Stuart Varney
Anchor, FOX Business Channel
Keynote Speaker

Journalist Stuart Varney is a popular business speaker, correspondent, and anchor, best known for his work on FOX Business Channel. Formerly with both CNBC and CNN, Varney has hosted such shows as Wall Street Journal Editorial Board with Stuart Varney and The Moneyline Newshour. His erudite, charismatic, and articulate style of analyzing financial and economic news has charmed audiences for years.

An economist educated at the London School of Economics, Varney is uniquely qualified to address the rapidly shifting domestic and global economic trends, and the implications for business, institutional investors, and individuals. His exceptional coverage and analysis of the stock market crash of 1987 earned him a Peabody Award for excellence in journalism.

Rick Blasgen
President and CEO
Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals

Rick D. Blasgen is the president and chief executive officer of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) in Lombard, Illinois, USA. CSCMP was formerly known as the Council of Logistics Management (CLM).

Blasgen began his career with Nabisco, working in a regional customer service center in Chicago, Illinois. While at Nabisco, he held various logistics positions of increasing responsibility in inventory management, customer service, order processing, and transportation and distribution center operations management. Blasgen became vice president, supply chain, at Nabisco in June 1998, then vice president supply chain for Kraft in June 2002. He joined ConAgra Foods in August 2003 as senior vice president integrated logistics.

Throughout the past 23 years, Blasgen has devoted much of his time to furthering a number of company’s supply chain management programs and initiatives. This experience has given him a solid foundation for his new role at CSCMP.

Blasgen has been a member of CLM’s Executive Committee, and is a past president of the Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC). He was also chair of the Grocery Manufacturers Association Logistics Committee and is a member of Northwestern University’s Transportation Center Business Advisory Committee. Blasgen is a 1983 graduate of Governor’s State University, earning his degree in business administration and majoring in finance.

Mark Holifield
Senior Vice President, Supply Chain
Senior Vice President, Supply Chain
The Home Depot
Retail Supply Chain Transformation: Improving Flexibility to Meet Changing Store Needs

Mark Holifield is senior vice president of Supply Chain. He is responsible for the Company's retail logistics, import and domestic distribution, delivery, transportation, and inventory planning and replenishment operations.

Mark joined the Company in 2006 and has more than 29 years of experience in fast-paced, high-volume retail supply chain management, transportation and logistics operations. Prior to The Home Depot, he served as executive vice president of supply chain management at Office Depot, where he was responsible for the successful operation of its global supply chain, including 57 distribution centers worldwide that served all retail stores and customer delivery operations. During his 12 years at Office Depot, Mark held various roles of increasing responsibility, including senior vice president of supply chain management, vice president of transportation and logistics, and director of traffic and transportation. Additionally, Mark was the architect that led the transformation of the merchandising systems platform at Office Depot.

Prior to Office Depot, Mark was director of consulting projects at Dallas Systems Corporation. Mark served as traffic manager for Frito-Lay, Inc., and earlier spent nine years with H.E. Butt Grocery Company in its distribution operations.

Mark earned his Bachelor of Business Administration with honors from the University of Texas and his Master of Business Administration from Baylor University.

Mark Holmes
Vice President, Information Services & Human Resources
Orvis
Optimizing Inventory Productivity through advanced planning and versatile fulfillment techniques

Mark Holmes joined Orvis in March, 2003 as Vice President of Information Services. He has since taken on Human Resources and most recently the $30MM Liquidations Division.

Prior to joining Orvis, Mark was at IBM where he was a Retail Industry Executive Consultant, leading their IT Strategy and Planning practice. From 1995 to 1999, Mark was at L.L.Bean where he managed the Inventory Systems & Training and Merchandising Systems departments. From 1986 to 1995, Mark was with the Liberty Mutual Insurance group, where he started his career in their Information Services department as a Programmer, then holding positions of Project Manager, Systems Manager, and Manager of Business Reengineering.

Mark earned his B.S. in Mathematics, from University of New Hampshire’s School of Engineering and Physical Science, with a minor concentration in Economics.

C. John Langley Jr., Ph.D.
Professor of Supply Chain Management
Georgia Tech
Guest Speaker

C. John Langley Jr., Ph.D. is Professor of Supply Chain Management and Director of Supply Chain Executive Programs at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He is a former president of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals and a recipient of the council’s Distinguished Service Award. He received his Ph.D. in business logistics from Penn State University and has co-authored several books, including Supply Chain Management: A Logistics Perspective. He also serves on the boards of directors of UTi Worldwide, Inc., Averitt Express, Inc. and Forward Air Corporation, in addition to his involvement with academic advisory boards of several logistics organizations.

Michael Peters
Principal
Peakview Strategy Group
Global Port Traffic: What a Difference a Year Makes!

Michael Peters has more than 20 years of supply chain experience. Prior to starting Peakview Strategy Group, he was a First Vice President at ProLogis. In that role, he was responsible for assessing global logistics trends and the impact on industrial real estate. He was also responsible for assisting customers in the design of supply chain networks and distribution strategies. Prior to ProLogis, Mike held supply chain related roles at Coors Brewing Company, Mercer Management Consulting and Caterpillar Logistics in the United States and Europe. Mike earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kansas and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

Mike Pitt
Director, Warehouse Automation
MBS Textbooks
The Flexibility and Advantages of Using Automation in Multi-Channel Order Fulfillment

Mike Pitt is the Director of Automation at MBS Textbook Exchange, Inc. Since graduating from the University of Utah in 1993 with a BSEE degree, he has also worked for Kimberly-Clark and Daifuku America where he has worked in various engineering and project management positions. In his current role, Mike ensures smooth running of day-to day operations evaluating and implementing process improvements in addition to formulating long range plans based on business growth projections. His unique background has combined to give him experience as a designer, integrator and end user of automated systems. He currently resides with his wife Jennifer and their five daughters in Columbia, Missouri.

Manfred Preiss
Vice President, SSI Schaefer Peem; Chairman, P+P
Supply Chain Excellence Pharmaceutical Wholesale Distribution

Comparison US, Europe, Asia – Case studies
Law to avoid counterfeited Products
Advanced Picking Technologies

Manfred Preiss has 30 years of experience in automation projects, especially in the pharmaceutical distribution. He runs his own Automation Company since 1980 and holds more than 50 patents for Automatic Picking Systems. For 6 years he has been additionally responsible as vice president sales for SSI Schaefer in Graz, Austria. Manfred Preiss graduated in Electronics and Automation at the university in Nuremburg, Germany. SSI Schaefer is the leading company worldwide in Automation. SSI Schaefer employs approximately 10.000 people worldwide and has an annual turnover of 3 billion $. More than 400 employees are working in the US.

Michael Reiber
Operations Manager, Supply Chain
Interstate Brands Corp.
Eliminating Costs from Logistics & Distribution with Innovative Technology

Michael Reiber is the Interstate Brands Operations Manager – Supply Chain. He is responsible for the order processing, distribution, transportation, delivery, and replenishment operations for the Dolly Madison brand snack cakes program. Mike has several other ongoing projects with National Brands such as Hostess, Marie Callender’s and Mrs. Cubbison’s. Mike is currently the Supply Chain Project Manager for developing and implementing contemporary workplace best practices.

Michael joined the Interstate Brands Corporation in 2000 as the Operations Manager and then the Plant Manager for the Emporia, Kansas facility. Since October 2007, Michael has served on the Corporate Headquarters staff based in Kansas City, Missouri. Prior to joining Interstate Brands, Mike held various positions of increasing responsibility in Operations and Logistics with major CPG companies; The Pillsbury Company, Heinz Pet Products, and Frito Lay. Mike co-facilitates the “Operations Management” Class at the American Institute of Baking and is currently a member of the American Society of Baking Executive Committee.

Reiber is a 1989 graduate of Kansas State University, earning his B.S. degree in Sociology – Criminal Justice. Michael also earned his MBA in 2007 from Benedictine College. He currently resides in Emporia, Kansas with his wife Tiffany and three children.

Steve Thompson
Vice President, Operational Excellence
Cardinal Health
Lean Six Sigma Transformation

Steve Thompson is Vice President, Operational Excellence and Supply Chain Management for Cardinal Health’s Presource® Products and Services division. Steve joined Cardinal Health in 2006 to help lead the company’s Lean Six Sigma implementation and accepted the move to the business role in 2007. Today Steve is responsible for leading the division’s Lean Six Sigma transformation from a traditional forecast and build model to its customer centric demand replenishment methodology.

Steve began his career with General Motors Corporation at one of GM's first Lean Enterprise facilities. Over a 15 year period, he held positions in Manufacturing, Administration, Materials Management and Communications & Corporate Affairs. He joined Lear Corporation in 1999 and began working in a Six Sigma environment, earning his Black Belt while working in the supply chain management group. Prior to joining Cardinal Health, Steve was responsible for Lean Manufacturing Systems for Lear's North American Operations.

Steve is a certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and is a graduate of the University of Windsor (Canada).