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Keynote Sessions

The following session is for registered conference attendees…

Surround Yourself With Greatness

(in conjunction with the Friday breakfast)
Chad Lewis, NFL Super Bowl player and BYU Associate Athletic Director

Chad Lewis played football in the NFL for nine years with the Philadelphia Eagles and the St. Louis Rams. He helped get the Eagles into the Super Bowl with 2 TD’s in the NFC Championship Game. Chad was selected to the Pro Bowl 3 times. He represents the NFL as an ambassador around the world including China, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, Hawaii, and Tanzania. He is the author of Surround Yourself with Greatness. He currently works as BYU Associate Athletic Director of Development. He and his wife Michele have seven children.
Session Description
Chad Lewis will share stories and examples of his life to illustrate the importance of surrounding ourselves with greatness. The Savior Jesus Christ is the perfect example. He is the greatness that we need in our life.

The following session is open to all conference attendees and current BYU GSCM students (including interested Pre-Management Students).

Doing Good through Global Supply Chain Management

Scheduled for Friday, 1:30-2:20pm in 151 TNRB for conference registrants and GSCM students, and broadcast in 251 TNRB for pre-management and other students.
Bishop Gérald Caussé, Presiding Bishop, LDS Church

Bishop Gérald Caussé has served as Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since October of 2015. Prior to that he served for three years as first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric. Bishop Caussé was born in Bordeaux and raised as a Latter-day Saint, his parents joining the church when he was six months old. He became the Sunday School president in his branch when he was sixteen.
Bishop Caussé served for a year in the French Air Force. He has a master’s degree in business from École supérieure des sciences économiques et commerciales (ESSEC Business School). He has an impressive professional career in global supply chain management. He is a former Director of Logistics for Carrefour (€103 billion hypermarket retailer operating in 30 countries) and former General Manager of Pomona (the largest food distributor in France).
Bishop Caussé and his wife, Valérie, were married on 5 August 1986 in the Bern Switzerland Temple. They are the parents of five children.
Session Description
Bishop Caussé will share principles for succeeding in supply chain management based on personal life experiences. He will also discuss some of the founding principles which underpin the Church’s supply chain and other temporal operations, and make it a very unique organization.
 


 

Breakout Sessions

Breakout sessions will each be 50 minutes and will each be offered at one of the following times: 10am, 11am, 2:30pm, 3:30pm. Breakout sessions are organized into three Tracks.

Track: Info Technology in GSCM

Cyber Security within the Supply Chain

Paul G. Levine, Executive Director, National Motor Freight Traffic Association
Paul Levine is the Executive Director of the National Motor Freight Traffic Association, Inc. (NMFTA). He is a 1981 graduate of the University of Maryland’s transportation program and has worked for NMFTA since 1982 in several areas of increasing responsibility. Under his leadership, NMFTA initiated its Heavy Vehicle Cyber Security Program. Prior to joining NMFTA, he worked in the automotive industry.

Session Description
NMFTA’s members are primarily motor freight carriers serving the less-than-truckload segment of the industry. The session will review why vehicle cyber security is important to the trucking industry, the efforts NMFTA has undertaken to sponsor research on the problem, information that has been developed and disseminated to the industry, as well as how collaboration with industry stakeholders and organizations has helped spread awareness and is developing solutions to the problem.

Big Data Analytics – Make Data Your Most Powerful Resource

Becky Tasker, Senior Managing Analyst, Adobe Digital Insights
Becky Tasker is the Sr. Managing Analyst on Adobe Digital Insights (ADI). In this broad role, she oversees a team that creates and deploys large data-based reports as well as liaises with PR and press outlets to maximize exposure for upcoming releases. An avid traveler, Becky has consulted and developed email strategies for top companies throughout the U.S. and Europe, including JCPenney, Abercrombie & Fitch, Charlotte Russe, and Sears. Becky is a graduate of the University of Utah, where she was awarded the New Century Scholarship and Eccles Scholarship.

Session Description
Adobe Digital Insights (ADI) processes through trillions of data points to identify important insights for industries impacted by the age of digital for the Adobe business. Discover trends that are influencing digital as we know it, learn what consumers are expecting from businesses, and get a glimpse into a team of analysts dedicated to using big data to derive these insights for consumers and company practitioners alike.

Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

Benjamin Taylor, Chief Data Officer, Ziff.ai
Ben Taylor has over 13 years of machine learning experience. He has worked for 5 years in the semiconductor industry for Intel and Micron in photolithography, process control, and yield prediction. He has also worked as a Wall Street building sentiment stock models for a hedge fund trading the S&P 1500 on the news content. During that time Ben helped build a 600 GPU core computing cluster from the ground up that he used to backtest up to 10M trading scenarios per day. Ben left finance and semiconductor to work for a new HR start-up called HireVue in 2013 and lead their machine learning efforts around digital interviewing. Ben helped pioneer features and methods which have allowed short unstructured video recorded interviews to see r-values in the 0.3-0.4 range in the HireVue insights product. Ben is currently working for an AI startup that he co-founded with David Gonzalez, focused on offering AI as a software service.

Session Description
Learn about the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution we are entering and how it will enable a trillion dollar industry. The AI revolution will be more disruptive and larger than the industrial, computer, and internet revolutions combined. Ben will review the latest advancements in AI with real practical industrial applications. He will discuss jargon and important concepts to be aware of (i.e. deep learning), and help those attending this session understand how they may apply AI into their future roadmap or career.

Track: GSCM Best Practices

LDS Church GSCM – In the Service of All Mankind: Examples of Working through Supply Chain Challenges

Paul Hansen, Director Asia Area Presiding Bishopric Office, LDS Church
Paul Hansen has been Managing Director of the Materials Management Department (MMD) for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the past five years. MMD’s global operations are diverse and include the manufacturing and distribution of printed materials and clothing, purchasing, travel services, vehicle fleet operations, food services, and mail operations. Paul was recently appointed as the Director for Temporal Affairs for the Asia Area. He received his Bachelor’s and MBA from BYU. He and his wife, Susan, have three children and three grandchildren.

Bruce Muir, Director of Emergency Response Division, LDS Church
Bruce Muir is the Director of the Emergency Response Division in the Welfare Services Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Bruce has worked in numerous positions in the Church, including the Director for Temporal Affairs in the Philippines and Chile, and the Managing Director of the Translation Department. Bruce received his B.A. in Finance from Utah State University and his MBA in International Management from Thunderbird. He and his wife, Mary, have three children and eight grandchildren.

Session Description
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a mandate to serve mankind by taking care of the poor and needy and by making gospel materials accessible to all in a simple and affordable way. The need to reach “all,” meaning every person throughout the world, and “in a simple and affordable way” is a complex balance with many supply chain challenges that require thoughtful and creative solutions. In this session, Paul Hansen and Bruce Muir will share examples from Cape Verde, Chile, and Syria that illustrate how the Church’s supply chain works through difficulties in providing essential materials to remote members, to victims of natural disasters, and to refugees.

From Cadillac to Mickey Mouse to Facebook – Hints and Tips from a Supply Chain Journey

Derek Johnson, Global Process Owner - Strategic Sourcing, Facebook
Derek is an accomplished Sourcing and Supply Chain executive with a passion for creating, building, and fixing things. Most recently, Derek has been building and leading the Strategic Sourcing organization at Facebook, Inc. as the Global Process Owner (GPO). Previously, he lead Sourcing and Supply Chain activities at the Walt Disney Company as Vice President of Sourcing and Procurement for the Media Networks Group (ESPN, ABC, Disney Channels), as well as for Marketing, Advertising, Professional Services, and Technology across the Disney enterprise. Prior to his ten plus years at Disney, he led similar purchasing, new product development, technology, and administrative activities at General Motors and Saturn.

Derek has a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Brigham Young University and an MBA from Vanderbilt University. He served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Dominican Republic and spent a year in Libya as an agricultural consultant in the Sahara. He served for ten years as the Treasurer and member of the Executive Board for the Southern California Minority Supplier Development Council (SCMSDC) and currently serves as an Advisory Board Member for the BYU Marriott School’s Global Supply Chain Program.


Session Description
The Automotive, Entertainment, and Technology industries have a wide variety of supply chains. We’ll take a look at some of those supply chains and share some learnings gained, both good and bad. How do we tap into and optimize supplier partnerships? What are some common pitfalls across industries? How can we manage careers to include rich and diverse experiences? We’ll discuss some common hints and tips for sourcing and managing these diverse supply chains.

General Motors Purchasing, Supply Chain and Logistics: Individually Very Strong; Collectively Focused to Win

Marc Menden, VP Global Purchasing and Supply Chain, General Motors South America
Marc B. Menden has served as Vice President Global Purchasing and Supply Chain at General Motors South America since November 2016. Marc is responsible for $4B in annual direct and indirect material purchases, as well as all inbound and outbound logistics and supply chain for South America. General Motors is the market leader in South America with 18% market share, the top selling vehicle in the region and operations in 6 different countries.

Marc joined General Motors from Honeywell where he served as Senior Director, Americas Procurement, Transportation Systems. Prior to this role, he led the corporate purchasing partnership of Indirect Procurement leaders in each of the four Strategic Business Groups representing over $1.1B in annual capital spend. Previously at Honeywell, Marc was responsible for Aerospace’s Americas Materials Execution for the Mechanical Operations & Service Centers. In this role, he was responsible for planning, procurement and materials movement at 7 OEM and 10 Aftermarket and Repair and Overhaul facilities. Marc led factory scheduling, shipping and receiving, material handling, inventory management, and tactical procurement.

Prior to joining Honeywell, Marc spent 13 years at Ford Motor Company in a number of leadership & management roles including in the South America Regional.
Marc holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management with an emphasis in Finance from Brigham Young University and an MBA with concentration in Marketing from the University of Arizona. Marc currently resides in Sao Paulo, Brazil.


Session Description
General Motors has grouped functions that have shared space but whose relation to one another was not always strongly emphasized. The traditional organizational pillars have performed very well individually, but they didn’t always fully understand the impacts they had upon each other.

Supplying the hands that deliver care – How Intermountain Healthcare’s Supply Chain Organization is connected to the delivery of care

Kreg Koford, AVP, Strategic Solutions and Sourcing, Intermountain Healthcare
Kreg Koford serves as the AVP, Strategic Sourcing & Solutions of Supply Chain for Intermountain Healthcare. He is responsible to deliver strategies to manage over $2B in spend through comprehensive category management strategies across the spectrum of all non-labor spend. His responsibilities include category management, contracting, strategic sourcing, program development, and supplier relationship management and development.

Before joining Intermountain in 2003, Kreg worked in the high-tech sector doing consultation, implementation, and management of key customer relationships. Kreg has both Bachelors of Science, and MBA degrees from Brigham Young University. Kreg is originally from Southern California but now resides in Salt Lake City with his wife and 4 children.


Session Description
In 1975 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints entrusted the community with a group of hospitals with a charge to be a model. Being a model has driven Intermountain Healthcare to become a one of the nation’s leading Integrated Delivery Networks (IDN) delivering high quality outcomes at the lowest appropriate cost. Intermountain Healthcare’s mission, helping people live the healthiest lives possible, reflects an expanding role, focusing even more strongly on prevention and wellness, and striving to improve the health of those who live in our communities. In this session Kreg Koford will share how the Intermountain Supply Chain Organization works with every part of the hospital organization from Band-Aids to medical transport airplanes to supply the hands that deliver care.

Track: Topics of General Interest

A Modern Scriptural Supply Chain

Professor Jack Welch, BYU Law School, founder of FARMS
John W. “Jack” Welch is an LDS law and religion scholar who currently teaches at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University.
Welch was founding director of Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) and is the current editor of the periodical BYU Studies. He was director of publications for the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History. When a young missionary in Germany, Welch discovered many instances of the chiasmus literary form in the Book of Mormon. His finding, published in BYU Studies as “Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon” in 1969, and subsequent publications have shaped scholarly inquiry into the linguistic aspects and historical origin of the Book of Mormon.
Welch received his bachelor’s and master’s degree from BYU (B.A. in History, M.A. in Latin and Greek). He then studied at Oxford University as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. Welch received his J.D. from Duke University. He is the Robert K. Thomas professor of law in the J. Reuben Clark Law School.

Session Description
Professor Welch is a founder of the bookofmormoncentral.org project. This session reports on a project to aggregate and organize the full range of materials relating to the Book of Mormon. In addition to our Archive of Materials about the Book of Mormon, and our KnoWhys (both in English and Spanish], we are hard at work on a full-blown Interactive Text of the Book of Mormon. This will connect suppliers and users with all kinds of information, intertextuality, visuals, videos, etc., about the Book of Mormon.

Understanding International Business Culture – Are you Literate?

Professor Simon Greathead, BYU Marriott School
Session Description
Supply chain management is more global today than ever before. How culture influences international business decision making is essential for supply chain managers to understand. You see, sometimes culture matters a lot, sometimes not at all. This session helps answer the following questions; (1) What is culture, and how does it impact business decision making? (2) How does understanding culture help me as an international business person? (3) What cultural considerations should I take into account when conducting business?
Overcoming the obvious challenges of language and distant locations is just the beginning of becoming an effective cultural expert. Are you literate? Come find out.

Is a GSCM MBA for me?

Professors Tom Foster and Dan Snow, BYU Marriott School
Session Description
If you have ever asked if an MBA in Global Supply Chain Management is right for you, come to this session. We will work a real MBA case and discuss MBA GSCM curriculum and entry requirements. This session will feature Tom Foster and Dan Snow.

Women in Supply Chain: Is a BYU MBA for me?

Professors Cindy Wallin, Tom Foster, Dan Snow, BYU Marriott School
Session Description
Have you considered getting an MBA? Come listen to a panel of current students and alumnae who will answer questions about why they pursued an MBA, their experience at BYU, and how they are using their degree in work, home, and community settings. This session will be facilitated by Cindy Wallin, Dan Snow, and Tom Foster.