Several long years ago (eight years, to be exact) AWESOME was founded to bring together senior-level women in supply chain for Learning, Collaboration, Recognition, and Inspiration to advance and transform the future of supply chain leadership.
As we look back on 2018 – we ask “Did we make progress on what we set out to do?” Here are 10 AWESOME things that happened in 2018.
Learning
- Our Symposium and special events covered a wide range of essential topics – from leading with impact…to leveraging technology…to engaging men to advocate for change…to making a difference in the non-profit sector…to driving innovation…to addressing global volatility and risk.
- The number of women serving as expert panelists or speakers in powered by AWESOME sessions for other organizations rose to 21.
- We conducted the third annual Women in Supply Chain Survey with Gartner Research and learned how much progress women are making in advancing into supply chain leadership roles.
Collaboration
- The AWESOME community grew to more than 1,200 senior-level women in supply chain.
- Two Regional Events in 2018 focused on building strategic relationships, something that’s been missing in the careers of many women.
- In addition to collaboration between individuals, the 2018 Symposium provided the opportunity for AWESOME leaders to brainstorm about specific actions individuals can take to make change happen. Read AWESOME Action Agenda: 16 Ways to Make Waves and Advance Women’s Leadership.
Recognition
- Susan Brennan and Ilya Marotta were honored with the AWESOME Legendary Leadership (ALL) Award, becoming the 9th and 10th exceptional leaders to be recognized for their achievements.
- Our founder, Ann Drake was recognized by several organizations:
- She was the recipient of the Entrepreneurial Champion Award for 2018 from C200 (Committee of 200), the prestigious global organization of leading women executives and entrepreneurs.
- The Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University presented Ann with its AWESOME 2018 Distinguished Alumni Service Award.
Inspiration
- Two previous ALL Award honorees took on exciting new jobs:
- Kathy Wengel (ALL Award 2014) was named Executive Vice President & Chief Global Supply Chain Officer for Johnson & Johnson. Beth Ford (ALL Award 2015) was promoted to CEO of Land O’Lakes.
- Another previous ALL Award recipient, Heather Sheehan (ALL Award 2014) took on new responsibilities as Executive Director of AWESOME.
- Five more university women studying supply chain or related fields received scholarships to attend the CSCMP EDGE Conference and the AWESOME Symposium, bringing the number of AWESOME Scholars to 27. Their essays repeated how inspired they were by the experience.
- And here’s one more: Lisa Borders spoke at our 2018 Symposium. Then the president of the WNBA and now the first President and CEO of the Time’s Up organization, she energized us with the idea that “Leadership is passion turned into action.”