Global Supply Chain Institute

Welcome to the Fall 2026 Supply Chain Forum. Partners may check in with volunteers at the desk. Registration is required to attend the day’s two student networking events. Space is limited, so make sure to sign up early!

A structured opportunity for talent specialists with corporate partner organizations to meet students currently enrolled in Haslam’s highly ranked graduate supply chain management (SCM) programs: Full-Time MBA (SCM concentration), M.S. in Supply Chain Management Online and M.S. in Supply Chain Management (Global).

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A dynamic and interactive networking session with UT’s Scholars of Distinction, a select group of rising second-, third-, and fourth-year SCM students eager to meet industry leaders across supply chain functions and gain firsthand knowledge of job opportunities and career paths.

Join us at the Opening Reception for hors d’oeuvres, drinks, and brief remarks from GSCI Faculty Co-Executive Director Ted Stank. This casual networking event is a great opportunity to connect with other supply chain professionals, as well as UT faculty and staff.

Stop by the registration table and enjoy breakfast before a full day of main-stage conversations and breakout sessions.

A brief welcome and update from GSCI Executive Director Scott DeGroot and Faculty Co-Executive Director Ted Stank.

Global trade is being reshaped by geopolitical uncertainty, shifting sourcing strategies, evolving tariff policies, and unprecedented investment in transportation infrastructure. Yet goods still move through physical networks that must adapt in real time. Micah Mallace, president and CEO of the South Carolina Ports Authority; Fabio Santucci, CEO of Mediterranean Shipping Company US; Ken Kellaway, founder and CEO of RoadOne IntermodaLogistics; and Todd Steffen, industrial market leader at KBC Advisors, bring perspectives spanning ports, ocean transportation, intermodal logistics, and industrial development. Jim Newsome, a University of Tennessee alumnus with more than 40 years of experience in global supply chain management, container shipping, ports, and international transportation, will moderate the discussion. Newsome served as president and CEO of the South Carolina Ports Authority from 2009 to 2022 after holding senior leadership roles with global ocean carriers. Together, the panel will examine how freight flows are changing, where logistics infrastructure is being built, and what supply chain leaders should expect as networks continue to evolve across North America and beyond.

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In this live recording of the Tennessee on Supply Chain Management podcast, Dave Clark, co-founder and president of Auger, returns to the University of Tennessee for a conversation about leadership, innovation, relationships, and the future of supply chain management. A UT MBA alumnus, Clark spent 23 years at Amazon, rising from program manager to CEO of its global consumer business. Throughout that journey, he remained actively engaged with the UT supply chain community as a partner, recruiter, executive, and alumnus. His relationship with GSCI illustrates how industry leaders can use the institute’s learning, networking, and recruiting opportunities throughout their careers. The conversation with co-hosts Ted Stank and Tom Goldsby will explore the experiences that shaped Clark’s leadership journey, lessons from building and operating one of the world’s most sophisticated fulfillment networks, his current work as founder and CEO of Auger, and his perspective on the future of supply chain leadership.

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Customer focus is easy to endorse but considerably harder to embed across a complex supply chain. Cody Austell, VP of supply chain and customer experience for Louisiana-Pacific; Stephanie Pierce, global IBP senior director for PepsiCo; and Pinky Thakkar, director of customer experience for Global Supply Chain/North America Engineered-to-Order Cluster at Schneider Electric, will discuss how their organizations translate customer expectations into operational priorities. The panel will explore how supply chain leaders balance service, cost, responsiveness, inventory, and resilience while creating stronger alignment across functions. Attendees will hear practical perspectives on moving customer focus beyond a stated value and into the decisions, measures, and behaviors that determine day-to-day performance.

11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. Lunch

Enjoy a 30-minute networking break with snacks in the atrium, sponsored by the UT Supply Chain Management Graduate and Executive Education programs, where you can learn about our top-ranked virtual and global master’s degrees and custom programs, including SCM Academies in leadership, finance, procurement, planning, and technology.

• Breakout #1—The Annual 3PL Study Comes Home to Tennessee, Wiley
  For more than 30 years, the Annual Third-Party Logistics Study has provided the supply chain profession with a consistent view of how shippers and logistics providers form, measure, sustain, and improve their working relationships. Now entering its next chapter, the study is returning to the University of Tennessee, where its founder, Professor Emeritus John Langley, spent 28 years on the faculty. Langley and Tom Goldsby will discuss the study’s enduring importance and preview the issues shaping its next edition. The research examines the shift from transactional service arrangements to more strategic partnerships and investigates evolving expectations regarding technology, artificial intelligence, visibility, talent, tariffs, cybersecurity, and supply chain disruption.
• Breakout #2—White Paper 40: Breaking the Data Barrier to AI and Automation, Milani 
  Artificial intelligence and automation promise faster, more responsive supply chains. Yet many organizations remain constrained by fragmented systems, inconsistent data, and digital tools that cannot communicate effectively. Alan Amling, Mike Burnette, and Russell Allgor, chief supply chain scientist at Auger, will introduce GSCI’s 40th white paper. Co-branded by the Global Supply Chain Institute and Auger, the research examines why companies struggle to convert digital and AI investments into measurable operational and financial value. Drawing on practitioner interviews, the paper diagnoses persistent data-quality and integration problems, evaluates current solution approaches, and identifies what must change for organizations to move from disconnected insights toward coordinated and increasingly automated action. Before joining Auger, Allgor spent 24 years at Amazon and helped develop fulfillment, analytics, and network-optimization capabilities at global scale.
• Breakout #3—Building the Supply Chain Classroom of the Future, Hope 
  Experience how the University of Tennessee is using virtual reality to create a more immersive approach to supply chain education. Jeff Trombly and representatives from R&S Logistics will demonstrate a virtual learning environment grounded in real logistics operations. Participants will experience the technology, provide feedback, and help the project team evaluate how immersive learning can strengthen students’ understanding of logistics processes, operational trade-offs, and real-world decision-making.
• Breakout #4—Faculty Research Lightning Round: Emerging Risks and Strategic Decisions, Fulton 
  Three University of Tennessee faculty members translate emerging research into concise, executive-level insights for supply chain practitioners. Seongkyoon Jeong examines how cyber risk moves through interconnected networks of employees, suppliers, business partners, and digital platforms. John-Patrick Paraskevas explores the tariff-induced tug-of-war between inventory buffering and inventory leanness. And Justin Kistler examines the distinctive planning, sourcing, and operational challenges facing healthcare supply chains. The session will connect healthcare-specific realities with broader lessons about resilience, visibility, product availability, and continuity of supply.
• Breakout #5—From Military Service to Supply Chain Leadership, Clark
  Military service develops leaders who can operate in complex environments, coordinate people and resources, and make consequential decisions under pressure. This Veterans Day conversation brings together three veterans—Kevin O’Meara, former captain in the U.S. Army and executive vice president of supply chain and enterprise strategy at Shaw Industries; Kyle Arnold, former sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps and distribution center manager for the Orlando Distribution Center; and Ryan Leahy, former captain in the U.S. Army and leader of Shaw Industries’ Savannah Complex—whose careers illustrate different pathways from military leadership into major supply chain and distribution roles. The panelists will discuss how military experience shaped their approaches to leadership, operational discipline, team development, and decision-making. They will also address the realities of translating military experience for civilian employers and developing a long-term career in supply chain management.

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Continue the conversation at Jackson Terminal in Knoxville’s historic Old City. The evening provides an informal setting to reconnect with colleagues, meet other forum attendees, and build relationships across the GSCI network.

Enjoy breakfast and connect with fellow attendees before the forum’s final main-stage sessions.

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Freight markets sit at the intersection of trade policy, consumer demand, industrial production, transportation capacity, infrastructure investment, and supply chain strategy. For supply chain leaders, understanding where the freight economy is headed can be just as important as understanding where their own business is headed. In this conversation, Andrew Sibold, director of economics at the Intermodal Association of North America, joins Andy Balthrop, University of Tennessee transportation economist and supply chain professor, for a data-driven discussion of the forces shaping freight transportation across North America. Sibold leads economic research and forecasting for the intermodal freight industry, analyzing transportation demand, infrastructure policy, trade trends, and market performance. Before joining IANA, he conducted economic and infrastructure analysis for the Federal Highway Administration. Balthrop’s research focuses on transportation economics, supply chain management, and policy evaluation, with particular interest in how economic and regulatory decisions influence transportation networks and freight movement. Together, they will examine the economic outlook for freight transportation, the implications of trade and infrastructure policy, the future of intermodal transportation, and the indicators supply chain leaders should be watching as they make decisions about inventory, sourcing, capacity, and network design. Attendees will gain a broader understanding of the economic forces driving freight markets and what those trends may mean for supply chain strategy in the years ahead.

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Trade policy, customs enforcement, compliance requirements, contracts, and operational risk are becoming increasingly intertwined. Supply chain leaders must understand not only what is changing, but how legal and regulatory decisions can affect sourcing, inventory, transportation, supplier relationships, and customer commitments. Tami Gentry, manager of global business process excellence for Eastman, and Cameron Roberts, partner at Roberts & Kehagiaras, bring complementary legal and supply chain perspectives to the issues confronting global organizations. Moderated by GSCI Managing Director Scott DeGroot, the session will examine the legal considerations supply chain leaders should be monitoring and discuss how organizations can strengthen decision-making before a customs, trade, compliance, or contractual issue becomes an operational crisis.

Join GSCI leadership and fellow attendees as we reflect on the forum’s central themes, recognize program contributors, and look ahead to future research, programming, and industry engagement opportunities.