If you’d like to nominate someone for our 2026 Rainmakers report, please send your suggestions to DC Velocity’s group editorial director, David Maloney, at dmaloney@agilebme.com.
Rebecca Brewster
Rebecca Brewster, president and COO, American Transportation Research Institute
Rebecca Brewster is president and chief operating officer of the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), the trucking industry’s not-for-profit research organization, whose mission is conducting research to improve the trucking industry’s safety and productivity.
A 32-year veteran of ATRI, Brewster has dedicated her career to carrying out that mission. She is widely recognized as an industry expert and respected for her research and contributions to the trucking industry. Numerous honors over the years bear that out, including awards from the nonprofit Women In Trucking organization and accolades from the 50 state trucking associations, among others. And now, she’s a DC Velocity Rainmaker.
Prior to joining ATRI, Brewster served as the pubic and governmental affairs director for the Cary (North Carolina) Chamber of Commerce and was a fleet analyst with faucet and fixtures manufacturer Moen Inc.
Q: Your path to transportation and logistics was nontraditional; can you tell us about that?
A: I always dreamed of being the editor of The New York Times, so I pursued an English degree in college. After graduation, reality set in with the country in a recession and very low demand for 19-year-old liberal arts graduates (I graduated early). Eventually, I found work through a temporary job placement agency in North Carolina that sent me to a private fleet, where I audited logs, managed the drivers’ quality circle, and analyzed the data that came from one of the earliest versions of an onboard trip recorder. After that, I moved to another part of the state, where I got a job at a local chamber of commerce as the governmental affairs director. While visiting a friend in Atlanta, I happened to look at the want ads in the newspaper, where the ATA Foundation (ATRI’s predecessor organization) was advertising for a public policy analyst. I naively imagined that I was the only person in the world to have trucking and public policy experience, so I applied, and my first day on the job was Jan. 25, 1993. The ATA Foundation underwent a reorganization in the early 2000s, and I was named president of the newly created American Transportation Research Institute in May 2002.
Q: ATRI’s research covers all aspects of trucking. How does that work translate into information that industry professionals can apply in the real world?
A: ATRI’s research benefits from the input of its Research Advisory Committee. RAC members represent all facets of the industry—trucking fleets large and small, truck drivers, law enforcement, academia, government, and industry suppliers—and their critical role is to determine where there are knowledge gaps in the industry to which ATRI can bring its expertise to bear. The RAC’s real-world, boots-on-the-ground input into our research agenda ensures that our research responds to the industry’s most critical questions with actionable findings. And, of course, the ATRI team of researchers is the best in the business, and I feel so honored to call them colleagues and friends.
Q: What has kept you interested in your work? Do you have any favorite topics or studies?
A: I absolutely love what I do, and honestly, it’s the people in this industry that keep me motivated to do my best. The trucking industry is overflowing with salt-of-the-earth individuals who want nothing more than to keep this nation’s economy moving—safely and efficiently—on 18 wheels. Nothing makes me prouder than hearing from a motor carrier or a professional truck driver that ATRI’s research made a difference in their lives.
Two of our annual studies are among my favorites. First is our annual list of the Top 100 Truck Bottlenecks. While it may sound weird to say you like traffic congestion, the fact is that we have seen over time how ATRI’s annual analysis has motivated states to invest resources to improve the bottleneck locations, and the data bears it out. What was once the #1 truck bottleneck in the country, the Jane Byrne Interchange in Chicago, has seen truck speeds improve nearly 25% since the rebuild of that interchange was completed. My other favorite study is our annual Top Industry Issues Survey. I have selfishly retained the task of doing the data analysis on that one for myself because I truly enjoy watching the results come in from stakeholders across the country and then doing the analysis and writing up the final report.
Q: What are some of the most important changes you’ve observed in the transportation and logistics industry during your career?
A: As someone who started her transportation career auditing drivers’ paper logs, certainly the electronic logging device mandate comes to mind as an industry game-changer. I also believe that the one silver lining to come out of the Covid-19 pandemic was the long-overdue recognition by the American people of how critical this nation’s truck drivers are to their daily lives.
Q: What is your proudest professional accomplishment, and why?
A: ATRI has many industry partners whose involvement in our research makes it so successful. One of those cohorts is without question the 50 state trucking association (STA) executives, who work tirelessly to support and advance the industry in their respective states. In 2010, the 50 STA executives awarded me the J.R. Bob Halladay Award, given to individuals who have made contributions to assist and support the work of the states. To be honored in such a special way by a group of individuals whose work I admire so much was truly humbling.
Q: What advice would you give to young people—especially young women—embarking on a career in trucking and logistics?
A: My father instilled in me the belief that I could achieve anything I wanted as long as I was willing to put in the hard work to reach my goals. Success in transportation careers does require hard work, but knowing that you’re contributing to an industry vital to all Americans is a very satisfying reward.
When I was a young girl, my mother sent me to charm school (twice), and one of the takeaways that I still put in practice today is sending handwritten thank-you cards and notes. Never underestimate the impact of a handwritten note for making you stand out among your peers in a world of emails and texts.
Doug Gray
Doug Gray, vice president, aftermarket integrated supply chain, Trane Technologies
You may not know Trane Technologies by name, but you’ve undoubtedly benefited from its core products and services. The Davidson, North Carolina-based company manufactures much of the temperature-control equipment that keeps us comfortable, from the heating and air conditioning systems at our homes and offices to the mobile trailer cooling units on the 18-wheelers that haul our fruits and vegetables.
A key player in the company’s success is Doug Gray. As vice president of aftermarket integrated supply chain, Gray oversees functions such as sales, inventory, and operations planning (SIOP); order management; quality and packaging; inventory management; and DC operations. Before taking on that role in 2024, he spent 16 years at construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc., where he held several top-level leadership positions, including senior director of logistics network operations and general manager of outbound transportation and international trade operations.
Beyond those professional achievements, Gray has contributed to the industry through volunteer leadership roles, including serving on the executive advisory board of the Global Supply Chain Institute at the University of Tennessee, where he has helped mentor the next generation of supply chain professionals.
Q: What is your proudest professional achievement, and why?
A: Throughout my career I’ve been able to work with large multinational companies and have a significant impact on their supply chain capabilities, develop talent, and deliver value for the business. I have had the fortune to do this at multiple companies, and it’s gratifying to see how these capabilities—along with the talent leading the projects—continue to grow and mature. I love hearing from people in my network on how they have grown and developed from being a part of a team that I had the fortune to lead.
Q: What is one supply chain project or initiative you’ve worked on that you found to be particularly memorable?
A: I worked on a project to enable the international transportation visibility [needed to comply with] a U.S. Customs regulation that was being implemented. I pulled a small team together, and we worked tirelessly to define, collaborate, and execute on improving long supply chain event visibility for the company. It was a challenging project with many obstacles, but we delivered it on time and were able to meet the regulatory requirements. A decade later, the program (although iterated many times over) is still in place and driving value. It makes me proud to deliver a solution that has lasted and still is creating value.
Q: What advice would you give someone just entering the supply chain profession?
A: I encourage supply chain professionals to be curious, ask lots of questions, and take on the hardest project no one else wants to touch. This is where you turn problems into opportunities.
Q: What advice do you have for someone who is looking to move into a leadership role?
A: Leading teams is an awesome experience and can help you develop your leadership skills and emotional intelligence. It is also a challenge if done well and will push you to find ways to help others solve problems through coaching and development. I would also advise them to be sure they’re seeking a leadership role for the right reasons. Do not do it for the next promotion. Rather take on the role leading others because you want to help people be successful and build the right team.
Q: What advice do you have for companies that are looking to develop top supply chain talent?
A: Supply chain is a competitive field and presents many opportunities for strong and capable talent. Be upfront about your culture and what you are looking for in talent so that the company and the individual can find [the right] match. I was in a company at one point earlier in my career where I did not mesh well with the culture, and it led me to seek a better experience.
Q: What are the biggest changes you’ve seen in supply chains during your time in the industry?
A: Technology continues to advance as supply chain has become a more executive-level topic across industries. What was thought of as impossible 10 years ago is now a reality through rapid enhancement of technological capabilities. The challenge is to not get too caught up with the technology itself and find solutions that will deliver value to your company at your point of maturity. Every company I have worked for has been at a different level of maturity, and solutions are not a “one size fits all” answer.
Q: What hasn’t changed?
A: Supply chains are subject to potential disruptions—they will just have a different label on them (pandemics, natural disasters, material shortages, etc). As leaders, we need to accept that supply chain disruptions are a way of life and drive improved visibility so you can see them and manage through them. Resiliency is difficult if you cannot see what is happening.
Jon Holztrager
Jon Holztrager, executive directory of supply chain graduate and executive education, University of Tennessee-Knoxville
As a university faculty member and former supply chain leader, Jon Holztrager has spent the past 44 years working to advance the practice of supply chain management and mentoring young people looking to enter the profession. He’s currently executive director of supply chain graduate and executive education for the department of supply chain management at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business and also serves as the executive-in-residence for the university’s Global Supply Chain Institute (GSCI), which coordinates the school’s supply chain offerings with a focus on applied research and industry partnerships.
An accomplished supply chain professional with expertise in total delivered cost reduction, operating asset strategy, and supply chain transformation, Holztrager has held senior roles with various regional, North American, and global supply chain operating groups, including stints at Kimberly-Clark Corp., Sony, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
In addition to overseeing graduate education and supply chain partnerships, Holztrager teaches courses on operations, emphasizing the practical aspects of leading manufacturing, purchasing, distribution, and transportation teams. He also serves as a customer emeritus board member for the Dallas-based contractor management platform ISNetworld.
Q: How did you become interested in the logistics/supply chain field?
A: Back in the Stone Age when I graduated from college, there were no “supply chain” [degree programs]. So while I earned a degree in finance, what really caused me to become interested in supply chain was the recession in 1981. Almost nobody was getting hired, but I was fortunate enough to receive an offer from a small paper converter in Cincinnati for a role that was half procurement and half production planning. And of course, those things weren’t taught in college back then. But I ended up loving the work, and the rest is history.
Q: When did you transition to academia, and was it a natural transition? Is it something you always wanted to do?
A: About 80% of my 44 years working have been with private industry, and the last 20% came after I retired. I never had any intent or desire to teach, but I was a pretty spectacular failure at retirement, so when UT [the University of Tennessee-Knoxville] approached me and asked if I had any interest in teaching a couple of classes, I said I’d give it a try. What started out as a part-time gig quickly grew into a full-time job.
At the time, my boss really wanted to bring in people with senior-level industry experience to give [the UT supply chain program] some street credibility. That led to my role with the Global Supply Chain Institute. Although it wasn’t planned, I would say it was a pretty natural transition, mostly because the team made it easy to get the support I needed. It’s been a great nine-year experience.
Q: Can you talk a little bit about the Global Supply Chain Institute, and what you’re working on right now?
A: The GSCI touches every aspect of the supply chain at the University of Tennessee, and we’re part of the Haslam College of Business. It serves as a hub of supply chain research, supply chain graduate and undergraduate education, non-degree education programs, and our now 27-year-old Supply Chain Forum, which we hold twice a year. All those things are sort of wrapped up under the GSCI umbrella.
What do we work on? The biggest area that we’re focusing on at the moment is overall business growth—especially with our undergraduate programming. Business growth always brings challenges, which is a good problem to have, but it strains resources while simultaneously encouraging you to keep rethinking what you’re doing every day.
I think one of the things that’s really cool about what we do at [GSCI] is the bridge we build between our students and industry. With our Supply Chain Forum, we’ve welcomed 80 global corporate partners. Dr. Ted Stank has had a successful run with his advanced supply chain collaboration, where global corporations are working directly with us on some of the biggest challenges in supply chain.
Maybe the fastest-growing segment of our GSCI initiatives is non-degree business programs. We offer “academies” that are 10 to 15 weeks in length, completely online, and teach best practices in supply chain leadership. This fall we’re also launching a procurement academy.
Q: What are the two biggest changes you’ve seen in the supply chain during your career?
A: The first would be integration of the global supply chain. In 1981, logistics/supply chain functions weren’t integrated; for example, purchasing didn’t talk to engineering. Today, however, global corporations have integrated many of their supply chain functions, which has helped deliver revenue growth and profitability back to businesses. Part of that change has involved giving supply chain leaders a seat at the grownups’ table. In the past, there weren’t any C-level roles for supply chain professionals. Now we have chief supply chain officers that are just as impactful as the chief marketing officer or the chief financial officer.
I’d say the second major change has been technology. Just as one example, when I was with Kimberly-Clark early in my career, I was affiliated with our “ticket” business. We would order a railcar from Ontario on the first of the month, and we didn’t know when we’d see it delivered to the U.S. Today, we have nearly complete visibility of everything in transit. That advancement in visibility technology has been a big improvement for the supply chain industry. Of course, there have been many other technological advancements, like the advent of transportation management systems and artificial intelligence, to name a few.
Q: What advice would you give someone just entering the supply chain profession?
A: Be prepared for a wild ride. The Covid pandemic and the recent tariff drama are just a few examples of the turmoil new professionals might find themselves dealing with when they settle into their careers. I would also say the business community needs your skill, your passion, and whatever it is that makes you uniquely you and gives you drive and interest in working in supply chain.
Q: What is your proudest professional achievement?
A: I’d say that one of my proudest achievements has been the opportunity to interact with and make an impact on a student’s life in some small way. Whether it’s helping them catch a vision of what their career could look like or helping them figure out what job offer to accept, I take pride in sitting down with students and showing them all the different things they can do in the supply chain profession.
When a student calls me five or six years after graduation and tells me, “I was thinking about you the other day, and I remember in class we talked about this topic …,” it’s a pleasure to hear that I’ve made a difference in their lives.
Amalia Londono
Amalia Londono, executive vice president of end-to-end supply chain, North America, Colgate-Palmolive
From an internship making deodorant at a plant in New Jersey to leading a major supply chain transformation for Colgate-Palmolive, Amalia Londono’s career has stretched into all corners of the supply chain. In addition to her experience in manufacturing, Londono, who was born and raised in Colombia, has worked both domestically and internationally to launch products, procure raw materials and packaging supplies, and design supply chain and logistics networks.
Now as executive vice president of end-to-end supply chain for North America, this 26-year veteran of Colgate-Palmolive is helping lead an initiative aimed at transforming five manufacturing plants and their network partners—including six distribution centers and 20-plus external manufacturers and copackers across North America—into a digital, resilient, and sustainable supply chain. According to Londono, this has meant constantly striving to achieve excellence in supply chain fundamentals while also looking to shape the future by investing in the right technologies and capabilities. For example, Colgate-Palmolive is currently exploring ways to use artificial intelligence to help reduce logistics costs, improve demand planning, ensure safety in manufacturing plants, and assist with upskilling.
Underlying it all has been a focus on what Londono calls the “power of we.” She is passionate about spreading the message that supply chain relies on working collaboratively with a wide range of people and getting them all to focus on a single goal … while also allowing them to figure out for themselves the best way to get there.
Q: What drew you to a career in supply chain management?
A: When I was a chemical engineer, I did an internship in a manufacturing facility at a CPG [consumer packaged goods] company, and I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed both the problem solving that we had to do on a day-to-day basis and working with people. Because in supply chain, we can’t do anything on our own, right? It depends on so many people. So that’s what drew me to supply chain. It was all about problem solving and working with people.
Another aspect of it that I really enjoyed was seeing the impact of what I did. Ultimately, I could see it in the market or in the hands of consumers, and I could feel very proud about the product that I helped deliver.
Q: What do you see as the top supply chain challenges facing the consumer packaged goods industry?
A: In terms of supply chain, I see several things. First of all, it’s all about people, right? Any CPG company can buy equipment and technology, but ultimately, people is the secret sauce of how everything gets done. So I think getting great people to work in supply chain is one of our biggest challenges—especially people to work in the warehouses and to work on the factory floors. It’s really tough out there. We have a scarcity of people who are trained and skilled in those types of jobs. We need to [create] the right environment for them so they’ll really want to stay with us and develop careers with us. I think that’s the biggest challenge that we face.
Another challenge is with the ever-changing environment we have in supply chains today: How do we keep improving our supply chains’ resiliency? How do we balance having the right amount of redundancies with the cost that we need to provide? So that’s another challenge.
The last one is the ability to embrace technology at the right speed without losing track of the fundamentals of supply chain management. We cannot get lost in the hype. We have to make sure that our fundamentals are always strong, but in parallel, make sure we are embracing technology at the right speed so that we can keep ourselves ahead.
Q: The people aspect seems to be very important to you. What are some of the keys to creating an effective team?
A: The most important thing is to cultivate trust with the people on your team. At Colgate, we have several values that I also share. The primary one being that we are a caring company. Now that doesn’t mean that we’re just nice to people. We’re caring. And caring means that you’re able to have an honest conversation with someone—you’re able to provide them with feedback or tell them where they need to improve or what they’re doing really well. The other thing is being able to explain what our mission is. What are we here for? And making sure then that people feel empowered to [accomplish that mission] in the best possible way they can think of. And finally, making sure that we hold people accountable, because that’s when teams break down—when somebody is not doing their job and nobody’s calling them out.
The other thing is we are such a global company that we’ve been trained to work with very different people. We have learned how to be very accepting of different ways of working by different team members. For me, diversity in a team is super important because it’s those different points of view that help you come up with the best possible solution.
Q: What has been your proudest professional achievement?
A: What makes me proudest and happiest is when I think about the people I’ve been able to help with their careers. When somebody comes to me and says, “I got promoted, and I’m so excited about my new job. Thank you so much for helping me with this or that.”
And sometimes it’s not just about their professional life but also about how they manage their professional and personal lives. As a mother of three boys, I’ve had lots of younger women come to me and say, “How do you do it? How do you balance your work life with your family life?” And I am absolutely not perfect, and I always caution that my solutions don’t work for everyone. But whenever I’m able to share [advice] and I see that it helps people continue to advance in their career, that makes me really proud.
Q: What advice would you give to someone just starting out in supply chain?
A: My first piece of advice would be to be very curious and enthusiastic about whatever job you have right now. Don’t be so rushed to just get promoted right away. Those first jobs that you have where you actually have to do everything? That’s when you learn so much.
My second piece of advice would be that no matter what you’re doing, focus on delivering results. Let your results speak for you, because people will notice them, and then you will be in demand when they start looking to fill different positions.
Then lastly, I would say, of course, you want to deliver results, but you have to deliver them in the right way. You have to do it while you’re building a good network of people. You can’t just deliver results by being a bully. You have to do it in a respectful way, working well with your teams. Because, in the end, that’s what a supply chain is; it’s a community.
Donnie Williams
Donnie Williams, associate professor of supply chain management, University of Arkansas
Dr. Donnie Williams is perhaps best known for his industry research. And with good reason. Williams, who is associate professor of supply chain management at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, has long been involved in high-profile projects like the Warehousing Education and Research Council’s (WERC) flagship “DC Measures” study and is currently conducting studies on topics ranging from leadership in the logistics/supply chain environment to retail supply chain distribution process improvement.
But research is hardly Williams’ sole area of interest. He is equally passionate about molding the next generation of supply chain professionals. In addition to his classroom and course development work, he is currently director of student–industry engagement at the school’s Supply Chain Management Research Center and has served as faculty adviser for both the Arkansas Supply Chain Association, a student-run organization that promotes careers in supply chain management, and the international supply chain management honor society, Sigma Chi Mu Tau.
In fact, when asked about his proudest professional achievement, Dr. Williams points not to his research, but to something else entirely: the rewards of opening students’ eyes to the world of supply chain management and helping them find their place in the profession.
Q: What attracted you to logistics/supply chain management?
A: My background is actually in the construction industry, specifically industrial construction and project management. I was at Georgia Southern University, and I was a project manager there doing new construction building, working on academic buildings and residence halls. During my master’s program, I took an operations management course, and we started talking about supply chain, including the need for collaboration and the implications of scheduling disruptions. It was a relatively new concept to me, but the more we talked about it, I realized this is the kind of work I do every day in construction.
At the time I took this class, I was actually considering going back to school to get a Ph.D. I loved the campus environment and was passionate about working with college students. I realized I’d like to teach and possibly work with logistics and supply chain companies—that’s what connected me to logistics and supply chain. As it happened, Georgia Southern University was starting a logistics and supply chain management Ph.D. program at the time, so I ended up getting accepted into the first cohort, and that’s how I ended up here today.
Q: You’ve long worked to build a bridge between industry and academia. Could you tell us about those endeavors?
A: I’ve always brought industry into my classroom curriculum by bringing in guest speakers or by taking students to industry events. That is something I’m passionate about, and it gives students a window into the world of supply chain and logistics that they might not otherwise have had.
One of the cool things I’ve done recently is develop a couple of courses aimed at bridging the gap. The first one is a supply chain leadership course that’s designed to help our students improve their soft skills. Our industry partners here at the University of Arkansas noticed that young professionals coming into the field really needed to work on their soft skills. Based on that feedback, I started the supply chain leadership course, where every week we have a different high-level executive come in to talk about their leadership journey and share their experiences, their failures, and their successes.
The second course I developed was one we tested this past semester. While I’ve always had industry professionals come into my classes to discuss warehousing—or third-party logistics services, or transportation, or other logistics functions—this new “deliver” course involves partnering with a single company. I partnered this year with Walmart and instead of bringing in the occasional guest speaker, I brought in members of its full end-to-end logistics, transportation, and distribution teams throughout the semester. The course exposed our students to more than 20 different functional roles involved in managing the movement and storage of goods across Walmart’s distribution and transportation network all the way to the final mile out of the stores.
Q: What advice do you have for companies looking to develop top supply chain talent?
A: As far as recruitment, I think the best strategy is to find about five universities that are training and developing supply chain talent and partner with them.
Once you find the talent, offer internships. I find so many companies don’t have internship programs. There is no better place to begin to identify talent that fits your culture so that you can begin to invest in them. More importantly, students who work in internships go back to their universities and talk about them, and they tell other students about them.
Lastly, once you’ve hired someone, make sure they have a career trajectory. The best way to retain talent is to expose new hires to as many facets of your supply chain as possible so they can see what they might be interested in. I think if your HR team has a really good strategy for managing the early hires—particularly through the first three years—you have a better chance of keeping that talent.
Q: Tell us a little bit about the work you do on WERC’s annual DC Measures study.
A: I got involved with the study around 2011 or 2012. I love the warehouse and I love the distribution center because I think how we deliver products to our customers is extremely important.
As management expert Peter Drucker famously said, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” I find this to be so true. That’s why metrics are so important. And being able to benchmark those metrics each year helps us [identify] trends as they develop, see how strategies are changing, and learn how companies are responding, based on the metrics they utilize from year to year. And that’s what’s so fun about compiling the study each year—we get to see how companies are using the study to drive improvements within their organizations.
Q: What is your proudest professional achievement, and why?
A: I think my proudest professional moments are when a student says, “Hey, I took your class, and I’m going to change my major to supply chain” or “You’re the reason I went into this industry.”
I had a student last year send me an incredible email. When he was in my class, he didn’t know what he wanted to do. I introduced him to the folks at Tractor Supply, who gave him an internship, and then, when he graduated, offered him a full-time job. He sent me this beautiful email that said, “I just want to thank you. If I had not had that conversation with you that day, I don’t know where I’d be.”
This is why I do this. The research papers, all the other things are rewarding, but there’s nothing more rewarding than having an impact on a student who’s just trying to figure life out.
Michael Wohlwend
Michael Wohlwend, managing principal, Alpine Supply Chain Solutions
Michael Wohlwend has spent more than 30 years as a successful supply chain professional. Today, he is managing principal of Alpine Supply Chain Solutions, a Naples, Florida, design and consulting company he founded in 2017. In this role, he draws on his extensive background in industrial engineering, supply chain management, and sales to help design advanced facility and material handling systems for his firm’s clients.
Before starting Alpine, Wohlwend worked at a number of leading software, consulting, and supply chain companies, including Opticity, Coupa Software, Iptor Supply Chain Systems, Infor, SAP, Manhattan Associates, Catalyst, Tompkins International, and TZA.
He is also a prolific writer, thought leader, and speaker at industry events and is involved in a number of supply chain associations, including the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) and the Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC).
Beyond this association work, Wohlwend serves on the executive board of the nonprofit GiGi’s Playhouse: Down Syndrome Achievement Centers, where his passion is helping the young adults the organization serves get jobs.
Q: What attracted you to the supply chain field, and what continues to motivate you each day?
A: I couldn’t decide between becoming an architect or going into business—so when I discovered I could design manufacturing and distribution centers using AutoCAD and study it within the school of business, I was hooked on supply chain.
What motivates me each day is knowing that every facility has four core assets: space, equipment, labor, and control/systems. Facility design isn’t an exact science; it’s more of an art—one that involves leveraging data and decades of experience to develop the ideal solution.
Q: Your career has included management, sales, and engineering work. How have those experiences combined to make you the successful supply chain professional you are today?
A: Industrial engineering has been the foundation of everything I’ve done. It’s about taking the data, solving complex problems, and then layering software over the ideal process to allow the system to execute the design.
On the management side, I’ve always been driven to bring out the very best in people—not just professionally, but personally—which has been a huge part of my career. This mindset has helped me build an incredible team and network of seasoned supply chain professionals.
Q: You’ve worked in the supply chain industry for more than 30 years. What are the most significant changes you’ve seen during that time?
A: It’s been a wild ride! One of the biggest shifts has been in how buildings are designed. Spec facilities now come with higher clear heights, better column spacing, and even considerations for the employee experience from the moment they walk in.
On the systems side, we’ve moved from on-premise solutions to the cloud, and the real evolution has been around managing increasingly complex order profiles. ERP [enterprise resource planning] and WMS [warehouse management system] platforms have improved, but where we once had WCS [warehouse control systems], we now see WES [warehouse execution systems] stepping in to extend and enhance legacy WMS capabilities.
And of course automation has been completely transformed. We started with pick-to-light and basic conveyors, but now we’re deploying goods-to-person systems and AMRs [autonomous mobile robots] that dramatically cut down on unproductive travel.
Q: What are your clients’ primary goals for their DC design projects?
A: Most companies are aiming to maximize space and implement cost-justified technologies that reduce labor requirements. At the same time, many are under pressure to provide 98% next-day-delivery coverage to meet rising customer expectations.
Q: You’ve been very involved in industry organizations, including CSCMP and WERC. Why is this important to you?
A: The access to shared knowledge, peer collaboration, and industry best practices these organizations provide has been instrumental to my growth. Beyond that, one of my personal passions is helping young adults with Down syndrome find meaningful employment in the supply chain. I have to credit Randy Lewis, a former WERC board member, for opening my eyes to the power and potential of an alternative workforce.
I’m also passionate about educating supply chain students on the breadth of opportunities in this industry. Any time I can speak to college students, I jump at the chance—because I wish someone had done that for me early in my career.
Q: What do you consider to be your greatest professional achievement?
A: Starting Alpine Supply Chain in 2017 was a big bet, and it’s been an incredibly rewarding experience. We’ve built a fantastic team and have had the opportunity to partner with some amazing clients. Last year, we were proud to be named to Inc. magazine’s list of the fastest-growing private companies in America.
From a project standpoint, two implementations stand out: one for [trading card distributor] MJ Holding and one for [hair and skin care brand] Monat Global. Both involved full facility design and WMS implementations that demanded a deep level of data analysis and decades of experience to engineer the right solution for their peak volumes. MJ ships 2 million units per day, requiring a system that could support 18 cartons per minute. Monat ships 50,000 packages per day, requiring a system that could support 42 cartons a minute.
Q: What advice would you give someone just entering the supply chain profession?
A: Congratulations—you’re entering an incredible industry full of opportunity, growth, and constant innovation. With every person you meet, take the time to build your network. This is a community of problem solvers who are always willing to help. The more you give, the more you’ll get in return—professionally and personally.
