Rick Searfoss, NASA Astronaut & Mission Commander

As one of less than a hundred people ever who have actually ever commanded a human space mission, Colonel Rick Searfoss speaks on leadership, teamwork, and personal performance with authority born of in-depth personal experience. He has piloted two Space Shuttle missions and commanded a third, with over nine hundred hours in space and 5400 hours flying time.

His first space flight in 1993 set the record for the longest duration Space Shuttle mission. In 1996 he piloted Atlantis to the Russian space station Mir. With the STS-90 Neurolab mission on Columbia in 1998, Rick commanded the most complex scientific research space mission ever flown, with unparalleled mission success

Roddy Martin, Vice President and General Manager AMR Research

As vice president and general manager of AMR Research’s Industry Value Chain Strategies Service, Roddy is responsible for managing the company’s value chain analysis and research across all industries. Roddy researches a variety of topics including systems support to operations, IT, and manufacturing strategy. Roddy was a key contributor in the development of AMR Research’s demand-driven supply chain model. His research brings together the strategic, business, and organizational issues faced when implementing IT and enterprise architectures, processes, and applications across the value chain.

Roddy has over 27 years of experience, most recently as an executive at South African Breweries (SAB), one of the three largest brewers in the world. He held leadership roles in SAB's World Class Manufacturing program and the Strategic Corporate Change Management program. Prior to SAB, Roddy worked for ISCOR (Iron and Steel Manufacturers) as a technician and millwright in production operations. He also worked for G.H. Marais and Partners, an electrical and electronic engineering consulting firm.

Roddy's qualifications include a millwright trade, a technician’s diploma, and a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

John Davies, Vice President AMR Research

As vice president of AMR Research’s Sustainability Forum, John Davies applies his practical business approach, experience performing due diligence for venture capital firms, and knowledge of leading edge technologies to help clients meet their objectives. John has over 25 years of experience in technology, software, and manufacturing.

John launched AMR Research’s Green Technology Research service in 2006 to leverage and extend the organization’s strong history of providing independent, objective research and advisory services focused on technology and supply chain management.

Prior to AMR Research, John was the co-founder and served on the board of directors of Optum, Inc., a provider of supply chain software and services targeting retail, high tech, and industrial distribution firms. John was also the co-founder and director of the computer integrated manufacturing division of Integrated Automation, a Teknekron Corporation.

John received his master’s degree from the University of Delaware and his bachelor’s degree from SUNY Fredonia.

Jack Ampuja, Executive Director of the Center for Supply Chain Excellence for Niagara University and CEO of Supply Chain Optimizers

Jack Ampuja has over 30 years of supply chain management experience with five Fortune 500 firms.  His career has included stints in consulting, manufacturing and third party logistics, including direct supervision of Teamsters and Longshoremen to SVP of Operations at a multi-billion dollar international company. 

Bob Belshaw, Sr. Vice President, GE

Commercial Finance in Trade Distribution, a new business at GE that provides integrated financial and physical solutions (partners) for global supply chains. Currently, Bob is working with many leading organizations on the design, and implementation of their global supply chains while supporting their working capital requirements (inventory planning). 

Richard J Sherman, President, Gold & Domas Research

Richard J Sherman has helped dozens of companies implement market leading strategies and technology initiatives. He has served on industry committees such as ECR, CPFR, SCOR, and has consulted on developing supply chain and enterprise system strategy and architecture. Mr. Sherman will explore the dynamics of change, compelling industry issues, building team vision, engineering game changing processes, and adopting enabling technologies to transform your company's supply network into a market leader. After all, change is inevitable, growth is optional. 

Chuck Taylor, Principle, Awake!

Chuck Taylor has held senior management positions with Nabisco Brands, Ryder Systems, Burlington Northern/Santa Fe Railroad, Mercer Management Consultants, Tri Valley Growers, American National Can, ServiceCraft Logistics, Norbridge, Inc. and now Awake!. His career focused on leading change initiatives, performance improvements and breakthroughs from the shop floor to the boardroom.

Chuck’s career in transportation began at the age of 16 as a railroad yard clerk for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (Katy) Railroad in Houston, Texas. He continued working for the railroad while earning his undergraduate degree in Production and Logistics Management at the University of Houston. Chuck also earned an MBA from the University of Houston in Logistics and Finance, a Graduate Certificate in Finance from Southern Methodist University and a Master of Arts in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica.

His place of birth, Texas, and his life long career in supply chain led him to understand early the connections between oil and transportation. He started Awake! because he believes the supply chain profession is not informed about the critical changes the profession faces with the end of cheap oil. One goal is to bring awareness in the hopes that supply chain professionals will understand the stakes and take an active role in shaping energy policy.

Dan Basmajian, President and CEO, Optricity

Dan Basmajian is the President and CEO of Optricity. He is a demonstrated pioneer in the supply chain industry with more than twenty-five years of experience in high tech software development. His diverse background lends itself exceptionally well to providing leadership and vision, and driving tactical execution in business environments. He has operated successfully during his career as a company founder, Chairman and CEO, and senior management team member. He is sought after as an advisor to leading executives in the supply chain industry.

Mark O’Connell President and CEO, SupplyScape

Mark collaborates with customers, industry leaders, and strategic partners to create industry focused business solutions that improve the overall quality, safety, and financial performance of our customers' value chains. With high technology and software industry leadership experience spanning more than 25 years, Mark has successfully built and grown companies in emerging markets. As CEO of MatrixOne, Mark led the company to a market leadership position in the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) market through a cross-industry and global expansion strategy that took the company to $145M in revenues, more than 850 customers, an Initial Public Offering (IPO), and subsequent acquisition by Dassault Systems. Prior to MatrixOne, Mark was President of Adra Systems, and previous to that, he held leadership roles in Finance, Operations, and Marketing at Digital Equipment Corporation.

Chuck Dow, Managing Director, C F Dow Inc.

Chuck has more than 35 years experience in IT management focusing on architecture, methodology, data management, application development, supply chain, project management, professional services, sales and marketing.  Mr. Dow was the Senior Director, Transportation Support Services at Best Buy Co. Inc., the nation’s largest consumer electronics retailer. He is responsible for the operational support and execution of international & domestic transportation operations with an annual spend of more than $600 millions.   Dow is an engaging speaker in the areas of managing IT and business teams, supply chain methodologies, data engineering and its relevance to executives, software evaluation and selection, strategic alignment opportunities, and process workshop facilitation.

Jim Burleigh, Executive Officer, SmartTurn

Jim Burleigh brings more than 19 years of software experience to SmartTurn supported by a record of achievement as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) strategist, entrepreneur and architect of innovative supply chain solutions. Previously as Sr. VP of Marketing and Corporate Development at Navis, a leader in the supply chain execution industry, he was responsible for Navis' overall marketing and product management, as well as business development, acquisitions and development, marketing and sales of new ventures. He also managed Navis' Distribution Center solutions, and initiated the founding of SmartTurn as a Navis subsidiary in 2004.  Jim's background includes sales, marketing and technical experience at salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), Remedy, BayStone Software and Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL). Most recently, Jim comes from salesforce.com, the most successful on demand service to date where he was the #6 employee, and served as Vice President Business Development, then Vice President Marketing and Product Management.

Mitch is responsible for marketing and product management, including creating clear messages, expanding market awareness of Kiva, and matching product strategy to customer priorities. For twenty five years Mitch has focused on bringing disruptive technologies to market at companies such as Rivulet Communications, Imaging Automation, MultiLink, PictureTel, Kurzweil Computer Products, and Automatix. He has served in roles throughout the product innovation cycle including design engineering, engineering management, product management and marketing, market development, and sales. Mitch spent much of his career designing and marketing products for business applications, but he is also experienced with selling to government customers and consumers. Mitch earned both Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in electrical engineering from MIT, and a Master of Business Administration from Boston University.

Charles Zosel, Vice President, TZA Consulting

Mr. Zosel has successfully implemented TZA's Optimized Labor Performance program in over 220 facilities across more than 25 industries. Mr. Zosel focuses TZA's effort in maintaining its position as the best in the industry in all three core components of Optimized Labor Performance: Engineered Labor Standards, Labor Management Systems and Management Execution. These cores include: best practice development, standard development, knowledge transfer, HR policy, change management, incentives and leveraging labor management systems to deliver labor savings of 10% to 35%. Mr. Zosel's Industrial Distribution Management degree is from the University of Illinois; graduating in May of 1995.