At the 2024 edition of the North American Manufacturing Excellence Summit series we sat down with Lauren Schultz, an Executive Director with Board.org, to talk about what her organization does, and how like-minded executives in similar roles with similar seniority can collaborate, coordinate, crowd-source, brainstorm, and sense-check the things they all face in their working lives both on the day-to-day level, and over the long-term. Executive Platforms is going to be working closely with Board.org on our future endeavors, and we are excited to have this opportunity to better understand and share what they do with our network. For a window into some of the future projects Executive Platforms and Board.org are working on to better facilitate meaningful conversations among the leaders we gather together, give this episode a listen!

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As a Membership Director, Lauren helps to create opportunities for members to share insights, feel connected, and build relationships. She approaches all interactions with genuine empathy and works to create a space for comfortable, candid conversations.

Lauren has spent her career at the intersection of creativity and community. Her professional experience includes building a membership program at a new museum in San Antonio as well as directing the membership department at the oldest and largest national design association based in New York City. Through her work in nonprofit and association management, she has led member-facing teams, advocated for member needs, and strategized plans for community engagement.

Lauren attended The University of Texas at Austin where she earned undergraduate degrees in Art History and Italian. She received a graduate degree in International Arts Administration from St. John International University in Turin, Italy. She also earned a certificate in Business Perspectives for Creative Leaders from Yale School of Management.

Fun facts about Lauren:

• Lauren is a great listener, she gets told weekly by friends, family, and Lyft drivers that she should be a counselor.
• Her most recent obsession is boxing, and she’s training to level up at her women-only gym.
• She speaks Italian fluently, and shamelessly looks for any chance to use it—dai, parliamo!

At the 2024 edition of the Pharma Manufacturing World Summit we sat down with Serena Peirson, a Senior Director of ParkourSC, to talk about one of the hottest topics in the world of pharmaceutical manufacturing: How Artificial Intelligence is reinventing, reinvigorating, and revolutionizing how supply chain risk management works in the volatile and ever-evolving world of Life Sciences. The tried, tested, and true methods of Risk Management have struggled to keep up with the times in a post-pandemic business landscape of frequent disruption, and how much more complicated do things become when a new generation of medicine with never-seen-before requirements and processes is coming online? AI risk management tools can process data in a way no expert could do manually, which frees the planner to ask questions of a sophisticated system doing the analysis and offering actionable suggestions that subject-matter expert can act on faster than ever before. It is a very exciting time to work in this space, and Serena offers real insights into where we are now, and where we will be very, very soon. Give this episode a listen!

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ParkourSC delivers agility and transparency in supply chain operations for pharmaceutical, life sciences, and biologics companies, to drive strategic innovation and resilience, enable timely decisions, narrow demand and supply variances, and increase revenue. 

Our digital supply chain operations platform improves patient outcomes by ensuring compliance, quality, and timely delivery of sensitive therapies. The platform provides a “command center” to predict at-risk situations in the supply chain by monitoring the performance of every entity, flagging quality and compliance risks, automating workflows across organizations, fostering collaboration to resolve issues and prevent waste, and to bridge the gap in planning and execution cycles by automatically delivering real-time updates to planners. 

www.parkoursc.com

At the 2024 edition of the Pharma Manufacturing World Summit we sat down with Teresa Gorecki of Compliance Architects to speak with enthusiasm and optimism about the future of medicine, the most recent developments and what they mean for patients, but especially the most recent ideas and information pharmaceutical manufacturers and other senior leaders in the Life Sciences need to know as the industry moves forward together into a very exciting time. What are some of the top-of-mind challenges and opportunities pharma manufacturers are dealing with right now, and how are the early adaptors already addressing those issues? How are regulators working with industry to improve end results for patients? How is commercialization of ATMPs progressing, and what can we all learn from the first examples coming online now? For all this and more, give this episode a listen! 

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Teresa Gorecki comes to Compliance Architects® from Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, where she was most recently Vice President, Market Quality.   At Johnson & Johnson, Teresa was one of J&J’s top Quality professionals, known for her ability to manage inspections and remediate and improve deficient operations.  Teresa had senior level roles across all three sectors within Johnson & Johnson:  Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Products and Medical Devices.

Teresa is one of Compliance Architects’® lead subject matter experts, and has primary responsibility for strategic client engagements.

At Johnson & Johnson, Teresa’s key accomplishments included:

·       Chair of Johnson & Johnson Cross Sector Business Quality Governance Team responsible for developing a Governance Model and Organizational Structure to develop and oversee an aligned Quality Management System, Processes and Procedures across the J&J Enterprise Business/Marketing Company Quality Units.

·       Member of J&J Company Leadership Teams/Boards including Regional Management  Board for North America; J&J Consumer Healthcare Company (CHC) Board; and Neutrogena Management Board.

·       Management of all aspects of Quality Systems, Quality Assurance, and Regulatory Compliance with Worldwide Regulatory Authorities including FDA (CBER, CDER and CDRH), MHRA,EMA, ANVISA, CFDA, Health Canada, etc.  Extensive experience in combination products, pharmaceutical dosage forms for both OTC and Rx products; biological (r­ DNA and monoclonal antibody) products and a wide range of consumer products (class I and II medical devices, OTC drugs, cosmetics and consumer products) in the US and Puerto Rico.

·       Over 20 years’ experience and lead J&J subject matter expert in handling FDA inspections (routine, special cause, and PAI) for Cosmetic and Consumer, Combination Drug/Device, Pharmaceutical, and Biological products.

·       Extensive experience with new product introduction; product and technology transfer, and commissioning of new/re-constructed facilities.

·       Leadership of ERP System (SAP) implementation for Pharmaceutical Sourcing Group of the Americas Sites in New Jersey and Puerto Rico. Management of large-scale Supply Chain projects for “Demand Pull,” or LEAN Manufacturing.  Sponsorship of Six Sigma initiatives in Manufacturing and QA, which increased quality and compliance and yielded business benefits.

Teresa received her B.S. in Microbiology, with a minor in Chemistry from South Dakota State University.

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Compliance Architects LLC delivers high-value compliance, quality, and regulatory consulting services to companies directly regulated by the U.S. FDA and other global regulatory authorities. With capabilities ranging from quality systems implementations to audits, inspection

At the 2024 edition of the Pharma Manufacturing World Summit we spoke with Bob Honer, Anaplan’s Senior Director of Supply Chain Practice, to talk about connected supply chain planning and what it means for pharmaceutical manufacturers and the life sciences industry. As global business conditions continue to evolve and a whole new generation of medicine marches towards commercialization, demand planning has never been more complicated. Meanwhile, executing delivery across a changing footprint through a logistical network undergoing sometimes dramatic transformation is a challenge that can only be addressed by having everyone sharing the same information and making decisions with the whole picture in mind. What does that look like for pharmaceutical manufacturers? What are some of the unique challenges specific to the Life Sciences in this space, and what does connected supply chain planning allow them to do that they cannot do any other way? For all these questions and more, give this episode a listen!

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Robert “Bob” Honer is a seasoned professional with a solid background in finance, supply chain management, and software solutions. He currently holds the position of Senior Director, Supply Chain Practice at Anaplan where he leverages his vast experience to develop effective supply chain strategies and support new software launches. Robert’s education background includes a Masters degree in Finance and Supply Chain Management from Syracuse University. Prior to joining Anaplan, Robert spent over a decade at Blue Yonder, serving in various supply chain-focused leadership roles.

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Anaplan transforms the way you see, plan, and lead your business. By dynamically connecting financial, strategic, and operational plans in real time, Anaplan gives you the power to anticipate change, address complexity, and move at market speed. Anaplan’s Connected Planning platform lets you view and contextualize current performance, forecast future outcomes to fuel growth and mitigate risk, and optimize costs so you can make faster, more strategic decisions. Anaplan helps more than 2,400 market-leading customers in over 50 countries navigate their daily planning challenges with confidence.

anaplan.com

At the 2024 edition of the North American Manufacturing Excellence Summit series we sat down with Shan Muthuvelu, the CEO of UCBOS, to talk about technology trends manufacturers need to be aware of, and how to on top of developments as exciting new tools come onto the market. The biggest question that we keep finding new answers for is, “What are we going to do with all the data?” LLMs and Generative AI are opening up exciting new capabilities there, but it is important to remember all of this needs to work for and with the people doing the job day-to-day and over the long term. What do they want and need? What is going to make the biggest impact on their productivity and job satisfaction? What does the user experience need to look like for people to engage with the systems and capabilities being offered to them? How can companies tailor these broad possibilities to solve problems and open up new opportunities based on their own very specific scenarios? For all this and more, give this episode a listen!

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UCBOS, Inc. (“You See Boss”) is a visionary No-Code Software company based in the USA, dedicated to revolutionizing how enterprises approach digital transformation. As the creator of the world’s only TRUE “ZERO CODE” platform, we are setting new standards in operational excellence and business agility. Our mission is clear: to empower organizations to achieve strategic solutions 10x Faster through technological innovation, while circumventing the complexities that are associated with digital transformation.

www.ucbos.com

At the 2024 edition of the Pharma Manufacturing World Summit we spoke with Daniela Ottini, Sanofi’s SVP, Manufacturing and Supply Head of Specialty Care, as a follow-up to a keynote presentation she gave the day before showcasing Sanofi’s ongoing transformation that is turning science into reality for patients. We explore how one of the giants of pharmaceutical manufacturing is embracing Artificial Intelligence with real-world examples, what kind of mindset is required from senior leadership to guide an organization through such a transformation, and what the new general of smart factories coming online promise for patients and the future of medicine. It is an exciting and inspiring conversation about the aspirational becoming reality. Give it a listen!

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As the Senior Vice President for Specialty Care Manufacturing & Supply at Sanofi in Paris, Daniela Ottini oversees the global Manufacturing Network for Specialty Care products. With extensive experience spanning over a decade at AbbVie,  she has held leadership positions such as Vice President of External and Contract Manufacturing in Rome, Italy, and Vice President of Biologics Manufacturing in Dublin, Ireland. Her career highlights include managing diverse portfolios and leading strategic initiatives like the integration of AbbVie-Allergan for Operations. Previously, at Abbott, Daniela held various roles over 16 years, including Manufacturing Director in Italy and Regional Purchasing Manager in the UK.  She holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from Sapienza Università di Roma and a Master’s in Business Engineering from the University of Rome Tor Vergata.

At the 2024 edition of the North American Manufacturing Excellence Summit series we sat down with long-time contributor Bart Talloen to talk about the future and how he hopes to contribute to it in his new role as an Executive Fellow at the World Economic Forum for  the Advanced Manufacturing & Supply Chain Center. Bart has been a speaker and advisory board member of Executive Platforms’ events for almost a decade now, and twice we have had him on the podcast in his previous role as a senior supply chain executive for Johnson & Johnson. In this conversation we give him an opportunity to talk about what still excites him, what is coming next, and how he hopes everyone can get involved in creating a bigger, brighter future for us all. Give this episode a listen!

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Bart Talloen is a senior executive supply chain leader with thirty five years of global experience in Asia, Europe, and North America. His expertise and achievements in supply chain strategy and leadership, continuous improvement, and technology innovation are broadly recognized. He is the recipient of multiple awards, including most recently the “2023 Manufacturing Leader of the Year Award” from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) & Manufacturing Leadership Council (MLC) for his transformational leadership throughout his career.

During his career in pharmaceuticals Rx, OTC, consumer goods, and medical devices, Bart managed large E2E manufacturing and supply chain networks (including procurement, planning, manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution); acquired and divested businesses and manufacturing operations; lead strategy and technology innovation teams; and oversaw large scale business transformation programs. He also successfully executed an FDA Consent Decree and re-certified multiple sites.

A dynamic and resilient leader with vision, Bart thrives on big challenges and stretch goals. He excels at mobilizing and guiding organizations through large transformations, as well as delivering step-change performance improvements. With a focus on customers and people, he energizes large organizations by inspiring confidence in others, through strong communication, influencing skills, and an open & authentic leadership style.

Bart is a strong believer in the power of collaboration. At Johnson & Johson he successfully established global eco-systems and strategic partnerships (with academia, industry consortia, industry, technology providers, and governments) that were leveraged to advance technology innovation and supply chain capabilities. He participates in forums to contribute and influence the global innovation and I4.0 agenda, driving progress across industries and economies.

Bart is also a frequent speaker at manufacturing, supply chain, and innovation conferences. Past speaking engagements include Executive Platform events (e.g. NAMES); WEF advanced manufacturing and supply chain forums; NAM/MLC Rethink Summits; IoT Solutions World Congress; and the Cambridge International Manufacturing Symposium. Bart has also done multiple podcast interviews with Gartner, McKinsey, and Executive Platforms.

After 27 years, he retired from Johson & Johnson on October 1, 2023. Now he is an Executive Fellow at the World Economic Forum for the Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains Center and a member of WEF’s Global Future Council. Bart is actively evaluating company advisory and coaching commitments, has ongoing external speaking engagements, and continues to participate with the Manufacturing Leadership Council (MLC) in various capacities.

Bart’s drive, energy, and passion for excellence radiates in everything he does, including his personal life. He is an avid workout and fitness fanatic, having attempted and broken (but not officially certified) Guinness World Records in pushups and chin-ups, affirming his believe in the power of setting

In the run-up to the 2024 edition of the North American Information Security Summit we spoke with security evangelist Romanus Prabhu of Manage Engine about how data security and cybersecurity professionals need to rethink and reevaluate their systems to account for new threats. The reality is protection can never get in the way businesses operate, so what is the right balance to strike between proactive methods, employee engagement, and resiliency versus functionality and productivity? What mindset do security leaders need to have? How should they be looking at their tools, tactics, and technologies? For all this and more, give this episode a listen!

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As the enterprise IT management division of Zoho Corp., ManageEngine empowers you to take control of your IT, from your security, networks, and servers to your applications, service desk, Active Directory, desktops, and mobile devices.

www.manageengine.com

At the 2024 edition of the North American Finance Executive Summit series we sat down with Rob Knferowicz of Wolters Kluwer | CCH Tagetik to talk about Corporate Performance Management and Enterprise Performance Management. A lot has changed in the last five to ten years. How are new regulatory requirements changing the way companies leverage their tools? What is digitization and the next wave of data analytics allowing CPM and EPM platforms to do? How is FP&A and Financial Reporting changing as repetitive and difficult tasks are automated? How are financial leaders using these new tools to translate their information into a story that persuades people and helps move their organizations forward? For all this and more, give this episode a listen!

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Rob Konferowicz is Wolters Kluwer CCH Tagetik’s leading expert on Corporate Performance Management Solution and helps enterprise companies make appropriate, long-term strategic decisions on CPM solutions during their software evaluation cycles. Rob translates customer requirements and industry challenges into best practices with CCH Tagetik.

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Wolters Kluwer | CCH Tagetik

Wolters Kluwer is a global leader in professional information, ESG, and software solutions. Our award-winning CCH® Tagetik expert solution enables business leaders to optimize profitability, and drive strategy with faster and better-informed decisions. Our AI-based solutions streamline supply chain and integrated business planning to improve accuracy, collaboration, and resilience with real-time and connected Demand, Supply, Production, and Sales and Operations (S&OP) planning. Wolters Kluwer serves mid-market and enterprise customers worldwide and has annual revenues of €5.5 billion.

www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/cch-tagetik/supply-chain-planning

In the run-up to the 2024 edition of the North American Information Security Summit we spoke with Jerry Carlson and Jack Wilson of Bulletproof about a top-of-mind issue for every senior leader working in IT today: There are so many options out there right now to address challenges and capitalize on opportunities, and a new generation of AI tools is about to bring still more amazing capabilities into the conversation. How can anyone determine what is the right fit for them? What does best of breed and best of platform really mean in this crowded environment? How is AI changing things, and what is the right mindset to have when trying to get the most out of these exciting new tools? For all this and more, give this episode a listen!

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Jerry Carlson
VP Cybersecurity US
Bulletproof

Jerry Carlson has over three decades of IT and Security expertise, with 23 of these years spent at Microsoft. He currently leads a team of cyber security experts for Bulletproof across the United States. His team is driven by helping organizations protect themselves from cybercrime because they believe stealing is wrong. Jerry is an expert in the Microsoft security portfolio, including M365 Security (Defender for Endpoint, Defender for Email, Defender for Identity), and Entra Cloud Permissions Management, as well as Microsoft Copilot for M365 and Copilot for Security. He has assisted many small and large businesses in transitioning from an outdated best of breed model to a Microsoft best in class integrated security platform, lowering their security expenses, enhancing their visibility, and ultimately decreasing risk.

Jack M. Wilson
CRO
Bulletproof

Jack Wilson is an accomplished Senior Executive, Entrepreneur, and Advisory Board Member with more than 25 years of successful executive leadership experience in various industries. Wilson is currently the CRO of Bulletproof, a leader in the cybersecurity industry, leveraging extensive experience in developing strategies, building high-performance teams, and delivering revenue and profitable growth. 

I love winning, I love building a business to address a new market opportunity and I love making people better at what they do. Experienced in building and leading highly motivated, global revenue and customer success teams solving complex challenges to arrive at successful solutions. 

I’m an avid runner who has participated in many Marathons (2:23PR), and numerous Ultra Marathons including the Moab 240, and placed in the top 20 (10:21) in the Ironman.

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Bulletproof offers comprehensive IT, security, & compliance solutions for your business. We work with any industry, any size – to help you mitigate risk, improve your technologies, processes, systems, business infrastructure, and ensure compliance while securing your data.

Bulletproof was named Microsoft’s global Security Partner of the Year in 2021 for delivering excellence and innovative end-to-end security solutions – let us help you deploy and optimize your technology, security, and compliance, empowering you do to more with your teams.

https://bit.ly/4aMv39Z

At the 2024 edition of the North American Finance Executive Summit series we sat down with Reeka Labh of HighRadius to talk in real terms about what AI and autonomous software can offer senior Finance executives. There is a lot of excitement and enthusiasm about this subject, of course, but Reeka points out that Finance teams actually have a lot of experience and expertise working with data analytics tools already through many years of digital transformation efforts. The Finance function is a natural collection point of clean data, and so the Finance team is a prime candidate to demonstrate just what is really possible with the new and emerging Generative AI tools coming onto the market right now. From democratizing data to improved forecasting to better translating facts and figures into easily understood and communicated stories, the future is bright indeed. For a thorough grounding in where we are right now and a clear vision of where things are going to go for Finance teams everywhere, give this episode a listen!

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HighRadius offers cloud-based Autonomous Software for the Office of the CFO. More than 800 of the world’s leading companies have transformed their order to cash, treasury, and record to report processes with HighRadius. Our customers include 3M, Unilever, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Sanofi, Engie GBS Solutions, Kellogg Company, Danone, Hershey’s, and many more. Autonomous Software is data-driven software that continuously morphs its behavior to the ever-changing underlying domain transactional data. It brings modern digital transformation capabilities like Artificial Intelligence, Robotic Process Automation, Natural Language Processing, Connected Workspaces, and LiveCube, a No-code Platform, as out-of-the-box capabilities features for the finance & accounting domain.

www.highradius.com

In the run-up to the most recent edition of the North American HR Executive Summit we interviewed Christopher Shryock —who was at the time the SVP and Chief People Officer of Sam’s Club— on some of the issues and trends Human Resources professionals are facing, and how the position of Chief Human Resources Officer is changing to better meet the needs of the people and organizations it serves. From how HR leaders guided their organizations through the pandemic, to the day-to-day and big picture effects of the New Normal of Work, to how Talent Attraction, Talent Development, and Talent Retention has become one of the most crucial factors determining long-term success, be sure to give this episode a listen for all this and more! 

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Christopher Shryock served as Sam’s Club’s Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer. In this role, he oversaw all aspects of human resources for Sam’s Club and was responsible for attracting, developing, rewarding, and retaining talent as well as building a diverse and inclusive organization.

Prior to Sam’s Club, Christopher spent nearly 14 years at PepsiCo in a variety of global HR leadership roles in Plano, Texas; Geneva, Switzerland; Moscow, Russia; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and New York. Most recently, he was senior vice president of human resources for the PepsiCo Foods North America sector’s Commercial organization where he led the HR agenda across the sales, marketing, and strategy and transformation organizations. 

Christopher earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Xavier University (OH) and a Master of Arts in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Hofstra University.

At the 2024 edition of the North American Manufacturing Excellence Summit series we sat down with Andrew Knez, the CEO of Covalent Networks, to talk about one of the most important issues facing manufacturers today. A number of industry trends have combined to make the tried, tested, and true ways of training a workforce ineffective in the modern business environment. Today’s workers need to be able to come up to speed much faster than ever before with fewer experienced people available to show them the ropes and impart institutional knowledge than ever before. Fortunately, a new generation of tools and technologies —including ones powered by AI— are coming online to bridge the gap and put information and instructions in the hands of new employees in a way they can understand and act upon. For everyone interested in how today’s and tomorrow’s workforce will learn new skills, capabilities, processes, and best practices, give this episode a listen! 

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Andrew Knez
CEO 
Covalent Networks 

Andrew Knez has several years of work experience in various roles and industries. Andrew is currently the CEO and Co-Founder of Covalent Networks, a company that specializes in workforce operations in complex manufacturing environments. Prior to this, Andrew worked as the Chief of Staff at NatureBox from 2013 to 2016. Andrew also served as an Associate at General Catalyst Partners from 2011 to 2013. Additionally, they worked in marketing at FanSnap for a brief period in 2010 and interned at the Boston Scholar Athlete Program in the same year. Andrew began their career as an Analyst at KAYAK in 2009. 

Andrew Knez attended Williams College from 2007 to 2011, where they earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) degree in History. Andrew then pursued further education at Harvard Business School from 2016 to 2018, obtaining a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) degree.

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Covalent Networks Inc.

Covalent’s enterprise SaaS platform enables technical training programs in complex industrial environments. It replaces all paper training and evaluation forms.

In doing so, it auto-generates real-time Workforce Intelligence for frontline leaders, including skill matrices and audit trails. Our clients further operationalize this data for coverage planning and process control. Our shared goal is to increase labor productivity and decrease the cost of poor quality (COPQ). Customers include Fortune 500 jet engine, automotive, and chemical manufacturers.

www.covalentnetworks.com.

At the 2024 edition of the Pharma Manufacturing World Summit held earlier this month in Boston, we spoke with JR Humbert, INCOG BioPharma Services’ VP Quality, about the crucial contributions CDMOs are making towards the future of medicine, both for large manufacturers and also for a whole range of new, small companies moving their Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products towards commercialization. What are the important issues pharmaceutical manufacturers need to be asking about and learning about as they choose how to partner with a third party to build up their capacity and capabilities? What does the working relationship need to look like from a quality perspective, from a compliance perspective, and from a day-to-day performance perspective? Where are Contract Development and Manufacturing Organizations going as a growing facet of this industry, and how are the best of them trying to become customer-centric to help best serve patients? For all this and more, give this episode a listen!

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JR Humbert is currently the VP, Quality at INCOG BioPharma Services, and created and implemented the quality system at INCOG, which in three years went from company creation through successful FDA inspection in 3 years.

JR has over 20 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry experience in validation, quality, technology transfer, process engineering, and program management. Some of JR’s previous companies include Piramal Pharma Solutions, Roche/Genentech, Hospira, and Cook Pharmica.

JR has participated in multiple global health authority inspections and developed inspection responses. JR has an MBA from Indiana University, and a BA in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Colorado-Boulder.

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INCOG BioPharma Services Inc. has been designed and built from decades of experience with a clear purpose: to deliver better CDMO services in the injectable drug product space.

With our dedicated team, best-in-class processes, and state-of-the-art equipment, we deliver meaningful results and stand-out customer experiences. We are here to strive for the best—for our team and for our customers. We are in it with you from the moment we start work on your project. We go above and beyond to understand your requirements, meet your needs, and foster a truly collaborative partnership.
 
 Founded in June 2020, INCOG BioPharma Services offers development and manufacturing services to both early phase and late phase biopharmaceutical companies. We are located on the northeast corner of Indianapolis in Fishers, IN.

www.incogbiopharma.com

As part of the 2024 edition of the North American Manufacturing Excellence Summit series we recorded an interview with Will Eadie, the Chief Revenue Officer of WorkJam, on an exciting new development in Operational Excellence for Manufacturers. A new generation of communications tools is allowing everyone from shopfloor to senior executive to coordinate tasks, scheduling, SOP Management, and other critical day-to-day interactions from a fully mobile platform that is device agnostic. For everyone who feels their OpEx is in a rut or who has tried and failed to move to a fully mobile system before, give this episode a listen!

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Will Eadie is a senior executive and venture advisor with a strong ability to develop strategic, high-performing sales, marketing and alliance organizations. He has a strong focus on market strategy, product, customer success and partnerships. Will is an experienced team builder with a successful track record of building verticals. He has deep domain expertise in Digital Workplace, Strategic Workforce Management, Human Capital Management, Supply Chain, and Employee Engagement. 

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WorkJam is the world’s first digital frontline workplace; a fully modular super app that solves the biggest problems faced by frontline employers around the world: Employee turnover and engagement, productivity, task management, communications, and upskilling/learning. WorkJam’s modules adapt to your specific workflows and integrate seamlessly with all WFM platforms. WorkJam is the most cost-effective, scalable & uncomplicated way to connect your frontline, so you don’t miss a beat!

www.workjam.com

At the 2024 edition of the Pharma Manufacturing World Summit held earlier this month in Boston, we spoke with Michael Andrews, the Global Product Manager | SmartFactory Rx® of Applied Materials, to talk about an important issue facing pharmaceutical manufacturers and how the experience of the semiconductor industry can help: Alarm Management. 

In most manufacturing facilities, an alert, an alarm, a warning, or a notice is going off somewhere every few seconds. Different machines inform different operators of different data. Very few manufacturers have a clear overview of what is being flagged everywhere at any one time, and the human operators who work with their systems day in and day out quickly learn to ignore some alarms while perhaps putting too much time and attention into monitoring others. Would it not be to everyone’s advantage to have an overarching system that brings all alarms up to the same level of visibility and then helps human operators recognize which ones to focus on at any one time? As luck would have it, the ever-evolving semiconductor manufacturing space has already created a system that operates in an even more fast-paced and exacting manufacturing environment than the one most pharmaceutical companies operate in, and Applied Materials is helping taking the hard-won lessons of Alarm Management from that industry and bringing it to the tightly regulated, patient-focused, quality-centric pharmaceutical manufacturing space. For every pharmaceutical executive who worries things are getting missed in their manufacturing facilities, give this episode a listen! 

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Applied Materials provides pharma manufacturers an opportunity to leverage decades of experience in increasing productivity in semiconductor manufacturing. SmartFactory Rx™ is a suite of advanced manufacturing software which enables pharma companies to achieve unprecedented levels of productivity, quality and compliance from their plants and supply chain refined through 30 years of leadership based on Industry 4.0 principles. Our software solutions provides a real-time, data-driven plant environment that senses factory activity, predicts performance, prescribes effective actions, and optimizes DoE and control. Our pharma team, powered by SmartFactory Rx Digital Platform, enables customers to optimize quality and productivity in pharma manufacturing. This intelligent and flexible platform allows non-programmers to enable data-driven decisions from shop floor to top floor.

www.appliedsmartfactory.com/pharmaceutical

At the 2024 edition of the North American Manufacturing Excellence Summit series we sat down with Willem Sundblad to talk about how manufacturers are using AI to give shopfloor employees capabilities and knowledge once only available to experiences and senior staff. Right now, one of the biggest challenges manufacturing organizations face is having the skilled labor they need to not only do the work, but improve performance, troubleshoot issues, and optimize productivity. Older workers are retiring. We are also living in a time of high turnover. New employees coming into a company do not have the same opportunities for on-the-job training and job shadowing that their predecessors enjoyed, and few companies are able to invest that kind of time and attention into developing future top performers as they did in days gone by, especially in a changing business landscape where that emerging top talent may decide to move on sooner than was true in the past. 

For all the wonderful things AI promises to do for businesses, perhaps the most important contribution will be improving training and putting institutional knowledge, instruction, advice, and instructions in the hands of everyone in an interactive and highly useful and actionable way. It is the right solution arriving at the right time to make a serious impact on a growing challenge. Give this episode a listen to learn more! 

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Willem Sundblad
CEO and Co-Founder
Oden Technologies 

Willem Sundblad is the co-founder and CEO of Oden Technologies, a company empowering operators by providing real-time, AI-driven prescriptive process setting recommendations and predictive quality directly to the front line. In his spare time, he is a contributing writer to Forbes.com and takes every chance he gets to enjoy the Green Mountains of Vermont.

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Oden Technologies

The information inexperienced operators need to become high performers, available in one click. Oden Technologies’ Process AI provides real-time, AI-driven prescriptive process setting recommendations and predictive quality directly to the front-line. Our turnkey models and hands-on service ensures realized value in weeks, not years.

oden.io

At the most recent edition of the North American Supply Chain Executive Summit series we sat down with Jordan Kass, the president of TMC, a division of C.H. Robinson, to talk about how supply chain executives are rethinking their logistics in the post-pandemic business landscape of frequent disruption, and how 4PLs are contributing to that ongoing conversation. While third-party logistics companies have always and will always be an important component of supply chains at local, regional, national, and international levels, 4PLs —organizations that take on many of the planning, oversight, and coordination powers of a supply chain organization, including directing and monitoring the actions of 3PLs— are uniquely positioned to modernize and reorganize long-established plans and networks to better meet the needs of today’s businesses. In this conversation we get into what that kind of partnership looks like, how it makes an impact, and what senior supply chain leaders need to be thinking about and learning about as they restructure their organizations for a successful future. Give it a listen!


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As president of managed services, Jordan Kass has global responsibility for C.H. Robinson’s transportation management technologies and supply chain consulting services through TMC, a division of C.H. Robinson and Freightview. Shortly after joining C.H. Robinson in 1999, he led a team to develop a new service, Managed TMS®, under a newly formed division, TMC. Today, Jordan leads a team of supply chain experts who have built TMC into an international business helping to connect, automate and optimize supply chains for some of the world’s largest companies.

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C.H. Robinson | TMC

C.H. Robinson solves logistics problems for companies across the globe and across industries, from the simple to the most complex. Our single, global multimodal transportation management system, Navisphere, connects our entire network of 200K companies to provide customers with greater supply chain efficiency, real-time insights, and visibility. Through our TMC division, we combine global TMS technology with a full suite of logistics managed services and consulting to help shippers optimize and automate their supply chain across all modes and regions.

www.chrobinson.com/tmc

At the 2024 edition of the North American Manufacturing Excellence Summit series we sat down with René Buck, the CEO of BCI Global, to talk about geopolitical issues facing manufacturers today. While supply chain disruption and global footprint optimization are hot topics that every company is looking to address, this discussion goes further to expand on major issues and trends that are shaping the way businesses are operating around the globe, and what different governments are doing to guide the conversation and incentivize manufacturers to prepare for a future that is going to be shaped as much by politics as by economic considerations. In this wide-ranging and far-sighted conversation, we explore the past, present, and likely future of business strategy with insights and in-depth knowledge from the leader of one of the world’s top boutique consulting firms on these issues. Give this episode a listen!

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René Buck

CEO at BCI Global

René Buck completed his study in Economic Geography and Planning (cum laude) at the Radboud University of Nijmegen in 1985. After his study he started the research and consultancy firm Buck Consultants International. Through more than 30 years of experience, René knows the backgrounds and concerns of many stakeholders and he speaks their ‘language’: from international to regional companies; from universities and to specialized research institutes; from broad interest groups to sectoral sector organizations; from (real estate) project developers to investors/investors; and, from municipalities and provinces to ministries and the European Commission.

René is a leading consultant in the areas where BCI Global is active and he is a prominent speaker at conferences throughout the world. He is seen by international news media as a leading expert.

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BCI Global

BCI Global is a specialized consultancy and leader in developing comprehensive, practical manufacturing and supply chain footprint strategies as well as selecting sites worldwide for new operations in the US; in Europe, Middle East and Africa; and in the Asia Pacific region (including China and India). In the last 36+ years BCI has supported more than 1,000 clients. Our location strategy work combines proven frameworks with in-depth global knowledge of manufacturing hotspots, detailed labor analytics, cost factors, qualitative factors, incentives and risks. Supply chain advice ranges from transformation of supply chains, network design, COEs, Control Towers, procurement of logistics services, to location strategy for warehousing, go-to-market strategies into new markets, risk & resilience assessment. BCI Global is ISO-9001 certified, Llamasoft certified partner and recognized on Forbes Best Management Consultants list for the third year in a row.

www.bciglobal.com

At the most recent edition of the North American HR Executive Summit we sat down with Jason Lioy, the Chief People Officer of Dawn Foods, to talk about a themed lunch discussion he hosted on launching Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs. Jason’s own organization has a great story to share in this space, and he wanted to gather together other HR professionals who are on their own DEI journeys to share where they are, what they are doing, where they are finding success and what they want to do next. Over the course of an hour-long conversation with like-minded executives, many ideas and innovations were explored, and in this interview Jason shares some of the key context and takeaways with a wider audience. Give it a listen!

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Jason Lioy

Chief People Officer at Dawn Foods

Jason leads a global team responsible for recruiting, developing, and celebrating diverse top talent. He is focused on building and maintaining a people-first culture for more than 3,500 team members across the world. He also helps cultivate a culture that attracts, motivates, and retains talented collaborators. He has been a People leader at Dawn since 2014.

Jason has a strong background in global HR and operations with companies including Philips, GE, and Armstrong World Industries. He continues to build on his experience of valuing intangibles for an organization like, culture, work environment, engagement, wellbeing, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

For this special episode of Executive Platforms' bluEPrint Podcast series we had some of the top speakers from the 2024 edition of the North American Manufacturing Excellence Summit series sit down and speak to the challenges and opportunities submitted by attendees of the event as they filled out their delegate profiles, weighted by popularity.   

With topics ranging from workforce development, training, and optimization, through to Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement, to Digital Transformation, Change Management, automation, AI, controlling costs, and much more, this wide-ranging conversation will see five senior executives speaking to the issues, ideas, innovations, and inspirations that matter to all of them as prompted by their peers. It is a fantastic deep dive into what is most relevant to manufacturing executives today. Give it a listen!

Our roundtable panelists are…

Moderator:

Jon Sobel
CEO & Co-Founder
Sight Machine

Panelists:

Bart Talloen
Former VP Strategy, Innovation & Deployment at Johnson & Johnson
Executive Fellow at the World Economic Forum for the Advanced Manufacturing & Supply Chains Center
World Economic Forum

Kelly DiPucchio
Former VP of Global Manufacturing Engineering
General Motors

Magdi Batato
Fmr. EVP, Global Head of Operations
Nestlé

Maciej Stawicki
Global VP of Manufacturing
Procter & Gamble

At the 2024 edition of the North American Manufacturing Excellence Summit series we sat down with Bob Honer, Anaplan’s Senior Director of Supply Chain Practice, to talk about connected supply chain planning and what it means for manufacturers. Today’s business landscape is one of frequent disruption and changing customer expectations. Demand planning has never been more complicated, and fulfilling the S&OE requirements of shifting demand with an evolving footprint across a logistical network undergoing sometimes dramatic transformation is a challenge that can only be addressed by having everyone in the value chain sharing the same information and making decisions with the whole picture in mind. What does that look like for manufacturers? What does it allow them to do that they cannot do any other way? How does it allow the strategic and tactical level to align and coordinate? What is involved in moving to a connected supply chain model? For all these questions and more, give this episode a listen!

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Robert Honer, PMP CPIM

Senior Director, Supply Chain Practice

Anaplan

Robert Honer is a seasoned professional with a solid background in finance, supply chain management, and software solutions. He currently holds the position of Senior Director, Supply Chain Practice at Anaplan where he leverages his vast experience to develop effective supply chain strategies and support new software launches. Robert’s education background includes a Masters degree in Finance and Supply Chain Management from Syracuse University. Prior to joining Anaplan, Robert spent over a decade at Blue Yonder, serving in various supply chain-focused leadership roles.

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Anaplan
 
 

Leverage connected planning to fast-track better supply chain decisions

When it comes to your supply chain, the most precious resource you have is time. With the onset of connected supply ecosystems, fast action is key for sustained success. Your planning needs to help you anticipate change and prepare for any possibility. By integrating supply chain planning with sales and operations plans (S&OP), demand planning, and workforce planning, you can set a more robust strategy and shorten the time from events to decisions. Anaplan for Supply Chain lets you shift from siloed, sequential, reactive plans to real-time proactive planning. Sense shifts, analyze opportunities, draw insights and build consensus with a single platform solution. When you elevate your supply chain planning, you have the power to get ahead of change and take control of your outcomes.
 
 

www.anaplan.com/solutions/supply-chain-management

At the 2024 edition of the North American Manufacturing Excellence Summit series we sat down with Jon Sobel, the CEO and cofounder of Sight Machine, to talk what digital transformation really means to manufacturers today. For years we have been having conversations about the power of data, what it can mean to get it from the plant floor in real time, how to analyze and understand it, and the impact those insights can have throughout a manufacturing organization. Very little of this is a new idea anymore, but so much work still needs to be done to realize the full potential of Industry 4.0. Where are we today? What are we good at, and what are we still struggling to accomplish? What comes next, and what are we doing to actually get there? In this conversation we talk about Digitization in the here and now with real insights into what manufacturers are doing, what they are trying, the questions they should be asking, and the things they are learning about to move their projects and their companies forward. Give it a listen!

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Jon Sobel is the CEO and cofounder of Sight Machine, a venture-backed technology company that serves global manufacturers. Sight Machine’s investors include GE and leading venture capital firms from the Midwest and West Coast. The company has operations in Michigan, California, EMEA, and Asia. Sobel previously served as general counsel and as a member of the executive leadership teams of several pioneering technology companies, including Tesla Motors and, in its early years, Yahoo!. Sobel received a JD from the University of Michigan Law School (1990), an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and an undergraduate degree in public policy from Princeton University.

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Sight Machine drives rapid increases in manufacturing productivity. Our technology platform delivers real outcomes in efficiency, sustainability and quality—in weeks. Manufacturers that deploy Sight Machine empower teams to better collaborate, innovate and accelerate their journey of continuous productivity improvement. Founded by a team with deep manufacturing expertise, Sight Machine has offices in San Francisco and Ann Arbor, Mich.

sightmachine.com

At North American Food Safety & Quality 2023 we sat down with Julie McGill of Trustwell to talk about one of the most exciting tools available to Food Safety and Food Quality professionals: Real-Time Visibility tools that can connect people directly and precisely to produce, products, and goods at any point in the journey from origin point to point of sale to the final customer. Things that would have seemed like science fiction even ten years ago are now everyday tools, and the best is still yet to come. This is creating a revolution in Risk Management, Waste Reduction, Recall Planning, QA/QC, and also connects the FSQ team to other facets of the business to share data and incorporate them into decision-making processes that did not use to include them. Being able to move from reactive to proactive without increasing headcount sounds too good to be true, but it is happening right now thanks to real-time visibility. Give this episode a listen to learn more!

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Julie McGill is the Vice President of Supply Chain Strategy and Insights at Trustwell, (formerly FoodLogiQ and ESHA Research). From food and supplement manufacturers to retail grocers and restaurant chains, food companies around the world use Trustwell software as their trusted source for nutrition labeling, supplier management, recalls and traceability in the food industry.

Julie monitors food regulations, is engaged with evolving industry work, advises, and educates internal stakeholders and external partners on impacts to the food supply chain. Prior to joining FoodLogiQ, Julie led initiatives in foodservice and convenience retail at GS1 US. She also was a founding team member at Transora, which was one of the first GDSN data pools. Julie started her food and beverage career at Coors Brewing Company in Golden, Colorado.

She participates on various industry initiatives and is the co-chair of the AIM North American Food Supply Chain workgroup, co-chair of the PTI Technology and Retail FSMA 204 workgroups, and serves on the PTI Leadership Council.

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Trustwell is on a mission to change the food industry. Combining FoodLogiQ’s supply chain management software with Genesis’ nutritional analysis and label development solution, the Trustwell platform creates the food industry’s only software platform connecting product development and regulatory-compliant labeling into supplier compliance, enhanced traceability, and automated recall management. We are committed to advancing innovation and technology in the food industry together with our customers while delivering the highest standards of products and services.

www.trustwell.com

At the 2024 edition of the North American Finance Executive Summit series we sat down with Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope, a professor at DePaul University and a national instructor with Becker Professional Education, to talk about fraud. Senior executives working in Finance need to understand fraud, both because they are their organizations’ best line of defense against it, and also because so often the opportunities for fraud are connected to their roles and responsibilities. In this wide-ranging interview with a forensic accountant, author, and award-winning documentarian we explore motivations and examples of fraud that the attendees of NAFES24 need to understand, as well as how Becker helps Finance professionals educate themselves and even receive certification for expertise on the issues of fraud. Give this episode a listen!

Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope

Professor, Author, Documentarian,

and National Instructor for Becker

Kelly Richmond Pope is a forensic accountant, a professor at DePaul University, and a filmmaker who analyzes corporate crime. Her 2017 documentary on Rita Crundwell's embezzlement from the city of Dixon, Illinois, All the Queen’s Horses, won the HBO Spotlight Award for Best Documentary at its World Premiere in 2017 and the Golden Laurels Award at the 2018 Beloit International Film Festival. In 2023, her book Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry was published by Harvard Business Review Press.

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Becker Professional Education

Becker, known for more than 60 years as the leader that people trust for the best in CPA Exam Prep, has over the years invested in an extensive library of CPE courses, designed both for credentialed and non-credentialed accounting and finance professionals. With more than 700 On Demand courses available for streaming 24/7, and 100+ scheduled Webcasts per month, Becker has you and your team covered. Also, as a strategic partner of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), we’ve enhanced every aspect of our CMA Exam Prep to be as close as you can get to the exam. Becker remains fully committed to CPA Exam Prep, with over 1 million candidates and counting! We are proud to share that the top 100 accounting firms and an expanding clientele of corporations, rely on us for their staff’s exam preparation.

www.becker.com