2018-2019 Advisors
Back row, left to right: Mary Long, Managing Director of the Global Supply Chain Institute’s Supply Chain Forum at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Kathy Wengel, EVP & Chief Global Supply Chain Officer for Johnson & Johnson; Sarah Pfaff, Principal, Americas Supply Chain and Operations Leader for EY; Natalie Putnam, Chief Commercial Officer at Verst Logistics; Micaela Bulich, Operating Advisor, Supply Chain & Procurement, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice; Barb Schwarzentraub, Director in Global Information Services at Caterpillar, Inc.; Michelle Halkerston, President & CEO of Hassett Express; Michelle D. Livingstone, VP, Transportation for The Home Depot; Nancy Nix, AWESOME Executive Director Emeritus; Alex Marren, SVP and President of the Aviation Industry Group for ABM.
Front row, left to right: Susan Pellechio, SVP, Transportation at C&S Wholesale Grocers; Trish Young, former VP, Strategic Enterprise Capabilities, Value Streams, NIKE, Inc.; Heather Sheehan, AWESOME Executive Director; Ann Drake, founder of AWESOME and Chairman of the Advisory Board, DSC Logistics; Fran Tucker, Academic Co-Director, H.H. Franklin Center for Supply Chain Management, and Associate Professor of Marketing and Supply Chain Management at Syracuse University; Lillian Dukes, Principal and President of LAD Consulting.
Advisors not in photo: Debbie Lentz, President, Global Supply Chain for Electrocomponents; Joann Michalik, former Managing Director, Deloitte Consulting LLP.; Maria Nieradka, former SVP, Global Supply Chain, Biogen; Antonia Shusta, most recently Chief Operating Officer for the Pacific Financial Group, and Kirsten Castillo, Director of Member Engagement, AWESOME.
The AWESOME Advisors are experienced supply chain leaders who have been invited to provide direction and input for goals, priorities and plans for AWESOME. They work with AWESOME leadership: Heather Sheehan, Executive Director; Ann Drake, Founder; and Nancy Nix Executive Director Emeritus.
The first advisory board was formed in 2014. The members, who serve for a minimum of three-year term, represent a range of supply chain roles and meet quarterly.
Micaela Niven Bulich
Micaela Bulich has 30+ years leading Supply Chain organizations for highly engineered products in global industrial markets and is now an Operating Advisor, Supply Chain & Procurement, with Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. Micaela is the former Vice President Global Supply Chain for GE Renewable Energy’s $8 billion Onshore Wind business. Her responsibilities included supply chain strategy, sourcing and global procurement, planning, manufacturing, logistics and environmental health and safety. Micaela has a proven track record for creating and leading global supply chain organizations with specialty in building high impact globally diverse teams, improving product cost competitiveness, localizing supply chains in emerging markets, and delivering customer satisfaction with emphasis on continuous operational improvement using lean six sigma.
Micaela’s career includes 20 years at GE in roles as Vice President, Sourcing for GE Energy, Senior Executive, Quality and Regulatory Compliance for GE Energy and Senior Executive, Global Supply Chain GE Plastics. She became a GE officer in 2011. Prior to joining GE Micaela spent 10 years at DuPont in supply chain and engineering roles. Her first role out of college was a flight controls engineer at United Technologies Sikorsky Aircraft.
Micaela was active in enabling women’s achievement as executive co-creator of GE’s Women in Supply Chain effort. She’s served on private boards for joint ventures in the US and is a Board member of University of Hartford’s College of Engineering, Technology and Architecture. She also served a 5-year term on her local school district’s Board of Education. Micaela holds a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Hartford and an MS in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Micaela and her husband Jimmy have been married 30 years and have two sons.
Kirsten Castillo
Kirsten began her career at a spin-off company of 3M, Imation Corporation where she held multiple supply chain leadership roles and was a leader for multiple acquisitions and integration for the company. She was ultimately promoted to Director of Operations.
In 2010 Kirsten joined her family’s business, Logistics Planning Services (LPS), a privately held transportation and logistics services company where she was responsible for Enterprise Operations, Projects and Brokerage divisions in her role of Chief Operating Officer. In 2012, she was named Chief Executive Officer. The company was named on the Inc.5000 list of America’s fastest growing companies seven years in a row. The company achieved aggressive growth plans and ultimately she led the sale of the business to GlobalTranz, a strategic buyer in the 3PL sector in May of 2017.
GlobalTranz named her as Chief Operating Officer bringing 22 years of supply chain and operations management experience to her role. She was responsible for all company operations including regional branches in North America and Mexico delivering $1.6b in revenue in 2018. After successfully transitioning her family business, Kirsten stepped down to focus on new opportunities.
In alignment with her commitment to the advancement of women, Kirsten has just been named the Director of Member Engagement for AWESOME (Advancing Women’s Excellence in Supply Chain, Operations, Management and Education). Her experience over the past several years has included mentoring women both at work and in the community. Ladies of Logistics was launched in 2015 while Castillo was at LPS, it has since been adopted at GlobalTranz, a platform for connecting and developing women in what has traditionally been a male-dominated industry through social and educational forums.
Kirsten was recently named to The Marvin Companies Board of Directors in April of 2017 where she will serve on both the Nominating and Governance Committee and the Compensation Committee.
She also serves on the Board of Advisors for the Fuqua’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Duke University, working hand-in-hand with academic as well as business professionals.
She is passionate about serving and making an impact on the local community and is a current Board Director for the United Way of Washington County.
Community involvement has been at the core of her leadership efforts over the years in several organizations, most notably serving Feed My Starving Children, Prison Fellowship, Angel Tree Ministry, and the United Way Women’s Leadership Council.
Kirsten received her BAS from the University of Minnesota, her Global Executive MBA from Duke Fuqua School of Business and has additional education including a Lean Office Certification from the University of Michigan Engineering Program, six sigma training and Carson School of Management executive training on Mergers and Acquisitions.
Lillian A. Dukes
Lillian is a highly experienced senior operations leader who is currently Principal and President of LAD Consulting. She has extensive global experience delivering strategic organizational improvements in start-up, turnaround, and mature manufacturing environments. She has spent more than 30 years solving problems, hiring and leading great people and most importantly, delivering results. She has driven development and change initiatives from concept through realized growth and profitability in companies such as Spirit AeroSystems, Beechcraft Corporation, American Airlines, American Eagle Airlines, and GE.
From her start as an electrical and aeronautical engineer, Lillian rose steadily through operational line management levels to ultimately serve at the Company Officer level in Vice President roles at several different companies.
As a Global Operations Executive, Lillian optimizes organizational performance by improving both people and processes in industries such as aerospace, aviation, and engineered products. Her across-the-board strengths in engineering, strategic planning, manufacturing and supply chain, give her the expertise to concurrently shape organizational cultures and deliver strategic results that underpin the bottom line.
Her experience includes working in senior operational operating roles, laying foundations for growth in mature organizations, as well as in start-up and fast-growth manufacturing, OEM and maintenance environments. She enjoys and has been particularly successful in building organizational capability and sustainability during restructurings and periods of rapid growth.
Lillian is a committed humanitarian leader for the Haitian charity Fondation Enfant Jesus. In her professional and social leadership roles, Lillian has been widely recognized as someone making a difference in society and in aerospace and engineering enterprises. As a result of her commitment and successes in these areas, she has been recognized and personally featured in industry leading magazines. While lending her experience by speaking on issues facing professionals in the industry she also works to pay it forward by mentoring students and employees in their professional growth.
Michelle Halkerston
Michelle Halkerston is a business leader who combines extensive experience in logistics and technology with a passion for developing high-performance teams and creative customer-centric solutions. Since acquiring Hassett Express in late 2013, Halkerston has led strategic initiatives to position the transportation and logistics company for scalable growth, increased top-line revenue and profitability and launched a separate freight brokerage company, Hassett Logistics.
Prior to Hassett, Halkerston worked in a variety of technology and strategy roles at major 3PLs (Penske and FedEx), a transportation software startup and NASA. One of Halkerston’s most significant achievements was the design and development of a Logistics Management System supporting Fortune 500 customers, which included integration with Qualcomm satellite onboard computers for large truck fleets.
Halkerston is engaged with other leaders to advocate on behalf of the freight forwarding community in her role as Chairperson of the Airforwarders Association. She is also a member of CSCMP and AWESOME, where she sits on the Advisory Board. Halkerston has been asked to share her experiences and perspective at industry events including CSCMP, Air Cargo, CNS, EFT and the FreightWaves conference.
As a certified Women Business Enterprise (WBE), Halkerston is a strong supporter of diversity and inclusion. She appreciates the power of storytelling and role models in helping others see what is possible and has shared her story in a number of settings including CSCMP, AWESOME, International Women’s Day events, and Forbes. Halkerston was selected as a 2019 Distinguished Woman in Logistics Finalist.
Halkerston holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Mount Union and an MBA from Baldwin-Wallace University. In addition to the Board roles mentioned above, she also supports and participates in local community initiatives including Habitat for Humanity. Halkerston recently served as the Honorary Chair for the DuPage Habitat for Humanity Executive Build.
Debbie Lentz
Debbie Lentz is President, Global Supply Chain for Electrocomponents, a global distributor of electronic and industrial products. She is a member of the Executive Management Team, reporting directly to CEO Lindsley Ruth, and will be based in London.
Debbie is responsible for leading the further development of the Group’s supply chain capability. With her leadership team, she will define and implement a strategy to create a flexible and responsive supply chain, providing an innovative and sustainable market-leading service for customers and suppliers.
Debbie Lentz’s career stands as a shining example of navigating supply chain leadership roles through change. Performing successfully in diverse business situations and applying the full spectrum of supply chain skills, she has earned recognition throughout the industry as a visionary leader, strategic thinker, team builder and strong proponent of women’s leadership. She has 30+ years of supply chain, information systems, global procurement and operations experience with extensive work in integrating acquisitions, evaluation and consolidation of networks, and leveraging lean methodology to drive performance excellence, end to end process optimization and significant cost and service improvement.
Debbie is the former SVP, Chief Supply Chain Officer for Toys”R”Us, Inc. where she was responsible for all supply chain functions globally including Dotcom/Omni Channel Fulfillment, Merchandise Planning and Allocation, Sales and Operations Planning and Engineering.
Before joining Toys “R” Us, Debbie spent 13 years at Kraft Foods Group, where she achieved successful international leadership and a true cross-cultural perspective. At Kraft, she advanced to the position of Senior Vice President, Customer Service and Logistics. In this role, she oversaw 3,500 associates across a network of distribution centers, direct store delivery branches and a transportation fleet. She led a successful transformation which drove significant cost savings, inventory reduction and service improvement as well as the seamless separation and spin off of Kraft Foods Group from Mondelēz International for Logistics. Prior to this role, she lived and worked in Zurich, Switzerland where she was the Vice President of Manufacturing Operations for Kraft Europe’s $3.5B Coffee business.
In 2015, she was presented with the AWESOME Legendary Leadership award; in 2013, she received the “Thinkers & Movers” Award from DSC Logistics, and in 2008, the Robert D. Pashek award for significant contributions to the practice and development of supply chain by Penn State University.
Debbie has been a prominent advocate for collaboration among supply chain partners. She served on the Board of Directors of the International Women’s Forum Leadership Foundation from 2007 through 2015 and for the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) in 2015. Debbie has actively participated in AWESOME since its inception in 2013, serving as an AWESOME advisor and as a panelist at several events powered by AWESOME and honestly and openly addresses issues faced by women in the workplace.
Michelle D. Livingstone
Michelle D. Livingstone is Vice President, Transportation, for The Home Depot, responsible for the movement of shipments into and within The Home Depot‘s multi-channel supply chain.
Prior to joining The Home Depot, Michelle served as Senior Vice President of Transportation for C & S Wholesale Grocers and as Vice President of Transportation at JCPenney. Prior to JCPenney, she spent 17 years at Kraft Foods in transportation and supply chain roles including Senior Director of Transportation and Supply Chain for Kraft Foods North America.
Michelle has a BS in Business, with a concentration in transportation, from Indiana University and an MBA with high honors from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. Among other industry commitments, she serves as a director on the boards of the Transportation Institute of University of Denver and the Coalition for Responsible Transportation.
Mary Long
Mary Long is the managing director of the Global Supply Chain Institute’s Supply Chain Forum at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. In addition to co-authoring the 2019 whitepaper “Young Women’s Perspectives on Supply Chain Diversity and Inclusion,” she is a board advisor, lecturer, and international speaker on topics such as Supply Chain Transformation, SC Data Analytics, Data Strategies, and Talent. She previously served as managing director of the Supply Chain Management Institute at the University of San Diego’s School of Business.
Mary has built an extensive career leading supply chains for companies including Campbell’s Soup, General Mills, Pillsbury, and Quaker Oaks/Gatorade, and most recently, as the Vice President of Logistics and Network Planning at Domino’s. Her responsibilities at Domino’s spanned global supply chain, operations, and engineering roles.
Three outcomes have characterized her work:
-
- Better data analytics capabilities and insights
- More agile and customer-focused supply chain
- Highly respected leaders and teams
Mary is the Past Chair of the Board of Directors of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP). In addition to her role as an AWESOME Advisor, she serves on the advisory boards for ALAN (American Logistics Aid Network), #Hashmove.com, and Hassett Express. She was named by the Bio Supply Management Alliance (BSMA) to Who’s Who Women in Life Sciences. She participates as a keynote speaker, session leader, or panelist both inside and outside the U.S. at company events and industry conferences.
She has an undergraduate degree in Quantitative Business Analysis from Cleveland State University and an MBA in Operations and Logistics from The Ohio State University.
Alexandria P. Marren
Alexandria P. Marren is Senior Vice President and President of the Aviation Industry Group for ABM, a leading provider of facility solutions. Formerly she served as Executive Vice President, North America Rent-A-Car Operations, The Hertz Corporation, and as Chief Operating Officer of ExpressJet Airlines, where she was responsible for ExpressJet’s operations and activities, including Flight Operations, InFlight Operations, Maintenance and partner relationships.
Prior to that, Alex was Senior Vice President, Network Operations and United Express, for United Airlines. Alex oversaw United’s day-to-day operations in the areas of operations control, flight dispatch, security, air traffic coordination, and operations planning and analysis, and was responsible for the overall performance of United Express.
Over a 28-year career, she held roles of increasing responsibility in airport operations and planning, including Senior Vice President of Onboard Service for United and Vice President of Airport Operations. Prior to joining United, she served as a Manager of Customer Service for People Express Airlines in Newark, NJ, and Chicago, IL.
Alex serves on the board of directors of the Alliant Credit Union and the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago. She represented United on the International Air Transport Association Operations Council and the Mitre Aviation Advisory Council. Alex received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.
Joann Michalik
Joann Michalik is a former Managing Director, Deloitte Consulting LLP, focusing on manufacturing transformations, new product introduction and innovation.
She has spent over 30 years transforming and solving complex business problems for industrial products, aviation, and high technology companies. She has trained more than 1,000 engineers in a variety of tools in support of creating better product designs.
Prior to Deloitte, she was a partner with PwC Consulting, holding various leadership positions including COE new product introductions and Lean Six Sigma. Joann also had global responsibility for bringing leading edge offerings to market and was a leader in Stage Gate processes, concurrent engineering, Six Sigma, and white collar lean. Joann was also GE’s beta site PMO for flow manufacturing and held a variety of leadership positions within manufacturing.
Joann has a BS in Management Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Maria Nieradka
Maria Nieradka has over 30 years of Supply Chain and Business Development experience in the biotech, pharmaceutical and consumer health industry. Maria joined Biogen in 2013 as SVP, Global Supply Chain and moved into Corporate Development to build capability for mergers and acquisitions and a process for business development integration through 2018. Maria’s responsibilities at Biogen included global procurement, planning, manufacturing and distribution, along with supply chain strategy. Over the past 15 years, Maria has been Vice President of Supply Chain and Logistics organizations at Merck, Johnson and Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Her career in healthcare spans business development, customer service, distribution, procurement, planning and manufacturing. She has a proven track record in leading large complex organizations, aligning customer and supply chain priorities, implementing change and delivering significant results. Maria holds Bachelor’s Degrees in Industrial Engineering and English from Rutgers College of Engineering and Douglass College and an MBA in Pharmaceutical Chemical Studies from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Her lifelong passion for art and engineering inspired her to combine the two in her approach for building people, process, and technology. This creative approach led to many successes, including several major drug launches and major system implementations. Her focus on strategy and organization design expertise helped facilitate successful acquisitions in multiple organizations throughout her career.
Committed to developing leaders that deliver results, Maria sponsors Diversity and Inclusion initiatives, as well as Women’s Leadership initiatives where her focus is to provide growth opportunities for women in the field of technology. Maria is an Executive Advisory Board member for SCM World, a Gartner Community; a Board Member of Harvard’s Women’s Leadership Board; and a member of Women on Boards.
Dr. Nancy Nix
Executive Director Emeritus, AWESOME
Nancy Nix served as Executive Director of AWESOME from 2014 through 2017. Previously, she was Executive Director of the EMBA Program and Professor of Supply Chain Practice at the Neeley School of Business at TCU in Fort Worth, TX. Nancy also served as Director of the Supply and Value Chain Center at TCU, where she led the development of supply chain programs. During her tenure as Director of the SVCC, Nancy established close working relationships with multiple companies, generated funding for the development of TCU’s supply chain programs, led the development of MBA and undergraduate curriculum in supply chain management, and hosted multiple Executive Forums and conferences featuring supply chain experts discussing leading-edge practices. Today, TCU’s Supply and Value Chain programs are recognized among the leading programs in the U.S.
In 2017, Nancy received the Distinguished Service Award (DSA) from the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) for her contributions to the field as a practitioner, educator, research leader, speaker, and organizational leader.
As Executive Director of AWESOME, Nancy was responsible for all areas of the organization and for implementing key initiatives, including the annual Symposium for leading women in the profession, the AWESOME / Gartner Women in Supply Chain research, and the AWESOME Excellence in Education Scholarship program. She is frequently a moderator, speaker or panelist for industry events powered by AWESOME and at the invitation of other organizations.
At TCU, Nancy taught Global Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Information Technology, and Supply Chain Strategy courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. She also led numerous MBA and EMBA study abroad experiences, which included visits with companies and economic development organizations in China, India, and South America. She received an MBA Faculty Award in 2005, an award for innovation in curriculum development in 2006, and the Neeley School of Business Dean’s Teaching Award in 2013.
Prior to entering the academic field, Nancy held a number of managerial roles in manufacturing, logistics, procurement and customer service for the DuPont Company. She also spent one and a half years as VP of Logistics for Reliance Industries Ltd., in Mumbai, India.
Nancy is an active member of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP). She served as Chair of CSCMP’s Research Strategies Committee for four years, as a member of the Board of Directors for eight years, on the Executive Committee for five years, and as Chair of the Board for one year. She is also a member of the Advisory Board for DSC Logistics. She completed her doctorate in Logistics and Marketing at the University of Tennessee. She completed her MBA in the Fox School at Temple University, and her Bachelor of Science degree at Salisbury University in Salisbury, MD.
Susan Pellechio
Susan Pellechio is Senior Vice President, Transportation for C&S Wholesale Grocers, responsible for the overall strategy and execution of transportation solutions across the enterprise.
Susan brings 25+ years of strategic and operational leadership across multiple disciplines, including finance, corporate integrations, supply chain (transportation, final mile delivery, wholesaler operations, contract negotiations, and inventory management), sustainability & supplier collaboration, contract sales and merchandising with the majority of her career at Staples. She has spearheaded several large-scale initiatives within complex, global organizations aimed at solving operational challenges at a lower cost to serve.
Prior to joining C&S, Susan led global and domestic transportation for Starbucks and led the development of a multi-year TMS implementation strategy that enables integration across disparate logistics (replenishment/distribution/transportation) planning processes and systems.
She was executive sponsor for licensed stores supply chain, and had oversight for Global Logistics PMO.
Susan earned her B.S. in Accounting from New Hampshire College.
Sarah Pfaff
Sarah Pfaff is the former head of EY’s Supply Chain and Operations Practice. She now serves as EY’s US Coordinating Partner for several key accounts. Her multi-dimensional background spans Supply Chain, Procurement, Marketing, and Technology. She founded two successful ongoing businesses, eBreviate (now called A.T. Kearney Procurement Solutions) and a boutique consulting firm.
Sarah has played numerous key roles within EY, including leading EY’s multi-faceted advisory board on outsourcing, complex procurement transactions and multi-provider governance, as well as spearheading EY’s Supply Chain diversity initiatives.
Sarah received a BA from Washington State University and an MBA in Operations Management from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Natalie Putnam
Natalie Putnam is the Chief Executive Officer at DeliveryCircle, a proprietary technology based same-day delivery solution provider. Previously, Natalie served as Chief Commercial Officer at Verst Logistics, where her role expands to both fleet and brokerage. She also served as the VP of Marketing Strategy of Ryder System, VP of Sales and Marketing at Kansas City Southern Railroad and SVP of Transportation and Logistics Solutions at YRC Worldwide. She earned her undergraduate degree from Central Michigan University.
Barb Schwarzentraub
Barb Schwarzentraub is a Director in Global Information Services at Caterpillar, Inc., where she has worked for nearly 30 years. Her tenure includes a Director of Component Manufacturing, Parts Distribution Director in Caterpillar Logistics, Technical Director of Caterpillar Logistics Tech Services and increasing roles of responsibility across numerous divisions, international borders, economic conditions and functions, gaining an outstanding breadth of experience. Barb’s teams have consistent focus on delivery and profitability throughout economic cycles and she has a passion for developing people and leading transformative change.
She is a graduate of Bradley University with a BS in Accounting and an MBA. She earned an Executive Scholar Certificate from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and completed a joint Caterpillar- Stanford University program.
Heather Sheehan
Executive Director, AWESOME
Prior to becoming Executive Director on January 1, 2018, Heather was AWESOME’s Director, Member Engagement and Sponsorships. Under her leadership the AWESOME organization grew to more than 1,200 women, and sponsorships increased dramatically with dozens of major corporations now actively engaged. She also worked with founder Ann Drake and former Executive Director Nancy Nix on strategic planning and implementation of all AWESOME initiatives.
Heather is also the owner of Crispy Concepts LLC where she consults on leadership and supply chain. She is the former Vice President Indirect Sourcing and Logistics for Danaher Corporation. In that role, she was co-chief procurement officer with worldwide responsibility for non-production and logistics sourcing, strategy, and implementation across the corporation’s 40-plus operating companies. She was involved with operations in 125 countries and led successful changes in supply chain processes, policies, talent, quality, efficiency, and acquisitions as Danaher grew from $3 billion to over $20 billion in revenues in her 13 years with the company.
Heather’s career experience spans over 30 years in the manufacturing and transportation industries and includes experience living and working in Asia. Prior to joining Danaher in 2002, Heather held various leadership positions in procurement, logistics and marketing with Honeywell, Union Pacific Corporation and NCR Corporation.
Heather served on the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals’ board of directors, for 11 years, and is past Chairman of the Board. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Science degree from Carnegie Mellon University.
Antonia Shusta
Antonia Shusta has extensive experience in both the domestic and international financial services industry. Most recently, she was Chief Operating Officer for the Pacific Financial Group.
Tonia was with Citibank for 16 years in international and domestic corporate and consumer banking positions. Then, at Household International for eight years, she was a Group Executive with responsibilities for Consumer Banking, Mortgage Banking, the Household Bank UK and other corporate units.
Tonia is a member of The Committee of 200. She is Marketing and Membership Coordinator of The Commonwealth Institute, a non-profit organization founded in 1997 to help women entrepreneurs, CEOs and senior corporate executives build successful businesses.
Tonia received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Comparative Government from Harvard/Radcliffe. She has been a member of the DSC Logistics Advisory Board of Directors since 1998.
Dr. Frances Gaither Tucker
Dr. Frances Gaither Tucker, is Academic Co-Director, H.H. Franklin Center for Supply Chain Management, and Associate Professor of Marketing and Supply Chain Management in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University. Fran’s research and teaching are at the intersection of marketing channels and supply chain management.
She served for 14 years as the chair of the Marketing Department (Marketing, Supply Chain and Retail Management majors) and is an elected member of the Syracuse University Senate. She received the Oberwager Award for student engagement in 2012.
Fran received the Doctoral Dissertation Award from NCPDM, and served on numerous committees for it and successor organizations including the Executive Committee of CSCMP.
She has a BA in Economics from Wellesley College, an MBA Cum Laude from Boston University, and a PhD in Logistics from The Ohio State University.
Kathy E. Wengel
Kathy Wengel is Executive Vice President & Chief Global Supply Chain Officer for Johnson & Johnson, and member of the company’s Executive Committee. A strong developer of globally diverse teams, she leads a supply chain organization that brings more than 350,000 healthcare products to consumers and patients around the world, and fulfills more than 100,000 customer orders every day.
Kathy has direct responsibility for all aspects of Supply Chain across J&J’s three business sectors: Consumer, Medical Devices, and Pharmaceuticals. This includes ~45% of J&J’s global workforce, and includes responsibility for supply chain strategy and deployment, planning, sourcing, manufacturing (internal and external), distribution, and customer service. She also has corporate-wide responsibility for the functions of Quality & Compliance; Environment, Health, Safety & Sustainability; and Engineering & Property Services, including Real Estate, Facilities, and Capital Project Management.
During Kathy’s 30-year tenure with Johnson & Johnson, her responsibilities have grown as she has held a variety of strategic leadership and executive positions across the enterprise, working in various countries and roles within operations, quality, engineering, new products, IT, and other technical and business functions.
Prior to Kathy’s current role, she was Vice President, Quality & Compliance (Q&C), and the first Chief Quality Officer for Johnson & Johnson. During the four years she spent in this role, she had enterprise leadership responsibility for Q&C, Sterility Assurance, and Operations Readiness & Convergence. She led the integration of Q&C as a function across the enterprise, including the development of core standards and operating principles which span all J&J businesses.
In 2009, Kathy co-led the design of J&J’s enterprise Supply Chain operating model. And since its inception, she has served on and now leads the J&J Supply Chain Leadership Team.
Kathy serves externally as Chairman of the Board of GS1 Global, an organization that sets and maintains standards regarding the exchange of critical business data. Kathy also sits on the Board of the National Association of Manufacturers in the US, and on the Advisory Board of AWESOME, a non-profit working on the advancement of women in senior supply chain roles. She is the executive sponsor for J&J’s Women’s Leadership & Inclusion initiative and for J&J’s Women in Science Technology, Engineering, Math, Manufacturing and Design (WiSTEM2D) program.
In 2015, Kathy was recognized by the National Association of Female Executives (NAFE) through their Women of Excellence Award, and received the 2015 Thinkers & Movers Award for innovative leadership by DSC Logistics. In 2014, Kathy received AWESOME’s Legendary Leadership Award.
Kathy holds a BSE degree in civil engineering and operations research from Princeton University.
Trish Young
Trish Young retired in late 2019 from Nike where she was a senior supply chain leader with diverse operations and leadership experience, completing 33 years with the company. She will join the Board of Directors of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) as a key liaison with AWESOME. One of Trish’s career highlights was co-hosting the 2016 AWESOME Symposium at Nike while in the role of VP of North America Supply Chain.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana Tech University, Trish joined Nike as a Customer Service Representative in Memphis, Tennessee, where she served in that role and others before heading to Nike World Headquarters. Once there she worked her way across the supply chain disciplines by leading teams in Demand Planning and Inventory, Logistics and Operations and Customer Service, ultimately landing in the VP of North America Supply Chain role. Trish also took a turn leading the Asia Pacific Supply Chain team, through which she gained a broader perspective on how the supply chain works around the globe.
Her final role at Nike was as VP of Strategic Enterprise Capabilities focused on enabling the foundation of the digital transformation through close collaboration with technical and business teammates from around the globe.
As Trish joins the CSCMP Board, she also continues her role on the AWESOME Advisory Board.