Industry Leaders to Talk Global Business Practices

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Purdue University’s Krannert’s School of Management will bring industry leaders to campus Feb. 17 to discuss the best practices in globalization. The conference focuses on sourcing, manufacturing and distribution of products outside U.S. borders.

The spring 2017 Global Supply Chain Management Initiative (GSCMI) conference will be held in the Purdue Memorial Union. The theme of this year’s Conference is “Managing Global Supply Chain Resiliency.” Industry leaders, faculty, undergraduate and graduate students are invited  to attend.

Steve Dunlop, managing director for the Global Supply Chain Management Initiative, said the conference is bringing some of the industry’s very best leaders to campus. “We’ve steadily increased the prestige and quality of our speakers,” he said. “These are senior, senior individuals who are doing cutting-edge things and growing their operations rapidly.”

GSCMI Center Director Ananth Iyer said resilience is key to the success of modern supply chains given global volatility.  He noted the audience will enjoy interactions with industry speakers as well as interact with students from six business schools who will be on campus to compete in a case competition hosted during the conference.  The center develops fresh cases each year that reflect current ideas and showcases the best ideas from students as they grapple with developing solutions.  Industry participants at the conference will serve as judges to pick the winners of the case competition.

The keynote speakers are:

• Colonel Randall E. Warring, vice director of the 448th Supply Chain Management Wing, U.S. Air Force Sustainment Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma.
• Jan-Anders Manson, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Materials & Chemical Engineering, Purdue University.
• Scott R. Lake, global manager of Supplier Development and Risk, Agriculture and Turf Division, Deere & Co.
• Jim Churchman, vice president Supply Chain Site Operations and Logistics at Advocate Health Care.
• Alexandra Sokol, supply chain analyst - Corporate Planning Allocations, ArcelorMittal
• Dustin Smith, senior vice president, general manager, Commercial Trailer Products, Wabash National.

“From our standpoint, we want these industrial leaders to come to us if they have questions and concerns,” Dunlop said. “We want Purdue to be the first reference business leaders and for them to know we have an international presence.”

An additional benefit to the conference is for students to interact with the leaders and make connections that can lead to future jobs. The conference allows industry representatives to see the kind of research “going on at a major research institution.”