UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Steve Tracey, executive director of the Center for Supply Chain Research (CSCR) in the Penn State Smeal College of Business, has announced the formation of the center’s inaugural Corporate Advisory Board.
The board will enable CSCR to remain at the forefront of the supply chain discipline by aligning supply chain research, programs and offerings at Smeal with current and future industry challenges and trends.
“Since our corporate sponsorship is getting close to 60 member companies, it became somewhat of a necessity to have an external group to provide thoughtful oversight to what we do – which would be impossible with all 60 member companies,” Tracey said.
“It was also a strong recommendation by the broad sponsor base and was well received by all. Since the sponsor group is really our key customer base, this will give us a first-hand, frank, unambiguous view from the customer’s perspective.”
Corporate Advisory Board members commit to a two-year appointment; act in a brand and sponsor development role for Penn State, Smeal and CSCR; and remain active in center-sponsored programs and events. They will provide input and guidance for the CSCR strategic plan and forward-thinking initiatives as well as approve faculty research affiliates and fellowships.
The six inaugural board members, all of whom represent companies that have been long-standing CSCR Corporate Sponsors, are:
-- Taylor H. Wilkerson, program manager, LMI (chairman)
-- Jason Reiman, vice president of Global Logistics, The Hershey Co. (vice chairman)
-- Irv Grossman, executive vice president, Americas, CHAINalytics
-- David Kaduke, vice president, supply chain planning, L Brands, MAST Global
-- Larry P. Smith, vice president, global supply chain, Becton Dickinson and Co.
-- Sean S. Trainor, executive director, global operations engineering and technology, Dell Inc.
“The board is still formulating its charter and mission, but our feeling is that we will gain a deeper, broader advocacy in industry, better internal metrics and governance, and entertain ideas that would have never been considered otherwise,” Tracey said.
“You can’t truly make a voyage until you lose sight of the shore. This should be an expanding experience for us.”
About the Center for Supply Chain ResearchThe Center for Supply Chain Research is one of the nation’s leading institutions dedicated to research and education in the supply chain field. The center’s mission is to be a leading source of supply chain knowledge creation and dissemination. Working in conjunction with faculty members from various academic areas, the center conducts research in areas such as distribution, warehousing, transportation, procurement and supply, customer service, systems modeling and design, logistics information systems and global logistics. Learn more at www.smeal.psu.edu/cscr/.