Rebecca Wlazlo, Senior Vice President Supply Chain, Crate & Barrel
See highlights from Rebecca’s session in the above video.
Authentic Leadership: Leverage Your Strengths to Bring Out the Best in your Team
Rebecca Wlazlo, Senior Vice President Supply Chain, Crate & Barrel
Have you ever been told you have to change who you are to lead your team more effectively? Wrong! Rebecca Wlazlo, Senior Vice President of Supply Chain at Crate & Barrel, will share stories of when she was given this advice, why she ignored it, and how staying true to her authentic self has built trust – and driven results – in the teams she leads.
This inspiring session is a great way to kick off our supply chain track! Rebecca will share how one of her signature strengths – optimism – has helped her teams stay focused and motivated in the fast-paced world of retail supply chain.
Key session takeaways:
How (and why) you should lead with your strengths, especially in the face of adversity.
When to listen to feedback, and when to stay true to your authentic self.
Rebecca Wlazlo
Senior Vice President Supply Chain, Crate & Barrel
Rebecca is a supply chain executive with a passion for leading and developing high-performing teams to solve complex problems and deliver outstanding results. She has a deep supply chain background gained with Fortune 100 CPG and retail companies such as PepsiCo, Target, Ulta and The TJX Companies.
A constant learner, Rebecca has a BA in Journalism and East Asian Studies (Japanese) from Indiana University and an MBA in Supply Chain and Marketing from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She is known as an excellent mentor, teacher and coach, and founded the Boston chapter of Chief, the private network for executive women that was recently recognized as one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential Companies.
Adaptive Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP): Allowing Teams to Win
See highlights from Carol’s session in the above video.
Adaptive Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP): Allowing Teams to Win
Carol Ptak, Partner, Demand Driven Institute LLC
As a leader of the global “demand-driven movement” – and a supply chain leader before the term “supply chain” even existed – Carol Ptak has spent her career helping teams understand the bullwhip effect, the root cause of why inventory levels fluctuate, and the influence the teams to develop new ways of thinking about demand planning. In this presentation, Carol will share lessons learned from a career in supply chain and how she influences global teams to change the way they plan, operate, think, and adapt to the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world.
Key session takeaways:
How to help your teams move from a “cost” mindset to a “flow” mindset.
Which metric(s) create a win-win for all teams in your organization.
Carol Ptak
Partner, Demand Driven Institute LLC
Carol Ptak is a renowned figure in the world of demand-driven methodologies and the founder of Demand Driven Institute. She has co-authored several pivotal books (including “Necessary but not Sufficient” with Eli Goldratt) and led the global demand-driven movement. Her insights and strategies have transformed how organizations approach supply chain management, making systems more responsive, agile, and efficient.
Carol’s career in supply chain includes serving as President of APICS and technology leadership at IBM and PeopleSoft. She is the namesake for the International Supply Chain Education Alliance (ISCEA) Ptak Prize for Supply Chain Excellence and the Ptak scholars program.
We are thrilled to have Carol Ptak speak at this year’s Annual Conference on October 1 in the Supply Chain Track. Hear a bit more about her and what you can expect to hear from her at the conference in this exclusive interview with our conference’s Master of Ceremonies John Stofflet:
People: The Most Critical and Volatile Part of Your Supply Chain
See highlights from Steve’s session in the above video.
People: The Most Critical and Volatile Part of Your Supply Chain
Steve Hunt, Founder, i3 Talent
The pandemic reminded companies how critical a stable workforce is for supply chain operations. People can be amazingly productive, depressingly counterproductive (or not show up at all), and can quickly switch from one to another based on how they are treated. Dr. Steve Hunt will discuss how employee expectations are being reshaped by demographic shifts in the labor market, the impact of digitalization on work, and what companies must do to adapt their supply chains to a world of chronic skill shortages and accelerating business change.
Key session takeaways:
How to lead teams through change in a way that is energizing vs overwhelming.
Which skills are emerging as most critical in the new world of work, and how to build them.
Dr. Hunt’s work focuses on using technology to build stronger workforces through improving employee experience, development, engagement, inclusion, and well-being. He has helped hundreds of organizations spanning almost every industry and was recognized by the American Psychological Association for advancing applied psychological science through the creation of technology solutions that have positively influenced millions of employees around the globe. His most recent book Talent Tectonics: navigating global workforce shifts, building resilient organizations, and reimagining the employee experience became the #1 fastest selling new HR book on Amazon upon its release.
Polly Mitchell-Guthrie, Supply Chain Thought Leader, Kinaxis
See highlights from Polly’s session in the above video.
AI in Supply Chain: Separating Hype from Reality
Polly Mitchell-Guthrie, Supply Chain Thought Leader, Kinaxis
As UW–Madison statistics professor George Box once said: ” All models are wrong, some are useful.” Contrary to the hype, AI isn’t useful for everything, but how do you incorporate it to actually make an impact in your supply chain? Polly Mitchell-Guthrie will be showcasing some examples of what it is NOT good at as well as the keys to maximizing its use in supply chains.
Key session takeaways:
Understanding the relationship between descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics and how they relate to artificial intelligence.
How to choose AI projects that will drive maximum usage and insight.
Polly Mitchell-Guthrie
Supply Chain Thought Leader, Kinaxis
Polly Mitchell-Guthrie is the Supply Chain Thought Leader at Kinaxis, a recognized leader in end-to-end supply chain orchestration powered by AI. Previously, she was Director of Analytical Consulting Services at the University of North Carolina Health Care System and worked in various roles at SAS, in Advanced Analytics R&D, as Director of the SAS Global Academic Program, and in Alliances. She has an MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she also received her BA in Political Science as a Morehead Scholar. Polly is a member of the Foresight Advisory Board for the International Institute of Forecasters, has been very active in INFORMS (the leading professional society for operations research and analytics), and co-founded the third chapter of Women in Machine Learning and Data Science (now more than 100 chapters worldwide).
Supply Chain Track Sponsor
Thank you to WMEP Manufacturing Solutions for sponsoring the Supply Chain track!
Steering Committee members provide guidance on track content, topic suggestions, and speaker selection. Thank you to the 2024 Supply Chain Track Steering Committee:
John Cavey Director of Sales/Inventory/Ops Planning
Brunswick Corporation
Amanda Schneider
Director, Corporate Procurement
The Vollrath Company
Sergio Calvillo
Senior Director – American Girl & Mattel Creations Planning
American Girl
Jenny is an experienced cross-functional team leader and 20+ year supply chain veteran. She has a passion for data transparency, solving supply chain problems, and promoting a team culture of collaboration and continuous learning. Jenny spent seventeen years at Target Corporation in various supply chain roles including Inventory Management, International and Domestic Logistics, Global Trade Compliance, Data Product Management, and Supply Chain Program Management. She then moved back to Wisconsin as Director of Strategic Initiatives for RateLinx, a logistics software development company where she helped customers reduce freight costs and improve Ship, Track and Pay data visibility. Jenny graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is also a Licensed Customs Broker.
