Ben Skipper is the executive director of Aerospace & Defense Programs in Graduate & Executive Education and is the director of the Heath Integrated Business & Engineering Program. Additionally, he serves on the faculty of the Department of Supply Chain Management in the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In these roles, he works closely with the college’s corporate and institutional partners and students to develop and advance knowledge across industry and academia.

Skipper has published work in a variety of management, logistics and supply chain-related journals, including the Journal of Business Logistics, the International Journal of Logistics Management and the International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management. He has received several teaching and research awards including a best paper award from the International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management. His current research interests include supply chain disruption and disruption avoidance, supply chain strategy and supply chain leadership. Additionally, Skipper has held tenure track positions at the Air Force Institute of Technology, Georgia Southern University and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

Prior to entering academia, Skipper served for 20 years in the US Air Force. During this time he held a variety of logistics positions and commanded one of the US Air Force’s strategic supply chain operations squadrons, responsible for worldwide operational support.