Pros to Know Award: Supply Chain Leaders Over-Deliver in All Facets of Logistics

From nearshoring and tighter trade regulations to rising fuel costs, port strikes, implementation of emerging technologies and economic uncertainty, many of today's supply chain leaders are faced with a number of challenges. But, many of today's supply chain pros are more than just leaders within their space; they're true pioneers of change. 

Every year, Supply & Demand Chain Executive's Pros to Know award celebrates the true supply chain professionals to know. 

This year's award was broken down into four distinct categories:    

Top Procurement Pros --> Recognizes professionals in the procurement space, with a procurement title.    

Top Transportation Innovators --> Recognizes professionals in the transportation space, including freight, trucking, rail, air cargo, ship/ports, etc.      

Rising Stars --> Recognizes young or newer professionals (39 and under) whose achievements, hard work and vision have shaped the supply chain network.

Leaders in Excellence --> Honors company leaders who’ve made outstanding contributions to the supply chain space. Must have at least 10 years’ documented experience in supply chain and logistics.

Each category consists of a number of winners who really pushed the boundaries in all facets of the supply chain; creating, implementing, transforming, innovating, reinventing, and collaborating. They executed on all fronts, over-delivering and over-performing. They are true professionals to know in the supply chain space.

Let's first meet the four overall winners:

Joel Johnson, GEP

TOP PROCUREMENT PROS
Joel Johnson, VP, Consulting, GEP

Joel Johnson serves as a VP within GEP’s consulting organization, responsible for developing executive relationships and leading global client partnerships across industries in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia, driving solutions to improve efficiency, optimize operations, and deliver measurable business value. With over 15 years of experience, Johnson's areas of focus and expertise include process transformation, strategic sourcing, procurement strategy, global team development, technology deployment, organizational design and brand strategy. His day-to-day tasks include leading the design, implementation and management of global procurement transformation programs. Johnson works closely with client executives to establish strategic program direction and oversees the entire journey, aligning people, process and technology for impactful change; collaborating closely with GEP’s data scientists and engineers from the software side to explore and harness the potential of advanced technologies; partnering with procurement and supply chain executives from global companies to conceptualize, design and implement digital transformation strategies; playing a key role in leading GEP’s consulting practice; mentoring more than eight team members who have been identified as high-potential contributors; and improving GEP’s service delivery infrastructure by implementing stronger governance frameworks.

Over the past year, he's led a global team of over 250 GEP procurement professionals across15 countries to deliver a strategic cost reduction program for a Fortune 500 life sciences company. The client relied on the GEP team to deliver a $2 billion reduction in external spend in 2024. The project encompassed more than $20 billion in total spend, covering both directs and indirect categories. Johnson also co-led a program with one of the world’s largest CPG companies, helping its procurement and supply chain functions deliver incremental value across diverse markets in Africa, the Middle East, LATAM, and Asia. This program successfully met all value targets to date, and is set to expand to address several billion dollars of spend in 2025. He also led the design and development of GEP’s digital tail spend management solutions to enable clients to drastically reduce order-to-receipt cycle times while improving compliance, working capital and the end-user experience. And, Johnson designed and implemented a comprehensive program to support GEP account executives and improve quality assurance across 50 GEP service accounts to identify areas for continuous improvement.

Looking ahead, Johnson is committed to driving at least 20% growth in GEP’s strategy and advisory business in 2025, with at least half of this growth coming from AI-related consulting services. He will continue to lead GEP’s “Digital Garage” workshops, guiding clients through immersive sessions that explore AI-driven opportunities and translate them into digital transformation plans. And, he plans to prioritize the advancement of agentic frameworks, focusing on improving coordination between GEP's AI agents and supply chain uses cases across category strategy, sourcing, contracting and guided buying. 

We talked exclusively with Johnson about digital tail spend management solutions and AI's role in advancing procurement. 
CLICK HERE to learn more.

Brent Meadors, Warehouse on Wheels

TOP TRANSPORTATION INNOVATORS
Brent Meadors, Chief Operating Officer, Warehouse on Wheels (WOW)

Brent Meadors is at the forefront of revolutionizing mobile storage trailer rental solutions across North America. Meadors, a U.S. Army veteran who served two tours in Iraq, has played a key role in shaping Warehouse on Wheels' operations, driving growth, and fostering a culture of ownership and innovation, helping grow the company from being a small operation with two locations to a network of 37 locations, 36,000 trailer units, and 300 employees. As chief operating officer, he's tasked with collaborating with the CEO on strategic direction; leading due diligence for acquisitions and integrations; building a culture of “Extreme Ownership”; overseeing recruiting, training, and employee development; ensuring safety and business regulations compliance; analyzing data to streamline operations and improve efficiency; cultivating strong relationships with clients, partners, and stakeholders; and managing capital investments to drive profitability and growth.

Over the past year, Meadors led WOW through a transformative period. For example, he spearheaded WOW’s entry into Canada, and Monterrey, Mexico, tapping into vital trade hubs while also establishing greenfield locations in Detroit and Oklahoma City. Through strategic purchasing and process improvements, Meadors reduced fleet maintenance costs by 40%, streamlining logistics and ensuring regulatory compliance. Under his leadership, WOW's U.S. fleet achieved zero recordable incidents in the past year. Also under his leadership, WOW recorded an average employee engagement score of 4.44/5 and satisfaction at 4.58/5, with 85% participation—a record high for the company. 

While serving in the U.S. Army, Meadors honed his skills in quality control, maintenance, and leadership under high-pressure conditions as a quality control technical inspector, company maintenance supervisor, and AH-64 Apache helicopter mechanic. 

We talked exclusively with Meadors about the need for mobile storage trailer rental solutions in today's economic instability and what it takes to grow a company while retaining an entrepreneurial, customer-first culture . 

CLICK HERE to learn more.

Brenda Mejia, Gatik

RISING STARS
Brenda Mejia, Head of Operations, Gatik

Brenda Mejia serves as the head of operations for Gatik, where she leads and oversees the company's entire operations landscape. Her contributions span multiple facets of the business, from market expansion and product development to operational efficiency and employee engagement, with an overarching focus on leveraging autonomous technology to revolutionize middle-mile logistics. This includes spearheading key initiatives to optimize the unique needs of AV fleets, such as route planning, fleet management, and service reliability.

Under her leadership, Gatik developed proprietary systems that integrate advanced data analytics and machine learning to optimize fleet performance. Mejia has also been at the forefront of identifying new market opportunities, forming strategic partnerships, and driving revenue growth, all of which have contributed to Gatik's continued expansion, serving 10-plus Fortune 500 customers. She also continually fosters key partnerships with the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to ensure compliance with safety standards and regulatory requirements. Additionally, Mejia played an integral role in shaping the company’s recently announced third-party safety assessment framework, which fosters transparency, trust, and compliance within the AV industry. 

Mejia also played a pivotal role in Gatik’s strategic partnership with ITOCHU, which leverages Gatik’s expertise in middle-mile autonomous trucking and ITOCHU’s global logistics network to develop solutions that address critical challenges in supply chain efficiency and scalability. And, she played a critical role in the company’s engagement with Isuzu Motors, leading to an investment that accelerated the development of Gatik’s autonomous fleet. 

We talked exclusively with Mejia to learn more about her efforts in championing innovative safety frameworks and the importance of optimizing AV fleets. 

CLICK HERE to learn more.

Sandra Kazee, Ambi Robotics

LEADERS IN EXCELLENCE
Sandra Kazee, VP, Finance, Ambi Robotics

As the VP, finance at Ambi Robotics, Sandra Kazee is the financial architect behind the company’s innovative solutions, ensuring fiscal health and strategic growth. On a day-to-day basis, Kazee leads the development of financial strategies that align with Ambi Robotics’ long-term vision; oversees the implementation and optimization of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems; manages and refines the company’s inventory systems; collaborates with cross-functional teams to design customer contracts and pricing models that are both competitive and mutually beneficial; fosters a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning; maintains the spares program, ensuring customers have uninterrupted access to critical components; and actively engages with initiatives like the U.C. Berkeley Society of Women Engineers (SWE), promoting inclusivity and diversity in the tech and engineering fields.

Kazee has made significant contributions to the global supply chain industry. One example is her implementation of RaaS (Robotics-as-a-Service) within warehouses across the United States. With RaaS, organizations have access to state-of-the-art technology and the ability to scale in response to changing market conditions and unique customer needs. Within the last 12 months, she led the creation of internal inventory management and optimization initiatives, which leverages data-driven insights to streamline inventory control, forecasting, and replenishment processes. Kazee also established a spares program for Ambi Robotics customers, which ensures timely availability of necessary components and support for the systems deployed. And her work with SWE provides networking opportunities and resources to empower and advance women in the field of engineering. 

Over the next 12 months, Kazee is poised to expand the RaaS model, making state-of-the-art technology accessible to a broader range of U.S. businesses. She also plans to strengthen the spares program, optimizing on-site spare parts and preventative maintenance programs, and will continue championing inclusivity and diversity within the engineering and robotics fields.

We talked exclusively with Kazee to learn more about the future of automated warehousing and what other supply chain leaders can do to support women in engineering. CLICK HERE to learn more.

CLICK HERE to learn more about this year's winners.

Below are some additional standouts.

Ilya Goncharov, 3PL Logistics Group

Ilya Goncharov, Head of Industrial Projects, 3PL Logistics Group
Category: Top Transportation Innovators

Ilya Goncharov serves as head of industrial projects at 3PL Logistics Group, responsible for overseeing and optimizing the end-to-end all-project cargo contracts, inquiries, orders and operations in eight offices in six countries. Goncharov focuses on developing and executing strategies to enhance industrial projects performance, improve processes, reduce costs, and ensure timely delivery of project cargo to customers. Other responsibilities include building relationships and growing business in the project cargo logistics and heavy lift sector; managing the budget and budget execution of industrial projects; managing the performance of the project team; developing a strategic roadmap to enhance systems, processes, and performance across all logistics functions; optimizing processes in all effective handling of new oversized cargo and breakbulk inquiries from new and current customers; leading the implementation of logistics-related projects; developing and executing strategies to reduce logistics costs, improve freight management, and optimize operations; ensuring compliance with all regulatory requirements; collaborating with HR and training teams to develop training programs and resources to enhance logistics team capabilities; and partnering with cross-functional teams to ensure alignment on logistics strategies and support business objectives.

In December 2024, Goncharov managed the delivery of oversized process equipment and telescopic bridges from the Netherlands to the UAE for the offshore industry, oil platforms and supply vessels. Under his leadership, Goncharov managed the 7 employees and the reporting in the three different countries. Also in December 2024, Goncharov concluded the contract and management of the delivery of heavy industrial equipment for production from Poland to Peru, including the 13 employees and reporting to four different countries. Goncharov also introduced new methodology for processing new requests from current and new customers to optimize the work of employees with oversized and breakbulk cargo between the project department and the sea import/export departments.

Goncharov also created special AI sanctions screening tools for the project cargo logistics industry. Going forward, he plans to ensure that all global supply chains are protected from working with sanctioned projects in an automated manner. 

Brandon Hulse, ALOM

Brandon Hulse, Director of Logistics, ALOM
Category: Leaders in Excellence

Brandon Hulse leads the ALOM logistics organization, responsible for business development and carrier contracting, including rate negotiation, strategic planning, tactical management, operational management, risk mitigation, and logistics planning and operation. His career leading transportation and logistics organizations began in 2008 with Nippon Express and later with Ingram Micro in 2014. Hulse joined ALOM in 2022, where he selects and negotiates contracted rates and service levels with a range of carriers operating domestically, regionally, and internationally. His primary focus is to achieve service, cost, and quality objectives with respect to all modes of international and domestic transportation (small parcel, heavy weight air, ocean, LTL, TL) for inbound, outbound, and reverse logistics. To do so, he meets with service providers (carriers, forwarders) on weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis to proactively manage KPIs resulting in increased on-time performance, fewer claims, high value loss, minimal invoicing exceptions, avoidance of IT incidents, and improved account management relationship. He also expands and refines transportation service offerings by recognizing opportunity, negotiating service and cost with carrier, IT integration, and operations implementation. He ensures compliance with international and domestic standards, government regulations, hazmat/ dangerous goods, safety, and internal requirements, and conducts in-house staff training and certification program for safe handling and movement of materials categorized as hazardous.

Over the past 12 months, Hulse's strategic leadership and impact to operational efficiency and fiscal stewardship both internally and on behalf of ALOM customers has proposed and implemented new initiatives. For instance, in 2024, he implemented the Hazmat Certification and Compliance Program and led and taught a mandatory hazmat handling training certification program for ALOM operational and account management staff, resulting in 100% of ALOM staff to be trained and certified. In addition, working with ALOM technology developers and supply chain planners, Hulse implemented a new transportation analytics system to capture and report a range of performance metric data on freight carrier performance. Based on this data, ALOM can hold carriers accountable for meeting contracted KPIs. As a result, in the second half of 2024, ALOM reduced domestic miles traveled for equal levels of freight shipments by nearly 26%. And, in August 2024, ALOM opened a new production and fulfillment location in Sacramento, Calif., where Hulse negotiated and secured carrier agreements for transportation services shipping to and from this facility and between ALOM’s headquarters in Fremont, Calif.

What’s next for Hulse in 2025 is improved visibility through enhanced carrier system integration and the utilization of AI and business intelligence modeling to help identify and prepare response plans for potential sources of global and domestic freight disruption due to labor, weather, raw material, or geopolitical events. Hulse aims to work closely with ALOM's supply base organization to expand the implementation of the company's nearsourcing supplier strategy.

Ruchi Dholakia, Apple

Ruchi Dholakia, Senior Manager, Reseller Operations, Apple
Category: Leaders in Excellence

Ruchi Dholakia serves as senior manager, reseller operations for Apple, tasked with handling a multi-billion-dollar portfolio of Apple’s largest telecom customers, overseeing operations from the supply chain perspective. She leads a team of supply and demand planners focused on managing Apple’s most strategic distributor partnerships. Together, they handle all aspects of inventory management, collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment. 

Over the past 12 months, Dholakia has made significant strides, particularly with the implementation of an innovative sFTP-based end-to-end planning system. This initiative successfully onboarded Apple’s largest telecom customer, streamlining their supply request process and seamlessly integrating it into Apple’s internal systems. This project, which took 11 months to complete, has resulted in significant time and efficiency savings for both Apple and its largest global partner, eliminating manual processes and reducing the potential for errors. 

Looking ahead, Dholakia plans to focus on AI/ML-based solutions to address some of the most common challenges in inventory and supply chain management. She envisions applying machine learning models and advanced analytics to optimize critical areas such as inventory planning, days of supply, and store-level stocking strategies for Apple’s reseller partners. By implementing these solutions, Ruchi aims to help Apple and its partners manage inventory more efficiently, improve factory output, and reduce the issues associated with excess inventory.

Joseph Dube, B-Stock

Joseph Dube, Director, Account Management, B-Stock
Category: Rising Stars

On a daily basis, Joe Dube director of account management for B-Stock, provides secondary market supply chain support for today’s largest wireless carriers, OEMs, and mobile buyback companies. This includes providing data and analytics to advise on B2B resale strategies for used/traded-in wireless devices and accessories. Since joining B-Stock in 2018 as a mobile strategy manager, Dube has immersed himself in providing solutions for the company’s biggest mobile customers. This includes providing data and analytics across the board to help customers optimize average sales price and sales cycle for devices via B-Stock's B2B resale storefronts. In addition to helping customers increase pricing on the units via data and analytics, Dube provides guidance on compliance/risk aversion, brand protection, and how to ensure a fast sales cycle for the inventory. For example, how items are grouped for resale, creative methods for buyer engagement, what type of restrictions there are (R2 only), and how the starting price for an auction will all affect pricing, risk aversion, and the velocity in which product is sold. 

Over the past year, Dube was instrumental in helping one of the company's biggest mobile OEM customers achieve a quicker sales cycle and better experience for its storefront buyers. Through its platform, B-Stock connects sellers with buyers but doesn't physically handle inventory. In this case, the customer contracted an outside 3PL to oversee fulfillment, responsible for testing and grading the devices, and then sorting, packing, and shipping parcels based on details contained in the purchase order. While the testing and grading process was accurate, there were ongoing issues with shipping lead times and order accuracy, and with limited communication between B-Stock and the 3PL, it was difficult to address these logistical setbacks. Dube and his team recommended an alternate approach by keeping the existing 3PL for testing and grading and find a new 3PL to manage the packing and shipping of the inventory. At the beginning of 2024, B-Stock onboarded the new 3PL and incorporated it into the fulfillment process. Within a few weeks of leveraging the new 3PL, B-Stock’s team noted considerable improvements, including a 64% reduction in average time from order paid to time to ship, decreasing this period from nearly a week to just a few business days; a 100% reduction in the average number of monthly shipping errors; and a 22% reduction in the dispute rate between the OEM and its buyers. Since adjusting the fulfillment process, the OEM has improved the buyer experience on its B2B sales channel. and is currently selling 100% of its trade-in inventory through B-Stock.

This year, Dube will be instrumental in bringing B-Stock's Mobile Insights Tool to market, enabling the company's wireless/mobile customers an automated and easy way to access and review historical, current and future average sales price, and depreciation data across device models. 

Tiffany Brewer, Blue Yonder

Tiffany Brewer, Senior Director, Global Industry Strategy for Life Sciences, Blue Yonder
Category: Leaders in Excellence 

Tiffany Brewer maintains more than 15 years of experience in supply chain, with focuses on technology, process, and analytics. She has spent a large portion of her career in life sciences and consumer products with companies such as Pfizer, Medtronic, and FedEx. She's passionate about applying technology, data, and processes to solve business problems and has a background in implementing tools and systems in supply chain environments, both on the customer and service provider side. As senior director of global industry strategy for life sciences at Blue Yonder, Brewer plays a pivotal role in driving strategic growth and innovation across the pharmaceutical, medical technology, and oil and gas industries. She leverages her extensive industry and technical expertise to counsel global companies on industry-leading best practices and the latest technology advancements to achieve operational excellence and continuous improvement. Her day-to-day tasks include defining target markets, developing growth plans, and creating go-to-market strategies. She also collaborates with Blue Yonder’s product development and innovation teams to help deliver impactful supply chain solutions for clients.

Over the last year, Brewer developed and launched a new vertical for Blue Yonder in life sciences and specialty chemicals, which resulted in 13% growth and new client acquisitions. 

Following the successful launch of Blue Yonder’s Life Sciences vertical, Brewer plans to expand this business segment by supporting new and existing customers, working closely with customers to understand their pain points, raising awareness of Blue Yonder’s capabilities and strategically aligning new product developments to meet the specific needs of the life sciences industry. 

Bill Mrzlak, ChainSequence, Inc.

Bill Mrzlak, President, ChainSequence, Inc.
Category: Leaders in Excellence

Bill Mrzlak is president of ChainSequence, where he plays a pivotal role in ensuring that every client engagement is met with exceptional service and delivers outstanding results. As the “face” of the company, Mrzlak is deeply committed to client success. His proactive approach to project management, change management, and relationship building skills have been establishing trust and ensuring measurable outcomes for over 25 years. Mrzlak remains actively involved in client engagements, working closely with teams to ensure each project reaches critical milestones, advances client proficiency and knowledge, and exceeds expectations. In addition to his client-focused responsibilities, Mrzlak oversees ChainSequence’s day-to-day operations. 

Over the past 12 months, Mrzlak has focused on deploying impactful S&OP programs for a variety of client partners. One notable initiative was with an international pharmaceutical company with a rudimentary S&OP process incapable of incorporating all product lines. The new product line presented unique challenges—extremely unpredictable demand, a highly perishable product, and a requirement to administer the product to patients within 10 hours of manufacture. With demand for this product expected to surge by up to 200% over the next two years, a robust S&OP process was essential to ensure the supply chain could meet future needs. Mrzlak led the effort to create extensive data models to accurately project demand over a 24-month horizon. The outcome was a refined and inclusive S&OP process that balanced the complexities of the entire product portfolio, enabling the company to both scale operations and support exponential growth. Another significant engagement involved the complete redesign of a misaligned S&OP process for another enterprise, with a short-term tactical focus extending only 13 weeks and despite some raw material lead times exceeding six months. This misalignment caused frequent supply chain disruptions. Mrzlak spearheaded extensive education and training to shift organizational mindsets and highlight the value of a more strategic S&OP process. He was an integral part of the effort to implement new technology that could generate a statistical baseline forecast, and introduced a disciplined, structured process to incorporate demand plan adjustments for opportunities and risks. These enhancements resulted in a 15% improvement in forecast accuracy and a 5% boost in customer on-time delivery, transforming the organization’s supply chain planning capabilities.

Mrzlak began his supply chain journey in the semiconductor and high-tech industries, tackling some of the most complex challenges in the sector. Today, he is committed to continuing this expansion, bringing tailored solutions to an ever-wider array of client partners. He aims to continue using a highly effective, comprehensive S&OP education and training course within client organizations, and is actively developing a broader curriculum that will cover various functional areas of supply chain planning. 

Paul Webb, Coupa

Paul Webb, Global Supply Chain Industry Principal, Coupa
Category: Leaders in Excellence

Paul’ Webb serves as global supply chain industry principal for Coupa, tasked with driving strategic executive engagements and positioning Coupa’s supply chain solutions as transformative business enablers. He works directly with C-suite and VP+ stakeholders, offering a forward-thinking, outside-in perspective during sales pursuits and engagements. A key part of his job is shaping the customer vision by co-creating impactful solution approaches and demonstration strategies with pursuit teams, guiding customer thinking while aligning their vision to Coupa’s value proposition. He also enables sales success by partnering with and coaching sales and pre-sales teams, ensuring that the discovery process and ongoing engagements stay aligned with the customer’s business priorities and goals. Additionally, he focuses on driving value expansion opportunities by collaborating with Coupa’s senior leadership and value services teams to identify and develop account growth initiatives that emphasize measurable business outcomes. 

One of Webb's standout accomplishments from the past 12 months is the establishment of the Integrated Scenario Planning (ISP) Framework, a transformative approach leveraging supply chain digital twin technology and AI to accelerate the Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process. Since joining the Coupa team in April 2024, Webb has actively contributed to over 50 customer, prospect, and analyst-facing engagements; helped to align customer business priorities with Coupa’s value proposition; and collaborated closely with Coupa’s product and marketing teams to refine and align core capability messaging. 

Over the next 12 months, Webb maintains a clear vision for advancing Coupa’s supply chain capabilities and driving even greater impact for customers and the industry. A key focus will be working closely with early adopters to establish and refine the ISP framework. By leveraging AI in conjunction with this framework, he aims to accelerate executive decision forums such as S&OP, helping organizations achieve faster, more informed decision-making. In addition, he will be launching a five-part Margin Multiplier series, which will highlight best practices and real-world customer case studies for supply chain scenario planning and optimization for organizations seeking to maximize efficiency, sustainability, productivity, growth, and resilience within their supply chains. 

Dean Bain, Coupa

Dean Bain, SVP, GM Supply Chain, Coupa
Category: Top Procurement Pros

Dean Bain serves as the general manager of Coupa’s supply chain solutions portfolio, leading a cross-functional organization of over 200 team members across product, sales, delivery, and customer success. In this role, he is responsible for shaping and overseeing product strategy and go-to-market initiatives to ensure that Coupa’s supply chain solutions address the evolving and complex challenges faced by global businesses. His day-to-day tasks include driving product innovation, aligning teams to deliver customer-centric solutions, and ensuring widespread adoption of Coupa’s capabilities. Bain is also focused on enabling customers to achieve measurable outcomes, delivering 10-30% savings and risk mitigation across the entire supply chain to support their long-term success and resilience.

Bain joined Coupa at the beginning of 2024 to lead supply chain strategy and go-to-market. In just one year, he's transformed the entire supply chain organization from establishing Coupa’s long-term vision for supply chain to building out global go-to-market teams across North America, Latin America, Europe, Japan, and Australia. Throughout the year, he has focused on bringing incredible talent to the organization; helped to envision game-changing product roadmaps; and under his guidance, has transformed the business from a sole focus of supply chain design to the adaptive supply chain. Here, he collaborated with product and engineering to build out the future of collaborative tactical supply chain planning through new innovation such as Integrated Scenario Planning. Also since joining Coupa, Bain has helped grow the company's market presence and voice in supply chain, which led to record-breaking growth for the company and measured growth of over 40%. On top of this, Bain has led initiatives to bring Coupa into the direct spend space, bridging the gap between supply chain design, planning, and direct procurement. 

Over the next 12 months, Bain is focused on achieving continued double-digit growth for the Coupa business by expanding market adoption, enhancing customer value, and ensuring Coupa’s supply chain solutions remain at the forefront of the industry. A major priority is the launch of new capabilities designed to empower supply chain, finance, and procurement leaders. These innovations will enable leaders to harness data and leverage AI-driven insights to elevate strategic decision-making across the Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) horizon. 

Rafael Vasquez, Coupa

Rafael Vasquez, VP, Customer Success, Supply Chain, Coupa
Category: Rising Stars

As VP of customer success for supply chain customers at Coupa, Rafael Vasquez focuses on helping customers achieve their business goals by designing, planning, and optimizing their supply chains. He leads a global, cross-functional team of customer success leaders across eight different countries who guide clients in adopting best practices and leveraging Coupa's cutting-edge supply chain design and planning solutions to create adaptive supply chains. With over 12 years of experience as a consultant and advisor to Fortune 500 companies and industry leaders, Vasquez brings expertise in building agile and resilient supply chains, including implementing strategies that enhance supply chain efficiency, manage risks, meet sustainability objectives, and ensure adaptivity in dynamic environments. On a day-to-day basis, he engages directly with customers, oversees strategic planning sessions, and ensures that supply chain KPIs are met. He is largely focused on the post-implement phase for customers, helping to mature their processes. Under his leadership, customers have achieved measurable improvements, such as reduced lead times and stronger supply chain adaptability.

Earlier this year, Vasquez led the global professional services team, ensuring the successful delivery of projects and implementations for both new and existing customers, including businesses within food and beverage, CPG, retail and more. He and his team have helped customers determine their optimal supply chain networks, optimize and plan for their production and distribution capacities, and keep up with optimal inventory levels to better navigate the changing economic landscape. Recognizing the critical role of customer success, he transitioned to lead the global customer success team. Since taking on this role, Vasquez has spearheaded the integration and expansion of the global customer success team, increasing comprehensive support for over 320 customers worldwide. He also champions customer success, engaging deeply with customers and leveraging Coupa’s partner ecosystem to provide technical expertise and guidance. Together, Vasquez, his team and the customers develop a clear, actionable roadmap that aligns their initiatives with their business goals over three years. This collaborative approach has positioned Coupa to increase customer's adoption and revenue up to 50% within the following 18 months. During Q2 and Q3 of 2024, Vasquez also has led his team to exceed their retention goal 103% and 128% per quarter, respectively.

Over the next 12 months, Vasquez will focus on key initiatives to drive Coupa’s growth and evolution trajectory, including reshaping the customer success team and strategy to foster an innovative and customer-centric culture; accelerating adoption and ROI; strengthening the supply chain customer community to promote knowledge sharing, collaboration, and mutual growth; expanding measurable outcomes; and developing a transformation-ready strategy.

Umesh Kumar Sharma, Deloitte Consulting

Umesh Kumar Sharma, Specialist Leader, Deloitte Consulting
Category: Leaders in Excellence

Over the past 24 years, Umesh Kumar Sharma has gone from plant superintendent to global supply chain leader. At the age of 22, Sharma stepped into the role of plant superintendent at a leading manufacturing firm, managing crucial aspects of a process manufacturing plant. At 26, he became the senior manager, production, the youngest in his company to achieve this title, putting him in charge of the entire production department, overseeing shop floor operations, manufacturing processes, production planning, procurement, raw material management, and logistics. It was during this phase that Sharma first encountered SAP ERP solutions, which ignited a passion for leveraging technology to drive operational excellence. He played a pivotal role in implementing SAP ERP at his company, gaining invaluable insights into how technology could be harnessed to streamline processes, reduce inefficiencies, and integrate complex operations seamlessly. Driven by this newfound vision, Sharma pivoted into IT consulting, with a focus on supply chain management, where he earned additional SAP certifications, and over the next several years, worked with some of the world’s top IT consulting firms, leading projects for global giants across industries like healthcare, apparel and footwear, and oil and gas. In his current role as specialist leader with Deloitte Consulting, he is responsible for architecting and leading the execution of large-scale supply chain transformation initiatives for global organizations, particularly in the high-tech and semiconductor industries. Sharma manages global transformation projects from conception to delivery, and is directly involved in overseeing supply chain strategy development, systems implementation, process design, and IT strategy. His day-to-day activities include leading cross-functional project teams, collaborating with senior executives, and ensuring the successful execution of business process transformations.

Over the past few months, Sharma led several initiatives focused on leveraging AI-driven solutions for advanced forecasting and planning. These initiatives have significantly improved forecast accuracy and inventory management for key clients in the semiconductor and high-tech industries. Under his leadership, Deloitte introduced AI tools such as a Generative AI-based supply chain troubleshooter and a collaborative event-based planning tool to help clients address critical supply chain disruptions and streamline decision-making processes. He also spearheaded large-scale digital supply chain transformations for multiple global companies, addressing post-pandemic challenges. 

In the next 12 months,  Sharma is committed to pushing the boundaries of how AI can revolutionize supply chain management. Leveraging his expertise in SAP Integrated Business Planning (SAP IBP), he plans to focus on developing advanced AI-powered tools that address critical challenges faced by global supply chains. He also intends to enhance predictive analytics capabilities within SAP IBP, and envisions using generative AI to support scenario-based planning within SAP IBP. 

Brandon Daniels, Exiger

Brandon Daniels, CEO, Exiger
Category: Leaders in Excellence

Since assuming the CEO role of Exiger in 2022, Brandon Daniels has transformed the business into a sector-leading software company, spearheading successful acquisitions, making strategic investments in AI and UX development, driving double-digit ARR increases and securing a $1.2 billion-plus investment, while growing headcount across 10 different global jurisdictions. In his day-to-day role, Daniels balances efforts to drive overall business growth with mission-driven advocacy and hands-on input into technology development. As CEO, he is responsible for Exiger’s 800-plus employees and 550-plus customers. He leads a senior management team of eight and an executive leadership team of 31, and works closely with Exiger’s Board of Directors, Advisory Council and Customer Engagement Board. He's primarily focused on the creation and execution of Exiger’s strategic roadmap to build out platform capabilities, expand its footprint within the government and defense markets, enter new public sector markets, leverage its technology to advance societal priorities, and raise awareness around critical supply chain issues—all supporting a larger push to make global supply chains more transparent and more secure. Daniels also leads the build-out of a new Government Affairs function; investing in inclusive career sponsorships/programs; growing headcount 39% YoY; opening a new office in Richmond, Va.; investing one-third of annual revenue in R&D; and acquiring advanced capabilities through strategic acquisitions.

In the last 12 months, Daniels completed an aggressive M&A plan, completing three acquisitions in 2024, including the XSB platform and aDolus Technology. He also led Exiger in securing accreditation by FedRAMP, a government-wide program that promotes the adoption of secure cloud services across the U.S. Federal Government. He orchestrated new partnerships with The Chertoff Group, American Hospital Association, Institute for American Apprenticeship and Kharon. He also directed the business to develop and deploy novel solutions in 2024, including new decarbonization, environmental risk scoring and Scope 3 capabilities; and Proactive Intelligence, an advanced AI capability that predicts when and where future supply chain crises are likely to occur. Daniels also played a key role in shaping Exiger’s first-ever brand campaign, “Save the Day,” which portrays supply chain professionals in relatable work settings. He also expanded into the healthcare sector, launched a new Government Affairs function, and sustained and initiated partnerships with Hope for Justice, Slave-Free Alliance, and the Anti-Slavery Collective, equipping global charity leaders with the same proprietary technology tools that major Fortune 500 companies use.

Over the next 12 months, Daniels aims to continue providing tactical solutions to help customers adapt to new tariffs; empowering customers to prepare for supply chain crises before they happen; helping customers navigate critical minerals shortages; supercharging customers’ ability to be a force for good in the world; continuously raising the bar on supply chain AI and UX; and deploying best-in-class COTS solutions to the U.S. Federal Government.

Sheri R. Hinish, EY Consulting

Sheri R. Hinish, Global Consulting Sustainability Services, Technology & Ecosystems Leader, EY Consulting
Category: Leaders in Excellence

Sheri Hinish, known as the Supply Chain Queen, serves as a leader in supply chain, sustainability, and innovation at EY Consulting, where she champions transformative strategies to help Fortune 500 organizations, strategic alliances, and non-profits achieve their sustainability goals and organizational transformation focusing on supply chain modernization. Her responsibilities include end-to-end strategy, integrating advanced technologies, fostering strategic alliances, and mentoring diverse talent to shape a sustainable and equitable future. Under Hinish's leadership, EY deployed the Sustainability Intelligence Platform and expanded the EY Net Zero Transformation framework, including EY’s sustainability co-pilot investment, and is responsible for delivering a $5 billion target of sustainability services through 2030 across sub-service lines in business transformation, technology and AI, risk management, and people consulting. Hinish also collaborated with global alliances to create scalable, innovative solutions for ESG data, sustainable supply chain and operational sustainability connecting the CFO-CIO-CSCO-CPO. And, she mentors diverse talent through volunteerism, sponsorship, teaching as a graduate professor, and creating open-access thought leadership for folks in supply chain and sustainability. Hinish also consistently contributes to the supply chain and sustainability community through client service, volunteering at events and in academia, and mentoring early hire professionals and women in STEM. She also launched initiatives like the Sustainability Tech Spotlight to highlight diverse women in technology and foster equitable team experiences through mentoring and leadership programs.

Hinish's goals for the next year include target $1 billion in sustainability revenue influence through expanded ESG data solutions, decarbonization frameworks, and sustainable supply chain initiatives; deepening collaborations with Microsoft, SAP, and ServiceNow to innovate and deliver advanced sustainability solutions for clients; centralizing and scaling processes to improve efficiency, build capacity, and enhance the delivery of sustainability services for clients in key sectors; and expanding mentoring and talent development programs to further support diverse teams and inspire the next generation of sustainability and supply chain leaders.

Jeff Metersky, GAINSystems

Jeff Metersky, VP, Solution Strategy, GAINSystems
Category: Leaders in Excellence

As the VP of solution strategy at GAINSystems, Jeff Metersky leverages his 40 years of experience in industry, software and consulting to enhance the strategy, positioning and vision of GAINS' solutions. In his role, he also serves as the general manager of the supply chain design business, where he builds, leads and mentors a team of consultants and analysts who provide best-in-class services and support to GAINS clients. Metersky helps customers adapt quicker to changing market conditions with both their technology investment and development of risk strategies to help build a resilient supply chain.

Over the past year, Metersky has spearheaded a groundbreaking initiative to integrate variability and uncertainty into GAINS' supply chain decision-making processes. He led the development of a strategy that incorporates discrete event simulation and stochastic optimization into GAINS' solutions. These methodologies allow clients to model and account for the inherent variability in supply chain operations, providing a more accurate and dynamic view of potential outcomes. This initiative combines network optimization, inventory optimization, and transportation optimization into a cohesive planning environment.

In the coming year, Metersky aims to expand the adoption of advanced supply chain technologies and methodologies among GAINS' clients, shifting his focus to scaling these capabilities across a broader range of industries and use cases. A key goal is to move beyond the design phase of the supply chain and incorporate these advanced techniques into day-to-day planning and operational processes. Metersky plans to raise awareness of the benefits of stochastic optimization, discrete event simulation, and composable solutions through thought leadership, industry engagements, and direct client interactions. He also aims to continue to advocate for the creation of resilient, adaptable supply chains that can withstand external disruptions, such as geopolitical shifts, regulatory changes, and economic fluctuations. 

Andrew Simcox, Intelligent Audit

Andrew Simcox, Sales Team Member, Intelligent Audit
Category: Rising Stars 

Andrew Simcox serves as a sales team member for Intelligent Audit, tasked with building meaningful partnerships with prospects by thoroughly understanding their unique challenges and demonstrating how Intelligent Audit’s solutions can address their needs effectively. He delivers tailored solution demos, collaborates with internal teams to develop technical strategies, and presents customized pricing proposals. Additionally, Simcox performs in-depth analyses of test data to uncover significant cost-saving opportunities and other measurable benefits. 

Simcox is particularly skilled at providing near real-time insights on parcel pricing adjustments, such as demand surcharges and general rate increases, ensuring  customers stay ahead in managing transportation costs. His unmatched expertise lies in analyzing prospect data to identify significant cost-saving opportunities and quantifying those changes with precision. Some of his initiatives revolve around ensuring service downgrades without delivery delays. By analyzing one customer’s millions of next-day air shipments, Simcox identified opportunities to shift shipments to next-day air saver or even ground services without impacting delivery times, resulting in over $1 million in annual savings for the customer. During a data review, Simcox discovered a manifesting issue causing unnecessary costs for another customer, ultimately saved that customer over $200,000 annually in avoidable charges.

Over the next 12 months, Simcox aims to create 25 new partnerships to help shippers in reducing their transportation costs and improving operational efficiencies through tailored, data-driven solutions.

Sarah Barnes-Humphrey, Let's Talk Supply Chain

Sarah Barnes-Humphrey, Founder & CEO, Let's Talk Supply Chain
Category: Leaders in Excellence

As a supply chain trailblazer and founder and host of Let’s Talk Supply Chain, a presenting sponsor of the Women in Supply Chain award, Sarah Barnes-Humphrey orchestrates interviews with top professionals, facilitating discussions that educate and inspire action and change across the supply chain industry. She also serves as founder of The Secret Society of Supply Chain (SSSC), which demands a hands-on approach to community management. She curates educational content, leads career development initiatives, builds networking opportunities for members and engages directly with supply chain professionals, ensuring the community thrives with diverse, inclusive, and impactful content. Her commitment to underrepresented voices manifests in managing the Blended podcast, also a presenting sponsor of the Women in Supply Chain award, where she actively seeks out and champions diverse stories, drives scholarship fundraising and ensures minority-owned businesses have platforms for exposure and success. Even after exiting Shipz Inc., Barnes-Humphrey continues to innovate in supply chain technology, advising tech start-ups, collaborating on digital transformation strategies, and staying abreast of advancements that could further modernize global shipping practices.

Over the past year, Barnes-Humphrey has solidified her position as a transformative voice in the field, providing a platform that consistently delivers cutting-edge insights and practical solutions to complex supply chain challenges on a global basis.

In the next 12 months, Barnes-Humphrey is poised to amplify the impact of SSSC through several transformative initiatives, including scaling SSSC's private professional network to reach 10,000-plus supply chain professionals globally, launching specialized mentorship programs pairing industry veterans with emerging talent, developing targeted learning paths for different career stages and specializations within supply chain, and creating regional chapters to facilitate localized networking and knowledge sharing. She also aims to introduce an SSSC Academy with structured curriculum modules focused on emerging technologies, sustainability, and digital transformation. With this, she plans to develop hands-on workshops and case studies featuring real-world supply chain challenges, launch a certification program recognized by industry leaders, create collaborative learning opportunities through associations and larger organizations and develop a job board and career advancement platform exclusive to SSSC members. Barnes-Humphrey also plans to expand The Blended Pledge scholarship program to support more diverse candidates entering the field, launch focused initiatives to support women and minorities in leadership positions and establish partnerships with minority-owned businesses to provide networking and growth opportunities.

Pablo Gonzalez, Miebach

Pablo Gonzalez, Director, Miebach
Category: Leaders in Excellence

As the head of BU Manufacturing at Miebach North America, Pablo Gonzalez defines and executes the strategic vision for the manufacturing business unit. His responsibilities include identifying client needs and industry trends to position Miebach as a trusted and integrated supply chain partner. He also oversees key account management to ensure project success, acts as an escalation point for critical issues, and drives overall business performance.

Over the past year,  Gonzales has spearheaded multiple high-impact projects, including directing a supply chain optimization project for a global company, improving manufacturing and distribution efficiencies. He also conducted a Greenfield manufacturing automation assessment and Brownfield distribution center optimization, enhancing throughput and operational reliability. And, he delivered a detailed supply chain transformation assessment, identifying service level improvements that resulted in high client satisfaction and reduced costs. He has successfully managed multimillion-dollar logistics networks, supply chain transformations, and post-merger integrations.

Looking ahead, he plans to expand Miebach's presence in North America's manufacturing sector by solidifying partnerships with Fortune 100 companies; introduce cutting-edge supply chain strategies that leverage automation and AI to meet sustainability goals; and drive client success by implementing end-to-end solutions for supply chain modernization, ensuring resilience and transparency.

Chao-Ming Ying, New Horizon Soft

Chao-Ming Ying, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer, New Horizon Soft
Category: Leaders in Excellence

As co-founder and chief technology officer, Dr. Chao-Ming Ying drives the long-term product vision and development for New Horizon Soft’s suite of AI-powered supply chain software applications. He works with strategic customers to assist in taking advantage of the latest supply chain best practices, with process re-engineering and software implementation projects at over 100 companies worldwide. Ying’s background lies in managing supply chain software implementations rather than software development, which may be more typical for a CTO. After holding product management positions at i2 (Panasonic/Blue Yonder) and Demantra early in his career, he joined the Oracle implementation partner ecosystem after Oracle acquired Demantra in 2006. He eventually rose to lead the global Oracle Supply Chain Planning practice for Hitachi Consulting, where he gained a a unique perspective on supply chain best practices.

Over the past 12 months, Ying oversaw the addition of new industry functionality to New Horizon’s suite of supply chain products, which has allowed the company to win deals and complete software implementations in new industries, such as retail, consumer electronics, chemicals, and building materials and construction products. Ying also drove the productization of a new functionality originally deployed for a $10 billion-plus quick-service restaurant chain. This functionality allows operators of high-velocity distribution centers (DCs) to optimize procurement scheduling to take into account DC receiving capacity. The result is fewer receiving bottlenecks, higher labor utilization, and lower planning and logistics costs. Ying and his team also launched new AI technology, designed to automate analysis and allow supply chain users to make better decisions to improve forecast accuracy and service levels while minimizing inventory and costs. This new solution also automatically alerts users to problems with data quality and potential supply chain problems.

In the next 12 months, Ying plans to add new AI-based capabilities across the company's supply chain suite in advanced areas such as truckload optimization, dynamic adjustment of supplier lead times based on historic performance, and forward buying optimization. He also plans to add new product capabilities to address additional industries and to expand globally, improving existing support for things features such as local languages and currencies, workflows across multiple time zones, and additional functionality to accommodate regional nuances in business practices.

Kevin Wong, Nulogy

Kevin Wong, Chief Operating Officer, Nulogy
Category: Leaders in Excellence

As COO and co-founder of Nulogy, Kevin Wong is deeply involved in shaping the company’s product vision and strategy. On a day-to-day basis, Wong works closely with teams across the organization to ensure everything runs smoothly, from operations to product development. He also dedicates time to engaging with the supply chain community. Wong's leadership style is deeply personal and relationship-driven, which contributes to an inclusive workplace where self-expression is encouraged and helps build a sense of unity. Wong is also instrumental in bringing Nulogy’s vision for purpose-built, best-of-breed solutions to life, driving speed to value, helping customers address high-priority challenges quickly and ensuring Nulogy’s solutions are adaptable. Wong also helps drive the success of Nulogy’s cloud-based, multi-enterprise platform, which enables real-time collaboration between brand owners and their external supply chain partners and bridges gaps in communication and visibility.

Over the past 12 months, Wong played a key role in one of Nulogy’s most significant milestones -- the acquisition of Mingo Smart Factory. His leadership ensured a smooth integration of Mingo’s team, innovative technology and customers into Nulogy’s ecosystem. Wong's leadership helps ensure Nulogy and its partners are aligned to deliver even greater value to their shared customer base and the wider supply chain community. Wong also oversaw the major initiative to help Colgate-Palmolive integrate Nulogy’s cloud-based platform with Kinaxis’ planning tools to achieve real-time data synchronization across its external suppliers, resulting in greater visibility, improved forecasting and enhanced capacity planning.

Going forward, on the heels of the Smart Factory acquisition, Wong plans to support the team in fully integrating the solution’s manufacturing productivity capabilities into Nulogy’s offerings. He also plans to deepen partnerships with strategic customers and organizations.

Robert Jodoin, NuMove

Robert Jodoin, President, NuMove
Category: Leaders in Excellence

Robert Jodoin is the founder of NūMove Robotics & Vision, responsible for making strategic decisions that drive the company's growth and profitability, including steering the strategic vision of the company; identifying growth markets; developing strategic partnerships with large-scale integrators and key suppliers, while maintaining relationships with business allies; determining the key technologies to be included and prioritized in the solution development roadmap; and ensuring the company follows through on sustainability. Additionally, he is deeply involved in reviewing all the new concepts being developed as solutions for various projects. With a background of more than 30 years in the industrial automation industry, he leverages his extensive expertise to evaluate these new concepts and the overall pricing before proposals are sent to customers.

In line with Jodoin's strategic vision, NūMove has devoted considerable efforts over the past few years to develop unique and high-performance solutions tailored to the needs of warehouses and distribution centers. As a result, in the past 12 months, most of the projects obtained are for palletizing or robotic depalletizing solutions in distribution centers across the United States. Under his leadership and work to develop strategic partnerships with large-scale integrators, NūMove’s annual revenues multiplied by two compared to the previous year. In 2024, Jodoin also heavily contributed to the development of a new order preparation concept based on industrial robotics to prepare mixed loads pallets for cold chain distribution. Under his initiative, NūMove now owns the exclusivity in North America for the commercialization and fabrication of InnoPick, a unique storage/retrieving and sequencing technology dedicated for fast movers. Jodoin also created a Center of Excellence to showcase NūMove’s automation technologies dedicated to warehouses. For the past few months, NūMove has been transforming a new 20,000-square-foot space into a true innovation hub that will house a complete automation line replicating the journey of various products in warehouses and distribution centers. 

With more than 30 systems already ordered for 2025, Jodoin plans on delivering twice the volume of projects compared to the previous year, mainly in the distribution and logistics market. He is also committed to driving the development of new technologies, such as a new vision system for depalletizing, the continuous enhancement of NūMove’s propriety software (NūLogik), layer depalletizing applications for complex products like unwrapped cans in trays, and a new InnoPick design that can accommodate larger products. He also aims to integrate AMRs in NūMove’s robotic solutions.

Mark Talens, EVP, ParkourSC

Mark Talens, EVP, Chief Strategy & Solutions Officer, ParkourSC
Category: Leaders in Excellence

Mark Talens serves as EVP and chief strategy and solutions officer at ParkourSC, where his role revolves around driving strategic product innovation, harnessing AI to redefine supply chain decision-making, and ensuring the company's solutions create meaningful, tangible impact for customers in pharma, life sciences, consumer goods, and beyond. Having transitioned from 25 years in the pharmaceutical industry to a high-growth Silicon Valley tech company, he bridges foundational supply chain expertise and domain knowledge with the fast-paced innovation of technology. He previously served as associate VP, global supply chain operations at Organon, where he enabled the supply chain to "noise cancel" 60-70% of exception signals; achieved a 20% improvement in firm horizon plan attainment and reduced reliance on costly air freight by shifting to ocean freight; and enabled teams to dedicate 20-30% more time to high-impact activities.

In the past year at  ParkourSC, Talens spearheaded initiatives to scale the company’s solutions beyond pharma, extending to consumer goods and food and beverage industries; enhanced the company's AI-driven platform to deliver unprecedented visibility, predictability, and efficiency for customers with complex supply chains, such as managing 5,000-10,000 SKUs in pharma; and repositioned ParkourSC to focus on customer-centric tangible outcomes, helping customers unlock and capture value and adoption of transformational technology enablers like AI/ML on the holistic E2E supply chain.

Over the next 12 months, Talens is focused on expanding ParkourSC’s reach into adjacent industries like consumer goods and food and beverage, while maintaining excellence and leadership in life sciences; delivering measurable customer success through AI-driven outcomes, emphasizing trust, quality, and compliance in supply chain execution; and scaling innovation in cold chain management, operations planning, inventory optimization and making significant headway into autonomous operating supply chains.

Ethan Treese, RapidRatings

Ethan Treese, Chief Commercial Officer, RapidRatings
Category: Top Procurement Pros

Ethan Treese maintains over 25 years of expertise in advancing how organizations approach supply chain risk management. From his early beginnings at Dun & Bradstreet to his current role as chief commercial officer, procurement at RapidRatings, he has led the strategic direction and execution of commercial operations, with a focus on procurement solutions. His day-to-day responsibilities include client partnership and strategic engagement; product innovation leadership; and commercial excellence and leadership.

Over the past 12 months, Treese has made significant contributions in advancing the supply chain risk management industry. For starters, he led a comprehensive reorganization of RapidRatings’ client-facing organization, which significantly changed how the firm delivers value to clients and partners. The transformation included creating new and specialized roles and resources focused on driving greater thought leadership, establishing dedicated client support teams, and implementing tangible change that have redefined expectations for strategic partnerships. Under Treese's leadership, RapidRatings has dramatically improved time-to-value for new clients. He played a primary role in driving developments in the company matching processes, significantly reducing the time between client onboarding and first risk insights. And, he implemented a more hands-on approach to client portfolio management that has transformed how RapidRatings delivers risk insights. By adopting this proactive stance, organizations can identify potential risks early and implement mitigation strategies that overall enhance their risk management capabilities.

Over the next 12 months, Treese plans to widely integrate proven best practices across RapidRatings’ client base by leveraging market insights and integrating a new model where organizations can self-fund more comprehensive supplier programs. He also plans to significantly expand the firm’s footprint and reputation in financial health risk management, and will focus on strengthening RapidRatings’ position at the forefront of supply chain risk intelligence by developing frameworks and proactively communicating external risk factors from tariff impacts to policy changes. 

James Gellert, RapidRatings

James Gellert, Executive Chair, RapidRatings
Category: Leaders in Excellence

As executive chairman of RapidRatings, James Gellert guides businesses in assessing the financial viability and risk of their suppliers, customers, and partners. His focus centers around shaping the company’s big-picture vision and strategy while maintaining relationships with key stakeholders across the industry. He also plays a key role in collaborating closely with influential clients whose partnerships have been instrumental in RapidRatings’ growth by turning emerging market trends into actionable strategies.  

Over the past 12 months, Gellert has made significant contributions in advancing the supply chain risk management industry. In January 2024, Gellert spearheaded the development of a first-its-kind research report with Marblegate, which uncovered a comprehensive analysis of emerging trends and risks within supply chain ecosystems. The findings of this report indicated that 36% of private companies in the United States are currently at high and very high risk for default vs. only 15% for public companies. In July 2024, Gellert was appointed Advisory Board Chair at LogicSource, where he leads an executive team focused on enhancing supply chain efficiency. 

Over the next 12 months, Gellert will provide strategic counsel for several product developments in RapidRatings’ pipeline, which will enable companies to quickly identify suppliers requiring immediate attention, track movements between risk quadrants for proactive risk management, and implement targeted mitigation strategies based on comprehensive risk profiles. He also plans to continue expanding LogicSource's influence of the sourcing and procurement of indirect goods and services, and through strategic speaking engagements at Institute for Supply Management, will provide insights into helping clients and businesses navigate pressing issues, including global tariff impacts, reshoring strategies, and supply chain adaptions unique to the upcoming administration. 

Damon Hosmer, The Raymond Corporation

Damon Hosmer, General Manager, Energy Storage Solutions, The Raymond Corporation
Category: Leaders in Excellence

As the general manager of energy storage solutions at The Raymond Corporation, Damon Hosmer oversees the strategic direction and operational management of the company’s energy storage division. His daily responsibilities encompass leading four key cost centers: lead-acid batteries (LABs), lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), hydrogen fuel cells and the development of go-to-market strategies for all energy-related operations. Hosmer's role involves close collaboration with cross-functional teams, including engineering, sales and marketing to ensure the seamless integration of advanced energy solutions into Raymond’s product offerings. He is also tasked with identifying emerging trends in energy storage technologies, assessing their applicability to material handling equipment, and guiding the development of innovative solutions that enhance efficiency and reduce the total cost of ownership for clients. Additionally, Hosmer manages relationships with key stakeholders, including suppliers, regulatory bodies and industry associations, to align Raymond’s energy initiatives with broader industry standards and sustainability goals.

Over the past year, Hosmer has spearheaded several transformative initiatives; one of them he played a pivotal role in helping Toyota Material Handling and Raymond establish the Energy Solutions Manufacturing Center of Excellence, a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to the production of advanced energy storage systems. Under Hosmer's leadership, the company successfully deployed a full-scale battery energy storage system and solar microgrid array at its distribution warehouse in Greene, N.Y. He was also instrumental in advancing energy initiatives compliant with the California Air Resources Board (CARB), ensuring Raymond’s products meet stringent environmental standards and contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the manufacturing sector.

In the coming year, Hosmer aims to expand Raymond’s CARB-compliant initiatives, optimize LIB production processes, advance the adoption of renewable energy solutions within Raymond’s operations and product offerings, and strengthen partnerships with industry stakeholders and regulatory bodies to drive innovation and ensure compliance with evolving energy standards.

Grady Martin, Saddle Creek Logistics Services

Grady Martin, Chief Operating Officer, Saddle Creek Logistics Services
Category: Leaders in Excellence

As Saddle Creek’s COO, Grady Martin oversees operations for 50 locations nationwide, encompassing 33 million square feet of warehousing and distribution space. He is responsible for setting the strategic direction for the $1 billion company, establishing and managing budgets, and developing Saddle Creek’s roadmap for innovation and implementation. Martin is regularly involved in business development efforts, meeting with prospective clients and presenting solutions, and heading up the company’s Lean Six Sigma program, helping to build on the company’s deep-seated commitment to continuous improvement. With more than 25 years of supply chain experience, Martin joined Saddle Creek as director of supply chain in 2015 and has since been promoted to positions of increasing responsibility, such as VP, engineering in 2021, SVP in 2023 (a role which doubled his team) and his current COO role in July 2024. Over the years, Martin has streamlined solutions process, built a collaborative enterprise-wide engineering team, established the Innovation Leadership Team, and has played a key role in developing and facilitating the strategic planning process. Previously, he held supply chain management roles at Promega, Jarden Corporation and Allison Transmission, among others. 

Over the past year, Martin has overseen a number of pilot programs to evaluate new technologies, including humanoid robots; automated pick-and-pack robotic arms for multi-packs; autonomous case loading/unloading; robotic kitting; robotic palletizers/de-palletizers; and automated yard trucks. Of these, 75% are already moving to the next stage. In addition, Martin’s teams have implemented numerous initiatives that were previously pilots. For example, Saddle Creek expanded its use of Locus autonomous mobile robots to support both e-commerce and retail fulfillment. Saddle Creek’s AI-enabled real-time labor planning tool, DAILYdemand, has proven to help improve the accuracy of client forecasts by as much as 30%. 3D mobile dimensioners are now being deployed in multiple Saddle Creek locations. And, Saddle Creek now uses automated forklifts for unloading and loading in select locations, among other projects. With Martin’s guidance, Saddle Creek also expanded its information systems in 2024, implementing a new out-of-the-box warehouse execution system (WES) across all Saddle Creek locations; implementing a new labor management system (LMS ) to help determine where associates are spending time, identify inefficiencies and training opportunities and establish best practices; and spearheading Saddle Creek’s strategic planning process, helping to determine the optimal structure to drive growth and scale the business. Under Martin’s direction, Saddle Creek opened two new warehouses in the past year to support the needs of new and existing clients and is on track to open a location in Phoenix, a new market for the company, in February. Martin has also been integrally involved in developing and rolling out Saddle Creek’s new client success program, establishing a repeatable process to manage client relationships more effectively and consistently across the organization. 

Looking ahead, Martin aims to enhance the client experience; improve the associate experience; and better leverage information. 

Adam Hill, Scarbrough Global

Adam Hill, President & CEO, Scarbrough Global
Category: Rising Stars

As president and CEO of Scarbrough Global, Adam Hill analyzes market trends and identifies new business opportunities, develops and executes long-term strategic plans for the business, builds a leading high-performing executive team, fosters a positive company culture and values while overseeing operations across 5 operating companies (international customs house brokerage, transportation, logistics, warehousing and consulting) in 3 countries (United States, Mexico, and Canada). Hill is more than just a CEO; he is a true part of the team, staying involved in day-to-day activities.

In early 2024, Hill expanded operations into Canada, and in mid-2024, partnered with Altana to provide the world’s first value chain management system to give customers access to unparalleled visibility, AI-driven decision support, and collaborative workflows, allowing customers to detect and manage compliance with a single source of truth. Scarbrough is said to be one of the first customs brokerage groups to provide this service, allowing the ability to use AI to screen all shipments being imported into the United States to monitor for any forced labor risks. And, throughout the last 12 months, Hill has dedicated a great deal of time, with a hands-on approach, to overhauling the existing warehouse operation and implementing new processes and solutions to improve overall efficiency and performance for the warehouse team. He assisted the warehouse team with identifying inefficiencies (such as inventory processes) in the existing processes, and putting new technology, staff, and software feature enhancements in place.

Over the next 12 months, Hill is looking to continue to grow the organization through organic growth, acquisitions and automation with the use of technology, and expand into other countries, beyond the United States, Canada and Mexico. With the use of technology, Hill is looking to do more through building and implementing new solutions that will allow the company to automate some processes, better utilize data, and more. 

Michael Baumgardt, Schneider

Michael Baumgardt, SVP and GM Intermodal, Schneider
Category: Leaders in Excellence 

Michael Baumgardt serves as SVP and general manager of intermodal for Schneider, responsible for all aspects of the company’s intermodal service offering, including managing rail relationships and ensuring reliable service for customers. Baumgardt has been with Schneider for over 22 years and is experienced across many different sectors of the business. Regardless of his daily tasks, he always dedicates time to continuous improvement, leads by example and inspires his team to do the same. A key aspect of Baumgardt's role is long-term strategic planning, anticipating future challenges and helping customers resolve potential roadblocks before they even develop. In fact, he's devoted significant effort to planning for more continuous rail service, providing shippers with a competitive edge in regions traditionally dependent on over-the-road transport.

Under Baumgardt's leadership, Schneider operated one of the largest fleets of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in the country, and was the first major carrier to achieve 6 million zero emission miles with the Freightliner eCascadia. As a result, Schneider opened a charging depot in South El Monte, Calif., allowing the company to charge 32 trucks simultaneously. Baumgardt worked with the equipment, maintenance and operations teams to ensure a seamless operation. Baumgardt also helped Schneider convert truckload freight in Mexico by partnering with Canadian Pacific Kansas City and CSX to offer a new lane for shippers who traditionally rely on over-the-road transport. In December 2024, Baumgardt's team launched a new intermodal service providing continuous rail service between points in Mexico and Texas and points in the Southeastern United States, working in accordance with CPKC and CSX. The new service also helps customers increase payload and savings by 10% or more because of Schneider’s lightweight, company-owned equipment and specialized heavy-haul permits. With Baumgardt's leadership in transitioning Schneider’s rail service to the UP Railroad in the West, aligning with CPKC in the North-South and continuing the long-standing relationship with CSX, Schneider is in position to reach its goal of doubling intermodal size by 2030 and reducing CO2 emissions by an additional 700 million pounds per year.

Baumgardt's focus in the next 12 months is converting truckload freight to intermodal to help customers drive supply chain efficiency and sustainability.

Alex Lazzari, Tecsys

Alex Lazzari, Product Owner, Warehouse Execution System, Tecsys
Category: Rising Stars

As product owner in Tecsys' product and technology department, Alex Lazzari plays a pivotal role in leading the development and implementation of the company’s warehouse execution system (WES) functionality. Lazzari is responsible for the elaboration and maintenance of the WES development vision, roadmap, product backlog and business priorities to ensure initiatives align with market needs and customer expectations. He works with supply chain stakeholders inside and outside the organization so that he can help guide solutions that serve the broader supply chain industry. He partners with developers to ensure a thorough understanding of feature requirements throughout the development cycle, fostering a seamless workflow that enhances productivity. From inception to beta testing, Lazzari leads the implementation of new product features, overseeing process training and documentation to equip our teams for success. He also drives communication among cross-functional teams, bridges gaps and facilitates collaboration among various stakeholders.

One of Lazzari's primary achievements has been sequencing a coherent multi-phase value plan for the development of the WES software product. This clarity has empowered Tecsys to deliver early-stage features and advance research into the analytical architecture essential for a robust WES solution. In addition to these efforts, Lazzari successfully delivered an early version of WES warehouse monitoring features, which are now being tested at multiple customer sites. He also kickstarted research into Algorithmic Intervention logic, aimed at optimizing daily warehouse user staffing and task assignment prioritization. This initiative is currently in the pilot phase, and has potential to enhance operational efficiency.

In the coming year, Lazzari plans to continue delivering essential WES functionality; enable new real-time analytics and algorithmic capabilities within the WES; and pilot AI and Generative AI use case solutions that can be incorporated into future iterations of the WES product. 

Kishore Balasubramanya, Tecsys

Kishore Balasubramanya, Director, Product Management & Market Strategy, Tecsys
Category: Leaders in Excellence

As the director of product management and market strategy for Tecsys, Kishore Balasubramanya leads the development, execution and oversight of product vision for point-of-use supply chain solutions. His day-to-day responsibilities revolve around integrating advanced technologies to deliver solutions tailored to the unique demands of his users, such as those operating in resource-critical environments. This role combines deep supply chain domain knowledge with strategic market analysis to drive product innovation, optimize product-market fit, and ensure sustainable growth. Balasubramanya is focused on meticulous alignment of industry challenges and the enabling technologies that solve them. He focuses on AI-driven capabilities, such as predictive demand forecasting and IoT-enabled tools for real-time inventory tracking and supply chain optimization. His efforts emphasize addressing specific high-stakes end-user challenges, such as managing medical supply substitutions during disruptions and enhancing visibility across the supply chain. He continuously optimizes solutions by incorporating machine learning feedback loops and IoT system enhancements. He works closely with supply chain leaders and technology partners to uncover pain points like inventory shortages, overstocking, and logistical inefficiencies. From ideation to deployment and refinement, he is a keystone in bringing next-gen technology into supply chain realities. Through his efforts, he drives transformative outcomes, streamlines workflows, automates critical processes, and ensures adherence to complex regulations. 

Over the past 12 months, one of Balasubramanya's standout achievements was the development and implementation of AI-powered inventory optimization and demand planning. By incorporating machine learning algorithms to analyze historical data and predict demand fluctuations, these solutions enabled organizations to achieve a 20% reduction in stockouts, reduced inventory carrying costs by 15%, and provided predictive insights into supply chain risks. He also spearheaded the automation of supply chain workflows using RFID technologies, barcode scanning, and AI/ML-based predictive workflow recommendations, reducing manual touchpoints in inventory management and order fulfillment, resulting in a 30% reduction in order cycle times. Balasubramanya's also championed the integration of emerging technologies such as computer vision and electronic shelf labels (ESLs) to provide real-time insights into inventory levels, including lot, serial and expiration tracking, while enabling item substitution when necessary. This effort improved decision-making speed, reduced waste from expired or misplaced inventory, and enhanced compliance by enabling precise tracking of critical supplies. 

First on the agenda for the next 12 months is enhancing clinical adoption and supply chain automation in the healthcare supply chain space. Balasubramanya is building on the success of current products by focusing on minimizing manual touchpoints, streamlining workflows and improving accuracy in order fulfillment and inventory management. He’s particularly intent on advancing real-time inventory visibility across facilities, with a vision of reducing operational inefficiencies by 20-30% while seamlessly integrating these improvements into clinical workflows. He plans to expand AI and machine learning capabilities within inventory optimization solutions; is working to embed advanced algorithms that will sharpen forecasting accuracy and demand planning, giving organizations the tools to reduce stockouts by 25%, improve inventory turnover, and optimize supply chain costs; and driving a meaningful reduction in waste. He is also working on developing voice-enabled solutions, allowing hands-free interactions for supply chain operators and clinicians in fast-paced or sterile environments. 

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