Speakers

Lucelena Angarita

Director, Supply Chain Traceability, IPC/Subway

Lucelena Angarita is the Director of Supply Chain Traceability for IPC, SUBWAY’s Purchasing Cooperative. She has over 18 years’ experience in Program Management, IT, and process improvement.  For more than 5 years, she has been leading the adoption of GS1 US Foodservice Standards for the SUBWAY® system.

 

Will Chu

CEO & Co-Founder, Vector

Will Chu is the CEO & Co-founder of Vector, a contactless pickup and delivery platform, that ensures supply chain partners get the right load to the right place at the right time. Prior to Vector, Will was the VP of Engineering at Addepar, a wealth management platform, which manages more than $2 trillion in client assets. Will is a problem solver at heart who enjoys leveraging technology to tackle major industry challenges. In his free time, Will enjoys camping with his family, cold IPAs and swimming in the San Francisco Bay.

Jason DeVinney

Grocery Market Business Development Manager, Checkpoint Systems

Jason DeVinney is the Business Development Manager supporting grocery retailers with shrink, sales and inventory improvements that drive return-on-investment with technology such as EAS and RFID hardware, software, and labels. With more than twenty-five years of major retail experience working with consumer goods manufacturers, retail merchandising teams and loss prevention professionals, DeVinney has successfully deployed chainwide programs for some of the largest retailers in North America, Latina America, Europe, and Asia.

Kathy Fulton

Executive Director, American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN)

Kathy Fulton is Executive Director for American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). She leads the organization in facilitating donations of logistics services and equipment to enable delivery of millions of dollars of humanitarian aid. Kathy served as the organization’s director of operations until her promotion in 2014. 

Ms. Fulton’s passion is the intersection of supply chain and emergency management, focusing on the critical role logistics and supply chain professionals play in disaster relief. She serves on national workgroups focused on efficient coordination of logistics activities during disasters, including those hosted by the Department of Homeland Security, the Transportation Research Board, and the National Emergency Management Association. Preceding her work with ALAN, Fulton was Senior Manager of Information Technology Services at Saddle Creek Logistics Services where she led IT infrastructure implementation and support, corporate systems, and business continuity planning. 

Kathy holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Mathematics from Northwestern State University of Louisiana and Master’s degrees in Business Administration and Management Information Systems from the University of South Florida.

Tom Furphy

Chief Executive Officer, Replenium

Tom is CEO and Managing Director of Consumer Equity Partners in Seattle, WA that is building companies and capabilities to drive the next generation of consumer marketing and commerce.

Within the portfolio, Tom is CEO of Replenium, a product replenishment platform designed to transform the traditional center store into an automated service.

He also serves as Chairman of Ideoclick, Inc., an ecommerce agency that helps over 200 manufacturers, included some of the largest household brands, go to market through Amazon and other key ecommerce platforms.

Tom was an early investor and board member at BevyUp, whose technology is redefining the customer experience across retail channels. BevyUp was acquired by Nordstrom in March 2018.

Prior to CEP, Tom was at Amazon as Vice President, Consumables and AmazonFresh, where he was responsible for building and running the company’s Grocery, Health & Beauty and AmazonFresh businesses.

Prior to Amazon, Tom was the founder and CEO of Notiva, a Software-as-a-Service collaboration platform for retailers and their suppliers to manage business-to-business transactions, which sold to Oracle.

Tom broke into retail through various senior management roles at Wegmans Food Markets.

Marc Gilbert

Managing Director & Senior Partner, Boston Consulting Group

Marc Gilbert is a core member of the Industrial Goods and Consumer practices at Boston Consulting Group and a leader in BCG’s Global Advantage and Operations practices. He leads the firm's work in geopolitics and trade impact within the Global Advantage practice. In that role, he has engaged with clients in North America, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. Marc spends much of his time advancing artificial intelligence (AI) in Canada, including in his role as a board member of SCALE.AI

In addition, Marc is a core member of BCG’s Centre for Canada’s Future. In that role, he helps move Canada forward by providing insight and expertise on the country’s most important issues. The Centre also aims to convene leaders from the business, government, and nonprofit sectors to work together to achieve impact.

Since joining the firm in 1997, Marc has driven and implemented large transformations and global change efforts across all major sectors in North America and Europe. Marc’s project work includes large-scale change, growth, organizational redesign, operational effectiveness, competitive benchmarking, and post-merger integration.

Prior to joining BCG, Marc worked at Merck & Co. in its manufacturing division, in process and new product engineering, and in new plant design. He also worked for Merck’s specialty chemicals division.

Daniel Goldman

Commerce Research & Insights Associate Manager - NA Commerce, Accenture

Daniel leads the Commerce Research & Insights team in Accenture’s North America Commerce practice. His team’s qualitative and quantitative work spans consumer, shopper, product, brand, category, retailer, channel, and industry insights.

Before beginning his career in insights and analytics, Daniel was a practicing clinical neuropsychologist for nearly seven years. He then built and led the insights primary research practice at The Stable, a commerce agency that was acquired by Accenture.

Daniel earned a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Minnesota and an MBA in business analytics and marketing from the University of St. Thomas.

Gary Kinneer

Director, Supply Chain, Weis Markets, Inc.

Gary Kinneer is Director of Supply Chain at Weis Markets, Inc. Gary works collaboratively with the Weis Market’s distribution and transportation teams as well as wholesale, dedicated and third-party carriers, and various associated industry and CPG partners focusing on improving supply chain efficiencies, increasing associated revenue, and mitigating associated costs. Gary has extensive supermarket industry experience, prior to his current role Gary held various leadership positions in Store Operations.  Gary received a BS in Business Management from Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA.  He currently resides in Camp Hill, PA with his wife Katrina, they have one daughter.

Arnold Kogan

Managing Director and Partner, Boston Consulting Group

Arnold Kogan is a core member of the Consumer and Operations practices at Boston Consulting Group. Arnold is an expert in complexity management, supply chain planning, manufacturing and distribution strategy, global category sourcing, and digital capability building. He also leads the manufacturing & supply chain diagnostics and benchmarking topic globally. Arnold has extensive experience helping companies across center store categories (such as snacks and toys) and perimeter store categories (such as cheese and meat) transform their end-to-end supply chains to enable channel growth, increase EBITDA, and manage working capital.

Prior to joining BCG, Arnold was with Deloitte Consulting and Texas Instruments, where he worked in a variety of operations and finance leadership roles across the globe.

Prior to consulting, Arnold worked in Southeast Asia in a variety of supply chain leadership roles for a global consumer electronics manufacturer.  Arnold holds an MBA from the University of Michigan and a BS in Accounting and Supply Chain Management from Arizona State University.

Kent Ledgerwood

Senior Vice President, Value Engineering, ONE Network

Kent Is the SVP of Value Engineering for ONE Network. His experience entails 20+ years in supply chain and technology. Kent spent his first dozen years in industry leading manufacturing, logistics, inventory and replenishment for IBM, The Home Depot and Exelon Energy. After industry, Kent spent a number of years in supply chain transformation consulting for major apparel brands, energy companies and government. Over the last 10 years Kent has led digital supply chain companies in visibility, direct sourcing and network value optimization. 
With an understanding of how business process and transformation lead to value, Kent’s prime objective is to ensure that clients realize the value and create the speed required to maintain a competitive advantage in their markets.

Joe Nichols

Vice President, Transportation, Wakefern Food Corp.

Tracey Noffke

Customer Logistics Director Strategies and Service, Kimberly-Clark Corporation

Tracey Noffke joined Kimberly-Clark in 1993 and has over 25 years of growing up in the CPG industry. Tracey is the Director of Customer Logistics. In her current role, she leads the U.S. and Canada Customer Logistics Strategies and Service organization and is responsible for customer facing supply chain activities and initiatives. Tracey has a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the University of Platteville and holds a Master of Arts in Communication from the University of Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

Phil Palin

Principal, Private Practice

Philip J. Palin is the son and grandson of grocers, a former college president, and serial entrepreneur who has served as a Supply Chain Resilience subject-matter-expert with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, and with several states and cities. He has researched and engaged a wide range of extreme events including the 2011 Triple Disaster in Japan, Superstorm Sandy in 2012, Hurricane Haiyan (Yolanda) in 2013, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria during 2017, and most named storms during the 2018 and 2019 hurricane seasons. In 2020 he was involved in pandemic response and preparedness, especially focused on flows of food and medical goods. He works with federal, state, local and private sector leaders to prepare for and respond to complex wide-area catastrophic events involving dense populations. He is the author of several books and articles, including Out of the Whirlwind: Supply and Demand After Hurricane Maria and He Looks at the Earth: Catastrophe, Recovery, and the Cascadia Earthquake.

Phil is often introduced as a “researcher and writer.” NBC New News has identified Phil as, “One of the world’s leading experts on getting supplies to catastrophe survivors.”

Louis Parker

RFID Market Development Manager, Checkpoint Systems

John Phillips

Senior Vice President, Customer Supply Chain and Go-to-Market for PepsiCo, Inc.

John is Senior Vice President, Customer Supply Chain and Go-to-Market for PepsiCo, Inc.  He has been with PepsiCo for over 33 years and has worked in a number of different sales and field operations roles since joining the company as a route salesperson with Frito-Lay.   In his current role, John is responsible for working with PepsiCo’s largest customers on supply chain and collaboration initiatives to drive both effectiveness and efficiency across the shared supply chain.  

John is a member of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) Smart Label, Industry Affairs, and Supply Chain Committees. He is active in The Consumer Goods Forum as a member of the E2E Value Chain Committee. 

Before joining PepsiCo, John spent ten years in retail store operations with Jewel Food Stores in Chicago and was also a Territory Sales Representative for Procter & Gamble.  John attended Western Michigan University where he received a Bachelor of Science in Food Distribution and also holds an MBA from Southern Methodist University.

Christine Pollack

Vice President, Government Relations, FMI

Christine Pollack serves as Vice President of Government Relations for FMI - The Food Industry Association and oversees the association's advocacy and policy efforts on workforce, supply chain, payments, and privacy/data security. Christine has nearly three decades of federal policy, advocacy, and communications experience in the public and private sectors. Prior to joining FMI, Christine served on the staff of, and consulted for, the Retail Industry Leaders Association where she oversaw health, tax, and sustainability issues and political activities, and consulted on the wide breadth of retail industry policy priorities. She also has extensive experience managing stakeholder coalitions and developing and executing issue advocacy campaigns. Earlier in her career, Christine worked for the American Medical Association, two senior Members of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax, trade, health care, and Social Security policy, and at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. She is a graduate of the University of Delaware and originally hails from Wilmington, Delaware.

Nathan Rhoads, CTP

Fleet Services Director, Fleet Advantage

Nathan Rhoads is an experienced Fleet Professional and possesses over 20 years of experience working with private fleets, including in the food and beverage industries.  His expertise lies in optimizing fleet operations, implementing cost-saving measures, and ensuring compliance with industry regulations. Nathan’s strategic vision and leadership skills have consistently led to enhanced operational efficiency and safety. Nathan is a Certified Transportation Professional (CTP)and has a keen understanding of various fleet operations including Life Cycle Cost Management, Strategic Capital Planning, Operations Management, Inventory Management, Continuous Improvement, Forecasting, and Life cycle Costing. Nathan has created an impressive reputation in the private fleet world working previously at companies like Reinhart and PepsiCo (over 20,000 assets and over 150 locations) and prides himself on strong industry relationships built on years of integrity, consistency, and trust.

Nathan also monitors and evaluates ELD data which is integrated into Fleet Advantage data analytics to apply proper metrics to render vehicle performance into actionable items to lower TCO. KPIs including CPM, MPGs, underperforming vehicles, utilization and life cycle across the fleet are analyzed to prepare a multi-year operations and procurement plan.

Currently he works with companies including – Dollar General, Bunzl, Toyota, Dyno Nobel, and Old Castle (CRH), and provides solutions to both their company specific and industry-wide issues affecting their operations, including the CARB Prebuy. He is also active in many industry associations.

Rhoads was also a speaker at the National Private Truck Council (NPTC) at the Private Fleet Management Institute (PMFI) Institute on multiple sessions including Total Cost of Ownership, Life Cycle Costing, and Trade Cycle and Maintenance Strategies: In-House vs. Outsourced Maintenance Management. Rhodes also built curriculum for multiple colleges for their Diesel Technology Programs, including at the Thaddeus Stevens College.

He is a strong operations professional with a White Belt Certification focused in Lean Business Management from Lean Six Sigma.

Leslie Sarasin

President and CEO, FMI

Leslie G. Sarasin is the president and chief executive officer of FMI, the food industry association, which represents more than 1,500 member companies in the United States and around the world. Under Sarasin's leadership, FMI has become a forward focused and member centered organization committed to help supermarkets excel in their role of feeding families and enriching lives. Her synergistic style and determined spirit of collaboration has infused FMI with a renewed commitment to help its members address the critical industry issues of the day - food safety and the emerging importance of health and wellness. Prior to coming to FMI, Sarasin was president and CEO of the American Frozen Food Institute.

Rajib Sarkar

Director of Logistics, Colgate-Palmolive

Sebastian Saunders

Project Manager, KSi, Inc.

As director at KSi, Sebastian brings over a decade of experience developing and implementing customized supply chain technology solutions and practices that support our client’s business strategies. He advises our clients by identifying and implementing the most profit efficient solutions that will maximize output and minimize cost by the identification and modernization of their supply chain practices.

Sebastian leads our team of analysts and designers to devise and design the highest quality data driven process analysis strategies and solutions available in the industry today. These customized solutions provide our clients with the specific solutions, be it conventional, hybrid or fully automated, that is right for them.

Liz Sertl

Senior Director, Supply Chain Visibility – Community Engagement | GS1 US

Liz Sertl is Sr. Director, Supply Chain Visibility, at GS1 US and has more than 20 years of experience in the CPG industry. Working closely with supply chain partners, Liz facilitates collaboration best practices and guidelines that help companies improve product traceability and supply chain visibility through the adoption of GS1 Standards.

Keith Swiednicki

President & CEO, Keith Swiednicki International Inc.

As a trusted Global Supply Chain Technology Consultant well known in the distribution industry for over 40 years, Keith has successfully provided innovative and actionable supply chain optimization solutions on over 500 multi-dimensional projects. His highly specialized comprehensive analysis approach and extensive supply chain experience, including the evaluation of automated facilities, have contributed to his reputation as a trustworthy and respected industry leading expert in his field today.

Kate Vitasek

Faculty - Graduate & Executive Education, University of Tennessee

Lauded by World Trade Magazine as one of the “Fabulous 50+1” most influential people impacting global commerce, Kate Vitasek is an international authority for her award- winning research and Vested® business model for highly-collaborative relationships. 

Vitasek, an author, educator, and business consultant, offers practical and research-based advice for driving transformation and innovation through highly-collaborative and strategic partnerships. She has written seven books, including: Vested: How P&G, McDonald’s and Microsoft Are Redefining Winning in Business Relationships, Contracting in the New Economy, Vested Outsourcing: Five Rules that Transform Outsourcing and Getting to We: Negotiating Agreements for Highly Collaborative Relationships. 

Vitasek has been featured on CNN International, Bloomberg, NPR, Fox Business News, and Forbes. She also has been featured in over 300 articles in publications including Harvard Business Review, Chief Executive Magazine, Information Week, CIO Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Journal of Commerce, and World Financial Review. 

She is the lead faculty and researcher for Vested and has launched the University of Tennessee’s Certified Deal Architect program. Vitasek is passionate in her quest to help companies transform their business relationships. She inspires and motivates business leaders in University courses (both onsite and virtually), and gives her popular keynote addresses at major industry events and conferences around the world. 

Prior to joining the University of Tennessee, Vitasek’s storied career includes positions with P&G, Microsoft, Accenture, Stream International and Supply Chain Visions—a boutique-consulting firm she founded, which was recognized by ARC Advisory Group as one of the “10 Coolest” boutique-consulting firms. 

Donald Wermerskirchen

Director Transportation Optimization, Coca-Cola North America

Ben Wynkoop

Global Retail Industry Strategist, Grocery & Convenience, Blue Yonder

Ben brings more than 20+ years of experience as a retail industry executive, responsible for running merchandising, marketing and analytics at several leading grocery and convenience retailers.  As a Global Retail Industry Strategist, he counsels global retailers on industry trends, leading best practices, and technology advancements. He also collaborates with Blue Yonder’s product development and innovation teams to align on addressing the challenges of today’s retailers with a specific focus on the grocery and convenience channels.

Ben has led the roadmap and implementation of merchandising technology within several retailers, in areas such as space & assortment Planning, price optimization, COGs management, as well as digital marketing and e-commerce.