Haslam College of Business - Supply Chain Forum Launches New Women’s Initiative, Recognizes Industry Thought Leader

The Haslam College of Business’ Supply Chain Forum, held on Nov. 11-12, included an inaugural reception of Nexxus, a program aimed at promoting gender diversity in the field. In addition, industry professional Kevin O’Marah was honored with a faculty fellowship.

Nexxus was developed by female supply chain faculty at Haslam to address gender diversity while connecting women in the field.

“We’re using this first session to ask attendees exactly what they’d like Nexxus to be,” said Diane Mollenkopf, McCormick Associate Professor of Logistics and Supply Chain Management, and one of the initiative’s founders. “Women are severely underrepresented in supply chain, and we’d like to make concerted efforts to improve that as other organizations have done in the field of engineering.”

The forum also recognized Kevin O’Marah, chief content officer of SCM World, as a Global Supply Chain Institute Faculty Fellow.

“O’Marah is the industry’s most trusted source on current challenges and innovations,” said Paul Dittmann, director of Haslam’s Global Supply Chain Institute. “We’re recognizing his contributions to the field with this award and hoping to partner with him more in the future.”

O’Marah spoke at the forum on Nov. 11 on current trends in supply chain. Other keynote speakers included Stephen Szilagyi, chief supply chain officer for Lowe’s; Josué Muños, vice president of global customer service and logistics at Colgate-Palmolive; and Bill Hutchison, the chief supply chain officer for Sears.

The Supply Chain Forum at the Haslam College of Business has hosted corporate leaders, faculty and students to discuss the latest in supply chain issues for more than two decades. Managers from 60 top corporations participate, and past keynote speakers have included the CEO and founder of FedEx and senior executives from Goodyear, Walmart and Amazon, among others.

The supply chain program at the Haslam College of Business is ranked among the top programs in the country by U.S. News & World Report, Gartner, Business Week and Supply Chain Management Review. The Supply Chain Forum is a recognized leader in current issues and strategies in global supply chain.

For more information about the Supply Chain Forum, and to see presentations from previous years, visit scforum.bus.utk.edu.

To learn more about the Haslam College of Business and its marketing and supply chain department, visit haslam.utk.edu.

Contact: Katie Bahr, writer/publicist, Haslam College of Business, 865-974-3589, katiebahr@utk.edu