SCM World Live 24 February 2010

Hau L. Lee is the Thoma Professor of Operations, Information and Technology at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. His areas of specialization include supply chain management, information technology, global logistics system design, inventory planning, and manufacturing strategy. He is the founding and current Director of the Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum, an industry-academic consortium to advance the theory and practice of global supply chain management.

Professor Lee has published widely in journals such as Management Science, Operations Research, Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, Supply Chain Management Review, IIE Transactions, and Interfaces, etc. He has served on the editorial boards of many international journals, such as Operations Research, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, IIE Transactions, Supply Chain Management Review, Sloan Management Review, and the J. of Production and Operations Management. From 1997-2003, he was the Editor-in-Chief of Management Science.

Professor Lee received the Harold Lardner Prize for International Distinction in Operations Research, Canadian Operations Research Society, 2003. He was elected a Fellow of Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, 2001; Production and Operations Management Society, 2005; and INFORMS, 2005. In 2006-7, he was the President of the Production and Operations Management Society. His article, “The Triple-A Supply Chain,” was the Second Place Winner of the McKinsey Award for the Best Paper in 2004 in the Harvard Business Review. In 2004, his co-authored paper in 1997, “Information Distortion in a Supply Chain: The Bullwhip Effect,” was voted as one of the ten most influential papers in the history of Management Science.

Professor Lee has consulted extensively for companies such as Nokia, Microsoft, Qualcomm, KLA-Tencor, Hewlett-Packard Company, Bay Networks, Savi Technology, Nortel Networks, SUN Microsystems, Apple Computer, IBM, Lucent Technologies, General Motors, Xilinx Corp., Accenture, Eli Lilly and Company, Booz-Allen and Hamilton, Raychem Corp., McKesson, and Motorola. He is a co-founder of several supply chain and price optimization software companies: Evant, DemandTec, SignalDemand and TrueDemand; and is on the board and advisory board of several logistics services and supply chain software companies. He has also given executive training workshops on supply chain management and global logistics in Asia, Europe and America.

Professor Lee obtained his B.Soc.Sc. degree in Economics and Statistics from the University of Hong Kong in 1974, his M.Sc. degree in Operational Research from the London School of Economics in 1975, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Operations Research from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1983. He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Engineering degree by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2006, and an Honorary Doctorate by the Erasmus University of Rotterdam in 2008.

Mrs. Gaglione serves as SVP & Chief Supply Chain Officer of Jarden Corp, a fortune 500 global organisation. Mrs. Gaglione joined the Company in January 2005 as Vice President, Supply Chain and was promoted to her current position in January 2006.

Prior to joining the Company, Mrs. Gaglione most recently served as Vice President, Sourcing for RR Donnelley and Sons (formerly Moore Corporation, Limited), from May 2001 to May 2004. From 1996 to 2001, Mrs. Gaglione was General Manager, International Purchasing Office at Philips Electronics.

Detlef joined Vodafone in March 2003 to lead the Global Supply Chain team originally in the UK. His responsibilities include strategic and operational leadership of Vodafone’s Supply Chain Management across the globe in the areas of Network Infrastructure, IT and Services. Detlef is now based in Luxembourg where he also holds the position of CEO of the Vodafone Procurement Company, which provides a single point of purchase for the Group across the three original categories as well as for Vodafone branded devices.

Prior to Vodafone, Detlef spent more than 6 years in Santa Clara, California with the world’s largest semi conductor equipment manufacturer, Applied Materials where he held various Supply Chain, Planning and Operations Management responsibilities.

Before moving to the US Detlef was a Member of the Board of Management for Babcock-BSH AG in Germany where he led the area of Supply Chain Management and financial controlling.

Prior to that, Detlef worked for Siemens for ten years, more latterly as Purchasing Director based in Bocholt and Kamp-Lintfort, Germany.

He started his Supply Chain career with Siemens in 1985 in the area of Materials Management Over the course of his career with the company he lived in Korea and Singapore.

Detlef was born and raised in Germany and graduated from the University of Cologne with a master’s degree in business.

Quentin Roach is a global business leader who is recognized for his innate and proven ability to develop and implement strategic plans while building top-producing teams that span multiple continents. As a senior level executive, he serves as a catalyst for positive change and growth, offering a wide-range of experience in healthcare, pharmaceutical, medical device, and automotive industries.

He is currently Senior Vice President & Chief Procurement Officer at Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he is responsible for global leadership of supplier relationship management, companywide sourcing & procurement expenditures, working capital payables leadership, and implementation of supply chain strategies. He was previously with Bausch & Lomb Inc., where he held positions as Vice President – Global Customer Strategy, Vice President – Global Supply Chain/Global Sourcing & Procurement and Vice President – Global Packaging Engineering. His prior work experience includes responsibilities as Chief Procurement Officer and Director of Operations for Strong Health/The University of Rochester, and positions in purchasing, engineering, operations management, sales & marketing planning and quality at Delphi Corporation and General Motors Corporation.

Quentin holds a Master of Science in Engineering Management of Technology from Arizona State University. He completed his Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University. As a lifelong learner, Quentin has completed Executive Development Programs through both the Thunderbird (The American Graduate School of International Management – Garvin School of Management) International Consortium and Columbia University.

Quentin has been involved in a number of organizations and boards, including: the National Board of Directors for the National Black MBA Association, Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey College of Business – Advisory Board, The Institute for Supply Management – Editorial Review Board, Garth Fagan Dance Company, The Center for Youth Services, and the National Advisory Board for the Arts Visitation Program. He was named as a recipient of the Rochester Business Journal’s “40 Under Forty” – recognizing the top 40 young leaders for achievements in professional and civic leadership.

Reuben Slone joined OfficeMax in November 2004 as Executive Vice President, Supply Chain. He is responsible for inventory management, supply chain operations, real estate, and store development. Slone was most recently vice president, global supply chain for Whirlpool Corporation where he led the transformation of Whirlpool’s supply chain over the past four years. Prior to joining Whirlpool, Slone held various executive positions with General Motors in global supply chain, ebusiness, product development, manufacturing, and information technology. Before joining General Motors, Slone led global strategy, distribution, and information technology for Federal-Mogul. Prior to joining Federal-Mogul, Slone spent almost ten years in management consulting with Ernst & Young and EDS/AT Kearny.

Slone received a B.S. in engineering from the University of Michigan in 1984 where he graduated cum laude. In 1985 he received a Graduate Fellowship in Mechanical Engineering.

Slone has been widely recognized for his achievements in supply chain. Harvard Business Review published two of his articles: Are You the Weakest Link in your Supply Chain? in September 2007; and Leading a Supply Chain Turnaround in October 2004.  Harvard Business Publishing is publishing his book, The New Supply Chain Agenda, based on the former article in MAY 2010.

About OfficeMax

OfficeMax Incorporated (NYSE: OMX) is a leader in both business-to-business office products solutions and retail office products. The OfficeMax mission is simple. We help our customers do their best work. The company provides office supplies and paper, in-store print and document services through OfficeMax ImPress^®, technology products and solutions, and furniture to consumers and to large, medium and small businesses. OfficeMax customers are served by approximately 32,000 associates through direct sales, catalogs, e-commerce and nearly 1,000 stores. To find the nearest OfficeMax, call 1-877-OFFICEMAX. For more information, visit http://www.officemax.com/.

Dr. Robert Blackburn is Senior Vice President and Head of Global Supply Chain for BASF Group and located in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Additionally he has also led BASF Group’s worldwide business transformation program since 2007. Robert is a member of the Global Procurement Steering Committee, which is responsible for managing BASF’s approximate €26B annual spend.

Prior to his current role, Robert served as Senior Vice President & Head of Corporate Portfolio Development for Siemens AG and previously held a series of leadership positions during his IBM career where he led multiple product and services businesses.

As Group VP of Supply Chain Research for Gartner Research, Kevin O’Marah brings a unique blend of intellectual prowess, practical business experience, and energy to Gartner’s clients. Prior to this position he was the Chief Strategy Officer for AMR Research. During his nearly seven years with the firm, Kevin has worked with hundreds of companies on manufacturing, product lifecycle management (PLM), and supply chain strategy.

Kevin launched AMR Research’s PLM practice, and is a seminal author on PLM, having been included in over 100 articles defining the application’s footprint, business impact, and market dynamics. He has also contributed to the firm’s definition and coverage of demand-driven supply networks (DDSN), having authored several reports, including the AMR Research Supply Chain Top 25, defining the link to business operating metrics. He was named an AMR Research Fellow in 2002.

Prior to joining AMR Research, Kevin worked on supply chain projects in a variety of industries including telecommunications, semiconductors, and chemicals. As a vice president at Oracle Corporation, Kevin focused on supply chain and product data management strategy. He spent several years with Gemini Consulting, now part of Ernst & Young (GCE&Y), working with manufacturing companies on supply chain and product strategy. He worked with Mercer Consulting in London and Company Assistance Limited in Warsaw earlier in his career.

A graduate of Boston College, Oxford University, and Stanford Business School, Kevin frequently speaks at industry events and executive conferences, where he is noted for his dynamic and engaging style. He is a widely published author and has been quoted in numerous business publications including The Financial Times, Fortune, BusinessWeek and The Wall Street Journal.

David Warrick is the General Manager of the Manufacturing and Supply Chain organisation for EMEA, Asia Pacific and Japan for Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division. In this role David is responsible for the supply chain for all Microsoft physical products including Xbox, Retail versions of Windows and Office, SDA Hardware and Partner and Commercial Programs. The Supply Chain operates across multiple languages, currencies and time zones and is responsible for ensuring Microsoft products are in the right place at the right time in any physical location outside of the Americas, from Retail stores and Distributors through to end user deliveries.

David joined Microsoft in 1999 working through various roles in Supply Chain and product release, prior to Microsoft David held roles with Andersen Consulting and Coca-Cola and worked as a Project Engineer on the new Hong Kong Airport. David holds a B.Eng (Hons) in Manufacturing Engineering and is a C.Eng (Chartered Engineer) with the IET (Institute of Engineering and Technology – Manufacturing Division).

Chris’s career can be split in two main parts: 10 years in the USA where he held various engineering and project management leadership roles and 10 years in Western Europe where he has been representing the interest of GE Aviation since the mid-90’s. Chris studied in Europe and in the USA. He is a reserve officer of the French Army Civil Engineering Corp.

Chris jointed GE Aviation in 1986 and started his career as a jet engine test engineer then moved to an Evaluation & System Engineering leadership role. He was transferred back to Europe to lead the development of the largest commercial jet engine in the world, the GE90. In the mid 90’s he moved to a Commercial Program Quality role and improved CFM56 commercial jet engine delivery quality in cooperation with Airbus. In 1999 he became manager of the GE Aviation production office in France. Two years later he became the technical director of FAMAT, a GE / SNECMA high technology joint venture, to lead manufacturing method, quality & Lean Manufacturing & Six Sigma departments.

In 2004, Chris created the GE Aviation Supply Chain Europe group, which mission was to focus on European Risk/Revenue Share Partners from France (SNECMA), Spain 5ITP) and Belgium (Techspace Aero). A year later, his responsibilities were extended to three more industrial and business partners from Norway & Sweden (Volvo Aero), UK (Alstom) and Germany (MTU).

Chris was appointed GM Supply Chain Europe for GE Aviation in July 2007, a position that he is still currently holding.

Les Ball was named Vice President, Supply Chain Management – Europe, Middle East and Africa for Eaton Corporation, a global diversified power management company, in June 2008.

He is responsible for leading the Supply Chain function in Eaton’s rapidly expanding business interests in the region, including direct and indirect procurement, logistics, and materials management.

Ball had served in a variety of regional and global Supply Chain roles since 2000 that have included global direct material commodity management, indirect materials and services global leadership, and global sourcing.

Prior to joining Eaton, Ball held Supply Chain positions with Ford Motor Company, Visteon, and Eagle Global Logistics.

Ball holds a degree in manufacturing engineering from the University of East London.

In addition, he holds a Master of Business Administration degree, also from the University of East London.

Alan G Waller is Chairman of the European Logistics Users Providers and Enablers Group (ELUPEG).  He is also Visiting Professor in International Supply Chain Management at Cranfield Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management at Cranfield School of Management and Immediate Past-President of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.

Alan was educated at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, Leicester School of Management and Cranfield School of Management. Following a number of years in production line management and management services, Alan moved into management consultancy and has spent over 30 years working on logistics and supply chain consultancy assignments with manufacturers, retailers and logistics service providers over a wide range of industries across Europe, North America and the Middle and Far East, covering strategy development through to implementation of change.

Alan was Senior Logistics Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and retired from the partnership in January 2002, having set up and directed the Milton Keynes Office, led the Global Logistics Consultancy Practice, established and Directed Global Manufacturing Industry Consulting over 34 Countries and having Directed Supply Chain Consulting for the EMEA Region. Alan joined Solving Efeso in 2002.

Over his career Alan has also been active in developing new initiatives for the education and training of logistics professionals, and in addition to lecturing posts at Leicester and Warwick University Business Schools, was the Founder and first Director of the Distribution Studies Unit at Cranfield, now the Cranfield Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management, and in 1980 established and directed the world’s first Masters programme in Logistics. Alan again directed the Centre for two years on a part time basis between 1997 and 1999 whilst retaining his role as a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He teaches on Masters Programmes and Executive Programmes in Supply Chain Management at a number of European Universities, including Cranfield School of Management, Manchester Business School, and Gent/Louvain Business School. Alan also runs Board-level workshops for International Manufacturing, Retailing and Logistics businesses.

Alan is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, the Institute of Management Services, The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, the Chartered Institute of Management Consultants and the Fellowship for Operational Research. He was additionally a Fellow and examiner of The Chartered Institute of Transport, and was Chairman of its Education Committee and the Faculty of Freight. He is also founder and Chairman of the Logistics Directors’ Forum run under The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, was Chairman and President of the Institute, and is currently Vice President of the UK and International organisations.

He was also for many years the Chairman and subsequently Director of the European Council on Global Supply Chain of The Conference Board in Brussels, and was also founder and Director of the European Council on Customer Strategy.

In 2003 Alan founded the European Logistics Users, Providers and Enablers Group (ELUPEG), to bring together all European Supply Chain players to work together collaboratively to improve the performance of logistics across Europe. He is now Chairman of ELUPEG, which is a not-for-profit member of the European Logistics Association, involving over 500 individuals from a cross-section of pan-European businesses who participate in action-based projects.

In 2007 Alan was appointed to the European Leadership team of The Supply Chain Council, the International not-for-profit organisation responsible for developing and rolling out the SCOR model into Industry, and in 2008 was appointed to the Board of the European Logistics Association .

He is a Freeman of the City of London and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Carmen.

Alan is a Trustee of Transaid, the Charity for ‘Transport for Life’ in Africa, and also served on the Advisory Board of In-Kind Direct, the charity that diverts surplus or imperfect goods destined for landfill, to good use by other charities.

In 1998 he was awarded the Sir Robert Lawrence Gold Medal for his contribution to logistics.

In 2006 he was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty The Queen for his services to Logistics.

Alan speaks at many events, particularly across Europe but also in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and the Middle East, and has numerous publications in supply chain, logistics and related subjects.

Alan’s work focuses on supply chain strategic development and implementation, and in addition to his consultancy work in all parts of the world he also facilitates Board workshops around the strategic contribution of supply chain to business growth and cost-effective performance.

Bjorn Vang Jensen joined Electrolux in 2004, as Vice President in charge of Supply Chain for Electrolux Major Appliances in Asia/Pacific. Today, he is the head of Global Logistics in the Electrolux Group.

A 1988-graduate of the A.P. Møller Shipping School, Bjorn has lived in Asia for the past 20 years, where he has been based in Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore.

In addition to his roles at Electrolux, Bjorn has worked in management roles within operations, sales and logistics solution design for Maersk Line, Thyssen Haniel Logistics, Exel, and TNT Logistics.

Bjorn is a very experienced supply chain practitioner, whose experience spans all aspects of the supply chain, including forecasting, S&OP, supply chain design, modelling and re-engineering, warehouse management, transport management, customs clearance, project logistics, ocean freight, air freight, courier services, and consolidation.

Bjorn is 43 years old, married with two sons and one daughter. He is Danish, and lives in Singapore.

Nari Viswanathan is Vice President and Principal Analyst for the Aberdeen Group’s Supply Chain Management Practice. Nari Viswanathan heads up the supply chain planning practice and counsels enterprises on their supply chain planning strategies in areas such as sales and operations planning, demand management, inventory management, network design, and customer/ supplier collaboration with specific emphasis on financial performance. Nari also covers the Software as a Service, B2B collaboration and process integration coverage areas. Nari is part of the SCM research team, and possesses a very strong understanding of adjacent supply chain areas like TMS, WMS and Distributed Order Management.

Nari’s current role includes creating a research agenda for the SCP practice for a rolling period of 18 months, vetting and finalizing the research calendar, supporting advisory clients, developing benchmark reports, developing an enterprise advisory council and advising on vendor go to market strategies. A special focus for Nari is Industry Vertical research. Key vertical industries managed within the practice include Discrete (Automotive, Industrial Equipment, Aerospace and Defense), Process (Chemicals/Pharmaceuticals, Metals, Oil, Gas), Consumer Industries (Apparel, Footwear, Consumer Packaged Goods, Consumer Durables, Retail, Distribution), High-tech sector (Computer Equipment and Peripherals, Semiconductors).

Nari is a well recognized industry expert with extensive experience across product management/marketing, consulting, solution design/development and presales. Nari recently gained industry recognition as a Pro to Know by Supply Demand Chain Executive Magazine. Nari has also published extensively in magazines like SCMR, GLSCS, Supply Demand Chain Executive, Internet Retailer, Industry Week etc.

Previous to joining Aberdeen Group, Nari was a senior product manager at i2 Technologies. Past experience includes a multi-year change management and IT enablement initiative at a large automotive manufacturer in Asia and process re-engineering of a large North American distribution network. Nari’s business process and technology expertise includes demand management, manufacturing management, and demand fulfillment.

Nari holds a masters degree in manufacturing engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Nari also holds a mechanical engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

Ed Flaherty brings more than 25 years of management experience in high growth industries to the company. Ed is responsible for all aspects of TradeBeam’s global operations and is a member of the Board of Directors.  Prior to TradeBeam, Ed served as President and CEO of TrenStar, Inc. He previously held the CEO and President position at ProSavvy, Inc., and was a principal at Feld Ventures. 

Ed also served as Division President of EDS providing customer relationship management solutions to the financial services, telecommunications, energy and transportation industries. Prior to joining EDS, he spent 12 years at Citigroup and held a variety of senior management positions, including Vice President of Loyalty Marketing and General Manager of Revenue Services. He graduated from Penn State University with a B.S. in Business Administration and started his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York where he served as an auditor and consultant for four years.

Mark Woodward is responsible for leading E2open’s overall operations, including the company’s growth strategy, solutions roadmaps, and customer success efforts.

Mark served as President and CEO of Serena Software. He joined Serena pre-IPO in 1998 as the Vice President of America’s Sales, was promoted to Vice President Worldwide Operations and within a year was promoted to President/CEO. In this leadership capacity, Mark grew the company from under $50 million to $300 million with a 40%+ operating margin and one of the highest revenue per employee ratio’s in the industry. In 2006, Mark took Serena private in a deal worth $1.3 billion, the largest pure software LBO ever done.

Prior to his seven year tenure at Serena, Mr. Woodward was the SVP of Sales and Marketing at Live Picture where he was recruited by John Scully and the CEO to build the business model and the sales and marketing team for this pre-IPO start-up. During his year with the company he created a multi-channel sales organization comprised of direct and indirect sales channels and grew annual revenues from $3mil to $14mil.

Prior to Live Picture, Mr. Woodward was the VP of Sales and Operations at McAfee Associates where he championed a multi-channel sales strategy which grew license revenues organically from $60 million to $310 million.

Mr. Woodward brings over 30 years of technology industry experience focused on sales/marketing and general management. He attended UCLA and serves as a member of the Board of Regents for Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, CA.

Martin Thaysen has been Chief Commercial Officer of Damco since 1 April 2009. Based in Copenhagen he is head of the global commercial activities of Damco. 

Martin Thaysen comes from a position as Head of Group Strategy for the A.P. Moller – Maersk Group, and has been with the group since 1994. As Head of Group Strategy, he was responsible for the development and implementation of strategy for the A.P. Moller – Maersk Group, including capital allocation, target setting & performance management, strategy & budget process.  

During his time with A.P. Moller – Maersk, Martin headed the Supply Chain Management activities of Maersk Logistics in Greater China for five years, based in Shanghai. 

Martin Thaysen is 37 years old, married and has a one-year old son. Martin is Danish, and he holds an Executive MBA from IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland.

John Sicard has spent over 15 years helping build a number of key functional areas at Kinaxis™. Having started as a key contributor to the architecture and develop of Kinaxis supply chain management solutions in early 1994, he soon went on to hold senior management roles in development, professional services, business consulting, and customer support. 

His deep exposure to software technology coupled with his hands on application of it with large manufacturers, such as Honeywell, Jabil Circuit, Raytheon, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Research in Motion (RIM) and many others, has resulted in a unique practitioners perspective on how manufacturers have regained control over an increasing volatile supply chain. 

John oversees the design & development of the Kinaxis on-demand service as well as those teams responsible for its deployment and support. In the Fall of 2009, John’s leadership role was further expanded to include the company’s corporate and product marketing functions, which enables the company to benefit from a fully integrated and coordinated process for establishing the RapidResponse™ vision and taking it to market. 

Before Kinaxis, John held senior software architect positions in research and development at Enterprise Planning Systems, FastMAN Software Systems, Inc (also known as Promira before being purchased by Manugistics), and Monenco Agra.

John earned a Bachelor of Computer Science, from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, with a strong focus on software architecture and UI Design.

Joseph C. Lawler is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of ModusLink Global Solutions, with executive leadership responsibility for the vision, strategic direction, and performance of ModusLink and its subsidiaries.  As CEO, Lawler oversees cross-company operations, financial management, and strategy implementation, helping to grow the business globally and ensure the highest levels of client satisfaction and shareholder value.

Prior to joining the company in August 2004, Lawler served as Executive Vice President at RR Donnelley (RRD) – an $8 billion global printer with 30,000 employees. At RRD, Lawler was responsible for seven business units as well as the corporation’s government affairs and corporate marketing efforts. During his 10 years with the company, Lawler succeeded in diversifying RRD’s business portfolio and driving growth through his integrated solutions approach to serving global customers. He was also widely known for his work designing RRD’s Executive Talent Committee, Global Leadership Team and Officer Development Program.

Lawler began his career at The Gillette Company and subsequently moved into leadership positions at several other corporations before joining RRD. He served as President and CEO of Gander Mountain — the outdoor specialty catalog and retail chain; Senior Vice President at Fingerhut Companies — a specialty direct marketer; CEO of Lawler Botsford and Company — an acquisition and management firm; and held various executive positions at CML Group — a specialty consumer marketing company.

Lawler was recipient of the 2007 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in New England and previously served as the Vice Chair of the Direct Marketing Association and Chairman of the United Negro College Fund Advisory Board in Chicago. He received his BS in Business Administration from Northeastern University in Boston and his MBA from Harvard University. When not working, you can find Lawler spending time with his wife and two sons, and enjoying his special interests of golf, fly-fishing and reading.

Karen Butner serves as the Global Supply Chain Management Leader for the IBM Institute for Business Value. In this role, she is responsible for research and development of IBM’s thought leadership points-of-view, white papers and associated collateral encompassing global, multi-industry supply chain management strategies.

She is the architect and author of the recently released 2009 Chief Supply Chain Officer Study, “The Smarter Supply Chain of the Future”. Karen is frequently invited to speak at national and international conferences and is widely quoted in leading business and industry publications.

She served as a major author and editor-in-chief for a book published in 2006 entitled: “Reshaping Supply Chain Management: Vision and Realty”, of which over 35,000 copies have been distributed.

In 2004, Ms. Butner also assumed responsibility for managing the development and deployment of the Supply Chain Management Global Solutions Portfolio – a collection of leading, integrated end-to-end business, technology and organizational solutions to support IBM’s broad and diversified, multi-industry client base.

She has over 25 years of experience in supply chain management business practices and strategies. Her concentration has been to assist clients in the high technology, retail and consumer products, electronics, and transportation logistics industries develop strategies and improvement agendas to bring significant value in transforming their global supply chain performance.

Paul is responsible for leading IBM’s Performance Management solution growth in the manufacturing industry. He is responsible for driving market strategy, aligning solutions with target markets, and helping manufacturing users derive value from IBM Cognos applications.

With over 25 years experience helping manufacturers tackle business and technology issues, Paul’s understanding of Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP), supply chain performance, inventory management, production, and demand and fulfillment challenges enables him to assist IBM customers to realize the efficiencies and returns Performance Management solutions deliver. He has senior management experience with a number of application software vendors, and has held materials management positions in industry. His experience includes the areas of ERP, supply chain management, and labor management solutions. His roles include general manager, and senior sales, support, materials, marketing, and product management positions.

Prior to joining IBM, Paul was a Vice President at Kronos, Inc. where was responsible for Kronos’ $100 million manufacturing industry division. Paul also held the position of Vice President of Product Management at Pivotpoint, Inc. a start-up organization that launched one of the first client/server ERP product offerings for the midrange manufacturing market.

Paul is a frequent speaker on manufacturing industry topics. He holds a BA degree from The College of The Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.

Mr. Douglass is the Global Industry Executive for Manufacturing & Logistics at Sterling Commerce where he is responsible for industry marketing and key industry account support. He has over twenty-five years of experience in supply chain management consulting and solutions development in a variety of manufacturing sectors ranging from chemicals to high tech. Prior to joining Sterling Commerce, Mr. Douglass had similar responsibilities at webMethods, a business integration software provider, and prior to that he was an associate partner at Accenture, a global consulting firm. 

He received a B.S. in computer science from Michigan State University and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He has completed his Six Sigma Black Belt training, and is currently working on a project to complete his certification.

After studying business economics (purchase management, trade business and distribution, information technology) at the University of Cologne Jochen started to work for Bertelsmann in April 1989.

As a junior consultant he started at Bertelsmann Distribution and supported various reorgani-sation projects in the publishing distribution (Vereinigte Verlagsauslieferung).

In the mid-90ths he joined a Pan-European Distribution project of BMG (Bertelsmann Music Group) as a project leader. Together with a European project team he created and rolled out a Pan European Distribution IT-System in Germany, the UK and France. Later he supported the roll-out of this distribution system in the US and Italy.

For six years now he has been head of the “IS & T Entertainment Services Europe” department and is responsible for IT issues at the arvato locations in Gütersloh, Herne (both in Ger-many), Birmingham and Milton Keynes (UK), Atton and Bussy (France) and Bergamo (Italy).

Within the scope of these duties it was necessary for Jochen and his team to create a VMI system for the Entertainment market, which has been in operation for several clients since 2001. Paramount in four European countries, Universum Film, Warner Music Group Germany and Netherlands, EMI Germany, SONY Music Germany, Universal Music Netherlands as well as Exxon can be named as arvato services largest VMI system and service clients in Central Europe.

In 2008 and 2009 Jochen and his team supported the rollout of the European distribution business for Paramount Home Entertainment. arvato Entertainment Services has already handled the “Order to Cash” business for several years in Germany and Spain, and in 2008 the BeNeLux territories and Italy were integrated into the German distribution centre. Beginning of 2009 Nordics and France followed and since July 2009 the UK is served from a new warehouse in Birmingham. A major part of this project was the development of a Pan-European KPI reporting for PHE on Cognos 8.3.

Michael joined the company in 1999 as engineering director, and has held the position of EVP Business Development since 2008. Michael has worked with all major syncreon technology customers to establish their supply chain requirements and logistics processes and overseeing the development, design and implementation of internal warehouse processes. He spearheaded an enterprise-wide Six Sigma business process improvement program which has eliminated operational inefficiencies, improved profitability and driven best practice across the company.

Michael holds responsibility for all business development and account management activity for the technology business. Michael also maintains responsibility for Engineering & Quality assurance.

Michael has worked for the company since leaving college where he studied manufacturing engineering. During his time with former WWI he also worked in quality engineering in the Netherlands and was the project manager responsible for establishing WWI’s operations in the UK.