Distinguished Speakers

Keynote Speaker
Marci Rossell, Former CNBC Chief Economist and Co-Host of Squawx Box
Marci Rossell electrifies audiences nationwide, speaking on the nexus of economics, politics, culture and the media. Her animated style was honed when she served as the popular, lively Chief Economist for CNBC in the months immediately following September 11th. She takes complex economic issues, often dull in the button-down business press, and makes them relevant to people’s lives, families, and careers.

Prior to her career in broadcast journalism, Marci served as Corporate Economist and Investment Spokesperson for OppenheimerFunds, one of the nation’s largest mutual fund companies. Before moving to Wall Street, she was an expert witness for Deloitte and Touche in court cases involving economic issues. Marci began her career as an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. She is currently a visiting professor at DePaul University.

Marci earned a PhD in economics from Southern Methodist University, where she was named one of the Young Alumni of the Year in 2002. She brings a world of experience—from Main Street to Wall Street—when discussing the U.S. economy, international events, and movements in capital markets.

Media Presentation
Andrew K. Reese, Editor, Supply & Demand Chain Executive
Andrew K. Reese is Editor of Supply & Demand Chain Executive (Cygnus Business Media), a leading business magazine providing original intelligence and decision-making information for senior corporate executives and other supply chain management professionals as they enable their companies' supply chains for competitive advantage. Reese joined the magazine in May 2000, and he is responsible for development and oversight of editorial content and production for the magazine.

Reese has nearly 20 years experience in research and writing. His prior experience includes time as a consultant in Moscow, Russia, working with leading Western technology and consumer-products companies entering the post-Soviet market. Previously, he worked as a writer and editor at Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organizations.

In addition to Supply & Demand Chain Executive, Reese's articles have appeared in Purchasing Today (now Inside Supply Management), the Journal of Supply Management, Fabricating Equipment News, Plant Safety & Maintenance, Private Air, Tycoon and elsewhere. His translations of Russian articles have appeared in the Nation magazine, the Law in Eastern Europe series (Institute of East European Law and Russian Studies), Russian Conservation News and elsewhere.

Reese holds a B.A. in journalism from Arizona State University and an M.A. in Soviet Studies from Harvard University. He resides in the Phoenix area.

Training Workshop Facilitator
Charles Dominick, SPSM, President & CPO, Next Level Purchasing, Inc.
Charles Dominick, SPSM is the President and Chief Procurement Officer of Next Level Purchasing, Inc., based in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Through the online purchasing classes that he has developed for Next Level Purchasing, Charles has trained purchasing professionals from over 100 countries throughout the world. He is also the creator of the globally recognized Senior Professional in Supply Management (SPSM) Certification, which was launched in 2004 and has been earned by purchasing professionals all over the globe.

Charles has led Next Level Purchasing to awards and honors including being named to the Supply & Demand Chain Executive 100 in 2007, 2008, and 2009. He was also named one of Supply & Demand Chain Executive’s “Pros To Know” in 2007, 2008, and 2009.

Prior to founding Next Level Purchasing in 2000, Charles acquired nearly a decade of results-producing experience in purchasing at the Kurt J. Lesker Company, US Airways, and the University of Pittsburgh. Between 2002 and 2005, Charles served on the board of directors of a Pittsburgh supply management association.

Charles holds the Senior Professional in Supply Management Certification and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Duquesne University.

Breakout Session Speakers

Robert Handfield, Ph.D., Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management at North Carolina State University, and Director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative
Rob Handfield is the Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management at North Carolina State University, and Director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative . He also serves as an Adjunct Professor with the Supply Chain Management Research Group at the Manchester Business School.

Handfield writes for several supply chain management journals in the field and is the author of several books on supply chain management, the most recent being Supply Market Intelligence, Supply Chain Re-Design and Introduction to Supply Chain Management (Prentice Hall, 1999, 25,000 copies sold, and translated into Chinese, Japanese, and Korean). He has co-authored textbooks for MBA and undergraduate classes including Purchasing and Supply Chain Management 3rd revision (with Robert Monczka) and Operations and Supply Chain Management (with Cecil Bozarth).

In 2009, he was nominated as an Honorary Fellow of Contract & Commercial Management (FCCM) by the International Association of Commercial and Contract Management. This honour is bestowed on individuals who have made exceptional contributions in the field of contracting and commercial management. Handfield is regularly quoted and has published op ed pieces, and is quoted in blogs and global news media such as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Spend Matters, Microsoft Live, Ariba Live, Inc., CIO, CFO, the Supply Chain Management Review, and other media.

Handfield has consulted with over 25 Fortune 500 companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Freightliner, Boston Scientific, Delphi, Chevron, BP, Shell, BiogenIdec, Whole Foods, Lyondell Chemical, Conoco Phillips, Federal Express, Caterpillar, and others. He has published more than 100 articles in top management journals including California Management Review, Sloan Management Review, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of Operations Management, and Decision Sciences.

Daniel F. Lynch, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for International Trade and Transportation at Dalhousie University
Daniel F. Lynch is an Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for International Trade and Transportation at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Previously he was an Assistant Professor of Marketing and Supply Chain Management in the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. Formerly, he was an Associate Professor, Chair of the Department of Marketing and Associate Dean at Montana State University-Billings. He received his Ph.D. in Marketing and Logistics from the University of Arkansas, his M.P.A. from the University of Colorado-Boulder and his B.S. degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

His publications have appeared in the Journal of Operations Management, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Journal of International Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business Logistics, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Business Horizons, Marketing Education Review, Academy of Marketing Studies, numerous national and international conferences, as well as several book chapters and cases. Additionally, he serves on the Editorial Review Board of the International Journal of Logistics Management and the Journal of Transportation Management. He has been awarded the Educator of the Year Award from the Denver Transportation Club and Teacher of the Year Award from the Michigan State University Supply Chain Association.

His research interests include: Global Supply Chain Alliances, Supply Chain & Marketing Strategy, and E-Commerce. His professional managerial experience includes over twenty years of Retail Ownership, Transportation Administration / Engineering, and Warehouse Operations. His Research, Executive Education and Consulting include companies such as: IBM, the Department of Homeland Security, UPS, AT Kearney, Bristol-Myers Squibb, MASCO Corporation, Clipper Windpower, Steelcase, Siemens, and Conway / Menlo Logistic.

Pierre Mitchell, Senior Director, Research & Advisory, The Hackett Group
Mr. Mitchell is responsible for developing the intellectual property within Hackett's Procurement advisory services and also serves as an adjunct business advisor within the Hackett Procurement Executive Advisory Program – helping firms accelerate their journey to world-class performance. He is a globally recognized industry expert in Procurement best practices and has over 22 years of industry and research & advisory experience in the areas of procurement, supply chain, and information technology.

Before Hackett, he was vice president of supply research at AMR Research, a consulting manager at Arthur D. Little, a manufacturing project manager at The Timberland Company, a materials manager at Krupp Companies, and an engineer at EG&G Torque Systems. He holds a Bachelors degree in Engineering from Southern Methodist University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Brian Sommer, President, TechVentive, Inc.
Brian knows the software industry and top executives at most major software firms know him, too. He’s in demand as an industry pundit and deal negotiator. Brian’s clients include some of the world’s biggest technology firms as well as a wide assortment of business clients from small to large, private and public.

Brian led an Internet startup and was the longest running (10 years) and most senior director of Andersen Consulting’s (now Accenture) global Software Intelligence unit. Brian also knows how to sell to top executives. He has presented to executive teams at over 200 of the Fortune 500.

Brian publishes an impressive number of articles, research reports and blog posts annually to help software and services buyers make better business decisions.

Allen Rittscher, Chief Technical Officer, Volt Information Sciences, Inc.
Allen is the CTO for Volt Information Sciences, Inc. He brings over 15 years of experience in managing enterprise-wide information systems platforms in key areas, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Business Intelligence (BI) and Internet/Intranet (Web) solutions for Fortune 1000 organizations, including a previous position with a company specializing in human capital. Allen has been with Volt for one year and in his current position for that same amount of time.

Joanne E. Roth, PE, Chief Procurement Officer, Volt Information Sciences, Inc.
As CPO for Volt Information Sciences, Inc, Joanne Roth applies her years of industry experience in launching and leading the center-led procurement organization across the enterprise. Joanne formed Volt's Procurement Council four years ago and today it is the vehicle that drives standardization, supply chain management excellence and best-in-class practices to the Volt Business Units and Subsidiaries.

Joanne brings a broad understanding of issues, from the customer perspective as well as the solution provider's view, and as Six Sigma Champion, she continues to add value to a host of cross-divisional, cross-functional initiatives at Volt, while leading the company's focus on cost effectiveness and world class performance.

Deborah R. Wilson, Research Director, Procurement Systems & Strategy, Gartner Inc.
Deborah Wilson, a Gartner research director, covers procurement strategies and applications. Her areas of interest include procurement transaction automation, e-marketplaces, e-sourcing, spend analysis, buy-side catalog management, supply base management and multienterprise business process platforms. She also covers general-purpose contract management applications for Gartner.

Ms. Wilson's preparation for this position began with 13 years in the field as a procurement professional with responsibility for direct materials spending, indirect purchasing and new-product sourcing at Bay Networks (now part of Nortel Networks) and Kurzweil Music Systems. Ms. Wilson transitioned to the software industry in the late 1990s, when the Internet triggered a business-to-business technology revolution. For eight years she ran her own boutique research and advisory firm, publishing Cool Tools for Purchasing, operating a highly successful Web site and consulting to several large organizations.

For the past three years, Ms. Wilson has called Gartner her home, and here she has happily endeavored to help clients achieve cost-effective success in technology-based procurement enablement.

CPO Panelists

Michael J. Bavaro, Vice President Purchasing, Henkel Of America Inc.
As Vice President, Purchasing for Henkel Of America, Michael Bavaro provides more than 2 decades of Purchasing leadership experience in leading Henkel’s centralized Indirect Materials & Services organization

After completing a successful tenure as a sourcing manager at Lenox Inc located in Lawrenceville N.J. Michael relocated to Phoenix, Arizona in 1998 accepting a position as Director, Purchasing where Michael demonstrated his supplier relationship management skill and vision, by successfully orchestrating a key strategic initiative to connect Dial’s detergent bottle supplier via a bridge and conveyor system within 200 meters of Dial’s manufacturing plant. In April 2005, the Dial Corporation was acquired by Henkel AG & Co. KGaA in April 2005 where Michael was promoted to Vice President, Purchasing for Indirect Materials & Services for both the North & Latin American regions. Michael led the Henkel synergy integration team and several key synergy projects yielding substantial savings and efficiencies. Michael was recognized as a key leader of the team and received the prestigious H-L excellence award for successfully leading Henkel’s integration of Dial purchasing.

Michael has two children, TJ & Connie, who are college graduates from Arizona State University and a son Michael who is a junior in high school. Michael attributes his success to his wife Donna who has been a tremendous support and source of inspiration for Michael and his family.

Reuben Slone, Executive Vice President, Supply Chain, OfficeMax
Reuben Slone joined OfficeMax in November 2004 as executive vice president, supply chain. He is responsible for inventory management, supply chain operations, real estate, and store development. Slone was most recently vice president, global supply chain for Whirlpool Corporation where he led the transformation of Whirlpool’s supply chain over the past four years. Prior to joining Whirlpool, Slone held various executive positions with General Motors in global supply chain, ebusiness, product development, manufacturing, and information technology. Before joining General Motors, Slone led global strategy, distribution, and information technology for Federal-Mogul. Prior to joining Federal-Mogul, Slone spent almost ten years in management consulting with Ernst & Young and EDS/AT Kearny.

Slone received a B.S. in engineering from the University of Michigan in 1984 where he graduated cum laude. In 1985 he received a Graduate Fellowship in Mechanical Engineering.

Slone has been widely recognized for his achievements in supply chain. Harvard Business Review published two of his articles: “Are You the Weakest Link in your Supply Chain?” in September 2007; and “Leading a Supply Chain Turnaround” in October 2004. Harvard Business Publishing is publishing his book, The New Supply Chain Agenda, based on the former article in May 2010.