competitive leadership - wercjuly-aug2012)v4.pdf · a mission statement and communicating it to the...

Information for Members of the Warehousing Education and Research Council

july/august 2012

In this issue...

WERC’s 35th Annual Conference Coverage 1–10

North Texas Convention Save the Date 9

2012–2013 Board of Directors 11

continued on page 2

Over 1,000 logistics professionals converged on

Atlanta May 6-9 to attend WERC’s 35th annual

conference. A robust program awaited them, one

that included roundtables, breakout sessions,

WIRE—the Warehousing Industry Resources

Event, and a variety of facility tours.

Competitive LeadershipCan leadership be learned? Former Baltimore Ravens head coach Brian Billick says yes.

K icking off the program on Monday morning was a keynote presentation by Brian Billick, former Baltimore Ravens head

coach. His theme? Competitive Leadership, which also happens to be the basis of his book by the same title.

The message Billick brought to the table is that effective lead-ership can be an acquired skill, regardless of industry. He shared what he considers to be key principles of leadership, whether on or off the field and used entertaining examples from his time with the Ravens to drive home his point.

“Even in the NFL, it’s about the business,” Billick explained. “What’s common sense isn’t always common practice.”

In any organizational situation, Billick claimed, you’re going to have individuals with a vested self-interest. “As a leader, you need to help individuals suspend some of that self interest for the greater good of the team,” he said. “The toughest task is to work through individual agendas.”

To make his point, Billick used the act of putting an NFL team together. “You’re immediately faced with payment inequity and have to figure out how to keep that inequity under control,” he said. “How do you cut through the business aspect of what you are try-ing to get done as a team?”

At the core of every organization is personnel, chemistry and structure, he explained. “I like to think of the personnel side as the bacon and eggs breakfast,” he said. “The chickens are involved, but the pigs are committed. You want as many pigs as possible in your organization.”

CONFERENCE COVERAGE

/ JuLY–AugusT 20122

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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to WERCSheet, 1100 Jorie Blvd., Ste. 170, Oak Brook, IL 60523-3016. WERC assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or other materials submitted for review.

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Writers: Amanda Loudin and Joseph Mazel

This isn’t to say that chickens aren’t good people, he said. “They are limited by their circumstances. They have minimal interest in pushing the organization forward. Pigs, on the other hand, are totally vested.”

When it came to putting the Ravens teams together, Billick determined that he needed about 30 percent of the team made up of pigs. “If you can get that 30 percent invested, you can get the rest of team to go along,” he

said. “If you don’t have 30 percent, you need to nurture it or bring it in from outside.”

At the end of the day, though, he explained, you need the chickens also—they serve a valuable role.

Billick also puts a great deal of value into designing a mission statement and communicating it to the organization. “It’s amazing the amount of time and money spent on mission statements,” he said. “The most critical thing is commu-nicating that statement up and down the chain of com-mand. Do you understand how that statement is affect-ing the group?” You must be careful of what

you’re asking of the group based on the mission statement, Billick

said. “Your competency is measured on goals and your mission statement,” he explained. “If you’re not smart about goals you put in front of them, you won’t succeed.”

It’s important, also, to remember that each member of your workforce will filter the mission statement differ-ently. With the Ravens, Billick explained, this meant that a 35-year old player with four kids and two car dealer-ships would look at the mission statement differently than the 21-year old just out of college. “They are at two different places in their lives and careers,” he explained. “My job as a leader was to recognize this and treat the players accordingly.”

Billick gave the example of having to make the final cuts to his roster each season. “I had to bypass talent sometimes in order to keep someone who is going to be invested and work hard for the organization,” he said. “I’m sure you can think of examples like this within your own company.”

going back to the chick and pig example, Billick said that you have to watch how much the pigs of the organi-zation will have to absorb for the chickens. “You always have to be careful about bringing in people who will draw too much away from the team and become a cross to bear for the organization,” he said.

so how do you manage this? “Chemistry—getting it all to work,” said Billick. “get the team to drink the Kool-Aid. You can’t have silos—you need to break them down.”

The ability to develop and maintain relationships is key to success today, said Billick, but there are typically two obstacles to this:

You feel the need to keep everyone happy and develop consensus—this, he said, removes accountabil-ity if you’re not careful.

When you let your ego get too tied into your posi-tion, then you defend defenseless positions. “Put your ego aside, understand your mission statement, under-stand chickens and pigs—your workforce wants to know all will be OK,” he explained. “When you get it right as a leader, it’s humbling, because you recognize all the peo-ple it took to get there.

Billick said he is often asked if he’d go back to coach-ing and his answer is no. “But if I were to go back to coaching, I’d get the best people, provide a mission statement, and spend every waking moment pushing members toward their mission,” he said. “There’s where success comes from. It’s hard, and it’s heavy lifting, but that’s reality today. Nurture it employee by employee.”

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2012 CONFERENCE COVERAGE

Billick also puts a great deal of value

into designing a mission statement

and communicating it to the

organization.

/ JuLY–AugusT 2012 3

Warehouse Employee Opinion Survey

I f you’ve ever watched the television show you’d know that many top-level executives are out of touch

with how their employees on the front lines really feel about their jobs. since most executives don’t get the chance to get down on the floor level to gain that insight, ProLogistix has spent the past five years conducting an annual warehouse employee opinion survey.

Brian Devine, division vice president at the com-pany, revealed the eye-opening results during a breakout session at the conference. “When you travel to branches as a senior executive, you get to see what the local branch wants you to see,” he said. “so the ware-house employee survey gives you the real deal.”

Devine explained that ProLogistix conducts the sur-vey as a way to:

Obtain the preferences of the non-exempt warehouse employees as it relates to their jobs

Make key results available to business leaders

use the results to modify existing workforce policies to help attract and retain the best employees

Why is this information important? According to Devine, the cost to replace an hourly worker is $3,809. “I tend to believe that number is high,” he said, “but even if you cut that in half, it’s still $1, 094. That’s a lot of money.”

To get a good cross-section of employee opinions, ProLogistix conducted the survey in multiple cities across the country. The 1,600 employee participants were either ProLogistix employees assigned to the client site, the client’s full-time staff, or applicants to logistics jobs with at least six months of DC experience.

Many of those surveyed were people with tenure—about 50% with more than five years experience, and about 50% who were 35 or older. When asked what’s most important when looking for warehouse job, the respondents listed priorities in this order:

Pay Job stability Benefits Advancement opportunities

Why these results? “These were different results from other surveys that we’ve seen where respondents don’t put money at the top” said Devine. These are hourly workers for whom pay is very important.”

The survey also showed that benefits have grown in importance since the start of the recession.

When asked why they left their last job, most DC

employees left because they were laid off. “This is different from 2007 and 2008 when most left because they sought more money,” said Devine. “This again shows the effects of the recession.”

When asked which shifts they were willing to work, the respondents showed that they’d take just about any to hold a job—again a difference from a few years back, pre-recession. Devine offered a word of caution here, how-ever. “You might be able to fill the second and third shifts now without a pay differential, but as the econ-omy improves, that will change,” he said. “My advice: for the coming year, start factoring that in. “

The survey also asked what employees prefer in terms of paid time off. The choices were (1) Current pay rate plus five days paid off/year or (2) 25 cents more per hour with no paid time off. Overwhelmingly, they said they would rather have five days paid off. Devine recommended employers parlay that information into offering paid leave as an incentive to employees, for perfect attendance, as an example.

When asked how they would like to receive pay increases, either based on tenure or based on perfor-mance, the popular choice was performance. “This is consistent with the incentive programs we’ve put in place,” said Devine.

The survey also asked employees their opinion of labor unions: A third have a favorable opinion, about 10 percent unfavorable, and 50% have no opinion “This suggests they can be swayed either way,” said Devine. “When we asked why they might join labor unions, the biggest reason is that they think unions can help with job security.” continued on page 4

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%2008 2009 2010 2011

Get increases based on length of employment

Increases to be based on each individual’s work performance

Tell us your choice in how pay increases are earned?


Also revealing was a look at how pay rates compared to the consumer price index (CPI). “Wages have stayed fairly consistent, but the CPI has gone up a great deal,” said Devine. “salaries are not keeping up. To close the gap, however, would average out to just 93 cents an hour, so consider that.”

summing up, Devine found the following key busi-ness implications from the survey results:

Think about the hourly worker—have empathy, not sympathy

The pressure on margins is high, but if you pay more, you can expect more too

Performance based pay—consider it, and know there will be some casualties. You may lose a third of your workforce that can’t get to the next level. If done on a team level, hard workers will weed out others

Employee loyalty mirrors employer loyalty—the second thing that workers are looking for is job stability

small changes can make big difference—do an undercover boss thing and ask if you want your kids working here?

Conduct a local wage survey

There is cheap stuff you can do that can go a long way—a pizza party for a safety contest; a T-shirt day for meeting productivity goals; a gas card for employee of month, for instance.

By keeping some of the small things in mind, your loyalty to your employers can shine through and, as the survey shows, can result in a more dedicated workforce.


Tipping Point Analysis


A nother popular session proved to be Tipping Point Analysis, presented by Joe Dunlap,

director at Fortna, Inc. Dunlap presented this tool, often referred to as sensitivity analysis, as a surefire way to get a project approved.

When working on projects, you need to determine how far out you can accurately predict situations in order to have your recommenda-tions prove right. “What variables can influence your prediction one way or the other?” Dunlap asked.

He used the example of hurricane prediction to make his point. “When a big hurri-cane is headed to Florida, do you think the people who live there care when and where it will hit?” he asked. “Of course they do. But can they get a really accurate picture of this a week out? Probably not. The further you go into the future with your predictions, the greater the odds that it will be wrong.”

In logistics, you need to be able to determine how wrong you have to be before you change your recom-mendations.

How wrong do you have to be?Dunlap used the example of a client with 200 stores

in 2011. “The business stakeholders had provided us with growth projections,” he explained. “They were con-fident that they would grow at a rate of 12 stores per year, each year.

But when we dug a little deeper, one stakeholder said there was a high chance of acquisition about three years out. We had to factor that in. Then IT told us they would likely have an upgrade coming in the next couple of years. There was also the potential for lower than expected store lease rates,” Dunlap said.

All of this extra information changed the potential scenario. “This gave us boundaries we could plan off of,” he said. “so we developed best-case scenario and worst-case scenario projections.”

using these boundaries, you can focus on the drivers needed for both conservative and aggressive growth, said Dunlap. “You can see the tipping point for when to design for exceptions,” he said.

A big advantage to tipping point analysis, according

a big advantage to tipping point analysis … is that it helps you get right answer in spite of being wrong about some of the specifics.

Let WERC do the work!If you’re the one who plans the annual “team” meeting for your company, consider this:

Companies are welcome to take advantage of WERC’s annual conference as a forum to bring their distribution and logistics teams together for their company business, sales and strategy meetings. WERC’s corporate memberships offer memberships and conference registrations at special pricing — it is the perfect deal for large teams. Consider that conference alone offers:

Educational presentations and case studies based on actual performance in warehouses.

Opportunities to attend facility tours of DCs in the Dallas area.

Access to the exhibition hall where they will meet with the vendors responsible for supporting the execution for warehousing’s best-practices.

If you’re interested in the convenience and reduced expense of consolidating your event with the only conference for logistics and warehousing professionals, contact Chad Pilbeam at [email protected] or 281.746.0449.


to Dunlap, is that it helps you get the right answer in spite of being wrong about some of the specifics. “It helps you identify the key variables that influence cost and benefit streams,” he explained. “It’s a technique for investigating the impact of changes in variables of the base-case scenario. This gives you both sides of the coin—typically, only adverse changes are considered in sensitivity analysis.”

Dunlap broke down the reasons for doing TPA as the following:

Assumptions are just that Optimism abounds—stakeholders are generally

optimistic Investigate the consequences of likely adverse

changes in key variables Assess whether decisions are likely to be affected

by changes in assumptions Helps ID actions that could mitigate possible

adverse effects Board of directors will require it

When is TPA applicable? Dunlap listed several scenarios for when to use TPA.

They include when designing a network strategy, when looking into alternative design analysis for distribution, and when looking at build versus buy. With the whys behind TPA, Dunlap then laid out the hows. These are his tips for accomplishing a thorough TPA:

Determine type of analysis first (network? Capacity driven? )

Build model that allows you to collect data ID data needs and collect data ID key drivers and scenarios ID stakeholders to validate data solicit best/worst case scenarios Create coefficient of variation Baseline model and validate Exchange variable values within the range ID high impact variables Rerun analysis combinations

The bottom line is that tipping point analysis can give you a reality check that you might not otherwise have when contemplating change. said Dunlap: “Pure negligence and lack of acknowledgment of changing scenarios can lead to a sunk ship. When changes occur, go back to drawing board and assess whether or not you need to change course.”

It’s not only about bringing out the best in yourself, but also how you can bring out the best in others.

T he new reality ventures into the unknown. It’s about uncertainty. It’s the concern about being

prepared for what may come next. To Eric Boles, presi-dent, The game Changers Inc. (Lakewood, Wash.), the new reality is all about change, expectation and potential.

“What I have noticed about leading in this new real-ity is that change is occurring at a much faster rate while expectations are shifting, moving even higher,” he declared during the Wednesday keynote presentation. “It seems that everyone is being asked to do more with less. so, simply meeting expectations is not good enough anymore.”

What was considered acceptable or great last year is now considered not good enough, he charged. “In reality the new definition of mediocrity is meeting expecta-tions,” said Boles, a former wide receiver with the New York Jets and green Bay Packers. “We now need to exceed expectations.” The question is how to exceed with fewer tools and resources.

Tipping Point Analysis

Leading People in the “New” Reality

continued on page 6


It’s all about releasing potentialAccording to Boles, “It’s about how well we maximize

or unleash the potential that is in each individual; how can I get the best out of the people that I am lead-ing or influencing.” To illustrate, he uses an acorn and an oak tree.

“The acorn represents all of your accomplishments, achievements, and successes that you’ve experienced to date in your personal life, your professional life and with your team,” he explained. “The oak tree rep-resents what’s still possible. It’s your potential.”

Potential is dormant abil-ity. It’s unused success. It’s what still needs to be accom-plished. “It’s everything that we can be, but have not yet become,” Boles explained. “It’s everything we can do, but have not yet done.” The question becomes how to release that potential, “not only for ourselves, but in those we are leading.”

“We need leaders in this new reality that could not only bring out the best in themselves, but also leaders who can bring out the best in others,” he maintained. “You may have wonderful people that you lead that may

have all of the potential in the world, but until that potential is challenged it will never come out. Potential must be given responsibility to be released,” he declared.

Boles advised that “continu-ously measuring yourself against those around you can be very dangerous because who you’re competing against may not be all that good.” Instead, he coun-seled, “As leaders in this new reality we’re going to have

to exceed, as the expectation of being a little bit better than our competition is not good enough anymore.”

Part of the plan to exceed is to recognize and over-come the resistance to change. A common attitude against change is, “I’m OK the way I am.” This attitude has to be eradicated, says Boles, “because in this new reality that we’re living in change is happening so fast that what is common today will no longer exist tomorrow.”

Creating a visionA major sticking point

to accepting change is the fear of the unknown, of what the future may be and of doing something different. “great leadership begins with a vision, a picture of what the future

will be,” Boles said. “Leadership is contagious and a lead-er’s attitude is also contagious.” When a leader is fearful it will cascade through the team, department and organization.

No matter what comes at you, spending time worry-ing about anything in the future makes very little sense, according to Boles. Instead, his advice is not to worry about the future, but to “start planning for it, start designing it, start deciding what you want it to look like, and then communicating that vision with all of the peo-ple you lead.”

“As you go forward, especially in this new reality, my advice is to take on the challenge, take on whatever comes in front of you, confront it, and as you look back you’ll say, ‘Why was I ever afraid of it?’”

seeking, sharing feedbackAmong other reasons to resist change is the fear of

failure and rejection. “We all fear failure and rejection,” said Boles. “The short answer is to get feedback and start working on it.”

In the new reality feedback is everything, according to Boles. “You need to be quicker, faster adjusting than everyone else. Feedback will give you the information that will enable you to get a leg up on the competition, and also to establish a better relationship with those around you.”

But you have to ask for it and encourage it, whether



“What was considered acceptable or great

last year is now considered not good

enough ... In reality the new definition of

mediocrity is meeting expectations.”

Eric Boles


it’s from your team, a customer, or some peer or col-league. Ask a customer what you can do to improve performance or alleviate some concern of his; solicit input from the team about what needs to be changed to enhance productivity or resolve other issues.

“Take that feedback and direct your efforts as opposed to wasting time and resources on a bunch of things that really aren’t meeting the need, or solving the problem,” he mentioned. “With respect to the team, ask-ing them for their input makes them feel important and helps to convince them that you really care. They’ll feel valued and want to be a part of your team,” he explained.

Great coaching vs. great leadershipThey are different, as Boles explains: “great leader-

ship begins with your vision as a leader; great coaching begins with the individual talents of the people that you’re leading.” Relating to his playing days, he shared, “sometimes coaches constantly remind people of what they did wrong. That might be somewhat helpful, but rarely do you get peak performance out of that from the individual.”

What great coaches do is determine what the indi-vidual does best and then places them in a position where they can do that more often. “In this new reality you can’t afford to waste time and effort having people in positions they shouldn’t be in,” Boles explained. “What you need to do is have every single person on your team in the right position so they may give everything that they have, every time.”

In closing, Boles shared: “Leading in this new reality doesn’t require you to be any better than you are right now, but what is necessary is that you need to be at your best more of the time.”

T aking a page from Boles’ playbook, the conference’s Young Logistics Professionals Roundtable’s goal

together with the other initiatives implemented by WERC is to “provide some insight, leadership and coach-ing to our younger members to help them advance in their careers,” said Roundtable co-leader Michael B. Wohlwend, vice president, sAP Americas, st. Charles, Ill.

A quick poll of the 20-plus attendees at the session found that 60 percent did not have a logistics degree or previous logistics experience, while 80 percent said this was their first WERC conference. Their primary purpose for attending the conference was to network, and to share common issues and experiences.

While discussion topics included social media, grey 2K, and knowledge transfer, most of the time was spent on mentor programs and approaches. This was expected according to session co-leader, Tim J. Hotze, vice president, supply chain management, Panalpina Inc., Morristown, NJ, as he observed that mentoring pro-grams are not yet widespread, as was indicated by the attendees’ own experiences.

As one explained, his “mentoring” experience is ask-ing questions of more senior people in the company, while another told of his periodic semi-formal half-hour, or hour, sit down session where he and his supervisor go through a prepared agenda. But most did not have a mentor relationship either internal or external.

Wohlwend advised the attendees, “start letting peo-ple know what your goal is. Request an appointment with your boss or your boss’ boss and tell them your

continued on page 8

Focus on Young Professionals


goals and objectives and ask about areas of opportunity within the company. Also share what you’re doing on your own to advance. seek feedback about what you’re doing right and what you’re not, and what you need to do to get to the next level and beyond.”

LinkedIn group for WERC’s Young Professionals: www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3965896&trk=group_mgt_name.

Bull ’n Beer Breakout

WERC scheduled a rather unconventional session at its 2011 Conference that was met with such enthusiasm and acceptance that it had to be placed on the program at this year’s annual meeting. In anticipation of a fes-tive and fun venue mixed together with a relaxed and friendly camaraderie, and some light yet educational banter about the link among warehousing, logistics and beer, some 100 conferees (up from about 50 last year) assembled for Beer ’n Bull 2012. Oh, yes, another benefit was the sampling of several local Atlanta craft beer “styles.”

Chad G. Pilbeam, WERC’s go-to guy for information about the Warehouse Facility Certification Program, and noted beer connoisseur and brewing industry raconteur, hosted the informative, interactive session. He described the relationship of beer and brewing to the warehousing and logistics sector with facts and tales that may be rele-vant and accurate, circumstantial or coincidental, or complete fabrications.

In the casual setting, the audience is encouraged and invited to challenge Pilbeam when they believe any



of his statements are less than factual by shouting out, “bull.” However, there is no “bull” when the audience sampled different beer styles, as he expertly described their features, characteristics and texture.

“Beer and warehousing are tied together,” he declared. “For example, there are over 100 different styles of beer, and beer exists for all different types of occa-sions. In warehousing and logistics, there are many different ways to ship and store. There’s no one solution for all situations,” he maintained. Among the other simi-larities he shared:

Third-party logistics. “Third-party logistics is simply contract logistics, the outsourcing of a warehousing/logistics function,” he described. “Well, there’s this thing called contract brewing, which is prevalent throughout the brewing industry.” In fact contract brewing is growing to the point, “where the beer you think you’re drinking is probably being brewed by someone else.” As an example, he cited Pabst, which is the third largest brewer in the u.s, “but doesn’t brew a drop.” Pabst today is a virtual brewer that outsources the brewing of 25 brands of beer and malt liquor. (That’s true.)

Craft beer and third-party logistics. “The third-party logistics industry represents about $120-billion in rev-enue in the u.s. annually,” Pilbeam offered. “The craft beer industry also accounts for $120-billion in u.s. rev-enue.” (That’s a coincidence.)

Beer and logistics. Back in history, beer was a product made locally, to be consumed quickly, as it spoiled rapidly because the necessary packaging, pasteuriza-tion and refrigeration wasn’t yet available to the industry. “Once the brewers solved the spoilage prob-lem, they began to ship it and distribute it over longer distances,” Pilbeam explained. “since much of the


infrastructure was not yet in place, it was the brewing industry’s shipments that were responsible for push-ing out the rail lines further to the west, enabling beer to become a regional and national product.” (Yes, it’s ‘bull’ as the audience called out quite correctly.)

Refrigerated railroad cars. Before refrigeration, the brewing companies used ice to keep the beer fresh while in transit. But ice is messy, inconvenient and sea-sonal and is a major problem in the summer. “However, the brewing industry commissioned the first refrigera-tion unit, and because of that we have refrigerated logistics,” he shared. “so, the fact is that refrigerated logistics really started with beer.” (And that’s no bull.)

Logistics payback and India Pale Ale. When England had troops stationed in India many years ago, among the provisions provided was beer. But it spoiled when shipped over that distance. The brewers found that hops was a good preservative so they added it to the beer and shipped it to India. But the characteristic of the hops came out in the beer and it produced a dif-ferent flavor. upon returning home to England, the troops preferred the beer they drank in India. “Because of logistics, we have an entire new beer style called India Pale Ale,” according to Pilbeam. (That’s true.)

11th Annual Warehousing Resource Convention

Wednesday, October 10, 20128:00 am - 4:00 pm Grapevine Convention Center 1209 South Main, Grapevine, TX

Fee: Member $20 / Non-member $25 (After 10/9/12, $30 at the door, cash or check only) Join your peers and vendors for this one-day event that’s easy to get to, inexpensive—and great FUN! The North Texas convention is in its 11th year of success and we’d like you to join us for:

Exhibit Hall with 40+ exhibitors 4 educational presentation sessions

AND roundtables Continental breakfast, hot lunch and snacks provided Raffle & FREE prizes Great one-on-one time with vendors and peers

Contact Information: Norman Saenz, Jr. NorthTX WERCouncil President TranSystems ConsultingSenior Vice [email protected] 972.888.2535



And Here’s What Attendees Had to Say…

“Attending the annual WERC Conference is always a valuable experience for me and my top managers. Getting to benchmark our operation with other world class organizations always helps us to identify areas where we may be able to improve.”

“Ideas that I took from this conference will make our operation more efficient. New processes and examples of how they worked at other companies will be a selling tool I will use going forward.”

“The variety of activities makes this conference stand out from the other Logistics Conferences I have attended in the past. The roundtable discussions, interactive sessions, and facility tours give the participants tools to use in their own environments.”

“I was able to bring a bunch of practical insights back to my job and implement them immediately. All the main stage speakers really gave good tips on leadership.”

“The conference attendees and facilitators possessed a wealth of knowledge that all were willing to share. Great overall experience!”


PRESIDENTGregory J. Javor, Senior VP, Supply Chain Operations Global Logistics, Starbucks Coffee Company, has responsibility for the overall management of Starbucks logistics, distribution, transportation and customer service.

VICE PRESIDENT/PRESIDENT ELECTMichael B. Wohlwend is a vice president with SAP Americas. In this role, he develops strategies, solution concepts and new business opportunities to serve existing and new customers.

SECRETARY/TREASURERPaul M. Avampato is VP, Customer Service and Logistics, Snack Foods and Confections for Kraft Foods. In his years with Nabisco and Kraft, Paul has held various assignments in transportation, distribution, customer service and product supply.

DIRECTOR, 2013 ANNUAL CONFERENCE Chad W. Autry, PhD, Associate Professor of Logistics, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, has worked with many organizations related to supply chain process improvement. His research focuses primarily on supply chain network design.

DIRECTOR, 2014 ANNUAL CONFERENCE Tim J. Hotze is the Vice President, Supply Chain Management at Panalpina Inc. He is an expert in International Supply Chain Management, Warehouse and Distribution, value-added Logistics solutions, and a broad scale of Logistics and SCM IT solutions.

DIRECTOR AT LARGEStuart M. Rosenfeld, VP Distribution/ Logistics, Pep Boys, is the only founding family member still actively involved in company management. Pep Boys is an aftermarket service and retail chain that was established in 1921, and celebrated its 90th Anniversary in 2011

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICERMichael J. Mikitka, CAE joined WERC in 2000 as director of conference and in 2006 was promoted to senior director of conference and to CEO in 2009. Michael is responsible for overall management of the association and staff.

DIRECTOR OF WEB SERVICES Sylvia Spore, Technology Manager, with RightSourceRx, has 10+ years of supply chain expertise gained in the pharmaceuticals, semiconductor and software development industries. Supply chain operations, analysis and technology are her passions.

DIRECTOR OF INDUSTRY RELATIONSC. Frederick Rake is Senior VP, Global Logistics, with CEVA Logistics, where he is responsible for the key account management program — Century. This program supports Ceva’s large global clients to create efficiencies and improvements across all of their supply chain activities. DIRECTOR OF MARKETING MEMBERSHIPSheila Benny serves as executive vice president of Optricity Corporation where she leads marketing, strategy and alliances. Her background has focused specifically in the market space where technology and service industries intersect.

DIRECTOR AT LARGEStephen (Andy) Smith, is the President & COO for Kenco Logistic Services. Andy has overall responsibility for managing 25 million square feet of warehouse space, 4,000 associates, and 100+ buildings across 31 states and Canada.

DIRECTOR AT LARGEJ. Randolph (Randy) Lewis, Senior VP, Supply Chain and Logistics, oversees all of Walgreens distribution facilities across the country. He is recognized as a driving force in Walgreens’ employing the handicapped.

DIRECTOR AT LARGEStan Danzig, Executive Director, Cushman & Wakefield, East Rutherford, NJ, leads a six-person team, focusing on industrial leasing and sales, significant land tract transactions and national/global corporate representation.

Past PresidentLawrence Dean Shemesh is President and CEO of OPSdesign Consulting™, a supply chain consultancy specializing in the “Customer-Centric” design of warehousing, distribution, and fulfillment operations.

2012-2013 Board of Directors

PERIODICALs

SAVE THE DATE

Start planning now to join us for the 36th Annual WERC Conference and WIRE. DaLLas, TExasApril 28 – May 1, 2013

Watch for the call for presentations for the annual conference on the WERC website in July, 2012 www.werc.org

Contact Gary Master ([email protected]) or Jim Indelicato ([email protected]) to find out about the exciting sponsorship and exhibiting opportunities for WIRE 2013 in Dallas.

competitive leadership - wercjuly-aug2012)v4.pdf · a mission statement and communicating it to the...

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