Some measure success by salaries and titles. Others use a different yardstick altogether. Take the seven professionals selected as our 2024 Rainmakers, for example. When asked about their proudest professional accomplishments, their answers ranged from the satisfaction of working with others as part of a successful team, to mentoring younger colleagues and watching them grow both personally and professionally, to developing a technology that has the potential to make the planet a little bit greener.
So who are these Rainmakers and how were they chosen? As in the past, DC Velocity selected the 2024 Rainmakers in concert with members of the magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board from candidates nominated by readers, board members, and previous Rainmakers and DCV Thought Leaders. This year’s selections represent different facets of the business—practitioners, logistics tech and equipment specialists, consultants, and academics. But as the profiles on the following pages show, they’re united by a common goal of advancing the logistics and supply chain management profession.
If you’d like to nominate someone for our 2025 Rainmakers report, please send your suggestions to DC Velocity’s group editorial director, David Maloney, at dmaloney@agilebme.com.
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BRIAN ANTONELLIS
Brian Antonellis has a passion for trucks in general and private fleets in particular. For the past 20 years, he has dedicated his career to envisioning how to run truck fleets better both today and in the future.
Antonellis currently serves as senior vice president of fleet operations for Fleet Advantage, which provides leasing solutions, asset management, and strategic consulting services for operators of Class 8 truck fleets—a job he came to following stints managing fleets for the bulk carrier Bulkmatic, Reinhart Foods, and PepsiCo.
At Fleet Advantage, Antonellis relishes helping clients navigate challenges such as the California Air Resources Board zero-emission heavy-duty truck mandate as well as evaluating new clean diesel technology and alternative fuel options. Throughout his career, Antonellis has been a proponent of taking a data-driven approach to fleet management—an approach that has helped him reduce total cost of ownership while also lowering fleet emissions.
Yet it is not trucks that lie at the core of what Antonellis values about his career. Rather, it is people. Antonellis is a strong believer in the importance of mentorship and has spent much of his career helping young professionals ascend through the ranks of fleet and transportation management.
A frequent speaker and contributor to industry publications, Antonellis is also an active member of the American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council and a board member of the National Private Truck Council.
Q: What keeps you interested in and excited about working in logistics and transportation?
A: I have always enjoyed the blend between solving daily challenges and long-term planning. I enjoy working with a broad spectrum of people and have a focus on continuous improvement. Few other industries provide you with the opportunity to help customers, drivers, and the bottom line of a company the way transportation can.
Q: How has fleet management and operations changed from when you started out in the business?
A: My first few years in the industry were focused on improving [fleet operations], but I didn’t always have the data to quantify the reasons why change was implemented. It was often based on experiences, not facts. Watching data analytics take a key role in almost every decision that is made has accelerated the pace of change and the way transportation is viewed. The industry has the tools to impact miles per gallon, maintenance cost, employee engagement, and the bottom line.
Q: Looking five years into the future, what advice do you have for companies that are managing fleets (or that depend on partners who manage fleets)?
A: To be successful five years from now, companies need to change the way they plan. Whether it is alternative fuels or regulations, we know we are in for a lot of change. By having a five- and 10-year plan, companies will be able to react to change in a measured way. Transportation assets—because they depreciate over five to seven years—have not always been included in long-term planning. It’s important to be able to model out how your changes will affect your bottom line and engage leadership to ensure your plan aligns with long-term company goals. I have advised companies to take a measured approach to both regulation and alternative fuels. Walk before you run.
Q: Why are you so passionate about mentoring and educating others?
A: I have been blessed to be mentored by some amazing people. It was never the company or the program; it was always [the person] taking the time to explain the whys and help me through challenges. It is hard for someone to start in this industry where the average time in leadership can be 10+ years. It is the responsibility of those of us in leadership roles today to help the next generation of leaders. It can be self-serving to not want to train and elevate people, as you are concerned about your own perceived value. I would hope someday I get to work for someone I mentored. There would not be a higher compliment.
Q: Did you yourself have a great mentor? What did you learn from that person?
A: I did. My first manager at PepsiCo taught me the value of being humble, the importance of allowing others to succeed, and how important it is to make decisions that are based on integrity. The best piece of advice that he shared was that months and quarters will come and go. Some will be good, and some will be bad. Leaders need to operate with integrity and a focus on people. Take care of your team, and they will take care of everything else.
Q: What is your proudest professional achievement?
A: Being able to mentor team members and watch them succeed both personally and professionally.
AMINE AYAD
Amine Ayad came to Academy Sports + Outdoors at a critical time for the Katy, Texas-based retail chain. The year was 2020, and Academy was about to go public. Ayad was brought in as head of retail engineering & process improvement to help steer the company through the transition. Among other tasks, he was charged with creating an engineering team to support the fast-growing chain’s retail operations—no small feat given that it had over 250 stores at the time. Today, Academy operates 285 stores across 18 states. It reported 2022 revenues of $6.4 billion.
Over the past four years, Ayad has created strategies, aligned the company’s business units, driven efficiency gains, and standardized processes and procedures. He also created a “STEM Club for Analytics in Retail,” which helps the various business units explore the science of analytics and brings in guest speakers from large, successful retail companies. During his tenure at Academy, Ayad has helped steer the company through various growth stages, including launching an IPO, implementing a pay-for-performance system, aligning three distribution centers, and moving to a new warehouse management system (WMS).
Ayad earned his Bachelor of Applied Science degree in civil engineering from Oklahoma State University and his doctorate in management from Colorado Technical University. Prior to joining Academy, he held executive positions at The Home Depot, K-Mart, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Walmart.
Q: What drew you to the field of logistics?
A: My passion for solving complex problems alongside hardworking team members. As a structural engineer, I never imagined that one day I would work in logistics, let alone in the retail industry. But when The Home Depot was going through a transformation, they recruited me due to my Six Sigma expertise. Then the rest was history. Engineering and Six Sigma are vital to the retail industry in areas such as engineered labor standards, route optimization, and operational excellence.
Q: What are some of the biggest changes you’ve seen during your career?
A: Ongoing technological advancements—including generative AI, the internet of things, sensors, robots, automation, big data, and control towers—which continue to evolve and change the way logistics and organizations do business. For instance, with the rise of e-commerce, there’s increased demand for refrigerated shipping. This requires organizations and teams to become more agile and adaptable. Otherwise, their tools and operating principles become outdated. Competition has always been there, but with such technological advancements, organizations, including logistics companies, find themselves forced to compete technologically as well.
Q: What hasn’t changed?
A: Human nature has not changed. Trucks, ships, airplanes, and trains continue to be the primary modes of transporting goods. Warehouses are still essential for storing and managing inventory. Collaboration between manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and retailers remains crucial for success. While green initiatives have increased, [the need to adhere] to safety, environmental, and trade regulations has not changed.
Q: What advice would you give someone just starting a career in supply chain management?
A: Be adaptable, intellectually curious, a life-long learner, and courageous, and maintain unwavering integrity. Read industry publications, follow thought leaders, and stay informed. Attend industry events, conferences, and workshops and build a meaningful professional network on LinkedIn. Analytical skills and data-driven decision-making are crucial, so learn to interpret data, use tools like Excel, and explore supply chain analytics software.
Q: What are some of the truisms that should be forgotten? (In other words, what rules do companies need to break?)
A: Forget about perfection, but don’t forget about efficiency, effectiveness, and continuous process improvements! Also, don’t forget that “we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” So forget about the fear of taking calculated risks. Doing nothing about a business problem is perhaps the worst option in most cases.
Q: What’s your proudest professional achievement and why?
A: This nomination, because it is a token for my servant leadership and business accomplishments. I am very proud that with the support of my team, I have succeeded in every assignment at every level in my career. Part of this success is always creating new opportunities for my team, including new promotions.
BRYAN JENSEN
From a Ph.D. candidate in medieval English to manager of distribution automation at a large retailer to leader of a world-renowned supply chain consulting firm, Bryan Jensen has played a variety of roles in his career.
Jensen started out at the retail chain Toys“R”Us, where he worked his way up to director of distribution automation. From there, he moved to York, Pennsylvania-based facility design and supply chain consultant St. Onge Co., where he currently serves as chairperson and executive vice president. During his time at St. Onge, Jensen has led the company’s transformation from a well-respected 40-person material handling engineering consultancy into a full-service, 200-person global supply chain firm. Under his leadership, St. Onge has expanded its service offerings, quadrupled its revenues, quintupled the bottom line, and earned an “Inc. Best Workplaces” award.
A dynamic spokesperson for the industry, Jensen is also an active participant in a number of supply chain professional organizations, having served as president of MHI in 2022 and as a member of the Material Handling Education Foundation’s board. He is currently MHI’s board chair. In addition, Jensen has written well over 100 papers. With his interest in medieval literature, Jensen reads books in his spare time that most people, including his wife of 34 years, would consider non-narcotic sleep aids.
Q: What drew you to a career in distribution and facility design, and what continues to motivate you each day?
A: I started in logistics as a freight auditor for Toys“R”Us. It was the job to get me through college in early 1984. I ended up with three degrees in English composition and literature, but I always worked in supply chain. In the end, the work itself kept me in the career discipline I’m still in today.
Q: You worked as a distribution center manager earlier in your career. How has that experience helped you in leading a team that designs distribution facilities?
A: In one word—immensely! To add a few other descriptors, that time was invaluable, humbling, and confidence-building. I had been working on an automated facility design without ever having run an operation, and the time I spent running one (well, attempting to at first, and then succeeding) truly was invaluable to understanding the operation’s challenges. I learned how automation could be better applied to meet them and to recognize the operational difficulties posed by certain automation approaches and how to improve those approaches.
Q: How has the design of distribution facilities changed during your time in the industry?
A: Automation today is much more flexible than it was 30 or 40 years ago. This seems to have been driven by both changes in technology and changes in the demands on distribution facilities. Automation today can be designed in a much more modular fashion when compared to buying a conveyor-feed sortation system of three or four decades ago.
For example, robots can be bought by the “each” and, in some cases, leased during peak periods. The operations themselves, with the rise of direct-to-consumer shipping, have created greater annual peak shipping demands than ever before. Buying all the automation necessary to cover those peaks isn’t fiscally feasible without some flexibility in how the solution can be ramped up and down or flex with the operation’s needs from average-season to peak-season, and back again.
Q: What is one supply chain project or initiative you’ve worked on that you found to be particularly rewarding?
A: In some ways, you’re asking me to pick my favorite child. As any parent will tell you, once you have more than one child, you’re not picking a favorite, or at least you’re not sharing that sentiment with anyone!
I can say that for me, the reward comes from leaving a client better than we found them. Whether that means a massive investment in leading-edge automation or an understanding that optimizing processes will provide them with a more fiscally beneficial and operationally sound solution than any automation investment, the satisfaction comes from guiding them to the best answer for them as a trusted adviser. This is perhaps why I’ve spent so long in one industry and have had only two employers in over 40 years.
Q: What advice do you have for someone who’s looking to move into a leadership role in the industry?
A: Listen to learn, listen and learn. You will never know everything, either about your vocation or about people and how to best serve them.
Q: What is your proudest professional achievement?
A: I would absolutely say it wasn’t my accomplishment alone, but St. Onge Co.’s accomplishment. In fact, it’s the accomplishment of all of my colleagues and partners. St. Onge Co. has been named one of Inc. Magazine’s Best Places to Work in 2023 based on the anonymous polling of our entire company. To have a robust, growing, profitable business, serving the best interests of our clients, and have the team’s survey results place us atop companies for team satisfaction, well, that altogether is the accomplishment of which I am most proud.
STEVEN LAFEVERS
Forklifts have been around for over 100 years, and the basic design hasn’t changed much in that time—they all have cabs, wheels, and lifting devices. What has changed is what’s under the hood. That’s where you’ll find the real innovations that are transforming the material handling industry, and that’s where Steven LaFevers comes in.
LaFevers is one of a new breed of tech pioneers who are spearheading the development of these innovations. As vice president, global emerging technology at Hyster-Yale Materials Handling Inc., he leads the development and implementation of emerging technology solutions, including automation, telematics, and operator-assist systems—technologies that he believes will transform the material handling world by streamlining processes, increasing safety awareness, and reducing labor and operational costs.
LaFevers began his career at Hyster-Yale as an entry-level computer programmer. From there, he went on to work in various other units of the lift truck company, including dealer business systems, fleet management, after-sales service, fuel cells, and telematics, gaining invaluable experience that helped prepare him for his current role.
Q: You played a major part in developing the company’s emerging technology division. Why is developing new technologies so important to your company’s future?
A: Frankly, a business would be left in the dust if it didn’t innovate. It is a competitive necessity in this environment. But developing new technologies is not just important for the future of our company. It really is central to how we equip our customers to address their most significant problems, and that is our primary focus at Hyster-Yale.
Warehouses and other materials handling operations are facing challenges that threaten their business, from labor shortages and safety concerns to rising productivity demands and [pressure to meet] sustainability targets. Technology can be a powerful resource for attracting and retaining workers, more effectively managing lift truck operator behavior, and adherence to best practices and reducing emissions.
Q: How have the operator-assist systems and other technologies your team has developed improved the operational safety of lift trucks?
A: We developed our operator-assist technologies to support a customer’s safety initiative, and through the implementation, the customer was able to reduce lift truck accidents by 95% in 2020 and 100% in 2021. Since that initial deployment, our operator-assist technologies have been deployed on more than 6,000 lift trucks in real-world applications, with over 14 million hours of operation. In addition, we have expanded availability of these solutions to a total of 59 lift truck models.
These technologies keep the operator in ultimate control of the lift truck but can automatically apply interventions in response to compromised stability, obstacles detected in the path of travel or in close proximity, and even based on rules specified for certain areas of the facility.
Warehouse workforces have more than doubled in just a decade, surging to more than 1.7 million employees in 2021 from 668,900 in 2011, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). A heavy reliance on inexperienced forklift operators has been a necessary coping mechanism for many operations, but that practice has exacerbated common safety and productivity challenges. Deploying forklift operator-assist technologies is a step that facilities can take today to support inexperienced operators and help reduce the risk of accidents and close calls, like an operator taking a corner too fast, pulling product from high racking, or tilting the mast too quickly or too far with a load in an unfavorable position.
Q: What do you do to help members of your team maintain a good work/life balance?
A: I’m a family-first guy, so I make a habit of encouraging my team to take all of their paid time off and I keep an eye on workloads. In the office, I think it is really important to make work fun, so I try to plan activities where we can connect as a team.
For example, college basketball is extremely popular in North Carolina, where much of my team is based, so we scheduled viewing parties for the NCAA Tournament. My team and I are entrepreneurial at heart—we have a real bias for action and sense of urgency with our projects, so striking a balance helps us to do our best with our work and on a personal level.
Q: You volunteer for community programs and with your alma mater, East Carolina University. Why is giving back important to you?
A: I have been very fortunate with the opportunities I have been able to act on in my education and my career, and mentorship has been a big part of that along the way. So opportunities where I can pay that forward and do something positive for others are very rewarding.
Q: What advice would you give a young person who’s interested in a career in lift truck technology?
A: There is a great deal of opportunity in the field, as the market will need talent for nearly every business role, from engineering to sales to final commissioning. My recommendation for someone interested in any one of these paths is to spend a bit of time learning about the challenges for material handling customers. For example, [that might mean going out and talking with] businesses about their struggles with hiring and retaining lift truck operators.
Most companies, including Hyster-Yale, are going to seek young professionals who are passionate about solving customer problems. Being curious about what those difficulties are, listening carefully, and developing a deep understanding are the first steps toward meaningful solutions, and in my view, a very rewarding career.
Q: What is your proudest professional achievement?
A: I started in the IT department at Hyster-Yale 24 years ago, and in that time, the flexibility and forward-thinking nature of our company has enabled me to really write my own story with my career. Working alongside my team members and mentors, we’ve transformed our fleet management business; developed telematics, automation, and operator-assist technologies from the ground up; and been part of some of the largest technology deals our company has negotiated.
However, building the emerging technology team has been a special highlight. Being part of a manufacturing company with 100-plus years of history that is prioritizing innovation the way that we are, and then to be asked to lead that charge—it is a very special experience. That investment in innovation has allowed me to build and work with an incredible team and launch solutions that improve our industry.
KRIS MICHEL
Operating a service supply chain in the high-tech industry takes nerves of steel. When an essential and high-priced piece of equipment—say, a server, medical device, or solar converter—goes down, there’s a lot of pressure to deliver the necessary parts and get the equipment back up and running as quickly as possible.
Luckily, Kris Michel, chief operating officer for the service supply chain provider Flash Global, loves a challenge and thrives in this environment of high-stakes problem-solving. Michel, who is constantly on the lookout for new best practices, has not only helped expand her own company’s operations but also helped increase the visibility and awareness of the service supply chain in general.
Another challenge? Building a cohesive team of experts that spans more than 140 countries in order to help Flash Global’s customers solve their customers’ problems no matter where in the world they occur. Michel’s hands-on approach to career development and training includes hosting periodic virtual coffee breaks. During these sessions, Michel shares anecdotes and tips on everything from global trade compliance to supply chain optimization, all in an effort to improve the operations of the high-tech spare-parts supply chain. Mentoring is a passion for Michel and underlies much of what she does daily at Flash Global.
Q: What attracted you to a career in supply chain?
A: I started my career in strategic planning and spent a lot of time in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), which gave me a huge leg up on knowing what “good” looks like. I then moved into manufacturing and soon realized that my success in manufacturing was a function of the health of the supply chain. So I began to get involved in how I could influence and manage that aspect of the business as well. Seeing the entire picture as an ecosystem was thrilling, and there were few boring days. Then I moved into service supply chain, with attention to servicing mission-critical environments, and I quickly learned that it could get way more exhilarating—yes, high pressure, because wow, this space is not for the faint of heart! I have remained in the service space ever since, with increasing responsibility and breadth, all the while never tiring of [dealing with] the intense demands of clients and the fast pace.
Operating a service supply chain in the high-tech industry takes nerves of steel. When an essential and high-priced piece of equipment—say, a server, medical device, or solar converter—goes down, there’s a lot of pressure to deliver the necessary parts and get the equipment back up and running as quickly as possible.
Luckily, Kris Michel, chief operating officer for the service supply chain provider Flash Global, loves a challenge and thrives in this environment of high-stakes problem-solving. Michel, who is constantly on the lookout for new best practices, has not only helped expand her own company’s operations but also helped increase the visibility and awareness of the service supply chain in general.
Another challenge? Building a cohesive team of experts that spans more than 140 countries in order to help Flash Global’s customers solve their customers’ problems no matter where in the world they occur. Michel’s hands-on approach to career development and training includes hosting periodic virtual coffee breaks. During these sessions, Michel shares anecdotes and tips on everything from global trade compliance to supply chain optimization, all in an effort to improve the operations of the high-tech spare-parts supply chain. Mentoring is a passion for Michel and underlies much of what she does daily at Flash Global.
Q: What attracted you to a career in supply chain?
A: I started my career in strategic planning and spent a lot of time in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), which gave me a huge leg up on knowing what “good” looks like. I then moved into manufacturing and soon realized that my success in manufacturing was a function of the health of the supply chain. So I began to get involved in how I could influence and manage that aspect of the business as well. Seeing the entire picture as an ecosystem was thrilling, and there were few boring days. Then I moved into service supply chain, with attention to servicing mission-critical environments, and I quickly learned that it could get way more exhilarating—yes, high pressure, because wow, this space is not for the faint of heart! I have remained in the service space ever since, with increasing responsibility and breadth, all the while never tiring of [dealing with] the intense demands of clients and the fast pace.
Q: What continues to keep you working in the supply chain space?
A: I’m having a lot of fun in the service supply chain space. The same-day, critical service provision is an interesting nut to crack and is far removed from the days when I managed ocean cargo. At the end of the day, though, it is all the same—not just moving something but also working toward the ability to truly see it. As we continue to build out systems and technologies that enable our clients to [monitor] the health of their entire service supply chain, I find the opportunities are endless, and that is exciting for us and our clients.
Q: What are one or two things that are essential for managing a team of global experts?
A: Alignment and trust! These are crucial ingredients for maintaining a connected, high-functioning global team of experts. We also foster an environment of learning and listening, more so than static expertise, given how fast the world is changing. I often tell our operations execs that what they knew as “tried and true” from years ago might not be the answer for today. We need to abandon certainty as the desired outcome and instead learn with every transaction what is working now and what our clients will need next. We want a team of action-oriented thinkers, not passive professors with outdated supply chain practices. Our clients’ environments are changing rapidly, so we need to have our eyes and ears open so we can help them see it and adapt to it.
Q: What makes a good career development and training program?
A: I don’t know if there is any one single program that works every time. Most of development is an ongoing journey, for teams and for individuals, and there’s never a “one-size-fits-all” approach. For personal and professional development, I stress that listening is the first thing to tackle—good leaders are always good listeners first. Having the ability to be present and truly listen to others is the foundation for any development.
Q: What is your proudest professional achievement?
A: Wow, that’s a tough one. I’ve been lucky to work on many rewarding projects throughout my career. Rather than pick one, I’d say that I am proudest of the times when I could be a part of a global team that came together to make a huge impact. There were so many projects where we were able to stand back after the fact and ask, “If a year ago, someone said we would get XYZ done, would we have believed it?”
I love surprising ourselves by exceeding our own high expectations. Sustainable improvement and significant step-function change happens horizontally, not from the top down.
A: I’m having a lot of fun in the service supply chain space. The same-day, critical service provision is an interesting nut to crack and is far removed from the days when I managed ocean cargo. At the end of the day, though, it is all the same—not just moving something but also working toward the ability to truly see it. As we continue to build out systems and technologies that enable our clients to [monitor] the health of their entire service supply chain, I find the opportunities are endless, and that is exciting for us and our clients.
Q: What are one or two things that are essential for managing a team of global experts?
A: Alignment and trust! These are crucial ingredients for maintaining a connected, high-functioning global team of experts. We also foster an environment of learning and listening, more so than static expertise, given how fast the world is changing. I often tell our operations execs that what they knew as “tried and true” from years ago might not be the answer for today. We need to abandon certainty as the desired outcome and instead learn with every transaction what is working now and what our clients will need next. We want a team of action-oriented thinkers, not passive professors with outdated supply chain practices. Our clients’ environments are changing rapidly, so we need to have our eyes and ears open so we can help them see it and adapt to it.
Q: What makes a good career development and training program?
A: I don’t know if there is any one single program that works every time. Most of development is an ongoing journey, for teams and for individuals, and there’s never a “one-size-fits-all” approach. For personal and professional development, I stress that listening is the first thing to tackle—good leaders are always good listeners first. Having the ability to be present and truly listen to others is the foundation for any development.
Q: What is your proudest professional achievement?
A: Wow, that’s a tough one. I’ve been lucky to work on many rewarding projects throughout my career. Rather than pick one, I’d say that I am proudest of the times when I could be a part of a global team that came together to make a huge impact. There were so many projects where we were able to stand back after the fact and ask, “If a year ago, someone said we would get XYZ done, would we have believed it?”
I love surprising ourselves by exceeding our own high expectations. Sustainable improvement and significant step-function change happens horizontally, not from the top down.
TOM MOORE
Tom Moore has more than 40 years of experience in the supply chain field, and it’s clear that he hasn’t been idle for any part of that time. After beginning his career with a job in operations research in his native New Zealand, he went on to run warehouses, truck fleets, and production and supply planning teams. In 2019, he founded the tech company ProvisionAi, where he currently serves as CEO. The following year, he founded AutoScheduler.AI, which is now run by his son, Keith Moore.
Tom Moore says his businesses develop optimization algorithms that help clients make data-driven decisions that lead to more efficient and cost-effective supply chain operations. More specifically, they solve knotty logistics problems by optimizing load building, smoothing transportation workflows to fill the gap between execution and planning, and orchestrating labor, inventory, and robotics activities on top of a facility’s existing warehouse management system (WMS).
According to Moore, boosting supply chain efficiency does more than just improve business results; it can also reduce supply chain-related carbon emissions by taking excess trucks off the road. For example, ProvisionAi helps users optimize truck space through optimized load building, so that companies require fewer deliveries. Those reductions add up fast when 20% of the companies on Gartner’s “Global Supply Chain Top 25” list are clients of ProvisionAi.
Q: What drew you to the field of logistics?
A: Historically, logistics was considered to be like traffic, and if a guy wasn’t making it in other places in the company, you dumped him in the traffic department. I came to the industry when deregulation had just hit, and those guys had no clue what to do because they couldn’t just look up prices on a rate chart anymore. Instead, they had to negotiate a rate directly with each client. So we were able to generate significant savings for them, and it wasn’t hard to do, honestly.
Q: What are some of the biggest changes you’ve seen during your career?
A: There have been a series of transitions. One of the biggest is that supply chain itself has become much more high-visibility; now we want Class-A performers in there. Another is that when I used to go to conferences, there’d be no women in the room. Now we’ve got crackerjack women who are leading supply chains, and that’s a terrific thing.
Q: What hasn’t changed?
A: The camaraderie. I was just at the Gartner conference, and you don’t just shake hands when you see people in the hallways; you hug them. Because we all recognize that we’re up against the same thing, and that the people are what makes it work. With a lot of those people, I’ve ceased to be their partner or their employer, but rather, their friend.
Q: What advice would you give someone just starting a career in supply chain management?
A: Get your fingernails dirty and do something that’s real; supervise people, run a warehouse, run a shift. Brush up on your mathematical ability; I see so much [bad] analysis in business—it is abhorrent to me. Brush up on Excel, because the world runs on Excel. And surround yourself with really bright people—people who are much brighter than you. Which I can say I’ve done very well. I don’t have a stinkin’ Ph.D.
Q: What are some of the truisms that should be forgotten? (In other words, what rules do companies need to break?)
A: One is the “not invented here” syndrome. A lot of companies won’t do business with small vendors because they value their own ideas over those from outside the company. Another is the “keep it simple” rule, which can often be very expensive [when measured by] cost and customer service. We have technology now, there’s a whole bunch of information we have access to, and we can resolve a lot of things. People don’t have to manage it all in their heads.
Q: What’s your proudest professional achievement and why?
A: I’d say it was developing AutoScheduler [a warehouse resource optimization platform that orchestrates activities within a DC]. AutoScheduler delivers significant improvements in time and labor. We built a product that works—there’s no smoke and mirrors—and we’ve been able to implement it with many businesses.
Now my son is running the company, and he’s 10 times better than me. I can take credit for the ideas, but I can’t take credit for the execution. The people in charge of the execution are very talented folks. These are very, very bright people I’ve had around to translate my ideas, adjust them to fit the business circumstances, and [who] have gotten them to work in real life.
ZAC ROGERS
Zac Rogers is associate professor of supply chain management at Colorado State University (CSU), where he studies global supply networks, reverse logistics, supply chain sustainability, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies.
Rogers is also a founder and the lead author of the monthly Logistics Managers’ Index (LMI) report, which is recognized as a leading indicator for future economic activity and is regularly featured in a variety of media outlets. Investors, analysts, and practitioners alike now use the LMI as a macroeconomic forecast tool.
Rogers combines his academic work with practical experience in logistics, having worked as a purchasing agent for a large hotel-resort and as an operations manager for Quidsi, a subsidiary of Amazon. He earned his B.S. and MBA degrees at the University of Nevada, Reno, and his Ph.D. in supply chain management from Arizona State University.
Q: What attracted you to a career in logistics and supply chain?
A: Well, I was literally born into it. My dad, Dr. [Dale] Rogers, who was a Rainmaker in 2010, was a Ph.D. student at Michigan State working on supply chain when I was born, or maybe right after I was born. So I’ve been around it my entire life. Now, that partly made me want to avoid it! But then I took some [supply chain] classes in college, and I realized, “Oh, man, I love this.”
I worked in procurement in my first job after college. I was buying things, and I thought, “This is so fun, doing forecasting and figuring things out.” And then my next job was in e-commerce. But I wanted to be a teacher, because I love the interaction with students, so I thought, “If there’s a way to combine these interests, that’s what I want to do.”
Q: As a teacher, how do you ensure that you’re adequately preparing students for this fast-changing industry?
A: Well, [the Covid-19 pandemic] actually made that easier in many ways, because so many people learned what supply chain management is. The kids who [graduated this year] at CSU were [high school] seniors during Covid. So this whole four-year cohort all came in knowing what supply chain is. We’ve had pretty substantial growth at CSU because of that. So that’s a big, big piece.
In supply chain, you have to be quick on your feet. And I think one of the things we see [is that] when students come to us, they aren’t as comfortable with uncertainty as they’re going to need to be in supply chain. And so, one of the challenges for us is to say, “OK, we have them with us for four or five years. How can we help them to be comfortable with ambiguity?” So we try to give them the shades of gray that will help them in their career.
The other thing is making sure they know how to analyze data and interpret it. There’s so much data out there now, and not everybody knows what to do with it. We make a concerted effort to really have students work with data and then, more importantly, to make sure they can interpret the data and come up with real actionable recommendations and strategic insights.
Q: How does your work on the LMI, as well as your other research, translate into information that logistics professionals can use in the real world?
A: A lot of logistics companies, 3PLs, and retailers—and some manufacturers—use the LMI as part of their planning, which is so gratifying. And that’s why we do this: So that people will use it. As professors, we have time to think about big problems—things that when I was an operations manager, I didn’t have time to think about. The value of business schools is that you can think about business problems and create a feedback loop with practitioners. There are parts of academia that can turn into echo chambers, where professors are writing papers for other professors. I think business schools have made a conscious effort to plug into the practitioner world. If there ever comes a time when we’re not doing that, then we should figure out something else to do.
My hope is that we’re able to generate some value for the folks who are on the operational side; that by doing what we’re doing, we are helping the professionals—the boots on the ground.
Q: What is your proudest professional accomplishment?
A: The Logistics Managers’ Index. It has put us in contact with so many people who answer the survey every month and write us back. People will just say, “Hey, here’s what I’m seeing,” and it’s really great every time we get an email like that. It has also allowed us to interface with [the media] and industry groups. Just getting this off the ground [eight years ago] and working with my friends and my dad [from Arizona State University; the University of Nevada, Reno; Florida Atlantic University; and Rutgers University] has been so much fun.
