Faculty Experts

Huseyn Abdulla is an assistant professor of supply chain management in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. He earned his doctorate in operations management at Mays Business School, Texas A&M University. His research focuses on sustainable operations, retail operations and behavioral operations management. His manuscripts have appeared in the Journal of Operations Management, Production and Operations Management and Manufacturing & Service Operations Management journals. His work in the Journal of Operations Management received an honorable mention for the 2020 Jack Meredith Best Paper Award. In 2022, he received an outstanding reviewer service runner-up award from the Journal of Operations Management, where he serves as an associate editor.

Abdulla has taught operations management and sustainable operations courses at Mays Business School and teaches manufacturing and service operations management in the Haslam College of Business.

Alan Amling is a TED speaker and thought leader on harnessing digital disruption for success. He helped drive innovation over a 27-year career with UPS. Today, Amling is the CEO of the advisory firm Thrive and Advance LLC and serves as an advisor to several supply chain startups as well as the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute and NextGen Supply Chain Conference. His latest book, Organizational Velocity, was published in 2022.

As VP of corporate strategy at UPS, Amling helped revitalize UPS innovation and venture capital programs for the digital economy. He moved into the role after serving as VP of marketing for UPS Global Logistics & Distribution.  

At UT, Amling teaches supply chain strategy and technology courses in the Master of Science in Supply Chain Management Online, MBA, and Professional MBA programs.  His research focuses on the digital transformation of the supply chain and disruption in last-mile logistics. 

Alan holds a Ph.D. in Management from Kennesaw State University, an MBA from Indiana University, and a B.A. in Business and Psychology from Lewis & Clark College.

Chad W. Autry is the Daniel and Karen Myers Distinguished Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Autry holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration with focus in Supply Chain Management from the University of Oklahoma, an MBA with focus on International Business from Oklahoma City University, and a BBA in Marketing from the University of Oklahoma.

Chad W. Autry’s business background includes experience in retail and restaurant operations management and information technology consulting. During his academic career, he has worked with and for numerous professional and civic organizations related to supply chain process improvement, including American Airlines, IBM, Goodwill Industries, and multiple U.S. Department of Defense agencies. He has assumed active leadership roles at local and national levels for the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, the Warehousing Education and Research Council, the Production and Operations Management Society, the Institute for Supply Management, the National Association of Purchasing Managers and the Supply Chain Management and Industrial Distribution Symposium.

Autry’s current research focuses on supply chain network design and strategy, with specific attention to relationship integration and technological connectivity across multiple firms simultaneously. He is the author of over 70 peer-reviewed studies in academic outlets and is a past editor-in-chief of the Journal of Supply Chain Management. A frequent speaker, he is a regular source for media on emerging supply chain issues and has been characterized as a “supply chain futurist” in professional publications and conferences.

Mark Baker is an international enterprise excellence and quality expert. For more than 35 years, he has guided corporations in 30 countries around the world in making transformative changes to their operations for rapid, yet lasting impact. Baker has successfully helped companies in many industries, including light and heavy manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, medical devices, banking and insurance. Baker began his career as a mechanical engineer at Honda Motor Company, eventually leading the enterprise excellence rollout for Saint-Gobain, then heading the Shingo Institute for Enterprise Excellence, as well as being involved with McKinsey & Company.

Andrew Balthrop is an assistant professor in the Department of Supply Chain Management at the Haslam College of Business and The Baker School of Public Policy & Public Affairs at the University of Tennessee. He earned his doctorate in economics from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. His research focuses on the intersection of freight transportation, supply chains, and public policy, specializing in the empirical analysis of environmental and safety regulations within the trucking industry. Balthrop’s research has appeared in the Journal of Operations Management, Journal of Business Logistics, Energy Economics, and Resource and Energy Economics, among others. It has been cited in industry publications and national policy debates.

In his more than 30-year career, Jeff Barland has held supply chain leadership roles across multiple sectors, including retail, distribution and manufacturing. He is certified in project management through the Project Management Institute and production and inventory management and integrated resource management by the Association for Supply Chain Management (APICS). Before accepting the role of assistant professor of practice at the Haslam College of Business, he was an online instructor of operations management, supply chain, project management, and business analytics for the University of Washington and Arkansas Technical University.

John Bell is the head of the Department of Supply Chain Management at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. Before joining UT’s faculty in 2010, Bell was a career maintenance and logistics officer in the United States Air Force. 

His teaching and research interests are in logistics and supply chain management, vehicle routing, facility location selection, hazardous material transportation, and supply chain strategy and risk. His publications have appeared in the Journal of Business Logistics, Transportation Journal, OMEGA, Computer & Operations Research, and Advanced Engineering Informatics. He is a frequent presenter at national and international meetings of the DSI, POMS, INFORMS, and other professional societies.

Bell has won several awards for his management, teaching, and research efforts during his academic and military careers. In 1993, he was the General Leo Marquez Award winner as the outstanding maintenance manager in the United States Air Forces Europe. Later, in 1998, he received the Louis Polk Award from the National Defense Industrial Association for his research on countering parts obsolescence in aircraft manufacturing supply chains. In addition, he was a Distinguished Graduate of the Master of Science Logistics Management program at AFIT. He was selected for the Edwin Aldrin Award as the top leader in his class in 1998. 

Following two years of conducting research for the Pentagon, he was competitively selected for a US Air Force scholarship to pursue his doctorate education at Auburn University. Following his graduation from Auburn in 2003, he spent three years on the faculty at AFIT, where he became the Division Chief for the Logistics Management program and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. In addition to several teaching awards, Bell’s research work has won Best Article published in the Air Force Journal of Logistics in 2000, and the Alpha Iota Delta Best Paper Award at the 2010 Western Decision Sciences Institute Conference. 

Bell has received competitive research grants above $100K from the United States Air Force to research logistics facility location selection and has held memberships and positions in the following societies: CSCMP, DSI, POMS, INFORMS, AST&L, and SOLE.

Bogdan C. Bichescu is an associate professor of management science in the Haslam College of Business Administration at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He teaches operations and decision analysis classes in the M.S.B.A. program, the full-time M.B.A. program, the Ph.D. program and in the undergraduate business program. His teaching interests include lean operations, decision modeling and analysis, business simulation, and project management.

Bichescu’s research interests are concentrated in the areas of supply chain modeling and healthcare operations. More specifically, his work examines the role of channel power and subcontracting on supply chain performance, while his recent studies investigate the interplay between information technology and hospital performance. Bichescu’s research has appeared in journals including Production and Operations Management, Decision Sciences,European Journal of Operational Research and Omega.

Yemisi Bolumole is the Ryder Professor of Supply Chain Management in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. In 2024, she was named the director of the Global Supply Chain Institute’s Transportation and Logistics Collaborative.

Before joining UT, Bolumole was an associate professor of supply chain management for the Michigan State University’s Eli Broad College of Business and the director of the transportation and logistics program in the Coggin College of Business at the University of North Florida. Prior to joining academia, Bolumole worked in the oil/gas and third-party logistics sectors in operations management and business development. She earned her Ph.D. in Logistics and SCM from Cranfield University in the United Kingdom in 2001.

Bolumole’s research emphasis includes third-party logistics and transportation outsourcing; transportation policy, especially business-to-government interactions; SCM’s broad implications for stakeholders and society; and talent development at the human resource management interface with SCM. Her research program has generated over 40 publications, including book chapters, reports, and refereed journal articles in the Journal of Business Logistics, the International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, the International Journal of Logistics Management, the International Journal of Production Research, Supply Chain Management Review, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, and the Transportation Journal.

By highlighting issues that enhance understanding of SCM policy and practice interfaces, Bolumole’s research fills a critical gap in understanding the equilibrium effects between supply chain investments, activity, and their policy effects. Her excellence in research has been recognized with several awards, including the Bernard J. LaLonde Prize for Best Paper in the Journal of Business Logistics. Her research in the policy area has garnered significant attention, receiving visibility during the COVID-19 pandemic through an invited multipart series of articles published in Supply Chain Management Review.

A certified SAP solutions architect and consultant, she has led curricular enhancement efforts in the SCM department at two major universities. Her teaching remains at the forefront of pedagogical innovation, with cutting-edge applications earning her the AT&T Instructional Technology Award for Best Hybrid/Flipped class at Michigan State University and the University of North Florida’s Outstanding Teaching Award.

In addition to her research and teaching accomplishments, Bolumole holds several leadership roles in the professional community. She led an eight-member committee of business executives to create and successfully launch APICS’ first logistics certification product. A regular speaker at supply chain professional events, she has served on several task forces nationwide, including as an advisory panel member for the Jacksonville Transportation Authority/Florida Department of Transportation Regional Transportation Agency Study. In her current academic service roles, she is a senior editor for the Journal of Business Logistics and an editorial review board member for the Transportation Journal and The International Journal of Logistics Management.

Melissa R. Bowers is the Beaman Professor of Business in the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her teaching and research interests include Production Planning and Scheduling, Supply Chain Optimization, Lean Manufacturing, Lean MRO, Theory of Constraints, Visualization, and Applied Discrete Optimization Models. She served as the Vice President of Education for the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) from 2019 to 2022.

Bowers has worked with organizations such as ALCOA, Phillips Petroleum, Delta Air Lines, Air New Zealand, Embraer, Hanesbrands Inc., the United States Air Force, Boeing, the University of Tennessee Medical Center, and Cherry Point Naval Air Base. She has published in MIT Sloan Management Review, Decision Sciences, European Journal of Operational Research, INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics, Computers and OR, Business Horizons, Naval Research Logistics and several other academic and professional journals. Bowers was the recipient of the 2016 Allen H. Keally Excellence in Teaching Award, the 2012 and 2015 Richard Sanders Outstanding Leadership in Executive Education Award, the 2014, 2020, and 2023 MSBA Outstanding Service to Students Award, the 2011 Outstanding MBA First Year Faculty Award, and the 2023 MSBA Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award, among others. She is a co-author of the book, Lean Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul: Changing the Way You Do Business.

Randy V. Bradley is an associate professor of information systems and supply chain management at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. He holds a doctorate in management of information technology and innovation, a master’s in management of information systems and a bachelor’s in computer engineering, all from Auburn University. As a supply chain and IT strategist and researcher, Bradley’s expertise includes digital business transformation, supply chain digitalization and the strategic application of business analytics and IT in the supply chain.

Bradley is a preeminent global thought leader and highly sought-after speaker for professional and corporate conferences and events. As a supply chain and IT strategist, he offers keen insights and practical guidance on leveraging emerging tech, digital business transformation, supply chain digitalization and the strategic application of analytics. Bradley’s insights have been chronicled in Bloomberg Law, Thrive Global, Business Wire, MarketWatch, SupplyChain247, Supply Chain Dive, DC Velocity, MHI Solutions, Healthcare Purchasing News and HealthPRO News. He has 20-plus years of industry experience. His business background includes IT consulting, analytics strategy design, digital supply chain roadmap development, supply chain transformation initiatives, IT outsourcing transitions and large-scale systems evaluation, selection and integration projects. He has consulted for and advised federal, state and multinational organizations and companies domestically and abroad.

A prolific researcher, his research and insights have been published in more than 100 articles, book chapters, columns and proceedings of national and international practitioner and academic meetings and conferences. His research has appeared or is forthcoming in the Production and Operations Management Journal, Journal of Business Logistics, Decision Sciences Journal, Journal of Management Information Systems, MIS Quarterly Executive, Information Systems Journal, Journal of Information Technology, Translational Andrology and Urology and Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics, among others.

Bradley has been recognized for his excellence in teaching, his leadership in promoting diversity and inclusion in academia and his impact in industry, as evidenced by numerous awards and recognitions, including the 2019 Richard Sanders Faculty Leadership Award (Graduate and Executive Education), 2017 National Association of Black Accountants National Achievement in Education Award, designation as a Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Fellow and past nominee for the Tennessee HIMSS Emerging Healthcare IT Leader of the Year Award. As a member of several advisory boards, councils and boards of directors, Bradley advocates for health IT and its interplay between other areas of healthcare, such as supply chain, financial/revenue cycle management and analytics.

Joe Buckley is the director of executive and non-degree education for the Global Supply Chain Institute and a lecturer in the Department of Supply Chain Management. He teaches junior and senior-level supply chain courses.

Before joining the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Buckley spent nearly three decades in industry. His previous positions include vice president roles in finance and procurement services. Most recently, he was the director of materials management and transportation for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). His expertise includes inventory management, logistics, and network design. Buckley is a licensed CPA with additional accounting and finance expertise.

He has been married for 25-plus years to his wife, Kelly. They have three daughters: Lauren, Rebecca, and Rachael.

Michael H. Burnette is a Global Supply Chain Institute fellow at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Burnette came to UT after a 33-year career as a supply chain executive at Procter and Gamble. Most recently, he was the P&G Global Supply Chain leader for Skin Care ($2-plus billion Olay brand) and P&G Global Supply Chain Leader for Hair Care ($4 billion Pantene and Herbal Essence brands). His supply chain leadership and expertise include supply strategy/design, manufacturing, logistics, innovation, PLCM, acquisitions and human resources.

Burnette teaches supply chain courses and manages multiple GSCI projects, including coordinating and publishing white papers based on research conducted between UT faculty and industry leaders. He is a consultant, speaker and co-author of the book Supply Chain Game Changers.

Cole Burns supports supply chain majors in undergraduate and graduate programs by providing resources and engagement to develop students into professionals, grow their networks and expand their career opportunities. He also supports corporate partners by providing individualized consultation and support as they develop their brand and recruit at the university. 

Burns is passionate about continuous learning and increasing ease of access to education for underrepresented students. Before joining the Global Supply Chain Institute, he worked in various student support roles, including career coaching, academic advising, academic coaching, financial aid and housing. Combining his passion for helping students and his experience in higher education, he collaborated with corporate partners to develop robust programming that will result in educational and career success for UT students.

As associate director of marketing, Brian Canever leads content management, creative storytelling, and other communications efforts for the Global Supply Chain Institute. His previous experience spans higher education, public diplomacy, sports and nonprofits.

Before joining GSCI, Canever was a public relations specialist and brand writer for UT Communications and Marketing. He also spent four years with the Center for Sport, Peace and Society, where he served as communications lead for the U.S. Department of State’s Global Sports Mentoring Program. Canever is a lecturer in the College of Communication and Information.

Hannah Carter is the program manager for the Master of Science in Supply Chain Management Online program, where she supports overall program operations. She previously worked in admissions for the Haslam College of Business’s on-campus graduate business programs. Before coming to UT, Carter worked for several years at Penguin Random House, the world’s largest English-language trade book publisher. She is currently pursuing a master’s in educational psychology. 

Christopher W. Craighead is the FedEx Chair in Supply Chain Management at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. His primary research interest is strategic supply chain management with a focus on supply chain disruptions, buyer-supplier exchanges and the supply chain-entrepreneurship interface. His research has been published in the Journal of Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, Decision Sciences, Journal of Business Logistics, Journal of Supply Chain Management, Transportation Science, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management and other journals. He has received several research fellowships, competitive grants and awards.

Craighead teaches strategic sourcing in the department’s undergraduate program and theoretical and research foundations in its doctoral program. He has received awards for teaching excellence at four universities. He has served as dissertation chair for seven students in three universities.

Craighead serves as the logistics department editor at Decision Sciences, an associate editor of the Journal of Supply Chain Management and a senior editor at the Journal of Business Logistics. He has received multiple awards for reviewing and editing excellence.

Craighead’s research has fueled over 350 executive education programs. At Penn State, he worked as the director of research of the Center for Supply Chain Research, where he served as the principal liaison between faculty and industry partners. Craighead’s career has culminated in both theoretical and pragmatic impacts through connecting academia and industry. He has strongly advocated for such a career strategy, co-authoring papers geared toward helping others in the field realize this dual impact.

Russell Crook is the First Horizon Foundation Distinguished Business Professor, Cheryl Massingale Business Faculty Scholar, head of the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship at the Haslam College of Business. He holds a Ph.D. in strategic management from Florida State University. He teaches strategic planning and implementation, and he has published over 40 articles on strategy and entrepreneurship topics. He spends considerable time with organization leaders to build their visions and goals, and then develop actions to achieve them. Before earning his Ph.D., he worked for American Airlines, US Airways and IBM in a variety of capacities, including strategic planning and global procurement.

Thomas Deakins is a former business executive with decades of supply chain technology and consulting experience. A recognized leader in building strategic, world-class supply chain partner ecosystems, he is best known for his experience in TMS and real-time supply chain visibility applications, digital supply chain strategies, and more recently for his work with ESG Scope 3 Transportation Fleet Sustainability. Over his 30-plus year career, Deakins has worked for project44, Oracle, G-Log, Trimble, MavenWire, MercuryGate, CHEP, SLI Consulting Inc., and JB Hunt. From 1992-94, while completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, Deakins worked for UPS as a loader/unloader and was a co-op student with Skyline Transportation. In 2022, Deakins earned his executive MBA in Global Supply Chain from UT Knoxville.

Scott DeGroot joined the Global Supply Chain Institute in August 2024 after serving as the VP of global distribution and planning at Kimberly-Clark Corporation. In that role, he and his team were accountable for planning, S&OP, customer-facing logistics, physical logistics operating excellence, on-time in-full, and North American transport.

Before this role, DeGroot was the general manager of Kimberly-Clark’s Eastern Grocery team in North America. His responsibilities included driving over $650 million in revenue through a highly engaged team that included Ahold, Wakefern, HEB, Publix, Delhaize and BiLo Holdings.

During his more than 30 years at Kimberly-Clark, DeGroot held roles of increasing responsibility and leadership, including director roles in supply chain strategy, consumer planning, distribution operations, transportation procurement and analysis, transportation operations, and as the regional logistics leader in Chester, Pennsylvania, where he led logistics operations at the largest tissue site in the Kimberly-Clark network.

DeGroot and his wife, Pam, live in Knoxville, Tennessee. They have two children: Henry and George. They enjoy soccer, running, spending time outdoors, and traveling to new cities.

Dave Demers is a supply chain pioneer in the design and implementation of E2E agile resiliency in supply chain designs. His Performance Diamond financial analytics benchmarking platform, E2E PICO workflow design tools, innovation methodologies, and team building knowledge-transfer skills have been deployed across the globe by industry leaders spanning retail, petrochemical, technology, telecommunications, industrial machinery, life sciences, medical devices, food processing, and supply chain services as well as military branches. Dave has gained diverse cultural and geographic knowledge on global supply chain design and innovation strategy deployment across the Americas, Middle East, Southeast Asia, China and European countries. His 46 years in the field of supply chain innovation offer a critical experiential perspective that can inspire enterprise teams to tackle the complexity that comes with growing and protecting value creation advantage in and out of periods of supply chain disruption.

Dave serves as a Fellow at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Global Supply Chain Institute. He also serves as the CEO of Avicon, Inc., a supply chain applied learning and team development practice. He is a co-author of a groundbreaking research effort and white paper titled Advancing E2E Agile Resiliency in Supply Chains – A proactive approach to creating value during global supply chain disruptions. The research and publication work were sponsored by UT’s Global Supply Chain Institute and Avicon, Inc. (January 2021).

Dave is also Co-Founder of Healthy Hearts for Life, a non-profit focused on cardiovascular disease patients and their successful adoption of new behavioral modification and long-term adherence to critical lifestyle changes. He and his wife Karen also lead in the Marriage Ministry for couples in the New England area. They live in New Hampshire.

Dave holds an MBA in Business Logistics from Pennsylvania State University and a BS in Business Logistics from Northeastern University.

Emily C. Dickey is an assistant professor of supply chain management at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business, where she teaches manufacturing and service operations management. She earned her doctorate in business, economics, and social science from Kuehne Logistics University in Hamburg, Germany. She also holds a joint master’s degree in global supply chain management from the University of Tennessee and Kuehne Logistics University and a bachelor’s degree in supply chain management from the University of Tennessee.

Her research lies at the intersection of behavioral operations management and sustainability, focusing on the cognitive and affective drivers of managers’ decision-making in operations and global supply chains. Specifically, her work leverages empirical and experimental research methods to explore how managers address social sustainability issues, such as fair working conditions and decent working hours, within manufacturing and service environments.

Paul Dittmann is the assistant department head for supply chain management at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. He came to UT after a 32-year career in industry. He held several key leadership positions for the Whirlpool Corporation, including vice president of logistics for North America, VP of global logistics systems and VP of supply chain strategy, projects and systems. 

Dittmann manages many special projects done for companies, including supply chain audits. He has consulted or done executive education for numerous firms, such as Walgreens, Pfizer, Walmart, UPS, Boise, Tyco, Honeywell, Genuine Parts, Cintas, Cummins, Cooper Tire, United Smokeless Tobacco, Radio Systems Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Estee Lauder, The United States Army, The Marine Corps, Michelin, Brunswick, Nissan, Lockheed Martin, Race Trac Petroleum, GAF Corporation, OfficeMax, Sony, Keller Group, GlaxoSmithKline, Cooper Tire, Lowe’s, Fiskars and the United States Air Force.

He has also taught numerous public seminars in lean manufacturing, global business and supply chain excellence and has spoken at conferences on these and other topics. He has been a certified instructor for the Project Management Institute.

Dittmann co-authored a Harvard Business Review article, “Are You the Weakest Link in Your Company’s Supply Chain?” and co-authored the book The New Supply Chain Agenda, published by Harvard Business Publishing. He authored Supply Chain Transformation,” (McGraw Hill, 2012) and Supply Chain Game Changers (Pearson, 2015). He is on the board of directors of Kenco Group and a member of the University of Missouri Industrial Engineering Hall of Fame. Dittman was selected as a Rainmaker by DC Velocity Magazine and designated one of the Top Ten Supply Chain Thought Leaders in 2013.

Pam Donovan is the director of the Master of Supply Chain Management Online program and a clinical assistant professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. Before joining the UT faculty in 2018, she was a career transportation and logistics officer in the United States Air Force. 

Donovan earned her doctorate in logistics and transportation from the University of Maryland and taught on the faculties at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) and the University of North Texas. Her teaching interests include supply chain analytics and modeling, inventory management and distribution.

Stephanie Eckerd, who holds a Ph.D. from Ohio State University, researches behavioral operations and supply chain management to understand better how social and psychological variables impact aspects of buyer-supplier relationship management.

Her articles have appeared in journals, including the Journal of Business Logistics, Journal of Supply Chain Management, Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, Journal of Operations Management, and the International Journal of Operations and Production Management. Eckerd’s research has received numerous awards, including the 2017 Harold E. Fearon Best Paper Award at the Journal of Supply Chain Management and the 2015 Chan Hahn Best Paper Winner at the Academy of Management.

She teaches strategic sourcing, leveraging her previous industry experience in procurement analysis as a defense contractor serving the Missile Defense Agency. She has also taught Introduction to Operations Management and Intermediate Supply Chain Management. Eckerd has been recognized for her teaching excellence.

Eckerd is an associate editor for the Decision Sciences Journal, the Journal of Operations Management, and the Journal of Supply Chain Management. She sits on the editorial review board for the Journal of Business Logistics.

She has been recognized for reviewing excellence by the Journal of Operations Management (Reviewer Service Award for Outstanding Service from 2011-15) and the Journal of Production and Operations Management (Reviewer of the Year, 2015, Behavioral Operations). Eckerd currently serves on the executive committee for the operations and supply management division of the Academy of Management.

Darrell Edwards is an assistant professor of practice in supply chain management at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. Before joining the faculty, he was senior vice president and COO at La-Z-Boy Incorporated, the nation’s largest producer of reclining chairs and one of its largest home furnishings providers. Edwards has over three decades of global operations and supply chain experience, delivering significant value within consumer product industries. His interests focus on business coaching, team building, process innovation and strategy.

While at La-Z-Boy, Edwards led the global operations and supply chain for La-Z-Boy Incorporated’s Branded Business, totaling more than 9,000 employees. Additionally, he serves on the board of directors for Dovetail Brands in Grabill, Indiana. Edwards has been recognized as an award-winning leader and has steered numerous business units to achieve national and global recognition for operational excellence. He is a frequent guest speaker at various national forums and has authored articles in several business trade publications.

Edwards holds a doctorate from the Fox School of Business at Temple University, MBA from UT Knoxville and a master’s degree from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Larry Fauver joined the UT finance faculty in 2007 from the University of Miami, where he taught international finance and international financial management to undergraduate and graduate students. He received his Ph.D. in finance from the University of Florida in 2000 and a master’s degree in economics from the University of Florida in 1997. His research focuses on firm performance, corporate governance, corporate culture, and corruption, both in a domestic and international environment. Dr. Fauver has published in the Journal of Financial Economics, the Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Corporate Finance, and other finance journals. His research has been presented at various national and international finance forums including the American Social Science Association, the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Western Finance Association, the Darden International Finance Conference and the European Finance Association. His work has been presented at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Stock Exchange, The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, been featured in Forbes, cited by the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as being quoted in Fortune on several occasions. He teaches the international finance courses in UT’s undergraduate and graduate curriculum, along with a course in the Ph.D. program.

Paul M. Fortunato has been a lecturer in the Department of Supply Chain Management since 2018 and has taught classes in manufacturing, global supply chain management and supply chain project management. He retired from The Dow Chemical Company after a 36-year career in various roles within supply chain and operations functions, including vice president of Global Operations for the Shipley Company, a wholly owned subsidiary serving the electronic materials business and most recently, as the North American manufacturing director for Dow’s Coatings Business division. He graduated from Rutgers University with a bachelor’s in chemical engineering and from The University of Pennsylvania Wharton School’s Management Business Program.

Kenneth Gilbert is special assistant in the Office of Research, Outreach and Economic Development, working with the Tennessee Digital Jobs Factory to provide training for industry certifications in data technologies. He is a certified Amazon Web Services Educator and a certified AWS Cloud Practitioner.

Professor Emeritus and former head of the Department of Business Analytics and Statistics, Gilbert teaches in Executive Education the Professional MBA, the Aerospace and Defense MBA and in Lean Maintenance Repair and Overhaul.

In his research, he develops analytic models of supply chains, which show why chain planning strategies based on MRP logic fail in matching supply and demand. These models can also be used to develop demand-driven strategies that work.

Gilbert has consulted with numerous organizations, has coauthored with M.M. Srinivasan and Melissa Bowers the book, Lean MRO: Changing the Way You do Business and has published in numerous journals, including Management Science, IIE Transactions and The Journal for the Association of Computing Machinery.

He holds a Ph.D. in management science from UT, a master’s in mathematics from the University of Tennessee, and a bachelor’s in mathematics from Berea College.

Thomas J. Goldsby is the Dee and Jimmy Haslam Chair in Logistics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. He is also the co-executive director of the Global Supply Chain Institute. He holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Evansville, an M.B.A. from the University of Kentucky, and a Ph.D. in Marketing and Logistics from Michigan State University.

Goldsby is the immediate-past co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Business Logistics and former co-editor-in-chief of Transportation Journal. He serves as co-executive director of the Global Supply Chain Institute. His research interests include logistics strategy, supply chain integration, and the theory and practice of lean and agile supply chain strategies. He has published more than 90 articles in academic and professional journals and is a frequent speaker at academic conferences, executive education seminars, and professional meetings. 

Goldsby is co-author of five books: Logistics Management: Enhancing Competitiveness and Customer Value (MyEducator, 2015), The Definitive Guide to Transportation (Financial Times, 2014), Global Macrotrends and Their Impact on Supply Chain Management (Financial Times, 2013), Lean Six Sigma Logistics: Strategic Development to Operational Success (J. Ross Publishing, 2005), and The Design and Management of Sustainable Supply Chains (Cambridge University Press, under development). 

A recipient of multiple best paper awards, Goldsby has been recognized for excellence in teaching at the University of Tennessee, The Ohio State University, the University of Kentucky, and Iowa State University. In 2019, he was named a “Rainmaker” by DC Velocity and received the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award from Supply Chain Leaders in Action (SCLA). Goldsby delivered a course on business operations for The Great Courses’ Critical Business Skills series in 2015, which continues to rate as a bestselling nonfiction/business title at Audible.com and was ranked by Newsweek as No. 27 on its list of Top 50 bestsellers (#27) among all audiobooks for summer 2020.

Goldsby has supervised more than a hundred Lean/Six Sigma supply chain projects with industry partners, chaired eight Ph.D. dissertations, and served as an investigator on multiple federally funded research projects exceeding $3.5 million in grant proceeds. In his spare time, he competes as one of the top masters (over 40) runners in America for distances between the mile and the marathon.

Rebekah Griffin serves as the Global Supply Chain Institute’s office Manager. Before joining the Global Supply Chain Institute as its office manager in 2021, Rebekah Griffin worked in management and sales for massage therapy clinics in the Knoxville area for over seven years.

Michael Grojean joins the faculty of the Haslam College of Business as an Adjunct in Strategic Leadership for Executive Education and the Executive MBA programs, while also serving as Director of the Executive MBA in Strategic Leadership. In addition, he continues to engage organizational clients through Grojean Kirst Associates, LLC., a consultancy company specializing in the focus areas of Leadership, Strategy and Talent.

He has previously served on the faculty at Rice University as Professor in the Practice of Management and Executive Director, leading Executive Education as well as delivering programs in both ExecEd and the Professional/Executive MBAs. Prior to joining Rice, Grojean was a member of the faculty at Aston Business School in the United Kingdom, where he served as Associate Professor of Management, Head of Executive Education, and Associate Dean for Corporate Activities and Partnerships.

Additionally, Grojean’s broad experience base includes 23 years of military service (enlisted and commissioned) culminating as a member of the Leadership Faculty at West Point, the Chief of Human Resources for a 28,000 member organization, and finally, as the Head of Leadership Policy for the U.S Army. As the Leadership Policy Officer, he was responsible for developing, coordinating, and implementing leadership and leader development policy and doctrine for the 1.4 million person active and reserve force in the U.S. Army. In this role, he also authored the Army’s mentorship doctrine, critically changing the organizational paradigm of developmental relationships.

Grojean has worked with national and international organizations as they have undergone significant change. With the accession into the European Union creating challenges for the medical community, he was invited by the Minister of Health of Malta to facilitate transformation and change leadership for Hospital CEOs and National Health Directors. Grojean has also advised on strategy development designed to enhance the drug development pipeline for a leading international pharmaceutical company. He served on the Archimedes team responsible for accrediting the Estonian National Defense College, as well as consulting for organizations such as NATO, the UK Ministry of Defense, US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Sandia National Laboratories, British Petroleum, Land Rover/Jaguar, Jacobs Engineering, National Oilwell Varco, Eli Lilly, General Electric, Chicago Bridge & Iron, Baker Hughes International, LyondellBasell, Saudi Aramco and the City of Houston.

Grojean’s interests and expertise lie in the intersection between organizational change, strategy and leadership. His research has been published in British Journal of Management, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Human Performance, Leadership Quarterly, Journal of Business Ethics and Reader’s Guide to the Social Sciences, as well as numerous confidential internal organizational reports and publications. In addition to the publications noted above, Grojean has made media appearances in the Guardian, the Scotsman, The Pat Kenny Show, RTE Radio, the Birmingham Post, Newstalk Ireland, and BBC Radio. He holds memberships in the American Psychological Society, Society of Industrial Organizational Psychology, British Academy of Management, Society of Human Resource Management, International Leadership Association, and Center for Advancement of Research Methods Analysis.

Steven Harris joined the Global Supply Chain Institute as operations and marketing manager in April 2024. He served four years as a transportation officer in the United States Army. Prior to his military experience, he played collegiate rugby and completed the Army ROTC program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Harris has an MBA in Supply Chain Management from the Haslam College of Business and serves as the program manager and a coach for the University of Tennessee men’s rugby team.

Kelly Hewett is Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Tennessee’s Haslam College of Business. Prior to joining UT, she worked for five years at Bank of America, where she was a senior vice president in the firm’s corporate marketing group. In that position, she led corporate insights work, developed marketing strategies and served as a liaison among marketing, innovation, and new product development groups. Previously, she had a 10-year academic career, specializing in marketing strategy. Her research has been published in top academic journals in both Marketing and International Business fields. She has received awards and recognitions for her research and teaching. She currently teaches a course in the full-time MBA program on marketing insights, and also teaches in the Executive and Professional MBA programs on topics including strategic marketing planning and marketing insights.

Jon Holztrager oversees graduate and executive education for the Department of Supply Chain Management and is the executive-in-residence for the Global Supply Chain Institute. 

An accomplished supply chain professional with expertise in total delivered cost reduction, operating asset strategy, supply chain transformation, and best-in-class supply-chain results, Holztrager held senior roles with multi-site executive responsibility for various regional, North American, and global supply chain operating groups. He has experience in pulp and paper, consumer disposables, consumer electronics, and electric utility sectors. Most of his 35-year industry career was spent with Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Sony, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

In addition to steering graduate education and supply chain partnerships, Holztrager teaches operations, emphasizing practical aspects of leading manufacturing, purchasing, distribution, and transportation teams. He also works closely with Supply Chain Forum partners and other companies engaged in recruiting, organizational development, and operations improvement with the university. Additionally, he serves as a customer emeritus board member for Dallas-based ISNetworld.

Seongkyoon Jeong is an assistant professor of supply chain management at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. His research focuses on contemporary issues in supply chain management, such as digital supply chain, cybersecurity and sustainable operations. 

Before obtaining his doctorate from Arizona State University, Jeong worked at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, a government-funded research institute specializing in inter-organizational relationships and R&D strategy.

James Keebler is a lecturer of supply chain management at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. Previously, he was a visiting professor in the College of Business Administration at the University of Central Florida and professor and Charles S. Conklin Chair and Eminent Scholar at Clayton State University.

Keebler focuses on strategic planning and performance measurement in logistics and supply chain management. He has published in several highly regarded academic and practitioner journals. Google Scholar reports that he has been cited in more than 7,600 peer-reviewed publications. 

Keebler is the co-author of the books Keeping Score: Measuring the Business Value of Logistics in the Supply Chain, and Supply Chain Management.

Before entering academia, Keebler had more than 25 years of experience in manufacturing, marketing and logistics management across the food, pharmaceuticals, health care, electronics and consumer products industries. He held senior management positions with the Pillsbury Company, Bergen Brunswig Corporation and Digital Equipment Corporation. Keebler also worked for an international consulting firm and owned and operated two businesses. He served for five years as president of a Colgate-Palmolive subsidiary and as vice president of an operating division. 

Keebler served six years in the Army Transportation Corp in the US, Europe and Vietnam. He has been a full-time faculty member at St. Cloud State University, the University of South Florida, Clayton State University and the University of Central Florida. He earned a master’s degree in finance and management. He earned his doctorate in marketing and logistics from UT in 2000.

Josh King has more than a decade of professional experience in enrollment management, marketing and supply chain management. He joined the Global Supply Chain Institute as operations director in 2021. Previously, he served as associate dean of admission at the University of the South and as a customer supply chain manager at SC Johnson.

Justin Kistler is an assistant professor of supply chain management at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business, where he teaches manufacturing and service operations. Before joining the faculty, he earned his doctorate in management science at the University of South Carolina. He also holds a bachelor’s degree from Clemson University and an MBA from Wake Forest University.

Kistler’s business background includes project development and process engineering roles for HCA Healthcare, and project management experience at a General Electric gas turbine laboratory. His research focuses on process redesign and the interface between regulatory policy and service operations, particularly in the healthcare industry.

Michael Ku is Vice President of Global Clinical Supply (GCS) within the Medicinal Sciences organization of Pfizer’s Worldwide Research, Development and Medical. Ku has over 25 years of biopharmaceutical experience and currently provides strategic leadership for clinical supply chain functions in support of Pfizer’s clinical trials in over 70 countries. His intellectual curiosity and focus on technology and innovation drive his passion to lead the global clinical supply chain to deliver breakthroughs to patients, especially with the COVID-19 vaccine program.

Prior to joining Pfizer, Ku was the Global Head and Vice President of Clinical Pharmacy Research Services (CPRS) at Genzyme Corporation. He also held several roles of increasing responsibility at Astra Pharmaceuticals (currently AstraZeneca) and Novopharm Limited (currently Teva Canada Limited) in the areas of Clinical Research, Pharmacovigilance, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance.

Having a deep appreciation for talent development and motivated by helping Pfizer colleagues thrive, Ku shares his leadership skills with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion by serving as the Executive Leader of the Global Asian Alliance Enterprise Colleague Resource Group (GAA ECRG).

Inspired by helping to unleash the potential for pharmacists globally at Pfizer, Ku also serves as an Executive Sponsor for the Pfizer Pharmacy Association (PPA) and founded the Pfizer/MCPHS Biopharmaceutical Fellowship Program as its Program Director and Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice at MCPHS University.

Ku currently serves as an Advisor to the Board of Directors of Excir Corporation and the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers. He chairs the Clinical Supply Leadership Forum (CSLF) and is a founding member of the Innovation Outreach Program (IOP). In 2018, he received the prestigious Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Award.

Ku’s educational background includes a Doctor of Pharmacy and Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacy from MCPHS University as well as a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Anna Maria College. He also holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Toxicology from the University of Toronto and is a graduate of the General Management Program from Harvard Business School.

Paolo Letizia is an associate professor of operations management and business analytics in the Department of Business Analytics and Statistics of the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is Ray & Joan Myatt Faculty Fellow. His research interests lie in the areas of sustainable operations, closed loop supply chain management, operations-marketing interface, and supply chain management.

Letizia’s work has been published in journals such as Management Science, Production and Operations Management, Decision Sciences, and European Journal of Operational Research. At conferences such as INFORMS, POMS and DSI, he has chaired the track of environmental operations and organized several sessions on sustainable operations. Letizia has been an associate editor for the Decision Sciences journal since 2019 and serves on the editorial review boards of several leading operations management journals.

Prior to joining the University of Tennessee, Letizia taught operations and supply chain management at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. Letizia holds a master of science in supply chain management from Kedge Business School and a doctorate with dual degrees in operations research and business administration from the Pennsylvania State University’s Smeal College of Business. Before starting his academic career, he was employed by the consulting firm Accenture and worked on projects in supply chain management, operations management, and customer relationship management.

Mary Long is the CEO of Abgility, an organization on a mission to create more able and agile supply chains. She is a lecturer of supply chain management at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a board advisor to the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). 

Long’s food industry expertise comes from executive global leadership roles at Domino’s and Campbell’s Soup, with earlier supply chain roles at General Mills, Pillsbury, and The Quaker Oats Company/Gatorade. Her areas of expertise include advancing digital supply chain agility, supply chain strategy and customer-focused transformation. 

Long is passionate about developing supply chain talent and applying insights to accelerate public-private humanitarian partnerships and supply chain strategy. She serves on the advisory board for Hassett Logistics and was a previous advisory board member for AWESOME, an executive women in supply chain organization. She was chair of the board of directors for the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) and is on the editorial board for Supply Chain Quarterly and the Journal of Supply Chain Management, Logistics, and Procurement. Long has co-authored two white papers.

In collaboration with the Center for Agriculture, Food Security and Preparedness and ALAN, Long has developed two supply chain courses for the Department of Homeland Security. She is a faculty advisor to NeXxus, a student organization focused on advancing women in supply chain management.

Don Maier is an associate professor of practice at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. His professional career included roles in the logistics and supply chain management teams at FedEx, Office Depot, Penske Logistics, Monsanto and Merisant (a division of Monsanto). He was instrumental in the strategic design and leadership of the international logistics operation for North and Central America, and he managed the design and development of the total productive manufacturing quality culture at Merisant, focusing on 5S and lean principles. During this time, Maier earned a doctorate in organization development and a master’s in organizational behavior from Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois, and taught various management-related courses. 

Maier started his full-time academic career as an assistant professor at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois. He was a member of the Will County Health Department’s Emergency Response Team, where he designed and managed the distribution of pharmaceuticals during the 2009 H1N1 influenza outbreak. He served on Will County Center for Economic Development’s logistics advisory board, helping transform Joliet into the inland empire of the Midwest.

He held the rank of professor at two universities. For nine years, he served as dean for the Maine Maritime and Cal Maritime Academies. As the founding dean of the School of Maritime Transportation, Logistics, & Management at California State University-Maritime Academy, he oversaw programs in marine transportation, international logistics and naval science.

Maier has been featured on CNN, ABC-San Francisco, San Francisco Chronicle, Popular Mechanics, and The Conversation regarding maritime transportation issues and volatility in the global supply chain. He was a keynote speaker for the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), the Marine Insurance Association of Seattle (MIAS), the Board of Marine Underwriters of San Francisco, the Inland Rivers, Ports & Terminals Association and the International Association of Maritime Port Executives (IAMPE). He serves on advisory boards for the IAMPE and the Containerization & Intermodal Institute.

Mark A. Moon is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Prior to joining the UT faculty in 1993, Moon earned his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also holds MBA and BA degrees from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Moon’s professional experience includes positions in sales and marketing with IBM and Xerox. He teaches at the undergraduate, MBA, and Executive MBA levels, and teaches Demand Planning, Forecasting, and Marketing Strategy in numerous Executive Programs offered at the University of Tennessee’s Center for Executive Education. Moon’s primary research interests are in buyer/seller relationships, demand management, and sales forecasting. He has published in the International Journal of Forecasting, Supply Chain Management Review, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Journal of Business Forecasting, Journal of Marketing Education, Marketing Education Review, Business Horizons, Industrial Marketing Management, and several national conference proceedings. Moon is also the author, along with John T. (Tom) Mentzer of Sales Forecasting Management: A Demand Management Approach, available from Sage Publications. He has consulted with numerous companies including Eastman Chemical, Hershey Foods, Lucent Technologies, DuPont, Union Pacific Railroad, Motorola, Sony, and Sara Lee.

Timothy P. Munyon (Ph.D., Florida State University) is a Professor of Management, the Janet and Jeff Davis Faculty Research Fellow at the Haslam College of Business, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Global Supply Chain Institute Fellow. His current research interests include the causes and effects of social influence at work, human resource management practices, and entrepreneur and family firm behavior. Munyon’s research has been published in journals such as Applied Psychology, Business Horizons, Family Business Review, Human Resource Management Review, Journal of Management, Journal of Managerial Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Organization Dynamics, Organization Studies, Personnel Psychology, and Research in Personnel and Human Resource Management. He is a former Associate Editor of the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, and currently serves on the editorial boards of Human Resource Management Review, Journal of Management, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, and Personnel Psychology. He is a former editorial board member of Business Horizons, Group & Organization Management, Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, and Production.

Munyon is active in the field of management, and his research has been presented at the Academy of Management, American College Personnel Association, Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference, Harvard Graduate School Student Research Conference, International Conference on Occupational Stress and Health, Mid-Atlantic Strategic Colloquium, Mid-South Management Research Consortium, Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Southern Management Association, Strategic Management Society, Tennessee Economics Association, Western Academy of Management, and Western Social Science Association. He is a member of the Board of Governors for the Southern Management Association.

Regarding teaching, Munyon serves as a core faculty member in the Aerospace & Defense MBA program, Master of Science in Management and Human Resources program, and the Professional MBA program at the Haslam College. He was awarded the “Outstanding HRM Faculty Award” for teaching contributions in 2016, and has twice been a finalist for competitive campus teaching awards. He also teaches undergraduate and doctoral courses in organizational behavior and human resource management, and has supported 16 doctoral dissertations as a committee member or chair. Recent consulting and training clients include Ariba/SAP, Elbit Systems of America, InJoyGlobal, Knox County Health Department, NASA, and Ortho Medical Devices. Munyon also served as a subject matter expert on workforce management issues for Robins Air Force Base, and supports the Workforce Policy Council for the Aerospace Industries Association.

Munyon previously served on the faculties of the University of Central Florida and West Virginia University, and as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Haifa (Israel). Before returning to academia, Munyon worked in aviation and airport consulting with Armstrong Consultants and Talbert & Bright. He enjoys performing music (saxophone, drums, penny whistles, and vocals), hiking, traveling, and spending time with his family.

Kevin joined Amazon in 2018 as a Director building communities for partners in the Amazon ecosystem (retail suppliers, delivery providers, and others). The purpose is to improve adoption of operations technology by these groups and to develop better collaborative programs within Amazon’s consumer supply chain.

Prior to Amazon Kevin headed up research and content for SCM World, a London based community of C-Level supply chain executives, which was acquired by Gartner in 2016. Before that he led AMR Research’s supply chain coverage and created the Supply Chain Top 25 as well as Gartner’s Supply Chain University rankings. AMR was also acquired by Gartner (in 2010) where Kevin then served as Group Vice President leading the supply chain business. Kevin was a Senior Research Fellow at Stanford Business School from 2011-2015 and a Distinguished Fellow with the Global Supply Chain Institute at the University of Tennessee since 2015.

Kevin has a B.A. in economics from Boston College, an M.Sc. in Industrial Relations from Oxford University and an MBA from Stanford University.

Andres Oviedo has mastered the art of supply chain organizational transformations in multicultural and multiregional situations, most recently with Mondelez International. Oviedo is passionate about people development, high-performance organizations, and working systems toward leading results to enable growth. He has served in senior SCM leadership roles in multiple businesses, markets, and countries.

As part of his most recent achievements, Oviedo developed and implemented a HUB operation ecosystem with leading industry performance ratios including leading technology and digitalization, sourcing localization, best-in-class manufacturing practices, innovative distribution operation, end-of-line enhancements of the largest biscuit (cookie) operation in the industry including Oreo, Chips Ahoy, and Ritz.

Oviedo has an EMBA in Global Supply Chain from the University of Tennessee, an MBA from IESA, and a Bachelor of Administrative and Management Science from UNITEC.  His 25+ years of experience in major performance turnarounds, organizational transformation, and strategy execution in challenging environments.

John-Patrick Paraskevas is an assistant professor of supply chain management at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. Paraskevas earned his doctorate in supply chain management from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. His research focuses on buyer-supplier relationships, supply chain representation in the C-suite and supply chain risk management. His research has appeared in the Journal of Supply Chain Management, the International Journal of Operations and Production Management and Technovation. It has been nominated for awards at the Academy of Management Conference, the Strategic Management Society Conference and by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Paraskevas has worked in the defense industry in supplier network management and supplier finance. He has taught carrier management, introduction to supply chain and operations management, supply chain risk management and executive decision-making, receiving numerous commendations for teaching excellence.

Dan Pellathy is an assistant professor of practice and director of operations of the Advanced Supply Chain Collaborative at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. Pellathy holds a doctorate in supply chain management from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, an MBA/MPIA focusing on international economics from the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor’s in philosophy and anthropology from Cornell University.

Pellathy’s professional background includes enterprise risk management. He continues to actively consult with companies on strategic supply chain planning, organizational alignment, supply chain risk management and end-to-end operational excellence.

His research interests include supply chain strategy, integration and organizational design, particularly creating sustainable business success. Pellathy’s research has been published in academic journals, including the Journal of Business Logistics, Journal of Supply Chain Management, the International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management and the International Journal of Logistics Management. He has co-authored numerous papers on forward-thinking topics in supply chain management that have been featured in practitioner outlets, including Supply Chain Quarterly, Supply Chain Management Review and the Wall Street Journal.

Andrea M. Prud’homme joined the faculty as a clinical professor in 2024 and serves as the director of the undergraduate program in supply chain management. Previously, she was a professor at the Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business, where she served as associate dean of undergraduate programs and students from 2019 to 2023.

Before joining academia, Prud’homme spent more than a decade in worldwide supply chain management roles for companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Advanced Energy Industries and Valor Electronics. Her responsibilities included managing projects for operations in Europe, Hong Kong, China and Mexico.

Jim Reeve joined the faculty of the University of Tennessee in 1980 after completing his BSBA and MBA from Drake University and his PhD from Oklahoma State University. At the University of Tennessee, Jim is part of the ADMBA, ProMBA, and SEMBA core faculties. He has won seven teaching awards at the University of Tennessee, including the Richard Sanders Award for Excellence in Executive Education. Jim is also part of the author team for the market leading Warren/Reeve/Duchac series of accounting principles textbooks (Cengage).

Jim’s research interests are in the areas of performance management, the lean enterprise, cost management, and supply chain management. He has published over 40 articles in academic and professional journals, including Supply Chain Management Review, Journal of Cost Management, Journal of Management Accounting Research, and the Accounting Review. He has also been a judge for the USA Today/RIT Quality Cup Competition. In addition, Jim has consulted or provided training around the world for a wide variety of organizations, including Boeing, Procter and Gamble, Eastman Chemical, Freddie Mac, AMOCO, Lockheed Martin, Coca Cola, Sony Corp, and Hershey Foods.

Alexandre M. Rodrigues (Ph.D. Michigan State University) is a Senior Lecturer of Supply Chain Management in the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Dr. Rodrigues has published in supply chain management and logistics journals. He is co-author of the book Business Logistics: The Brazilian Perspective. He has also acted as the chief editor of the journal Latin American Business Review between 2012 and 2014. His teaching and research interests involve: Global logistics strategy and operations; Global/National logistics expenditures and performance indexes; Humanitarian/disaster relief logistics; Supply chain disruptions; Inventory strategy and deployment; and Empirical/theoretical modeling of supply chains.

Lance Saunders is an associate professor in the Department of Supply Chain Management. Most recently, he was an assistant professor of supply chain management and analytics at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he specialized in teaching operations management. Saunders has published in the International Journal of Logistics Management, the Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, and more. He received his bachelor’s, master’s, and MBA at UT before completing his doctorate at Virginia Tech in 2013.

Alex Scott is an associate professor of supply chain management and the Gerald T. Niedert Professor in the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Scott’s research focuses on supply chain policy, transportation sustainability and safety, and market dynamics and governance structures in the transportation industry. His research has appeared in the Journal of Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, the Journal of Business Logistics, and Transportation Science, among others, and has been covered by numerous industry publications. His work has been presented as evidence in front of a U.S. Congressional subcommittee on transportation safety. Scott regularly presents at national conferences, serves as a referee for various leading academic journals, and is an experienced expert witness.

Prior to joining academia, Scott worked for nine years in industry, including with a large transportation company, a large third-party logistics provider and an international consulting firm. He has consulted in many industries and countries, including in Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Ukraine, and Saudi Arabia. He has led projects on supply chain strategy (including a multibillion-dollar merger), network design, inventory planning and optimization and transportation planning.

Nancy Scott, Ph.D., MBA, is the leadership development programs director for the Graduate and Executive Education programs, where she designs and heads the leadership development assessments and programming. She has more than a decade of experience in leadership development for working professionals. Scott is a certified facilitator in the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY® methodology, the Strengths Deployment Inventory and the Hogan Assessments.

Ben Skipper is the executive director of Aerospace & Defense Programs in Graduate & Executive Education and is the director of the Heath Integrated Business & Engineering Program. Additionally, he serves on the faculty of the Department of Supply Chain Management in the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In these roles, he works closely with the college’s corporate and institutional partners and students to develop and advance knowledge across industry and academia.

Skipper has published work in a variety of management, logistics and supply chain-related journals, including the Journal of Business Logistics, the International Journal of Logistics Management and the International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management. He has received several teaching and research awards including a best paper award from the International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management. His current research interests include supply chain disruption and disruption avoidance, supply chain strategy and supply chain leadership. Additionally, Skipper has held tenure track positions at the Air Force Institute of Technology, Georgia Southern University and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

Prior to entering academia, Skipper served for 20 years in the US Air Force. During this time he held a variety of logistics positions and commanded one of the US Air Force’s strategic supply chain operations squadrons, responsible for worldwide operational support.

Andrea Sordi holds a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering with a focus on food processing and biotechnology from the University of Genova, Italy. He also holds an Executive MBA in global supply chain management from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he has been lecturing for the past 3 years.

With 20 years of experience in the fast-moving consumer goods industry (including at Danone, Kraft and Mondelez), Sordi has filled several supply chain and strategic leadership positions, both in Europe and the U.S. Most recently, he was head of global procurement strategy and capabilities and head of global indirect services sourcing for Mondelez Global LLC in Chicago, IL. Additionally, he has led large organizational transformations focused on digitization and data science, process simplification, leading-edge technologies and innovation, and cost leadership in indirect services.

Sordi has served on executive advisory boards for procurement software companies and has been a speaker in procurement international forums (Procurement Leaders, ProcureCon). He has also been cited and interviewed for specialized papers (SCM World) on digitalization, innovation, and cost leadership, and written several research articles on food biotechnology.

Sordi places strong value in people, diversity, trust, and authenticity; his personal purpose is “nurturing others to fulfill their potential and find their success to create a better world.”

Mandyam M. Srinivasan joined the faculty in 1992. His current research interests are in performance modeling and evaluation of manufacturing systems. His teaching interests include performance evaluation, lean production systems design and operation, and supply chain management.

Srinivasan has a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Management Science from Northwestern University, and holds the Pilot Corporation Chair of Excellence in Business. His professional experience includes five years of employment in the automobile manufacturing industry. He received the Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Operations Research from the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences in 2006. He has won numerous awards for excellence in research and teaching.

Srinivasan teaches in the Executive MBA program, the Aerospace & Defense MBA program, the Professional MBA program, and in numerous programs run by the Center for Executive Education. His research and teaching efforts have been supported by grants and contracts from various organizations, including the U.S. Air Force, the National Science Foundation, Northern Telecom, General Motors, Allied Signal-Honeywell, and IBM. He served as the Focus Issue Editor for IIE Transactions on Design and Manufacturing and as an Associate Editor of International Journal of Flexible Manufacturing Systems.

Srinivasan has adopted a breakthrough approach to supply chain management in his book, “Streamlined: 14 Principles for Building and Managing the Lean Supply Chain,” published by Thomson in 2004, and the subsequent book, “Supply Chain Management for Competitive Advantage: Concepts and Cases,” published by Tata McGraw-Hill in 2008.

In his spare time he enjoys playing music on his guitar.

Theodore P. (Ted) Stank is the Harry J. and Vivienne R. Bruce Chair of Excellence in Business in the Department of Supply Chain Management. He is also the co-executive director of the Global Supply Chain Institute. He leads the Advanced Supply Chain Collaborative, a joint initiative between UT and leading Fortune 500 partner firms to better understand innovative applications in SCM. 

Stank assumed the Bruce Chair following six years in various administrative positions in the Haslam College of Business, including department head for marketing and logistics, associate dean for academic programs, and associate dean of the Center for Executive Education. 

Stank’s business background includes sales and marketing experience for Abbott Laboratories Diagnostic Division. He also served as an operations officer in the United States Navy. He has performed consulting and executive education services for numerous organizations, including Anheuser-Busch InBev, Dell, IBM, Lowe’s, Norfolk Southern, OfficeMax, Pepsi, Siemens, Sony, Textron, Walgreens, Walmart, Whirlpool, and the U.S. Air Force and Marine Corps. He formerly served as the chairman of the board of directors of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) and is an educational advisor to the Health and Personal Care Logistics Conference, associate editor for the Journal of Business Logistics, and serves on the editorial review boards of Journal of Operations Management and International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management.

Stank’s research focuses on the strategic implications and performance benefits of supply chain management best practices. He is the author of over 100 articles in academic and professional journals and has also co-authored five books, including 21st Century Logistics: Making Supply Chain Integration a Reality (1999), Handbook of Global Supply Chain Management (2006), Global Supply Chains: Evaluating Regions of the World on the EPIC Framework (2014), Game Changing Trends in Supply Chain Management (2016), and Leveraging Supply Chain Management to Drive Organizational Success (2018). He has received numerous awards for his research and teaching and was named a “Rainmaker” by DC Velocity magazine.

In 2023, Stank was recognized with the CSCMP’s 2023 Distinguished Service Award, earning him induction into the Supply Chain Hall of Fame.

Stank has a Ph.D. in Marketing and Distribution from The University of Georgia, an M.A. in Business Administration from Webster University, and a B.S. from the United States Naval Academy.

Wendy Tate, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Supply Chain Management.  She teaches strategic sourcing and sustainability to undergraduate, MBA, executive, and Ph.D. students strategic sourcing and sustainability. She is interested in the financial impacts of business decisions across the supply chain.

Tate enjoys research and specializes in translating academic work into classroom learning activities and disseminating her work globally.  Her research can be broadly classified under purchasing but focuses primarily on two types of business problems.  The first is in services purchasing, including outsourcing and offshoring.  This area of research has recently expanded into reshoring.  The second area is on environmental business practices and understanding how these initiatives can be diffused across a supply chain and a supply network.  She presents at many different venues, including both academic and practitioner-oriented conferences.  She has published research in top-tier academic journals, including the Journal of Operations Management, Journal of Supply Chain Management, and California Management Review.

Tate serves as co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, as an associate editor for three other supply chain journals, and is on the editorial review board or performs ad hoc reviews for multiple other journals.  Before receiving her Ph.D., she spent 17 years in corporate planning, supply chain management, purchasing, and operations management within the furniture industry.

Jeff Trombly is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Supply Chain Management at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Prior to joining the UT faculty in August 2021, Jeff was a career transportation analyst, planner, and researcher in both the public and private sectors. He earned his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Tennessee and was an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Haslam School of Business. Jeff’s teaching interests include logistics planning and operations, supply chain network design and modeling, and advanced transportation technologies.

Izabela M. VanDeest, CPA, is the assistant director for supply chain management within the Graduate and Executive Education (GEE) department in the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In this role, she oversees recruitment, onboarding and operations for the Executive MBA for Global Supply Chain (EMBA-GSC) program. In addition, VanDeest manages operations for non-degree programs offered by the Global Supply Chain Institute, including SCM Leadership, Finance, and Planning academies.

A two-time Haslam alumna, VanDeest joined GEE in 2019. Before moving to her current role, she was a non-tenure track faculty in the accounting and information management department, teaching undergraduate financial accounting courses. She helped manage recruitment and operations for the Master of Accountancy program and oversaw relationship management for the internship and full-time job program initiatives.

VanDeest remains active in the accounting community through the Tennessee Society of CPAs (TSCPA). She has been involved with the society since 2008 and has been on the Knoxville chapter board since 2014. She works closely with the TSCPA board to ensure members receive high-quality, continuing professional education seminars through the development, implementation, monitoring and assessing the impact of these programs.

Kate Vitasek is an international authority on the art, science and practice of highly collaborative business relationships. Her Vested^® business model for highly collaborative relationships and has been featured on CNN International, Bloomberg, NPR, and Fox Business News. Kate is the author of seven books, including: Vested: How P&G, McDonald’s and Microsoft Are Redefining Winning in Business Relationships, Getting to We: Negotiating Agreements for Highly Collaborative Relationships, and Contracting in the New Economy.  Her work has been featured in over 300 articles including Harvard Business Review, Chief Executive Magazine, Forbes and Journal of Commerce.

Kate is in the Sourcing Industry Group’s “Hall of Fame” and is a World Commerce and Contracting “Fellow.”  She has been named a “Rainmaker” by DC Velocity Magazine, “Woman on the Move in Trade and Transportation” by the Journal of Commerce, and a “Power Influencer” by World Financial Magazine.

Kate is the lead faculty for UT’s Certified Deal Architect Program.

Marianne Wanamaker is a professor of economics, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a research fellow at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA). She serves as co-editor of Explorations in Economic History and is the former chief domestic economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisors, where she also served as the senior labor economist. She is a member of the Federal Workforce Policy Advisory Board, chaired by Ivanka Trump and Wilbur Ross. Dr. Wanamaker is a former Bain & Company consultant. She holds a PhD from Northwestern University and a BA from Vanderbilt University.

Jim Wansley is the Director of the Aerospace & Defense MBA Program, where he has served as the lead finance faculty member since the program’s inception in 2004. He was formerly head of the Finance Department in the Haslam College of Business from 1995-2016. During this time he held the position of Clayton Homes Chair of Excellence in Finance. He previously served on the finance faculty at Louisiana State University. Jim earned a BA degree from Emory University, an M.B.A. from the University of Georgia, and the Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. Jim is the author of more than two dozen publications and research papers that have appeared in journals including the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, the Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Financial Services Research, Financial Management, The Financial Review, Journal of Financial Research, and the Journal of Business Finance and Accounting. Jim is a Veteran and served as an infantry platoon leader in the Army from 1970-1973, the last two years with the 1st Calvary Division at Fort Hood, Texas. Jim holds the Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA) designation and was on the board of directors of BankEast where he chaired their Asset-Liability Committee.