Speakers

Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited is a Canadian retail company which sells a wide range of automotive, hardware, sports and leisure, and home products. Some stores also sell toys and food products. Retail operations include: Canadian Tire, the core retail and automotive service operation, which operates a large car repair garage in each store; Canadian Tire Petroleum; Mark's, a men’s, women’s, and work apparel retailer; sporting goods and sportswear retail conglomerate FGL Sports; and PartSource, which retails auto parts and accessories. The company's head office is in Toronto, Ontario. The retailer is known for its Canadian Tire money, a loyalty program first introduced in 1958, where customers are provided with coupons resembling paper money worth 0.4% of their purchase that can be used in subsequent purchases as scrip at Canadian Tire stores and gas stations.

Bolton DC: Canadian Tire Corporation’s (CTC) new Distribution Centre (DC) in Caledon Ontario opened in July 2017. The DC was designed to replace CTC’s Brampton DC, supporting Canadian Tire Retail.

The state-of-the-art facility – equipped with the latest concepts in distribution material handling technology – employs nearly 1,000 people. These jobs range from order pickers to varying maintenance/mechanical roles, and include the highly-skilled jobs required to operate and maintain key areas of the facility. These areas include the automated tire handling system, automated guided vehicles and a sophisticated conveyor and sortation system.

Every aspect of the DC has been built to meet the needs of our employees, the environment and our growing business. The facility has many ground-breaking ‘green’ features, including: LED lighting located throughout the building, which consumes less energy and provides better quality light; and an integrated storm water management system, which collects and redistributes rain water for irrigation of vegetation surrounding the DC.

In 2018, the DC will operationalize hydrogen powered lift trucks, which is significantly more energy efficient than traditional battery-powered lift trucks. The hydrogen will be produced onsite through water electrolysis, making Canadian Tire the first Canadian retailer to produce its own hydrogen.

When companies like Microsoft, FedEx, and 3M want to accelerate their digital transformation journey, they call Andrew Au. Digital technology has set a new equilibrium for organizations — from how they engage their customers to how they motivate their employees to how they innovate their products and services. This is where Andrew excels — he brings both substance and style to navigating disruption and future-proofing organizations, powered by big data and transformative ideas. Your audience will leave enlightened and eager to drive change.

Referred to by Forbes as a “millennial expert”, Andrew Au is a modern business leader who helps global blue-chip brands respond to the new culture and nature of work. Through his innovative work, he was the youngest person to be inducted into the Entrepreneurs Organization at the age of 22. Andrew is among the few Canadians to be named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list and has received over 35 domestic and international awards for business innovation and thought leadership.

Andrew offers dynamic keynotes, interactive workshops and custom research studies for a diverse set of organizations including Microsoft, Avison Young, Sun Life Financial, Harley Davidson, Intuit and a wide variety of trade associations. He shares his dynamic perspectives on leadership and emerging technology trends in the media, podcasts and on stages around the world.

Andrew is the co-founder of INTERCEPT, a strategic management consultancy based in Toronto and Boston. Andrew is also the President of SCOPIUM AI, a healthcare startup developing a patented cognitive platform focused on improving patient care and reducing medical costs using artificial intelligence.

Paul Berna is the Director of Proactive & Digital Transformation Services within the Dematic Customer Service team. Paul is leading Digital Transformation initiatives influenced by Industry 4.0. Key focus on intelligent assets, system monitoring, and controlling devices, systems, Robotics and applications to enable, deliver and optimize value-add packages of solutions & services to improve customer business outcomes.

Paul has over 20 years of experience in the material handling industry with a strong background in software development, system integration and managed services. Paul has a Master’s of Business Administration, and a Bachelor’s of Science in Information Technology. Paul is also Project Management Professional (PMP) certified through PMI and participates in various on-going leadership training programs focusing on technology, change management and cultural diversity.

Marc has over 20 years’ experience in the Distribution industry. He previously held the position of President/CEO at Allied Supply Co. He currently holds the position of CEO and is a member of the Board of Directors. Marc graduated with honors from Touro College with degrees in Corporate Finance and Computer Science. He serves on the Board of Directors of several non-profit organizations.

Yemisi Bolumole is an Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University (MSU). Prior to joining MSU, she was an Associate Professor of Logistics at the University of North Florida, where she served as the Director of the Transportation and Logistics Flagship Program. Her primary teaching interests include logistics systems design/analysis, global logistics, and supply chain management.

Dr. Bolumole received her Ph.D. in Logistics & Supply Chain Management from Cranfield University in the United Kingdom. Her doctoral thesis won the best Ph.D. dissertation award. She also holds a Master of Science in Energy Conservation and the Environment from Cranfield University and a Master of Arts in Business and Management from the University of East London. Prior to joining academia, Dr. Bolumole worked in the oil/gas and 3PL sectors in the areas of Operations Management and Business Development.

Her research program has generated over 30 publications, including a best paper award in the Journal of Business Logistics. Her refereed journal articles have been published in the Journal of Business Logistics, Transportation Journal, International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, International Journal of Production Research, OR Insight, the International Journal of Logistics Management, and the Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, as well as book chapters, conference proceedings, and other publications.

Dr. Bolumole is an active member of the professional community, including leadership appointments in the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) and ASCM/APICS. She is currently serving as the Chair of APICS’ CLTD - logistics certification exam committee. She is an active speaker at sundry professional, executive, and academic meetings and has received several teaching awards, including MSU’s AT&T faculty award for instructional technology. In addition to her academic teaching and research interests, Dr. Bolumole is a certified SAP solutions architect and consultant.

Chris creates and executes strategies to optimize for service and cost, recently leading the adoption of 'Lean' culture into operations at Nordstrom to achieve the highest standards for execution. He developed corporate measures to achieve industry-leading order fulfillment scores for customer satisfaction.

Chris has spent his career tackling new challenges, creating and implementing solutions that work, that deliver to the bottom line. His superpower is venturing into the unknown where a problem exists and creating a solution that becomes an industry standard.

Chris, after a twenty-five year career with Nordstrom, departed as Vice President of Supply Chain Operations. He remains active in the supply chain community including an advisory board position at Evergreen Trading, consulting on multiple subjects within supply chain, and speaking at industry gatherings including Retail Leaders Industry Association (RILA).

Jeff Burnstein is the President of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), the parent group of the Robotic Industries Association (RIA), AIA – Advancing Vision + Imaging, and the Motion Control and Motors Association (MCMA). Together these trade groups represent over 1,200 global companies involved in robotics, vision, motion control and motors and related automation technologies. Burnstein joined RIA in 1983 and has held a variety of senior positions, culminating in his promotion to President in 2007. He is a frequent commentator in the media as well as to Congress on issues such as the impact of automation on jobs and the future of automation beyond the factory floor. Burnstein also serves on the Executive Board of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).

Greg Buzek is the Founder and President of IHL Group and one of the Founders of the Retail Orphan Initiative (www.retailROI.org), a charitable foundation that seeks to help the 400 million orphaned and vulnerable children around the world. In 10 years, RetailROI has been involved in over 220 projects in 24 countries helping an estimated 226,000 children through clean water, education, computers, language training and care.

Noted by RIS News as one of the "25 Most Influential People in Retail" and the National Retail Federation in 2015 as one of "The List of People Shaping Retail's Future", he has a Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from The Ohio State University, and 30 years of experience in retail market analysis, business planning, product development, and consulting with Fortune 500 companies.

Greg is frequently quoted in BusinessWeek, RIS News, StorefrontBacktalk, CIO Information Network, Information Week, Supermarket News, Vertical Systems Reseller, Kiosk Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, and the Washington Post and has been used as a retail technology analyst on NBC Nightly News, CBS News, and CNBC. In addition Greg has been a guest lecturer for the Wharton School of Business and Belmont University.

In 2011 The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute honored Greg with the first ever Paul Singer Award that recognizes business and governmental leaders for going above and beyond their defined roles to advocate for better adoption and foster care policies worldwide. Before founding IHL, Greg worked with NCR Corporation and Sensormatic Electronics as a marketing and development executive on hardware, software, and electronic security products for the Retail Industry.

C. Matthew Curtin, CISSP, is the founder of Interhack Corporation (+1 614 545 HACK, web.interhack.com), a computer experts firm, aiding executives and attorneys facing challenges and opportunities involving the management of information. His work is used to find the right questions to ask and the best answers science can provide. He and his team provide information security assessments and incident response programs to support policy definition and enforcement, as well as regulatory compliance in IT. He advises organizations on the use of enterprise-wide cryptographic controls and analyzes information technology and electronic stored information to answer questions that arise in adjudication. Mr. Curtin appears as an expert witness in both civil and criminal cases, dealing with everything from electronic discovery to assessment of information technology in practice.

Mr. Curtin maintained a regular appointment as a Senior Lecturer at The Ohio State University's Department of Computer Science and Engineering from 1998 - 2014, teaching courses in the Common Lisp programming language and operating systems. He is the author of Developing Trust: Online Privacy and Security (Apress, 2001) and Brute Force: Cracking the Data Encryption Standard (Copernicus Books, 2005). Mr. Curtin can be reached at cmcurtin@interhack.com.

Ed Grant is a DCOE Senior Operations Planner in the Solution Development Group at Dematic. As a member of the DCOE (Distribution Center Operational Excellence) Team, Ed works with Dematic’s customers to help their operations to perform at a higher level. Ed helps customers with both new solutions and existing facilities. Prior to working at Dematic, Ed was a customer of Dematic for 29+ years working for Walgreens in the Logistics and Supply Chain Engineering group designing and implementing new solutions and working with the Operations Team to improve their productivity.

Vincent Halma is the president and CEO of KION North America Corporation, headquartered in Summerville. KION North America is a member of the KION Group, one of the world's two leading manufacturers of industrial trucks and supply chain solutions. He previously served as the company’s vice president of sales and marketing, then chief sales officer.

His prior experience includes roles as vice president of the Western European subsidiaries and managing director for STILL Netherlands—one of KION Group’s brand companies.

Prior to the KION Group, he served in a variety of capacities at Cargotec Corporation—the leading provider of cargo handling solutions—including product manager, regional sales manager, sales and marketing manager, and managing director.

Halma holds a Master of Business Administration from The Ohio State University and a bachelor’s degree in finance from NHL Hogeschool in the Netherlands.

Rick Herlacher is a Solution Development Manager for Dematic Corp. specializing in “best in class” material handling solutions. Currently, his focus is leveraging the talents of the Solution Development Consultants to generate solutions that meet or exceed customer requirements. Rick leads a team of professionals who specialize in optimizing operations, designing material handling solutions, collaborating closely with customers, and working with suppliers, to create solutions that deliver exceptional value. During Rick’s 30+ year career, he has been an active participant in the development of logistics solutions and warehousing and distribution operations, with roles in engineering, operations planning, resource management, business development, project management, solution development, strategic planning, and problem resolution.

Arturo Hinojosa is Operations Research Director at Dematic Corp. in Austin, TX. His responsibility within Dematic is the design and optimization of distribution center facilities and their subsystems. Arturo has been part of the material handling industry for 30 years, as a vendor and as an operator. He has been the lead designer and author of multiple optimization algorithms for highly automated and also manual operations. Arturo pioneered the development of waveless batch processes in the industry since the late 1990’s. He is the main designer of some of the most advanced waveless implementation in operation today. Arturo holds a Master’s degree in Operations Research from Stanford University, a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Monterrey Tech (Mexico), and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Ibero University (Mexico).

Geoff has 25 years in the Automation and Material Handling Industries and 13 of those years have been with Dematic. He has served in various roles throughout his career including engineering, operations, project management, consulting, strategy development, and customer service. He is currently serving as a Solution Development Manager in the Customer Service Group. His responsibilities include value assessments of new estimating opportunities, leading various specialty skills such as Safety and Operational audits, and is currently developing a new consulting service / audit to help customers improve the effectiveness and longevity of their current systems.

Geoff holds a MBA from the University of Rochester and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology.

Jason Ingalls is the Founder & CEO of Ingalls Information Security, a leading U.S.-based cybersecurity services firm. Prior to founding Ingalls in 2010, Jason worked on several high-profile cybersecurity projects including the F-22 Raptor, the Whitehouse's first Open Source website (Whitehouse.gov), and the TJ Maxx breach. After working for General Dynamics for 9 years as an engineer, Jason left to form his own firm with the idea that cybersecurity emergencies could be better prevented and more quickly resolved. His firm is a working practice of his approach to cybersecurity risk management, with a mission to provide effective risk management through innovation.

Over the last 9 years as Founder & CEO, Jason has led teams of cybersecurity first responders within Fortune 50 companies, multi-national non-profits, government organizations, and small and mid-sized businesses that have been hacked. He has seen firsthand the results of financially motivated and other advanced attackers, poor security design, bad security controls, and the impact that a cybersecurity breach can have on individuals and organizations. These experiences have led to a wealth of knowledge that is used to better design and integrate cybersecurity risk management controls, and make them accessible and affordable to the smallest organizations.

Jason is a frequent public speaker on the subject of cybersecurity, and serves on advisory boards for corporations and other organizations as a subject matter expert. He provides expert opinion and advice to the cybersecurity practice managing partners at several large law firms, and frequently writes on the subject. He lives with his wife and children in Louisiana, surrounded by family and lifelong friends.

Mike Khodl is Vice President, Global Solutions Management at Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Dematic Corp., one of the world’s leading suppliers of logistics automation solutions, systems and service. His responsibility within Dematic is to lead the development of global standard solutions and subsystems. Mike has been involved in the development of logistics solutions for production, warehousing and distribution operations for the last 30 years. During this time Mike has focused on leading engineering operations, technology advancements and logistics operations planning. Mike has worked in consulting, solution development, project management, engineering management, strategic business development, product management, and executive management.

Furthermore, he participates and supports industry trade associations, such as Retail Leaders Industry Association (RILA), Material Handling Institute of America (MHIA), and CEMA (Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association).

Mike has an Electronics Engineering degree from DeVry University in Chicago, Illinois.

Adrian Kumar is a Supply Chain executive who leads a team of 50+ engineers.

Recently Adrian has been a leader in the roll out of next generation technologies such as: robotics and advanced analytics and optimization techniques. With several patent pending algorithms, Adrian and team have shown companies new ways of working smarter and helping companies meet challenges driven by rising customer expectations.

A perennial presenter at many of the industries’ largest conferences, Adrian has landed media coverage around the world, including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News and various industry publications. Adrian has a Masters in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto and teaches part time at Ohio State University.

Dan has 20 plus years working in the Supply Chain space. Dan spent 20 years with Bed Bath &Beyond developing their supply chain network which included the design and development of 5 Distribution Centers. 2008 Dan moved over to Ecommerce Operations to spearhead the growth of BBB’s ecommerce platform. 2012 Dan moved to American Express where he ran Supply Chain for their Flash sales ecommerce site. In 2014, Dan took on a new role at Michael Kors to build out their Supply Chain engineering group and has operated in that capacity ever since. Dan holds a BS in Business and MS, Logistics, Materials and Supply Chain Management from Michigan State’s Eli Broad College of Business.

John is a Distinguished Fellow/Instructor with the Global Supply Chain Institute at the University of Tennessee James A Haslam School of Business.

He recently retired from Stryker as Vice President, Supply Chain Operations where he led the transformation of Stryker's decentralized supply chain networks into a integrated global capability generating significant ongoing savings and margin expansion.

Prior to joining Stryker, John held various executive supply chain roles including Executive Director of International Logistics and Remanufacturing for Dell, Vice President of Global Logistics for Nortel, and Senior Vice President at Kuehne and Nagel.

He has been a speaker at such events as the Gartner Global Supply Conference, the University of Tennessee Supply Chain Symposium and other industry events.

Damon Loftis is an Account Manager in Dematic’s Mobile Automation Center of Excellence. He has held various positions in his 13 years at Dematic all within our Automated Guided Vehicles Group. He has experience in Manufacturing, Systems Engineering, Engineering Management and his current role as an Account Manager. He has extensive knowledge in designing and implementing AGV systems which he continues to apply today while working to develop successful AGV Solutions for each individual customer’s needs.

Chuck Martin is a New York Times Business Bestselling author, futurist and has been a leader in emerging digital technologies for more than two decades. He is considered one of the foremost Internet of Things (IoT) experts in the world and his new book is titled "Digital Transformation 3.0" (The New Business-to-Consumer Connections of The Internet of Things). He hosts a worldwide podcast titled “The Voices of the Internet of Things with Chuck Martin,” where he converses with top executives from the companies driving the Internet of Things. He is author of Net Future, Mobile Influence (The New Power of the Consumer), The Third Screen and eight other business books. He is a frequent keynote speaker internationally. Chuck also is the Editor of the MediaPost AI & IoT Daily, the largest AI and IoT daily publication in the world, and writes the well-read daily column “Connected Thinking” for the AI & IoT Daily, sent to more than 100,000 subscribers. He has been named #1 in Internet of Things Top 10 Influencers by IT Chronicles.

Entering his twenty-third year with FranklinCovey, Scott Miller serves as the executive vice president of thought leadership. He is the host of the FranklinCovey-sponsored On Leadership With Scott Miller, a weekly leadership webcast, podcast, and newsletter that features interviews with renowned business titans, authors, and thought leaders and is distributed to more than five million business leaders worldwide. He is also the host of the weekly radio program Great Life, Great Career With Scott Miller on iHeart Media’s KNRS 105.9. This radio program and podcast provide insight and strategies drawn from FranklinCovey’s leadership principles and from Miller’s career and personal life experience to assist listeners in becoming more effective as business leaders and to improve their personal performance. Additionally, Miller authors a weekly leadership column for Inc. magazine.

Miller leads the strategy, development, and publication of FranklinCovey’s bestselling books and thought leadership, which provide the framework for the company’s world-renowned content and solutions. He is the author of FranklinCovey’s Management Mess to Leadership Success: Become the Leader You Would Follow (Mango Media). He is also co-authoring Everyone Deserves A Great Manager: The 6 Critical Practices for Leading a Team, scheduled to be released in October 2019 (Simon & Schuster).

In his previous roles as executive vice president of business development and chief marketing officer, Scott led the global transformation of FranklinCovey’s brand. Prior to that, as general manager of client facilitation services, Miller worked with thousands of clients and client facilitators in numerous markets in over thirty countries. He has presented to hundreds of audiences across every industry, and loves to share his unique journey as an unfiltered leader thriving in today’s highly filtered corporate culture.

Miller joined Covey Leadership Center in 1996 as a client partner with the education division, which focused on serving K–12 schools and higher education. He also served as the general manager of FranklinCovey’s central region for six years in Chicago.

Miller began his professional career in 1992 with the Disney Development Company (the real estate development division of Walt Disney Company) as a founding member of the development team that designed the town of Celebration, Florida.

Benoit Montreuil is Professor and Coca-Cola Chair in Material Handling & Distribution at the Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering of Georgia Tech. He is Director of Georgia Tech’s interdisciplinary Supply Chain & Logistics Institute and Director of the Physical Internet Center.

Dr. Montreuil is leading the International Physical Internet Initiative, engaging academic, industry and government leaders worldwide into research and innovation projects on smart, hyperconnected and sustainable logistics, supply chains, transportation, businesses and regions. He is a scientific board member of the Global Supply Chain Innovation Center recently launched in China.

Dr. Montreuil is a world-renowned scientist who has introduced in collaboration with students and colleagues an imposing set of paradigm-challenging leading edge contributions through nearly four decades of research, shared through 250 scientific publications, 250 scientific communications and numerous keynote speeches at international scientific and professional conferences. He has extensive advisory, entrepreneurial and collaborative research experience with industry and government. Though his career, he has received numerous awards, recently including DC Velocity’s Rainmaker of the Year and The Physical Internet Pioneer Award for his outstanding and inspiring vision.

Bob Murphy is senior vice president, Connected Enterprise Consulting at Rockwell Automation. This organization, through proven capabilities and expertise and working closely with many functions across the company, helps us focus our enterprise efforts to partner with customers at the executive level to consult and guide them in their aspirations to become a Connected Enterprise. Prior to this role, Murphy was responsible for overseeing the company’s Global Supply Chain, Quality & Continuous Improvement, Engineering Services and Manufacturing Operations.

Bob has been with Rockwell Automation for over 39 years, starting his career with what was then the Allen-Bradley Company in 1979 as a production technician. His career progressed through a variety of multiple disciplines, businesses and locations across the company with roles in test engineering, manufacturing & systems engineering, product industrialization & development, and operations management.

Bob was responsible for launching the company’s MES function in 2006 as an enabling force when he was tasked with optimizing the company’s global manufacturing footprint. That led to an internal “Connected Enterprise” journey which has since become representative of what Rockwell Automation promotes externally to its customers. Bob meets frequently with leaders within the manufacturing industry to exchange lessons learned throughout the transformational journey to smart manufacturing and to share real world experiences around what all embracing its tenets can afford in the way of step function improvements in quality, service and productivity.

Gaurav has spent 15+ years working with retailers and brands to ensure their technology strategies are executed to deliver the most value to their businesses. As Director of Retail & Consumer Goods @ Tata Consultancy Services, Gaurav worked on major technology implementations with the likes of WalMart and Target. As the entrepreneurial itch got too great not to scratch, he went on to co-found services firms EKN Research and Winculum - both providing retailers, restaurants and brands key insights into the evolving market. Upon the sale of EKN REsearch, he co-founded Incisiv - a membership based insights firm dedicated to providing the consumer industries research and advisory on cross functional digital transformation. He's also a pop culture expert and can fashion a vest better than most.

Crystal Parrott serves as the Vice President, Robotics Center of Excellence, for Dematic. With more than 28 years in the robotics and automation industries, she has a history of bringing emerging technologies to market. At Dematic, Crystal leads all Robotics initiatives and guides, coordinates and supports the generation of Robotic solution sales. Prior to joining Dematic in 2018, Crystal spent 11 years leading the development of advanced Robotics technology and promoting this technology to create new business at the Southwest Research Institute. Crystal earned her Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Kettering University and her Master’s in Management of Technology from University of Texas at San Antonio.

Philip Puite is part of the Global Solutions Management group at Dematic Corp. His role as a Senior Operations Planner is to development global standard solutions and subsystems for Returns processing and Micro Fulfullment. Prior to being involved in the Global Solutions Management group he was involved in developing and implementing highly automated and complex solutions for wholesalers, retailers, and ecommerce customers for the past 18 years at Dematic. Philip has a Mechanical Engineering degree from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI.

Raja Ramnarayan works in Dematic's Global Software organization as Senior Director, Digital Solutions. He leads product management and customer solutions implementation for Dematic's Digital Solutions business, which is focused on improving customers' operational outcomes via digital technologies such as cloud, analytics, machine learning and IoT. Raja's professional experience includes leadership roles in software engineering and digital technology at GE Healthcare, Microsoft and Honeywell as well as building and growing an analytics and database services startup. Raja has a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Cincinnati.

Craig Resnick is the primary analyst for many of ARC’s automation and financial services clients. His coverage includes digitalization, Industrial IoT, I4.0, enterprise integration, industry best practices, and operational excellence. His focus areas include digital transformation, automation platforms, edge, OT/IT convergence, production management and HMI/SCADA software solutions. Craig’s prior experience includes sales, marketing, product development, and project management in the industrial market, gained with major suppliers of PLCs, process control systems, power transmission equipment, and field devices. Craig holds a BS in Electrical Engineering and an MBA from Northeastern University.

Richard has spent the majority of his career in automated material handling. He has participated in dozens of large Integrated Systems projects, as an engineer, team leader, manager, and executive sponsor. He currently serves as a Senior Director Dematic's Solution Development group, leading teams of Planners, Engineers, and Concept Specialists in all tasks and phases related to pre-contract design of highly automated Warehousing and Distribution solutions.

Executive leadership with 20 years of experience at public and private technology, media and services companies that have disrupted or redefined markets in social, mobile, predictive analytics, cloud, business services and IT Infrastructure.

Wallace has recently joined Capgemini and is leading business development initiatives for client digital transformation across North America. Previous experience includes IBM, NCH, RCR Wireless News and The Kiplinger Washington Editors.

He has also had successful venture-backed entrepreneurial experience in both Silicon Valley and New York with both start-ups and turnarounds such as ChildrenFirst ( acquired by Bright Horizons), eFinancial Careers ( acquired by Dice), Sprout ( acquired by InMobi), FirstRain, and Call Sciences (acquired by j2 Global). His focus and the common thread throughout his career has been to take a disruptive technology or service, bring it to market, and either turn around or start the go to market to scale at an industry level.

Tom Steininger is a Market Development Director for Dematic Corp. specializing in the Food, Beverage and Manufacturing markets. In his current role, the focus is on specific solutions, R&D roadmap, and strategic planning within his vertical markets. In the recent past, Tom lead a cross-functional Dematic ASRS team, working closely with clients, and suppliers to help craft solutions, and develop business cases for numerous implemented ASRS. During Tom’s 35+ year career, he has been involved in the development of logistics solutions for production, warehousing and distribution operations, with roles in engineering, strategic sales, global partnerships, business development, project management, solution planning, and management.

As a Software Consultant for Dematic, Jenn has worked with wholesalers, retailers, and ecommerce businesses across a wide range of vertical markets to design software solutions that align a customer’s people, processes, and technologies within the four walls to reduce idle time, balance workflow, and provide better order service levels. Jenn has been with Dematic for 6 years, coming previously from a background in sales. Her strength is in working with each customer to understand their unique business requirements and pain points in order to design the right solution and become the customer’s trusted advisor. She presents highly complex solutions in easily understandable terms to a wide range of audiences, including C Suite, IT, and Operations to meet their individual business needs. Jenn lives in the Dallas area with her supportive husband, very active 5-year old son, and sweet goldendoodle. She loves to travel with her family, craft, and volunteer with local organizations.

Bridget Typovsky is the Senior Director of Solutions for the facility design and engineering department within DHL’s America’s organization where she currently manages a team of engineers / logistic professionals. Her team supports pursuits, implementations, re-engineering and consulting engagements within North America and Canada. Project scopes include managing RFP, developing engineering standards, field engineering work, technology and automation evaluations, process flow and warehouse design, profiling and data analysis, and operational efficiency improvements. In addition, Bridget leads the Global Practice for Facility Design within DHL. Over the past 20 years with DHL, Bridget has designed and delivered solutions for our Consumer, Retail, Technology, Automotive and Life Sciences sectors. Throughout her work experience, she has demonstrated in-depth knowledge of supply chain principles and techniques. She has lead and implemented numerous transformational projects for fortune 500 companies resulting in reduced supply chain cost and delivering high value to our customers.

Alan Veeck is a co-founder of Prime Vector, where he innovates repeatable processes to make organizations operate better. To accomplish performance goals, Alan focuses on using digital technologies such as RPA (Robotic Process Automation), IA (Intelligent Automation), and AI (Artificial Intelligence).

In his career, he has led large, multi-national organizations through strategic acquisitions, partnerships and performance transformations. Prior to his current role, Alan worked at Denali, a WNS company,, where he developed collaborative relationships with procurement executives and encouraged them to set their strategic visions high in order to improve their organizations’ effectiveness, efficiency, and reach. In 2017, he helped guide the strategic acquisition and successful integration of Denali into long-time partner WNS, a large multi-national BPM (Business Process Management) leader.

Before joining Denali, Alan was a Partner with Meakem Becker Venture Capital, a traditional venture capital firm focused on making significant investments in early-stage startup companies. Prior to Meakem Becker, Alan spent seven years at Ariba/SAP, working with many of the company’s largest customers from multiple industries, and managing Ariba/SAP’s acquisition integration activities. Earlier in his career, Alan was an associate at McKinsey & Company where he worked extensively within the Purchasing and Supply Management practice and served a range of Global 1000 clients in the healthcare and diversified manufacturing industries.

Alan holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.

Scott Wahl has over 20 years of experience in the software industry. He joined Dematic in 2014 to help establish and lead an R&D team in Waterloo, Ontario, with a particular focus on Analytics and Cloud products. In his current role as Vice President, Global Software Center of Excellence, he is focused on delivering exceptional software to customers. Outside work, Scott enjoys traveling, running, and spending time with family. He has a BA (Honours) from University of Waterloo and an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Marc Wulfraat is the president and founder of MWPVL International, a global supply chain and logistics consulting firm specialized in helping companies with supply chain strategy, facility design, and supply chain technology. Marc is a recognized authority and industry speaker in the industry.

Marc has worked with hundreds of companies in North America and the rest of the world to optimize their distribution operations and supply chains. He has 32 years of experience in the strategies and tactics of the most effective logistics and distribution companies.

Marc has been a speaker at over 110 supply chain-industry events and has been published in over 120 magazines and newspapers including the Wall Street Journal and the Economist. Marc has a B.Sc. Mathematics and M.B.A. from McGill University/Manchester Business School, UK.