Past Speakers (2018)

He has more than two decades of experience developing and implementing custom technology solutions. He has held the position of CIO or CTO in multiple companies including INVISION, Legg Mason Capital Management, TextOre, Inc., and The Motley Fool. In these positions, and as Vice President of Technology at INPUT and the Director of Technology Acceleration at Capital One, Dwight experienced the pain and chaos of procurement firsthand. Tired of spending more time managing procurement than thinking about the bigger picture, Dwight built Contraqer to help procurement professionals do just that. Dwight holds an MBA from Georgetown University; an MS in Management Information Systems from The University of Virginia, McIntire School of Commerce; and a BS in Commerce from The University of Virginia, McIntire School of Commerce.

Jason is a seasoned operations and strategic sourcing executive with over 20 years’ experience in operations, supply chain, strategic sourcing, procurement, supplier relations, and program management.

After attending the University of Georgia and earning a Bachelor’s degree from the Henry W. Grady School of Journalism, Jason worked in various roles in marketing and advertising before making the jump to the homebuilding industry.  It was there, working for regional builders in the Southeast, that he honed his skills in operational and supply chain roles managing production, budgeting and forecasts, capital expense, and vendors.

At PulteGroup, one of the nation’s largest public homebuilders, he held numerous executive roles in purchasing, supply chain, operations, and construction management for the Atlanta division as well as the Southeast Region, leading and mentoring many along the way.  In 2011, he joined Cox Communications to lead a transformative rationalization of prime contractors for aerial and underground plant, savings the company over $6 million in capital expense over a 3-year period.

He moved to IT sourcing in 2012, with a focus on SaaS, PaaS, cloud, and managed services category strategy and management.  He is currently the Executive Director for Indirect spend at Cox, managing an enterprise portfolio representing over $1.7 billion in capex and opex spend.  His responsibilities include leading a team of senior category managers in spend optimization and supplier/contract management for marketing, sales, customer care, collections, professional services, staff augmentation, and other labor categories.

Jason and his wife Stephanie have three children and reside in the North Gwinnett county area of the Atlanta suburbs.  He regularly volunteers in the music ministry and serves on the parish relations committee at Sugarloaf United Methodist Church in Duluth, Georgia.  He is a member of the North Gwinnett Schools Foundation board of directors, an organization that focuses on strategic planning, fundraising, and grant allocations promoting the North Gwinnett cluster public schools. 

In his spare time, Jason enjoys fitness, music (performing, listening and collecting) snowboarding, armchair sports (football is a passion) and spending time with family and friends.

With over 25 years of procurement, business and finance experience, Mike is currently the MRO Category Manager and Indirect Sourcing Leader for DuPont the past 3 ½ years.   Before this role, Mike was a Sourcing Improvement leader.  This role led large competitive sourcing events and implemented the results of sourcing projects in the MRO and Lab Supplies categories.

Mike has a Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) from Drexel University and is a Certified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM) and a Six Sigma Black Belt.

With over twenty years of experience in Sales, Procurement, Supply Chain, and IT Applications, Gijo George now serves Hyster-Yale Group as the Business Unit Director, Food & Beverage.

Prior to Hyster-Yale, Gijo worked for Americold Logistics, Rock-Tenn, The Home Depot, The Hackett Group, GeP, and consulted for several Fortune 500 companies. Gijo also serves on the Procurement Advisory Board for CoreTrust (GPO).

He holds a Master’s Degree in International Business from Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala, India and a Master’s in Computer Applications from IGNOU, India. 

Ralph has over 20 years of progressive leadership experience advancing from multi-scoped operational responsibilities to his current executive-level position as Director of Purchasing North America - Indirect. His current responsibilities span across 45 locations throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico with a direct team of 48 purchasing professionals. Ralph’s purchasing experience includes direct-commodity, indirect, MRO, equipment/tooling, and logistics. Additionally, he has managed multiple organizational transformations of procurement teams into center-led, categorically-aligned structures comprised of strategic and tactical functions.

Ralph’s professional career began as a Process Engineer, implementing a customized AS/RS system for the storage, sub-assembly, assembly and packaging of door hardware devices for Von Durpin. Thereafter, Ralph entered the automotive industry with then TRW (ZF) working as a manufacturing / project engineer for airbag control modules. He then moved to Valeo Engine Cooling, where he held various positions in new programs, industrialization, supplier quality, purchasing, and manufacturing management. Ralph joined Behr America, Inc. (MAHLE) in 2007 as the North America Purchasing Manager – Indirect, later moving to manage Commodity Purchasing function for direct metal materials. After taking the role of Director of Purchasing NA - Indirect, he initiated the setup of a center-led structure where he transformed the indirect purchasing from decentralize-focused to a center-led function realigning into category management responsibilities.

While building his professional career, Ralph was active in the U.S. Army Reserves, where he retired in 2015 with over 27 years of service. He started his military career as an enlisted Infantryman and then was commissioned as an Officer into the Signal Corps. During his tenure, he led numerous Soldiers and civilian personnel in various situations, successfully developing, leading and managing teams in military environments while living a culture that promoted the highest Values. This parallel experience offered Ralph his attention-to-detail, right-first-time, and results focus, while not losing sight of the most import asset, the Team.

Ralph lives in Rochester, Michigan. He is married and has three children.

Melissa Hess is the Sourcing Manager for the MRO category at Mars, Inc., where she leads the cross-segment MRO strategy. Her responsibilities include providing category and sourcing expertise to the different business units, driving a best in class MRO program, and delivering value through strategic solutions and partnerships. In addition to her roles within indirect procurement, she has also led the supply chain for cocoa butter and cocoa powder for the Mars Wrigley Confectionary unit.  

Gaston Alvarado is a procurement professional with over 20 years of experience in indirect procurement, currently serving as a Global Category Manager for Materion Corporation, a global leader in advanced materials. Driven by his passion for procurement, he takes pride in providing the best customized category solutions to his customers.

Gaston began his career at Shell Oil as a Warehouse Coordinator, gaining unparalleled experience in the operational side of the MRO world while also building a wide array of knowledge around strategic management and challenges of the category.

His work in several Fortune 500 companies in Mexico and the United states has provided him the opportunity to develop a deep knowledge of MRO operations as well as other categories within indirect procurement. He has also held several leadership roles in Operations, Customer Service and Supply Chain allowing him to apply his broadened skill set and methodologies to a variety of businesses and industries.

Gaston has implemented more than 50 on-site MRO integrated supply operations across four countries as well as sourced and deployed solutions with some of the world’s largest integrators. He has also worked extensively to develop mid-sized suppliers into an integrated supply model, creating efficiencies and cost-saving opportunities for his customers. His unique communication skills, collaborative style and special talent for uniting teams has made him a very well respected and trusted colleague.

He holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering. Residing in Cleveland, Ohio, he is the father of four children and enjoys traveling and spending time with his family. When he’s not deep in the world of Procurement, he loves playing soccer, watching movies and helping people in different church-related community service activities.

Simeon is a 30-year veteran at MSC who has held a number of leadership roles including Product Management, Marketing, eCommerce, Product Information Management and Customer Integration. Simeon now serves as MSC’s Director of B2B eCommerce Integration & Optimization.

Brad Green has over 10 years of experience in Capital and MRO with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Bowling Green State University specializing in Supply Chain Management. 

He currently manages $1 Billion of spend in Capital, MRO, and Energy. This includes 58 Nestle food, beverage, and ice cream plants and distribution centers in the U.S. disseminating RFP requirements to 45 global category buyers in the hubs around the globe. Additionally, responsible for Energy at 140 Nestle food, beverage, ice cream, pet food, and waters plants in the U.S.

Dave Bertolini has more than thirty-five years’ hands on experience in improvement initiatives specializing in changing cultures from reactive to proactive through the optimization of people and processes.

As the author of “CMMS Explained” (1st and 2nd edition) and the inventory control and management for the Maintenance Engineering handbook, he is routinely sought out by organizations for system advice and guidance. 

His certification as a Reliability Leader (CRL), Master Instructor and Seminar Leader has led to his involvement in over three hundred and seventy-five improvement initiatives and CMMS implementations, utilizing thirty-nine different software packages. He has conducted numerous needs analysis and system selections for facilities, municipalities and manufacturing environments. In addition, he routinely conducts educational seminars on CMMS selection, Request for Proposal (RFP) development and avoiding CMMS implementation failures. He routinely is a speaker at the CMMS/EAM Conference and the International Maintenance Conference and has numerous articles published in trade publications for facilities, municipalities and manufacturing plants.

His satisfied clients include Alcatel-Lucent, Procter & Gamble, Motorola, Uniroyal, DirecTV, Ainsworth Engineered, Lockheed Martin, City of Akron, City of South Bend, Old World Industries, Ohio State University, J.M. Huber Corporation, Rayonier, Cornell University, Georgia-Pacific, Northrop Grumman Corporation, PCS Phosphate White Springs, C. H. Guenther & Son Inc., Trinity Industries, Grassland Dairy Products, and Latrobe Specialty Metals.

Dr. Joseph Richardson is an International Supply Chain Management Executive with demonstrated leadership in designing, developing and implementing effective sourcing, supply chain and procurement strategies (direct and indirect) that address global business issues. His international experience, with a variety of companies, helped him to recognize the political, cultural and technical challenges that affect business relationships, internally, externally and internationally.

Joseph is a visionary who integrates theory and practice in creating and executing innovative approaches and methods to accomplish complex business objectives. He is considered an International Subject Matter Expert (SME) in Supply Chain and Organizational Behavior, and has received numerous awards for his professional services and serves on several Advisory Boards.

Rosemary Coates is the Executive Director of the Reshoring Institute, a 501c3 Non-Profit collaboration with five universities across America. (www.ReshoringInstitute.com).  She is an Amazon.com Best Selling author with 5 supply chain books including:  “The Reshoring Guidebook,” and “Legal Blacksmith – How to Avoid and Defend Supply Chain Disputes.”  Ms. Coates earned an MBA from University of San Diego and a BS in Business Logistics from Arizona State University.  She has been a management consultant for 25 years, and is an Expert Witness.  She teaches Global Supply Chain Strategy at UC Berkeley.  She is passionate about bringing manufacturing back to America.

Tom Barrett joined SDI in 2016 to support the company’s objective of delivering excellence in our people and organization. In addition to strategic guidance for client solutions in MRO supply chain and tail spend management, Tom advises leadership on administrative management best practices in order to implement policies, systems and procedures which improve SDI’s organizational efficiency and effectiveness, ensuring delivery of exemplary internal customer service.

Previously Director of Global Indirect Procurement with Ascend Performance Materials - a global manufacturer and provider of high-quality plastics, fibers and chemicals - Tom has been responsible for all areas of strategic contract procurement excluding raw materials. His areas of focus throughout his career have included Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO), Corporate Services, Capital Purchases, Logistics and Transportation, Travel and Meetings Management and support of Human Resources purchasing requirements.

Tom brings to SDI a wealth of experience from over 35 years in varying roles at Bristol-Myers Squib, Ingersoll Rand, American Standard Companies and Ascend Performance Materials. His experience in supplier management, category leadership and staff management serve to strengthen SDI’s organizational capabilities and provides unique insight into how we can improve our processes and practices to consistently deliver a superior customer experience.

Ed Burhop has 15 years of sourcing and commodity management experience with Briggs and Stratton and Snap-on. He has a BS in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA from Lakeland University.  Before getting into Sourcing, he spent 18 years as an Engineer working in the Metal Rolling, Stamping, and casting areas. 

He currently leads the Sourcing team at Snap-on in the Hand Tool and Tool Storage areas. With the extensive machining and finishing operations at Snap-on, he is responsible for a large MRO and Capital spend. He is also responsible for all other direct and indirect sourcing in these areas. 

Andrew George is the Global Category Lead for MRO Procurement and Global Program Manager for Surplus Asset Management at Teva Pharmaceuticals. Over his 4 years with Teva, Andrew has also held responsibilities for Environmental, Health & Safety Procurement and acted in Project Management roles, most notably in support of Teva’s acquisition of Actavis Generics. Previously, Andrew held a Supply Chain position at Toys ‘R’ Us. He is also a military veteran having served five years in the U.S. Marine Corps. Andrew earned a B.S. in Supply Chain Management and a M.A. in Economics both from Rutgers University.

Ganesh Janakiraman is Ashbel Smith Professor of Operations Management at the Naveen Jindal School of Management at UT-Dallas. His research primarily focuses on the development of and solutions to mathematical Optimization models in the broad area of Supply Chain Management. Applications include procurement optimization and inventory optimization. He holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Cornell University.

Milind Dawande is Ashbel Smith Professor of Operations Management at the Naveen Jindal School of Management at UT-Dallas. His research interests include optimization of problems in manufacturing and service operations, and supply chain management. Dawande has applied his expertise to help solve optimization problems at several companies. He holds a Ph.D. in Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization from Carnegie Mellon University.

Dr. Bin Hu is an Associate Professor at the Jindal School of Management at UT Dallas. He obtained his PhD degree in Operations Management from the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan and taught at University of North Carolina before joining UTD. He has diverse research interests and experiences in supply chain and procurement management, and has published numerous research articles in leading academic journals on subjects including procurement auction design, contracting, supply risk management and manufacturing reshoring. He has taught Strategic Sourcing and Procurement in both UNC and UTD’s master programs.

Michael Hughes is currently the VP of Worldwide Sales for Bonfire Interactive. Michael has responsibility for building and operating the sales and partner organizations at Bonfire. Michael comes to Bonfire from Scalearc, which was acquired by Ignite Technologies where he was responsible for leading the sales organization. Michael brings with him over 20 years of software sales and executive management experience having led his last four firms through either successful acquisition or IPO including WatchDox (acquired by IBM), Watchfire (acquired by Blackberry) and Delano Technology. Michael has a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Clemson University and a M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina.