product offering.

We support some of the world’s largest employers — including Unilever, McDonald’s, CVS Health, Nestle, Lowe’s, and L’Oreal — and have been honored with numerous awards, including Human Resource Executive’s Best HR Product of 2019 and consecutive honors in 2020 and 2021 as one of Forbes Top Startup Employers. Paradox was recently named the 225th fastest growing company in the country in the Inc 5000. To learn more, visit www.paradox.ai.

 With topics ranging from talent acquisition, development, and retention, to digital transformation and data analytics, to operational and organizational effectiveness, to the evolving role of the Finance leader in a changing business landscape, and much more, this wide-ranging conversation will see five senior executives from five very different companies speaking to the issues, ideas, innovations, and inspirations that matter to all of them as prompted by their peers. It is a fantastic deep dive into what is most relevant to Finance executives today. Give it a listen!

Our roundtable panelists are…

Moderator:

Tim Caudill
Regional VP Solution & Value Advisory, Americas
Jedox

Panelists:

Joshua Dickinson
SVP & CFO North America
Schneider Electric

Jennifer Kirk
SVP, Global Controller and CAO
Medtronic

Brenda Lovcik
SVP & CFO
Trex

Tom Dillon
Chief Financial Officer, McDonalds USA
McDonald’s

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Sharp is a global leader in pharmaceutical packaging and clinical trial supply services. For 70 years, we’ve provided solutions to pharma and biotech clients from phase I trials through to commercial launch and lifecycle management. With facilities in the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands and 30+ clinical depots globally, covering every region of the world, we are engineered to deliver.
 
 Through our partnership with Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing we offer specialist isolator-based filling of vials, syringes, cartridges and containers, as well as lyophilization and terminal sterilization.

Learn more at www.sharpservices.com

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Diligent is a leading GRC SaaS company that gives organizations the tools and solutions they need to bring clarity to complex risk, elevate impactful insights and get ahead of a world that is constantly changing. With solutions across governance, risk, compliance, audit and ESG, Diligent empowers more than 1 million users and 700,000 board members and leaders to make better decisions, faster. No matter the challenge.

Diligent ESG, our carbon accounting solution, automatically collates your data and produces up to 80 different pre-configured audit-ready reports, presenting a single source of truth for your organization.

diligent.com

At the 2024 edition of the North American Finance Executive Summit series we sat down with Tim Caudill, Jedox’s Regional VP Solution & Value Advisory, Americas, to talk about how the next generation of technologies becoming available to senior Finance executives. In many ways the Finance team is ideally suited to take these new capabilities and run with them: They have access to all the relevant data, and they are already comfortable both with automation and analytics. What do senior leaders need to know about these powerful new tools, and what should they be thinking about as they break down silos and connect all facets of the company to these digital communication and collaboration channels? It is an exciting time for Finance, and technology is one of the major drivers of that positive energy. Give this conversation a listen to learn more!

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Jedox is the world’s most adaptable planning and performance management platform that empowers organizations to deliver plans that outperform expectations. Over 2,800 organizations in 140 countries trust Jedox to model any scenario, integrate data from any source, and simplify cross-organizational plans across all business systems. Jedox enables a culture of decisiveness and confidence so teams can plan for opportunities, react quickly to changes, and uncover what they didn’t know was possible.

For further details, kindly visit: www.jedox.com.

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Zebra/Antuit

Serving Fortune 1000 companies globally, antuit.ai – now part of Zebra Technologies – is rethinking the way retail and consumer products companies use AI to solve business problems.

Antuit.ai offers solutions that inform the most important business decisions, empowering companies to digitally transform their businesses to achieve substantial business results.

antuit.ai

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Tom Hood, CPA, CGMA
EVP – Business Engagement and Growth
 AICPA & CIMA

Tom Hood, CPA, CITP, CGMA is currently the EVP Business Growth & Engagement for AICPA-CIMA and the Business Learning Institute.

Tom recently stepped onto the global stage of the largest association of certified professional accountants in the world, representing over 690,000 CPAs, CGMAs, and students. He was named the second most influential person in accounting by Accounting Today Magazine for the tenth year.

His focus is elevating and accelerating the role of CPAs and CGMAs in corporate and management accounting.

In 2012 LinkedIn recruited Tom as one of their Top 100 Influencers and he now has a following of over 730,000. He is a member of Forbes Finance Council and was inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame. He is the former CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs and former CFO of a highway construction company. He has a Master’s in Finance from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Loyola University of Maryland.

He lives in Baltimore with his wife Sharon.

 
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AICPA & CIMA

The Association of International Certified Professional Accountants® (the Association), represents AICPA® & CIMA®. We advance the global accounting and finance profession through its work on behalf of 696,000 AICPA and CIMA members, students and engaged professionals in 192 countries and territories. Together, we are the worldwide leader on public and management accounting issues through advocacy, support for the CPA license and specialized credentials, professional education and thought leadership. We build trust by empowering our members and engaged professionals with the knowledge and opportunities to be leaders in broadening prosperity for a more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient future.

cgma.org 

 With topics ranging from employee and talent attraction and retention, to employee engagement and succession planning, to DEI and corporate culture, to leadership development and how technology is transforming HR’s capabilities, to employee wellbeing, with an emphasis on mental health, this wide-ranging conversation will see four senior executives from four very different companies speaking to the issues, ideas, innovations, and inspirations that matter to all of them as prompted by their peers. It is a fantastic deep dive into what is most relevant to HR leaders today. Give it a listen!

Our roundtable panelists are…

Moderator:

Shane Yount
President & CEO
Competitive Solutions, Inc.

Panelists:

Rob Kowalski
Chief People & Organization Officer
Novartis

Dr. Johné Battle
SVP & Chief Diversity Inclusion Officer
Dollar General Corporation

Sara Bowen
VP of Global Equity, Diversity & Inclusion and Employee Listening & Organizational Research
Boeing

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Brian Curran
SVP Manufacturing Excellence Success
MasterControl, Inc.

Brian Curran oversees the success of MasterControl’s Manufacturing Excellence (Mx) solution in the quest to digitize the 80% of life sciences manufacturing, large and small, that still use paper for their batch records or device history records. Curran has the privilege of working externally with Mx customers and internally across MasterControl from R&D to sales, services, and support to ensure Mx success and adoption.

Curran joined MasterControl in 2002 to direct and expand MasterControl’s product lines. In 2017 he switched to focus on bringing Mx to market, which happened mid-2019 and now has well over 100 customers who have completed hundreds of thousands of production records.

Curran began his career with IBM, where he led consulting engagements with Fortune 500 companies, such as MCI, Bellsouth, and others. After this he held several director and VP level product management positions for software companies serving the telecommunications and web analytics sectors. Curran has an MBA with an information systems emphasis.

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MasterControl Inc. provides cloud-based software to empower manufacturers in life sciences and other regulated industries to digitize and streamline their processes to reduce errors on the shop floor. Our mission is to help our customers bring life-changing products to more people sooner.

Manufacturing Excellence is a modern MES designed to simplify manufacturing execution for manufacturers of all sizes. It delivers proven results in the metrics that matter – from faster review and release, more throughput, and fewer human errors. Learn how to take a smarter approach to manufacturing at mastercontrol.com.

With topics ranging from talent attraction, development and retention, to supply chain issues, to commercializing CGTs and other ATMPs, change and disruption throughout the business landscape, and how to serve patients better now and in the future, this wide-ranging conversation will see five senior executives from five very different companies speaking to the issues, ideas, innovations, and inspirations that matter to all of them as prompted by their peers. It is a fantastic deep dive into what is most relevant to biopharma technical operations leaders today. Give it a listen!

Our roundtable panelists are…

 Moderator:

Dr. Pascal Bécotte
 Managing Director
 Russell Reynolds Associates

Panelists:

Per Alfredsson
 SVP, Global Biologics Operations AstraZeneca and President AstraZeneca AB
 AstraZeneca

Jennifer McCafferty
 SVP, CMC-Regulatory and Quality
 Merck 

Aine Hanly
 Chief Technology Officer
 Vir Biotechnology

Diane Hagerty
 SVP, Head of GxP Quality & Compliance
 Allogene Therapeutics

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Toni Lowe
 Chief Diversity Equity Inclusion Officer at Huge

Toni Howard Lowe is a global diversity equity & inclusion and human resource executive practitioner with 20+ years of innovative, transformational leadership experience supporting Fortune 100 and world-class companies. As a trusted people advocate, she challenges organizations to maximize their full potential, create value, and advocate for a inclusive employee experience. With experience working across multiple industries, Toni is seen as an advisor to CEOs, executive teams, and boards of directors on workplace culture, diversity, organizational change, and talent strategies. A modern leader, Toni is known for engaging and growing top talent and creating high performing, dynamic and diverse teams. Because of Toni’s years of championing diverse professionals, she has been an invited lecturer, panelist, instructor, workshops facilitator on issues of equity, Inclusion and diversity at multiple institutions of higher education, corporations and professional organizations. Toni’s LinkedIn courses on the topics of DE&I have garnered more than half a million learners globally. In addition, Toni’s insights have also been featured in many national media outlets.

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Michael Conley is a seasoned Supply Chain professional with over three decades of experience in industry and management consulting. His career spans industries from Food & Beverage, Retail, and Consumer Goods to Electronics, Chemicals, and Industrial Manufacturing, plus extensive work in Corporate ESG within the technology sector. Michael has robust, end-to-end expertise across the Supply Chain, including Forecasting & Demand Planning, Sales & Operations Planning, Inventory Management, Manufacturing & Operations, Logistics, and Procurement. Recognized for leading enterprise-wide transformations that deliver maximum operational and financial performance, Michael consistently drives disparate functional groups into cohesive, connected planning teams.

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Wolters Kluwer | CCH Tagetik

Wolters Kluwer is a global leader in professional information, ESG, and software solutions. Our award-winning CCH® Tagetik expert solution enables business leaders to optimize profitability, and drive strategy with faster and better-informed decisions. Our AI-based solutions streamline supply chain and integrated business planning to improve accuracy, collaboration, and resilience with real-time and connected Demand, Supply, Production, and Sales and Operations (S&OP) planning. Wolters Kluwer serves mid-market and enterprise customers worldwide and has annual revenues of €5.5 billion.

www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/cch-tagetik/supply-chain-planning

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Michael Kraich
 VP of Global Project & Product Management
 Boehringer Ingelheim Biopharmaceuticals GmbH

Dr. Michael Kraich is Vice President of Global Project & Product Management within Boehringer Ingelheim’s Biopharma Contract Development and Manufacturing Business.

Michael has more than 15 years of experience in Biopharmaceutical Development, Manufacturing, Project Management and Contracting. In his previous role he was heading the Global External Manufacturing Network of Boehringer Ingelheim’s Animal Health Business accountable for the strategic development and management of a global CMO and API supplier network. Before this, he was a member of the site leadership team of the Biopharma Site in Biberach, Germany, leading the local CMC Project Management organization dedicated to CMB customers.

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Boehringer Ingelheim Biopharmaceuticals GmbH

Boehringer Ingelheim is a leading research-driven biopharmaceutical company and creates value through innovation in areas of high unmet medical need.

As one of the world’s largest manufacturers for biopharmaceuticals with in-depth experience in this field, the company is an industry pioneer and collaborates with top 20 pharma companies and innovative biotechs.

Boehringer Ingelheim BioXcellence™ reliably supplies innovative therapies that transform lives, today and for generations to come. We create solutions with our partners, building on our can-do attitude to improve patient health.

Our business is empowered by 5,000 dedicated and well-trained employees in development, quality and manufacturing and has access to a global manufacturing network providing the entire production chain from DNA to Fill & Finish. Our track records, both in commercial and clinical supply speak for themselves – since we started offering contract manufacturing in 1995, we have successfully brought 40 biologics to the market and have transferred and optimized more than 150 development and manufacturing projects at all stages from our customers to our facilities, as well as within our network.

While collaborating with our partners we never lose sight of the patients that depend on biopharmaceutical therapies. We offer capabilities to complement your expertise, so together we can deliver better therapies.

www.bioxcellence.com

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Sara Jane Bellocchi

Networked Ingredients Functional Consultant at TraceGains

Sara Jane has led R&D, quality, and regulatory teams throughout the NPD lifecycle from innovation to commercialization. She has over 10 years of experience in the natural foods industry and an educational background in Nutrition Science and International Food Law and Regulations. Her professional designations include Lead Instructor for the FSPCA Preventive Controls Qualified Individuals (PCQI), BRCGS Professional, and Certified Food Safety and Quality Auditor (CFSQA) through the American Society for Quality (ASQ). She works as a Networked Ingredients Functional Consultant for TraceGains guiding our Strategic Accounts through continuous improvement projects and streamlining their quality and R&D initiatives.

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TraceGains is revolutionizing CPG supply chain agility through an innovative Networked Ingredient Marketplace. The ability for businesses to seamlessly connect with partners through a networked marketplace is essential for collaborating to solve today’s unprecedented supply chain challenges. Information about ingredients and supply chain partners flows instantly using intelligence and automation. Our patented PostOnce™ technology allows authorized stakeholders to share and receive vital information, precisely when, where, and how they need to operate efficiently and remain competitive. Through the power of a global network, supply chain agility is achievable.

For 15 years, TraceGains has provided the world’s only holistic networked solution for global brands gaining speed and control over compliance and product development. Using the power of a network, brands collaborate on 466,000 ingredients/items from more than 64000 supply chain locations creating greater agility, resilience, and joined sustainability within the business ecosystem that masters the modern supply chain

www.tracegains.com

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Betty Thompson serves as Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer at Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH) and a member of its Leadership Team. In this role, she oversees the people services functions and strategy for a global workforce of more than 27,000 people.

Since joining the firm in 2008, Betty has been instrumental to Booz Allen’s workforce transformation as the firm has deepened investments in innovation, advanced technology, and highly skilled talent and reshaped its portfolio toward mission-critical, high-margin solutions.

A pioneer in human capital strategy, Betty drives forward-leaning workforce initiatives with a particular focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), culture and change, holistic employee wellness, employee engagement, and technical skill building. She led a complete reimagining of the firm’s employee value proposition and executive talent management processes, as well as the reshaping of recruitment, retention, and development programs.

Under Betty’s leadership, Booz Allen has received numerous awards and recognitions for its workplace, culture, employer brand, DEI and more, including Forbes’ Best Employers for Women and Best Employers for Diversity, Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators, CAREERS & the disABLED Magazine’s Private Sector Employer of the Year, and Ethisphere’s World’s Most Ethical Companies.

Her prior corporate experience includes VP, Human Resources at Fannie Mae (1993 – 2008) and several senior Human Resource positions at IBM.

Betty holds a Master of Science degree in Human Resources and Personnel Management from American University in Washington, D.C. and holds an NACD Directorship and SHRM-SCP certifications. She is the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), and a founding member of Chief DC. She was recognized in 2019 as a Top 10 HR Exec to Watch by Washington Executive and in 2015 with the Activist Woman of Excellence Award by the National Association of Female Executives.

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Just – Evotec Biologics, wholly owned by Evotec SE, is a first-to-industry biologics platform company that leverages AI/ML technologies and world-leading molecular design, cell line development, process intensification and continuous manufacturing strategies to advance biotherapeutics from discovery through clinical stages to commercial launch. The Just – Evotec Biologics team combines deep industry experience in the fields of data, protein, process, and manufacturing sciences including automation with highly integrated and flexible capabilities to break through the scientific and economic barriers associated with the development of protein therapeutics. Our focus is to accelerate and expand access to biotherapeutics through scientific and technological innovation for our proprietary projects and on behalf of our partners. Learn more at www.just-evotecbiologics.com

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Applied Materials provides pharma manufacturers an opportunity to leverage decades of experience in increasing productivity. SmartFactory Rx™ is a suite of advanced manufacturing software which enables pharma companies to achieve unprecedented levels of productivity, quality and compliance from their plants and supply chain refined through 30 years of leadership based on Industry 4.0 principles. The suite is a data & application integration platform which provides: advanced process analytics & control, real-time production planning & scheduling, predictive maintenance, and knowledge advisor for creating a continuous learning environment for knowledge capture and reuse. Solutions are rapidly implemented by non-programmers using this intelligent & flexible platform to enable data-driven decisions from the shop floor to top floor.

appliedsmartfactory.com/pharmaceutical

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www.qima.com

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OPTEL has a proven track record of over 30 years in providing end-to-end and highly granular traceability solutions that enable companies to unlock the potential of intelligent and agile supply chains.

 Optchain™, OPTEL’s flagship traceability and decision-making solution, connects all stakeholders across the value chain to ensure complete, real-time visibility. It helps to boost supply chain performance and resilience, and resolve operational challenges related to supply and demand balancing. What’s more, it provides the tools businesses require to accurately measure greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), their carbon footprints, and an array of other detailed data to achieve their ESG targets and comply with regulatory standards.

 For decades, OPTEL has helped companies in a wide range of industries digitalize their supply chains, including the pharmaceutical, consumer packaged goods, food and beverage, mining, agrochemicals, residual materials, and many more.

 Founded in 1989, OPTEL is a Certified B Corporation headquartered in Canada, with facilities in Germany, Ireland, India and Brazil, as well as employees worldwide.
 
www.optelgroup.com

Any conversation about improving Sustainability has to acknowledge most of the underpinnings of today’s economy we put in place before environmental performance was viewed as anything more than a nice-to-have. There are enormous opportunities to reduce impacts by taking an informed approach to looking around the facilities and other infrastructure your organization uses and identifying opportunities to eliminate waste. Many of these opportunities are inexpensive, and the savings they would generate not only pay for themselves, but can also go towards funding other improvements that may sound capital intensive at first, but will actually create a snowballing effect of savings paying for further savings, all of which is also paying immediate dividends into dramatically improved EHS metrics. To learn more and hear how this can apply to you and your operations, give this episode a listen!

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Dalkia Energy Solutions, EDF Group provides comprehensive energy solutions for municipal, commercial, industrial, and institutional customers within the United States. We design, install, finance and maintain efficiency upgrade projects across the US, helping our customers save money while positively helping them reach their greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals.

Our applications include street lighting, building controls, compressed air, HVAC, LED lighting, refrigeration and steam systems, and the management of utility financial incentives that reduce capital investment requirements. Dalkia brings our customers on-site generation with combined heat and power from our Dalkia affiliate, Dalkia Aegis, solar and storage solutions from EDF Renewables and electricity, and gas and load management services from EDF Energy Services.

Dalkia has evolved through applying its skills, know-how and the advancing energy technologies to continuously provide reliable, cost-effective solutions to resource and sustainability challenges. We’ve also collaborated with a wide array of other energy companies, building an extensive international network of partners with complementary areas of expertise--all of which adds up to unmatched solutions delivered to our customers.

With topics ranging from Digital Transformation and AI, to Forecasting and S&OP, to Procurement, Inventory, Talent, Labor, and more this wide-ranging conversation will see four senior supply chain executives from four very different companies speaking to the issues, ideas, innovations, and inspirations that matter to all of them as prompted by their peers. It is a fantastic deep dive into what is most relevant to supply chain organizations today. Give it a listen!

Our roundtable panelists are...

Greg Javor
SVP | Global Supply Chain Operations at Mattel, Inc

Katie Holman
VP Supply Chain, Meals, and Baking Solutions at General Mills 

Fernando Hernandez
VP Supplier Performance at The Boeing Company 

Donna Warton
Corporate VP, Supply Chain & Sustainability at Microsoft

mytmc.com

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For 30 years AFMS has helped over 3,000 companies reduce their shipping costs by 15-25%. Specializing in transportation benchmarking, carrier contract negotiations, full RFP and RFQ support for carrier optimization & invoice auditing, for all modes of transportation. Our expert team of former carrier pricing executives and strategists from UPS, FedEx, DHL, USPS, Hyundai, US lines, Panalpina, Topocean and the major LTL carriers has over 500 years of combined industry experience. AFMS will provide a NO Charge full shipping analysis and profile of where you stand in the market today.

www.afms.com

Cority has the industry’s highest levels of client satisfaction and has received many awards for its strong employee culture and outstanding business performance.

www.cority.com

As the Director of Quality and Food Safety at Bunge Canada, Amit leads a team of professionals who are committed to delivering the highest standards of quality, safety, and compliance for our products and processes. Amit is also a certified SQF Lead Auditor, a trained Six Sigma Black Belt, and has an MBA in Food and Agribusiness. Amit leverages these credentials and competencies to drive continuous improvement, innovation, and best practices in our organization. Amit enjoys coaching and mentoring his team and fostering a culture of quality and employee engagement. His mission is to ensure that Bunge is a trusted and preferred partner for both customers and stakeholders.

Crisman holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Washington State University.

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Umoja Biopharma’s world-class team of scientists, researchers, and drug development experts are united by their shared goal of unlocking the true potential of CAR T cell therapies. Their deep experience, meticulous attention to detail, and innovative spirit drive us in our mission to extend the benefits of immunotherapy to every patient bearing the burden of cancer.

www.aizon.ai

René is a leading consultant in the areas where BCI Global is active and he is a prominent speaker at conferences throughout the world. He is seen by international news media as a leading expert.

Sharp Packaging Services is a global leader in pharmaceutical packaging and clinical trial supply services. For 70 years, we’ve provided solutions to pharma and biotech clients from phase I trials through to commercial launch and lifecycle management. With facilities in the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands and 30+ clinical depots globally, covering every region of the world, we are engineered to deliver.

Through our partnership with Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing we offer specialist isolator-based filling of vials, syringes, cartridges and containers, as well as lyophilization and terminal sterilization.

Learn more at www.sharpservices.com

After initial training in the UH-1N Huey, he was then assigned to his fleet squadron, Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 167 (HMLA-167), in MCAS New River, North Carolina, in February 2010.  He deployed twice:

• April 2011 – February 2012 with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 (VMM-263) on the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (22d MEU) participating in Operation Unified Protector; and
• May – October 2013 with HMLA-167 in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF).

During his fleet tour, Captain Janosky served many collateral duties to include: Operations Scheduling Officer, Ground Safety Officer (GSO), Assistant Logistics Officer (S-4A), Quality Assurance Officer (QAO), and Weapons and Tactics Officer (WTO).  He also completed a conversion to the new UH-1Y Huey/Venom and many Deployments for Training (DFTs).

In July 2015, Captain Janosky reported to Marine Aviation Training Support Group 21 (MATSG-21) where he served as a helicopter instructor pilot with Helicopter Training Squadron 18 (HT-18) training the fleet’s newest helicopter pilots. During this tour, he held positions as a Student Control officer, Ground Safety Officer, and Formation and Tactics Standardization Officer. He achieved status as a Standardization Instructor in 3 of 4 areas of flight training. In July 2018, Captain Janosky transitioned to the Reserves, continuing to instruct during his reserve drill times, and was soon promoted to Major.

In August 2018, Zachary Janosky moved to Little Rock, AR, to become Production Manager at Global Manufacturing, Inc. He was soon promoted to General Manager and is currently holding the position of Director of Operations. He oversees all facets of the administrative and manufacturing departments of the business.

Major Janosky’s military awards include the Air Medal with Strike/Flight numeral 4, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal with bronze star, and NATO Medal for operations in Libya and Afghanistan.  Zachary’s business achievements include carrying a small business through the COVID recession, making manufacturing changes to certain parts to cut our bottlenecks by 30%, reducing costs and increasing throughput while increasing employee benefits.

Zachary is currently married with 3 children and lives in Pensacola, FL.

novisto.com

Kim started her career in retail, healthcare customer service and operations management before transitioning into her first executive HR role in 2001 at Hasler, Inc./Neopost, Inc. a leading global provider of high-end mailing systems equipment. She worked as VP Global HR for Survey Sampling International, leading the team in creating their global HR infrastructure and working with the Board of Directors to implement a comprehensive foundation for HR services. In 2009, Kim founded Intuitive HR, LLC, (IHR), a boutique HR outsourcing and consulting company that supports small to mid-sized organizations with the development and implementation of their HR programs.

It was through IHR that Kim met the team at LATICRETE and began to support us in evolving the HR structure while the company was searching for a permanent leader. The opportunity to make a substantial impact combined with the amazing people and shared core values at LATICRETE made it easy to decide to stay and continue with this extraordinary team and continue to lead the strategy of competitive and modernized HR practices.

Kim holds both a Master of Science in Management and MBA from Albertus Magnus College. Her undergraduate degree is a BS with a double major in Health Care Management and Human Resource Management. She holds the distinguished dual certifications of Senior Professional in Human Resources and Global Professional Human Resources from the Human Resources Certification Institute. As well as the Senior Certified Professional Certification from the Society of Human Resource Management. Kim also teaches HR Management and Team Building at the University of New Haven Pompeo College of Business MBA program since 2010.

Kim lives in Woodbridge, CT with her husband Bill, their incredible daughter Gianna, Cavalier Spaniels Chloe & Lucy, and Dwarf bunnies Snowball & Blizzard. Kim also has two amazing young adult children, a son Hunter and daughter Spencer.

Joao Paulo has previously held roles in manufacturing sciences, process validation, and technology transfer. Prior to joining Thermo Fisher Joao Paulo worked for Bluebird bio, TESARO, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

He holds a B.S. in Chemical-Biological Engineering from MIT, and a Ph.D in Bioengineering from Rice University.

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Thermo Fisher Scientific provides end-to-end drug development, clinical trial logistics and commercial manufacturing solutions to customers of all sizes through our Patheon brand. With more than fifty-five locations around the world, the company has extensive capabilities including drug substance and product development, viral vector services, clinical trial services and commercial-scale manufacturing.

www.thermofisher.com/patheon

In 2015 his book, The Transformative Leader, was published, and the following year he transitioned from his corporate career to helming The Ghannad Group, a leadership development consulting practice he runs as a family business with his wife, son, and daughter.

Today he is the principal author of The Transformative Leader Blog and hosts the Transformative Leader Podcast. As a registered corporate coach and an accomplished trainer of courses such as Seven Habits of Highly Effective People®, The Speed of Trust®, DISK, The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team®, The Mind Gym®, and many others, Amir has designed and delivered customized programs that have helped businesses across a wide range of industries achieve their objectives.

In this wide-ranging conversation with an accomplished author and public speaker, we explore some of the big ideas of leadership and cultural transformation that are relevant to everyone and anyone.  Give this one a listen!

Luke is a founding partner and manager of Private Equity Club L.P., a €338 million fund investing into private equity and co-invests, and is a member of the L.P Advisory Committee for BEXFUND IV.

Luke was formerly Chief Financial Officer and Head of M&A at Shanta Gold Limited, an East African gold producer. Luke has been a Non-Executive Director of Nova Royalty Corp since April 2021 and was a Non-Executive Director at Shanta Gold Limited from 2012 to 2017.

Prior to this he was a member of UBS Investment Bank’s Corporate Finance team and was a management consultant with Accenture where he co-authored a patent incorporating carbon into the Forest Factory Valuation Model.

Luke has lived and worked in China, Hong Kong, Outer Mongolia, Myanmar, and Tanzania. Luke is an alumnus of Edinburgh University and Harvard Business School.

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Carbon Neutral Royalty Ltd (CNR) is an investment vehicle offering ‎corporations exposure to carbon credits, a key instrument used to achieve net-zero climate goals. CNR invests capital through carbon credit streaming arrangements with project developers and owners to ‎accelerate the creation of carbon offset projects by bringing capital to projects that might not otherwise be developed. ‎CNR’s projects have significant social and economic co-benefits in addition to their carbon reduction or ‎removal potential.‎

carbonneutralltd.com

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After her PhD on the genetic background of autism spectrum disorders, Judith Koliwer was leading an academic research group, which analyzed the physiological role of proteins associated with cancer and epilepsy by using lenti and retroviral transduction for genetic modification of cell cultures. As the leading scientist for BSL2, she supported the development of all virus-based projects of the university. In 2019, Judith joined the MES Company Werum IT Solutions GmbH, now Körber Pharma Software GmbH, where she works as principal consultant for cell and gene therapy projects. She works closely with cell and gene therapy / ATMP manufacturers, supporting them in transitioning their manufacturing process from paper to a digital solution. 

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Körber Pharma Software, formerly Werum IT Solutions, is the world’s leading supplier of manufacturing execution systems (MES) and manufacturing IT solutions for the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries. Our out-of-the-box PAS-X software is run by the majority of the worlds to 30 pharmaceutical and biotech companies and by many mid-sized manufacturers. 

Our software product: Werum PAS-X MES is recognized as the world’s leading Manufacturing Execution System (MES) for the pharma, biotech and cell & gene therapy industries. We offer a full-scope MES solution comprising the PAS-X software product and pre-configured content for pharmaceutical, biotech and cell & gene processes completed by consulting, training and support services. PAS-X is a mature standard software product with full functionality that can be implemented within a comparably short time. 

Körber is an international technology group with about 10,000 employees, more than 100 locations worldwide and a common goal: We turn entrepreneurial thinking into customer success and shape the technological change. At the Körber Pharma we are delivering the difference along the pharma value chain with our unique portfolio of integrated solutions. 

www.koerber-pharma.com 

EdgeVerve. Possibilities Unlimited.

www.edgeverve.com

It empowers frontline teams to more efficiently manage work orders, assets, parts inventory, purchase orders and more, reducing unexpected downtime and boosting production capacity.

Today, MaintainX powers operational excellence for 4,000+ discrete and process manufacturers around the world, including ABInBev, Duracell, and Univar.

https://www.getmaintainx.com/

She is an accomplished global procurement and supply chain management business leader with a record for driving business growth and operational efficiency. 

Her focus includes raw materials, fabricated components, and electronics across 42 factories. 

She will also be a member of the speaker faculty of the North American Supply Chain Executive Summit series this September in Phoenix, Arizona, but first we get to ask her a few questions on the bluEPrint.

Enjoy!

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Dawn Green is the North America Procurement Vice President for Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management and digital automation. She leads a team of highly dynamic and experienced professionals, responsible for $1.8 billion of annual spend in the North America region. Her focus includes raw materials, fabricated components, and electronics across 42 factories. With her ability to embrace change and resilience, she has led the Procurement transformation during a tough Supply Chain crisis, supporting Schneider Electric to not only stay ahead of competitors, but also achieve 13% organic growth. Prior to this, she was the Procurement and Supply Chain Vice President at ARRIS.

She is an accomplished global procurement and supply chain management business leader with a record for driving business growth and operational efficiency. Her engineering background brings a unique value to product manufacturing and supplier negotiations. She has a proven ability to link data analytics with strategic thinking to advise company leaders on the long-term impact of actions and her voice is one of trust.

An advocate for diversity, as well as a mentor and role model for women in technology, Dawn has served in several associations for Women Leadership and Education.

Dawn holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering with a Computer Engineering minor from Michigan State University; an MBA with an Engineering and Technology Management Emphasis and a Graduate Certificate in Project Management from the University of Dallas.

www.bciglobal.com

Prior to joining Wellthy, Kristin spent nearly a decade as a Client Manager for National Accounts at UnitedHealthcare.

Kristin received a BA in Business Administration Management from University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford, CT.

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Wellthy is revolutionizing the way families care for their loved ones and themselves. Going far beyond care management, Wellthy helps families balance work and caregiving responsibilities through a combination of precision technology and human expertise.

Over 1.5 million people have direct access to Wellthy through some of the largest employers in the country, and we currently work with employers like Memorial Hermann, Best Buy, Cisco, and Meta.

wellthy.com

Prior to joining Merck BioVentures, Dr. Kamarck held positions of increasing responsibility in Biotechnology and Vaccines Operations at Wyeth, including leading the development of the global biotechnology network with $3.5 billion of capital investment. While at Wyeth, he also was responsible for global technical operations for all of the Company’s businesses. Dr. Kamarck began his career in biotechnology and pharmaceutical research at Bayer AG.

Dr. Kamarck graduated from Oberlin College where he currently serves as a Trustee. He received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is the author of more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and 20 issued patents. He also holds an Honorary Doctorate of Science from University College Dublin.

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Pascal Bécotte leads Canadian operations for Russell Reynolds Associates and is also a member of the firm’s global Executive Committee. He is a key member of the Healthcare Sector where he advises clients across the globe on their overall talent strategy, particularly with respect to leadership assessment, succession planning and the recruitment of directors, CEOs and other senior executives. More specifically Pascal specializes in Biotech and Pharma Technical Operations including Process Development, Manufacturing, Quality, Engineering and Supply Chain leadership across modalities.

Based in Brussels, Marvin oversees all of Toyota’s European Manufacturing Companies, Production Engineering, Logistics, the Toyota Production System and the Production Control functions.

Marvin joined Toyota Manufacturing in the UK as a Manufacturing Engineer in 1991 and has held numerous management posts of increasing seniority throughout Europe. Today Mavin is leading Toyota’s European Manufacturing team along the journey from being an Automobile Company to becoming a Mobility Company.

He will also be a member of the speaker faculty of the European Supply Chain Executive Summit next week in Barcelona speaking about, "A Lean Approach to Carbon Neutrality,"  but first we get to ask him a few questions on the bluEPrint.

Enjoy!

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Marvin joined Toyota Manufacturing in the UK as a Manufacturing Engineer in 1991 and held numerous management posts progressing to Director of Production Operations in 2008. He spent a year as Director of Production Engineering at Toyota Motor Europe in Brussels during 2011 returning to Toyota Manufacturing UK as Deputy Managing Director of Vehicle Manufacturing in January 2012.  Marvin went on to spend 2 and a half years as Production Vice President at Toyota, Peugeot, Citroen Automobile in Czech Republic and returned to Toyota Manufacturing UK in 2017 as Managing Director.

Marvin assumed the position as Toyota Motor Europe’s Senior Vice President of Manufacturing in January 2020 and in addition, from October 1st, 2020, he was temporarily appointed President of TMMF. As of January 2021, Marvin was promoted to his current position as Executive Vice President of Manufacturing in TME.

Marvin started his career as an engineering apprentice at Pirelli Tyre Company. During his apprenticeship he studied at Burton & South Derbyshire College and graduated with an honours degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Nottingham Trent University. After his graduation, he worked as an engineer for Pirelli at both Burton-on-Trent and Carlisle plants. Immediately before joining Toyota, Marvin worked as a consultant engineer within the food and drinks industry.

Marvin is married with two children.

Teresa is one of Compliance Architects’® lead subject matter experts, and has primary responsibility for strategic client engagements.

At Johnson & Johnson, Teresa’s key accomplishments included:

• Chair of Johnson & Johnson Cross Sector Business Quality Governance Team responsible for developing a Governance Model and Organizational Structure to develop and oversee an aligned Quality Management System, Processes and Procedures across the J&J Enterprise Business/Marketing Company Quality Units.
• Member of J&J Company Leadership Teams/Boards including Regional Management  Board for North America; J&J Consumer Healthcare Company (CHC) Board; and Neutrogena Management Board.
• Management of all aspects of Quality Systems, Quality Assurance, and Regulatory Compliance with Worldwide Regulatory Authorities including FDA (CBER, CDER and CDRH), MHRA,EMA, ANVISA, CFDA, Health Canada, etc.  Extensive experience in combination products, pharmaceutical dosage forms for both OTC and Rx products; biological (r­ DNA and monoclonal antibody) products and a wide range of consumer products (class I and II medical devices, OTC drugs, cosmetics and consumer products) in the US and Puerto Rico.
• Over 20 years’ experience and lead J&J subject matter expert in handling FDA inspections (routine, special cause, and PAI) for Cosmetic and Consumer, Combination Drug/Device, Pharmaceutical, and Biological products.
• Extensive experience with new product introduction; product and technology transfer, and commissioning of new/re-constructed facilities.
• Leadership of ERP System (SAP) implementation for Pharmaceutical Sourcing Group of the Americas Sites in New Jersey and Puerto Rico. Management of large-scale Supply Chain projects for “Demand Pull,” or LEAN Manufacturing.  Sponsorship of Six Sigma initiatives in Manufacturing and QA, which increased quality and compliance and yielded business benefits.

Teresa received her B.S. in Microbiology, with a minor in Chemistry from South Dakota State University.

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Compliance Architects LLC delivers high-value compliance, quality, and regulatory consulting services to companies directly regulated by the U.S. FDA and other global regulatory authorities. With capabilities ranging from quality systems implementations to audits, inspection readiness, enforcement remediation, and outsourced compliance services, Compliance Architects LLC has the experience, expertise, and delivery capability to significantly improve your company’s business outcomes. Jack Garvey is CA’s founder and CEO, a chemical engineer and a practicing regulatory attorney, and has spent his entire career helping companies navigate the challenges at the intersections of science, engineering, business, an

Martti joined Basware and the Executive Team in 2019 as Chief Financial Officer.

Previously, he served as CFO in Nordic, publicly listed IT services and software companies, Solteq and Affecto. Prior to these CFO roles, he spent more than a decade in various finance leadership positions at IBM and Johnson Controls.

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Basware is the only procure-to-pay (P2P) and e-invoicing solution provider that empowers businesses with 100% spend visibility through 100% supplier connectivity and 100% data capture. With the world’s largest open business network and cloud-based technology, Basware is uniquely positioned to deliver the solutions required for Visible Commerce, which provides customers with complete transparency into all the flows of money, goods, and services around the world. Through an extensive partner network – application and technology – we make it easy for customers to take a connected, multiple-solution P2P eco-system approach. Basware provides seamless integration with the world’s leading ERP systems, including SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft Dynamics for some of the world’s largest companies. A global company, Basware has offices in 14 countries.

www.basware.com

Eliminating costly customization and professional service fees, Dot Compliance ready-to-use solutions allow life science organizations to quickly deploy and manage processes such as Controlled Documents, Training Management, CAPA, Customer Complaints, Audits, Supplier Quality, Risk Management, Equipment and Maintenance, BOM and more.

Dot Compliance offers the industry’s most cost-effective quality and compliance management solution available, allowing users to easily deploy flexible and scalable solutions.

www.dotcompliance.com

oden.io

www.sylvera.com

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Michael Conley is a seasoned Supply Chain professional with over three decades of experience in industry and management consulting. His career spans industries from Food & Beverage, Retail, and Consumer Goods to Electronics, Chemicals, and Industrial Manufacturing, plus extensive work in Corporate ESG within the technology sector.  Michael has robust, end-to-end expertise across the Supply Chain, including Forecasting & Demand Planning, Sales & Operations Planning, Inventory Management, Manufacturing & Operations, Logistics, and Procurement. Recognized for leading enterprise-wide transformations that deliver maximum operational and financial performance, Michael consistently drives disparate functional groups into cohesive, connected planning teams.

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Wolters Kluwer | CCH Tagetik

Wolters Kluwer is a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services. Our award-winning CCH® Tagetik global expert solution enables CFOs and their peers to propel their strategy with faster and better-informed decisions. With embedded AI-based intelligence, CCH® Tagetik unifies and streamlines supply chain planning, financial planning, financial close, and regulatory compliance processes. Wolters Kluwer, headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, serves customers in over 180 countries, employs approximately 19,800 people, and reported 2021 annual revenues of €4.7 billion.

www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/cch-tagetik/supply-chain-planning

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Gary Iles
SVP of Marketing and Business Development
TraceGains

Gary Iles is a technology leader and pioneer who has spent his career designing categories and innovating customer experiences. Whether via software applications or buying journeys, he brings a portfolio of successful experiences challenging the status quo and catalyzing industry change.

Having recently joined TraceGains as their SVP Marketing and Business Development, he’s embraced the concepts in Play Bigger to share an exciting new vision that TraceGains is creating for the CPG industry. Mr. Iles has led concept-through-deployment efforts of industry leading billing analytics software, award winning customer portal designs, and advanced unified collaboration SaaS applications. At his previous three companies, he’s helped Sales teams achieve consistent growth through creative, disciplined, and integrated marketing tactics. He’s driven high double-digit revenue growth in start-ups, mid and even large cap companies by reinventing brand strategies to create “blue oceans” and new solution categories. He’s worked on M&A and transition teams, with experience participating in two successful liquidity events.

Mr. Iles believes that great people are attracted to great purpose, and that the best teams emerge from a dedication to bold, impactful missions designed to leapfrog technology. He’s operated and led teams EMEA and APAC, holding executive roles over Marketing, Partners, Product and Sales, a breadth of responsibilities that has afforded him perspective and empathy for the challenges facing all departments attempting to win the hearts and wallet-votes of markets.

Paul Bradley
Sr. Director of Product Marketing
TraceGains

Paul is a veteran product development and product marketing professional with over twenty years in the technology and consulting industries, with a longstanding focus on the food and beverage, restaurant, and retail verticals. He has worked with, and learned from, some of the largest and most dynamic brands in the industry and is a passionate but pragmatic advocate for the power of technology to help businesses achieve the resiliency and scale necessary to thrive in a complex global marketplace.

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TraceGains is a rapidly growing software company, delivering a sophisticated suite of products for food, beverage, and CPG companies. TraceGains solutions empower our customers to satisfy compliance with regulations and industry standards such as FSMA, GFSI, and HACCP/HARPC, without the need for additional staff.

At the heart of TraceGains is a robust platform that enables companies to automate and optimize their processes through instant information sharing and collaboration between supply chain partners, which saves time and improves food safety and quality. TraceGains is leading the charge to revolutionize information exchange across the supply chain.

www.tracegains.com

www.aizon.ai

www.siemens.com

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Reveal USA: As supply chain experts we use vast experience and proven methods educating and empowering organizations to use powerful capabilities already built in SAP. We help organizations harness SAP to improve service levels, increase profitability, optimize inventory, and drive operational efficiencies. Ultimately, enabling supply chains to utilize their SAP platform for digital innovation and industry leadership.

The result; no spreadsheets, only organizations running world-class supply chains delivering improved performance. Typical outcomes include service level increases of 20%, improved operating costs by 10%, reduced working capital tied up in inventory by 15% and increased data integrity.

revealvalue.com

We offer FOODAKAI, a cloud-based risk intelligence platform that helps safety, quality and supplier assurance teams in food manufacturers, retailers, and food service chains.

We’re global experts in food supply chain data & analytics, helping people make better decisions with food & agriculture data and we have been working with prestigious international food companies and world-class academic institutions since 2008.

Find out more about us here: www.agroknow.com