ACSCC Member Biographies
Biographies for the members of the Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness (ACSCC)
Revathi Advaithi
Chief Executive Officer
Flex, Ltd.
Revathi Advaithi is Chief Executive Officer of Flex, the global manufacturing partner of choice that helps a diverse customer base design and build products to improve the world.
Ms. Advaithi assumed the role of CEO in February 2019 and is responsible for architecting the company’s strategic direction and leading Flex through a transformation that is defining a new era in manufacturing. Along with Flex’s strong workforce spanning 30 countries, Ms. Advaithi is focused on driving technology innovation, supply chain, and responsible, sustainable manufacturing solutions across various industries and end markets.
Ms. Advaithi currently serves on the Board of Directors of Uber and Catalyst.org. She is also a member of the Business Roundtable and the Catalyst CEO Champions For Change initiative. She joined the WEF Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders (2021), was recognized as one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business list for consecutive years (2021, 2020, 2019) and named one of Business Today’s Most Powerful Women in India (2020). Ms. Advaithi was also named as 3BL’s Responsible CEO the Year for Global Impact (2021) for her leadership on environmental, social and governance commitments.
Ms. Advaithi has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India and holds an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Rainer M. Blair
President and Chief Executive Officer
Danaher Corporation
Rainer Blair is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Danaher Corporation. Beginning September 2020, Rainer has led Danaher’s $22B global, multi-industry portfolio of businesses. With the help of Danaher’s 69,000 global associates, he is focused on further strengthening Danaher’s position as a leading science and technology company.
Rainer brings more than 30 years of deep and diverse experience to his current role. Rainer joined Danaher in 2010 and held leadership roles across several operating companies before being named Executive Vice President of Danaher’s Life Sciences platform in 2014. Through a combination of organic and inorganic growth investments, he helped Danaher build a portfolio of Life Sciences businesses uniquely positioned to reduce time to market and cost of biologic drugs. Under his leadership, the Life Sciences platform annual revenues increased five-fold to approximately $10 billion today.
Prior to Danaher, Rainer was President and CEO for MAPEI Americas, a $2.3 billion global, diversified construction chemical corporation. He previously spent 15 years with BASF Group on three continents with progressively larger leadership roles. He is U.S. Army veteran. He earned his B.A. from the University of Massachusetts - Amherst and his M.S. from Boston University. Rainer and his wife Alaine live in Alexandria, VA, and have three adult children.
Rick D. Blasgen
President and Chief Executive Officer, retired
Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals
Rick D. Blasgen is the former president and chief executive officer of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) in Lombard, Illinois, USA. Rick retired in March 2021.
Blasgen began his career with Nabisco, working in a regional customer service center in Chicago, Illinois. While at Nabisco, he held various logistics positions of increasing responsibility in inventory management, order processing, and transportation and distribution center operations management. Blasgen became vice president, supply chain, at Nabisco in June 1998, then vice president supply chain for Kraft in June 2002. He joined ConAgra Foods in August 2003 as senior vice president integrated logistics.
Blasgen was designated by the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2011 to serve as the Chair of the Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness (ACSCC) providing the Administration advice and counsel on issues and concerns that affect the supply chain sector. He continues to chair that committee. He is a member of Northwestern University’s Transportation Center Business Advisory Committee and a past chair of the Grocery Manufacturers Association Logistics Committee, and a past president of the Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC). Blasgen is a graduate of Governors State University, earning his degree in business administration and majoring in finance.
Roxanne Brown
International Vice President at Large
United Steelworkers (USW)
Roxanne Brown is the United Steelworkers Union (USW)’s International Vice President at Large, where she oversees the union’s political and public policy work and legislative agenda. She has spent more than two decades engaging with Congress and regulatory agencies on behalf of USW members, and has testified numerous times before Congress, state legislatures, and the International Trade Commission. She also represents USW in international fora, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. She has policy experiences in manufacturing and environmental and energy policy, including mitigating the impact of these policies on workers. She has also helped advance legislation to strengthen U.S. defense procurement laws on behalf of USW members who work to equip America’s military.
Ms. Brown serves as a vice president of the AFL-CIO’s Executive Council. She was a founding steering committee member of the BlueGreen Alliance, and is a member of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. She serves on the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, and on the boards of the Center for Community Change, the League of Conservation Voters, the National Endowment for Democracy, Carbon 180, and the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Air Capture Advisory Council.
The USW, headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, is the largest industrial union in North America. It represents approximately 850,000 members in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean. USW represents the majority of unionized workers in the steel, aluminum and other metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil, glass, and general manufacturing industries.
Michael Bunge
Vice President of Global Supply Chain Operations
Hamilton Beach Brands
Michael Bunge is the Vice President of Global Supply Chain Operations for Hamilton Beach Brands, where he oversees the company’s global manufacturing and distribution operations in addition to its logistics, planning, centralized compliance, and customer service operations. He has over thirty years of experience in global operations and supply chain roles in consumer companies.
He previously served as Vice President of Global Supply Chain at PrimeSource Building Products and as Director of Global Sourcing and Materials at Libbey, Inc. He also has international business experience through his work in China for a U.S. multinational company. He holds several industry certifications, including as a Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP).
Mr. Bunge serves on the Supply Chain Management Industry Advisory Board of The University of Texas at Dallas, and on the Board of Directors of the Association for Supply Chain Management. He previously served as the President of the Advisory Board of the University of Toledo Department of Business and Innovation, and in multiple board and leadership roles for the American Production and Inventory Control Society.
Hamilton Beach Brands, headquartered in Glen Allen, VA, designs, manufactures, and distributes home appliances in the U.S. market, with operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Belgium, and China. The company has approximately 750 employees and earns approximately $641 million in annual revenue.
Ursula Burns
Founding Partner of Integrum Holdings
Chairwoman of Teneo Holdings LLC
Retired Chairman and CEO of Xerox Corporation and VEON, Ltd.
Ursula Burns has extensive international experience in leading large companies that are facing technology sea changes within their industries.
Burns was the Chairwoman of the Board of Xerox Corporation from 2010 to 2017 and Chief Executive Officer from 2009 to 2016, after having been appointed President in 2007. Burns joined Xerox as a summer intern in 1980 and has since held leadership posts spanning corporate services, manufacturing and product development. During Burns’ tenure as Chief Executive Officer, Burns helped the company transform from a global leader in document technology to the world’s most diversified business services company serving enterprises and governments of all sizes. Shortly after being named CEO in 2009, Burns spearheaded the largest acquisition in Xerox history, the $6.4 billion purchase of Affiliated Computer Services.
In 2016, Burns led Xerox through a successful separation into two independent, publicly traded companies – Xerox Corporation, which is comprised of the company’s Document Technology and Document Outsourcing businesses, and Conduent Incorporated, a business process services company. After her retirement from Xerox, Burns was appointed as Chairwoman of VEON, Ltd. in 2017. Burns became Chairwoman and CEO in December 2018 until June 2020. During her tenure at VEON, Burns successfully steered the company through various compliance and restructuring changes.
Burns is a member of the Uber Technologies, Inc., Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc., and IHS Holding Board of Directors. She is also a founding partner of Integrum Holdings, a private equity firm, Non-Executive Chairwoman of Teneo Holdings LLC, and the Executive Chairwoman of Plum Acquisition Corp I. In addition, Burns is on several private company boards, while also providing leadership counsel to several other community, educational and non-profit organizations including the Ford Foundation, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Corporation, Cornell Tech Board of Overseers, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Mayo Clinic amongst others. She’s also on the Board Diversity Action Alliance, leading an effort to support diversity on corporate boards.
U.S. President Barack Obama appointed Burns to lead the White House national program on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) from 2009 - 2016, and Burns served as Chair of the President’s Export Council from 2015 - 2016 after service as Vice Chair from 2010 - 2015. In February 2022, Burns joined the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness as Vice Chair.
Burns holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Polytechnic Institute of New York University. Burns is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Royal Academy of Engineering and the G7 Gender Equity Advisory Council.
Her book “Where You Are Is Not Who You Are” was published in June 2021.
Rob Cannizzaro
Chief Operating Officer
Intermodal Association of North America (IANA)
Rob Cannizzaro is the Chief Operating Officer of IANA, which represents the combined interests of the intermodal freight movement and logistics industry. He leads IANA’s operations and business development activities, which provide industry technology products and services to the intermodal industry. He has over twenty-five years of management experience in the industry, including seaport terminal, ocean carrier, and equipment provider operations with Virginia International Terminals, LLC, CMA CGM (America) LLC, and Hamburg Sud North America.
Mr. Cannizzaro serves on the boards of the University of Denver Transportation and Supply Chain Institute, and the Containerization and Intermodal Institute. He has a B.S. degree in Marine Business and Commerce, an M.S. degree in International Transportation Management from SUNY Maritime College, and an M.B.A. degree from Centenary University of New Jersey.
IANA represents over 1,000 corporate members and supports jobs and services that span the U.S. supply chain, including railroads, ocean carriers, ports, intermodal truckers, over-the-road highway carriers, intermodal marketing and logistics service providers, and industry suppliers. It employs 26 staff members.
Doug Ceva
Vice President, Global Customer Solutions
Prologis
Doug Ceva serves as Vice President, Global Customer Solutions at Prologis, where he focuses on supplying solutions chiefly for customers in the third-party logistics and retail industries. A seasoned professional with over 33 years of experience, Mr. Ceva has spent the bulk of his career developing his expertise in the worldwide logistics and transportation industry.
Prior to joining Prologis, Mr. Ceva was vice president, USA sales, for CMA CGM (America) LLC, where he managed the US sales and marketing organization. Prior to this, Mr. Ceva worked at Maersk, Inc. for 28 years, where he held progressively responsible positions in sales and general management. As senior vice president, he oversaw the sales organization, managing a staff of over 200 colleagues, and was responsible for Maersk’s global relationship with Wal-Mart, which spanned ocean transportation, supply chain management, drayage and transloading operations.
Mr. Ceva graduated with an Executive MBA from Columbia University and obtained
his bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Seton Hall University.
Robert (Bob) Costello
Chief Economist & Senior Vice President, International Trade & Cross-Border Operations
American Trucking Associations
Bob Costello is the Chief Economist & Senior Vice President of International Trade Policy and Cross-Border Operations for the American Trucking Associations (ATA), the national trade association for the trucking industry. As Chief Economist, he manages all of ATA’s collection, analysis and dissemination of trucking economic information. This includes several monthly trucking economic indicators, motor carrier financial and operating data, an annual freight transportation forecast, driver wage studies, weekly diesel fuel price and economic reports, and a yearly trucking almanac. Bob also conducts economic analyses of proposed regulations and legislation affecting the trucking industry.
Bob also heads up ATA’s International Trade Policy and Cross Border Operations Department. In this capacity, he works on issues related USMCA, tariffs, customs, and immigration. Bob was appointed by the Secretary of Commerce to serve on the Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness. He is on the Board of Directors for the Border Trade Alliance. Bob is also a member of the National Association for Business Economics and a member of the Industrial Economists Group at Harvard University.
Prior to joining ATA in 1997, Bob was an economist with Joel Popkin & Company in Washington D.C., an economic consulting firm that specializes in the analysis of wages, inflation, and economic trends.
Bob has a Master’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa and a Bachelor of Arts from Winona State University in Winona, MN.
Jason Craig
Director, Government Affairs
CH Robinson
Jason has 25 years of freight transportation industry experience and a deep understanding of government policies. He monitors regulatory and legislative issues impacting the freight transportation, trade and produce industries for C.H. Robinson and Robinson Fresh. Jason is the current vice-chair of the Minnesota Freight Advisory Committee (MFAC) and the immediate past chair. He serves as an election judge in the city of Minneapolis. He has also been a member of the Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness in the 2019-2020 session. Jason was the 2019 William K Smith award winner from the University of Minnesota’s Center for Transportation Studies for his “leadership in the field and their contributions to mentorship and education of future leaders”.
Cindy Elliott
Director, Business Industry Sector and Corporate Responsibility Lead
Environmental Science Research Institute (Esri)
Cindy Elliott heads Esri’s business industry sector teams where she helps to shape the role of geospatial analytics within the private sector related to supply chain sustainability, market and customer intelligence, and corporate responsibility. For more than fifteen years, Cindy has worked with global organizations to influence digital business transformation with a focus on advancing responsible business operations. Cindy participates in several industry leadership roles including the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), the TCU Neeley School of Business Center for Supply Chain Innovation (CSCI) and the USC Marshall Center Global Supply Chain Management Program (MCGSCM). She is a Senior Advisor to the University of Redlands School of Business & Society and the School’s Spatial Business Initiative. Cindy is often included within industry thought leadership, her content can be reviewed with WhereNext, Forbes, Fast Company, Supply Chain Brain, and Industry Insights with SAP. Cindy earned a master’s degree in international management from the Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management and completed the Harvard Business School Program for Leadership Development.
Joseph (Joe) Gasperov
President
International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), Local 63
Joe Gasperov is currently the President of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 63 representing the Marine Clerks in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, CA. Prior to his career with the union, Mr. Gasperov attended Cal State Long Beach University and Cal State Dominguez Hills University. He graduated from Cal State with a BA in Political Science and a minor in Labor Studies.
Mr. Gasperov started working on the docks in 1984 and has been a member of ILWU, Local 63 for the last 35 years. During this time, he has held various positions within the union including President, Vice President, Secretary/Business Agent, and Convention/Caucus Delegate.
In 2014, Joe was elected to serve on the ILWU Coast Negotiating Committee for the 2014 contract bargaining. He has also been an integral part of the Coast Technology Committee since its inception in 2002 and has been closely involved with the implementation of technology at west coast terminals.
In 2016, Mr. Gasperov was the lead negotiator for Local 63 at the automated Long Beach Container Terminal. The agreement reached at LBCT included provisions to train and assign jobs to ILWU members related to technology at the terminal.
Most recently, Joe was re-appointed to serve a second, two-year term, on the U.S. Maritime Transportation System National Advisory Committee (MTSNAC). The objective of the committee is to provide information, advice, and recommendations to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation on matters relating to the U.S. maritime transportation system, including how to expand the capacity of U.S. international gateway ports to accommodate greater numbers of and larger sized vessels as well as to identify ways that the individual stakeholders within the transportation chain can better collaborate to achieve various measures of success.
Ian N. Jefferies
President and CEO
Association of American Railroads
As the Association of American Railroads (AAR’s) president and CEO, Ian Jefferies advocates for and works with member railroads to ensure the continued viability of America’s railroad industry. Prior to assuming the role on January 1, 2019, Jefferies was the senior vice president of AAR’s government affairs where he led the development, promotion and implementation of legislative priorities for the AAR.
Before joining the AAR, Jefferies cultivated more than a decade of experience working within government. From 2009 to 2013, Jefferies served as a senior policy advisor to the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. In this role, Jefferies provided policy guidance on a host of transportation issues, including railroad economic regulation, rail safety and passenger rail. Jefferies also led the successful development, negotiation and reauthorization of major infrastructure legislation and managed the successful conference of Committee legislation relating to the 2012 surface transportation reauthorization law, MAP 21.
Jefferies began his career in government serving as a Senior Advisor to the Mayor of Lexington, Kentucky, before transitioning to the federal government. Prior to serving in the United States Senate, he worked for the U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of the Inspector General and the U.S. Government Accountability Office. In these roles, Jefferies led program reviews on a variety of issues including infrastructure development, international trade, major weapon systems acquisition and federal contracting. He holds a Master of Science in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor of Science in economics from the University of Kentucky.
Gary C. Kelly
Executive Chairman
Southwest Airlines, Co.
Gary Kelly is the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors at Southwest Airlines. Most recently, Gary served as Southwest’s Chief Executive Officer from 2004 through January 2022. Under Gary’s leadership, Southwest grew to become the nation’s largest airline in terms of originating domestic passengers carried and is a mainstay on Fortune magazine’s list of the most admired companies in the world, ranking 28th in 2022.
Gary began his career at Southwest Airlines as Controller, moving up to Chief Financial Officer and Vice President Finance, then Executive Vice President and CFO, before being promoted to CEO and Vice Chairman in July 2004. Gary assumed the roles of Chairman and President in 2008. In January 2017, Gary relinquished the title of President. Prior to joining Southwest Airlines in 1986, Gary was a CPA for Arthur Young & Company in Dallas and Controller for Systems Center, Inc.
Gary is a lifelong Texan and received a B.B.A. in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. As a proud alumnus, Gary has served the University in a number of capacities, including on the McCombs School Advisory Council. Gary is a Certified Public Accountant, serves on the Board of Directors of the Lincoln National Corporation, and is the current Chairman of the Board for Airlines for America, the airline industry advocacy group (Gary also served as Chairman from 2012 - 2014). Gary is a member of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Board and is a current member of the Business Council and the Southwestern Medical Foundation Board of Trustees.
Hau Lee
Thoma Professor of Operations, Information and Technology
Graduate School of Business, Stanford University
Hau L. Lee is the Thoma Professor of Operations, Information and Technology at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is the current Co-Director of the Stanford Value Chain Innovations Initiative. Professor Lee’s expertise is on global supply chain management and value chain innovations. He has published widely in top journals, has been the former Editor-in-Chief of Management Science and the former President of the Production and Operations Management Society. He is a Fellow of INFORMS, POMS, and MSOM, and has been inducted to the US National Academy of Engineering. His paper on the bullwhip effect has been voted as one of the ten most influential papers in the history of Management Science. Besides extensive consulting, he co-founded DemandTec that went public in NASDAQ in 2007. He was the founding chairman of SCM World, which was acquired by Gartner in 2016. He currently serves as an independent non-executive director for TD SYNNEX, the world’s largest technology distributor.
Barbara L. Melvin
Chief Operating Officer
South Carolina Ports Authority
As Chief Operating Officer, Ms. Melvin oversees terminal operations, carrier sales, information technology and support services, intermodal, inland ports, crane and equipment maintenance, engineering, environmental, Port Police, procurement, the logistics solution center, and cruise operations. Ms. Melvin also serves as the SCPA’s lead staff person on the Charleston Harbor Post 45 Project.
On July 1, 2022, Ms. Melvin will become president and CEO of South Carolina Ports 1. Melvin will be the sixth leader in the history of the port and the first woman to lead a top 10 U.S. operating container port.
During her 20+ years with SCPA, Ms. Melvin has held several senior leadership positions, including Senior Vice President, Operations and Terminals, Senior Vice President, External Affairs, and Vice President, Government Relations. Before joining the Port in 1998, she served as Director of Government Relations for the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce and as a policy analyst for the Georgia Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Georgia Southern University with a minor in international relations and a Masters in Business Administration in Global Supply Chain from the University of Tennessee Haslam School of Business.
Michael C. Mullen
Executive Director
Express Association of America
Michael Mullen was selected in February 2009 as the first Executive Director of the Express Association of America (EAA), a trade association representing the large integrated express delivery companies – DHL, FedEx, and UPS. He supports the EAA Board and Committees in developing policy relevant to the express delivery industry in the areas of customs, trade, and security issues. Prior to joining EAA, Mr. Mullen was the Assistant Commissioner for International Affairs and Trade Relations at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), where he served from 2004 to 2009. Earlier he was a Senior Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton and the Director of non-profit organizations focusing on trade issues in the Asia-Pacific region. Mr. Mullen concluded a 20-year career as a U.S. Navy officer with an assignment as the Assistant Naval Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.
Ernest Nicolas
Chief Supply Chain Officer
HP Inc.
Ernest Nicolas is the Chief Supply Chain Officer for HP Inc., whose global supply chain delivers more than 100 million products to customers each year through a sophisticated network of HP and ODM factories, logistics providers, and other valued partners. As Chief Supply Chain Officer, Ernest also drives the social and environmental sustainability efforts tied directly to HP’s global reputation and business growth.
Ernest joined HP in 2022, bringing more than 25 years of global experience in end-to-end, integrated supply chain functions. His experience includes industrial engineering, production management, and supply chain planning with General Motors, where he was awarded the General Motors Graduate Fellowship to pursue full-time graduate study. In 2006 he joined Rockwell Automation, serving in Lean Six Sigma project management, supply chain planning, manufacturing operations, strategic sourcing, logistics as well as customer service functions in North America and Asia before being named Senior Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer in 2019.
He serves on the Board of Directors for Avient Corporation and is an Advisory Board member for Wahl Clipper Corporation. A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, Ernest is a member of the Executive Leadership Council (ELC), an organization focused on advancing and preparing the next generation of diverse corporate leaders. He is also an Executive Advisory Board member for the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business’s Supply Chain Management program.
Ernest grew up in the southern suburbs of Chicago and is married with two children. He holds an MBA in Operations Management and a Master of Science in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from Kettering University. Ernest is based in Houston, Texas.
Sean O’Brien
General President
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Sean M. O’Brien is a fourth generation Teamster and the General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He was initiated in 1991, working in the Rigging Industry. Since 1999, Sean has held nearly all positions for Teamsters Local 25. In 2006, Sean became the youngest President in Local 25’s long history. Teamsters Local 25 represents more than 12,500 members and their families in Greater Boston. In 2011, Sean was elected Eastern Region International Vice President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Sean also served as Secretary-Treasurer/Principal Executive Officer of New England Teamsters Joint Council 10 representing 55,000 Teamsters in six New England States. General President O’Brien was elected to lead the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in November 2021 and was sworn in as General President in March 2022. The Teamsters Union consists of 1.3 million members within nearly 1900 Teamster affiliates throughout the United States, Canada, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
Stuart Pann
Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intel Foundry Services (IFS)
Intel Corporation
Stuart Pann is senior vice president and general manager of Intel Foundry Services (IFS). In this role, Pann drives continued growth for IFS and its differentiated systems foundry offering, which goes beyond traditional wafer fabrication to include packaging, chiplet standards and software, as well as U.S.- and Europe-based capacity.
Pann previously served as chief business transformation officer and general manager of Intel’s Corporate Planning Group. As part of this role, he established the company’s IDM 2.0 Acceleration Office (IAO) to guide the implementation of an internal foundry model. IAO closely collaborates with all Intel business units and functional teams to support the company’s internal foundry model.
In June 2021, Pann returned to Intel, where he had started his career in 1981. Prior to his return, he was chief supply chain officer and chief information officer at HP for six years. At HP, Pann was responsible for the company’s supply chain, which delivers nearly 100 million products to customers each year.
Before joining HP in July 2014, Pann served as corporate vice president and general manager of Intel’s Business Management Group, where he was responsible for pricing, revenue and forecasting functions for the company’s microprocessor and chipset operations. He also co-managed the geographic operations teams for the Intel sales force and was responsible for order management and external-facing supply chain programs. Pann held several management positions within the company’s sales organization before moving into an operations role in 1999 as the director of Microprocessor Marketing and Business Planning.
Pann earned a Bachelor’s Degree in electrical engineering from Michigan Technological University and an MBA from the University of Michigan.
Tom Polen
Chairman, CEO, and President
BD
Tom Polen is the chairman, CEO and president of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company). Polen leads the $20 billion global medical technology company and works alongside 75,000+ BD associates who are making an impact and fulfilling the company’s purpose of advancing the world of health™. Polen is focused on advancing BD’s role in redefining the future of healthcare by accelerating the innovation of advanced, cutting-edge technologies and solutions. Polen has served in a range of leadership roles in his 25-year career. After leading BD through two large-scale acquisitions and spearheading its expansion into informatics and digital health solutions, he was named president and chief operating officer of BD. Polen became CEO in 2020 and chairman of the board of directors in 2021.
Polen serves on the board of directors of Advamed and Hackensack Meridian Health Center for Discovery and Innovation. He is a member of the American Heart Association CEO Roundtable and serves on the Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness for the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration. Polen holds a bachelor’s degree from Salisbury University and a master’s in business administration from Johns Hopkins University.
Gene Seroka
Executive Director
Port of Los Angeles
Gene Seroka is the Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles, which has experienced historic, record-breaking performances since his appointment in 2014. A respected global trade expert and industry-known leader, he brings more than 33 years of experience in shipping, global logistics and executive management to America’s Port®. As Executive Director of the busiest container port in North America, Seroka is responsible for managing a budget that exceeds $1.7 billion, advancing major capital projects, growing trade volumes and promoting innovative, sustainable practices that strengthen the region’s economy. For more than 26 years, Seroka held several key positions—both nationally and internationally—in sales and management for American President Lines (APL) Limited, prior to joining the Port. He holds an MBA and Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the University of New Orleans. In addition to his role as Executive Director, he concurrently serves as Chief Logistics Officer for the City of Los Angeles.
Willy Shih
Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Management Practice
Harvard Business School
Dr. Shih is a professor in the Technology and Operations Management unit at the Harvard Business School (HBS), where he focuses on manufacturing and supply chain issues for complex technical products. Prior to joining the HBS faculty, Dr. Shih worked in private industry for 28 years, holding senior management positions at IBM Corporation, Digital Equipment Corporation, Silicon Graphics Computer Systems, and Eastman Kodak. While in private industry, Dr. Shih had direct responsibility for manufacturing operations in various countries, including the United States, Ireland, Mexico, Japan, and China. He is currently on the board of directors of FLEX Inc., the second largest electronic manufacturing and supply chain services provider in the world, and the board of directors of VEO Robotics. Dr. Shih is coauthor of the book Producing Prosperity: Why America Needs a Manufacturing Renaissance, and his paper “Restoring American Competitiveness” won the 2009 McKinsey Award for the best paper in the Harvard Business Review. Dr. Shih has also developed many case studies for the HBS curriculum that explore manufacturing issues in industries such as consumer electronics, media and entertainment, automobiles, aerospace, and semiconductors.
Robert Solimani
Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer
Stevens Transport
Robert Solimani is the Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer of Stevens Transport, an asset-based provider of refrigerated trucking and related temperature-controlled logistics services. He oversees Stevens’ executive customer relationships, dedicated operations, intermodal services, sustainability activities, and equipment maintenance. He has over fifteen years of experience in this supply chain sector.
Stevens Transport, headquartered in Dallas, TX, specializes in providing long-haul refrigerated transport, logistics, intermodal, warehousing, and distribution services, with 4,000 truck trailers and 2,200 power units in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Stevens employs approximately 1,000 staffers and earns nearly $1 billion in annual revenue.
Gina Tumbarello
Senior Director of Global Strategies, Policy, and Trade
American Feed Industry Association (AFIA)
Gina Tumbarello is responsible for the overall leadership and management of AFIA’s global programs and activities. She supports the U.S. animal food industry’s global priorities through monitoring and addressing global regulatory and trade policy and industry standards developments. She currently serves on the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Trade Advisory Committee for Grains, Feed, Oilseeds, and Planting Seeds, which advises both the Secretary of Agriculture and the U.S. Trade Representative on these issues.
Before joining AFIA, she served as the Manager of International Operations at the U.S. Grains Council, and has almost twenty years of agricultural and policy background. She has a masters’ degree from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, and a bachelors’ degree from Miami University in Ohio.
AFIA has over 650 member companies, including livestock feed and pet food manufacturers, integrators, pharmaceutical companies, ingredient suppliers, and related supply companies. Its members manufacture over seventy-five percent of the feed in the United States, and approximately seventy percent of U.S. non-grain feed ingredients.
Juan Villa
Program Manager
Texas A&M Transportation Institute
Juan Villa has more than 40 years of professional experience. For over 25 years he has been involved in research and consulting in goods movement, supply chain, transportation and trade infrastructure development, and gathering and analyzing information and data to measure supply chain performance. For the last 20 years, he has performed research activities at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI). He has vast experience in analyzing international trade flows and supply chains to identify impacts in the transportation system. He is currently managing TTI’s Mexico City office.
Jeff Wilke
Chairman and Co-founder
Re:Build Manufacturing
Jeff Wilke is Chairman and co-founder of Re:Build Manufacturing, a private company helping to bolster America’s industrial competitiveness by leveraging new technology in partnership with US-based customers and suppliers to create thousands of new American jobs in factories around the country.
Jeff retired as Amazon’s CEO Worldwide Consumer in February 2021. During his more than 21 years as a corporate officer, he led Amazon’s retail and third-party stores, fulfillment, logistics, supply chain, marketing, Prime, and technology teams. Jeff joined Amazon in 1999 to lead the buildout of global operations, and his operations team created the infrastructure and technology that led directly to Amazon Prime. Jeff led teams that launched Prime Video, Prime Now, Prime Day, Amazon Fashion, and many other innovations that are now part of the Amazon customer experience. Jeff also oversaw Amazon’s acquisition and integration of Whole Foods Market. He helped create Amazon’s corporate culture, processes, and mechanisms, including Amazon’s Leadership Principles, which codified the company’s unique DNA for generations of leaders. He brought to Amazon a playbook with principles and processes from manufacturing, including Lean and Six Sigma, and corporate processes such as the HR mechanisms that shaped how Amazon evaluated and grew talent.