Speakers

Will Chu

CEO & Co-Founder, Vector

Will Chu is the CEO & Co-founder of Vector, a contactless pickup and delivery platform, that ensures supply chain partners get the right load to the right place at the right time. Prior to Vector, Will was the VP of Engineering at Addepar, a wealth management platform, which manages more than $2 trillion in client assets. Will is a problem solver at heart who enjoys leveraging technology to tackle major industry challenges. In his free time, Will enjoys camping with his family, cold IPAs and swimming in the San Francisco Bay.

Jason DeVinney

Business Development Manager / Grocery Market, Checkpoint Systems

Tom Furphy

Chief Executive Officer, Replenium

Tom is CEO and Managing Director of Consumer Equity Partners in Seattle, WA that is building companies and capabilities to drive the next generation of consumer marketing and commerce.

Within the portfolio, Tom is CEO of Replenium, a product replenishment platform designed to transform the traditional center store into an automated service.

He also serves as Chairman of Ideoclick, Inc., an ecommerce agency that helps over 200 manufacturers, included some of the largest household brands, go to market through Amazon and other key ecommerce platforms.

Tom was an early investor and board member at BevyUp, whose technology is redefining the customer experience across retail channels. BevyUp was acquired by Nordstrom in March 2018.

Prior to CEP, Tom was at Amazon as Vice President, Consumables and AmazonFresh, where he was responsible for building and running the company’s Grocery, Health & Beauty and AmazonFresh businesses.

Prior to Amazon, Tom was the founder and CEO of Notiva, a Software-as-a-Service collaboration platform for retailers and their suppliers to manage business-to-business transactions, which sold to Oracle.

Tom broke into retail through various senior management roles at Wegmans Food Markets.

Daniel Goldman

Commerce Research & Insights Associate Manager - NA Commerce, Accenture

Daniel leads the Commerce Research & Insights team in Accenture’s North America Commerce practice. His team’s qualitative and quantitative work spans consumer, shopper, product, brand, category, retailer, channel, and industry insights.

Before beginning his career in insights and analytics, Daniel was a practicing clinical neuropsychologist for nearly seven years. He then built and led the insights primary research practice at The Stable, a commerce agency that was acquired by Accenture.

Daniel earned a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Minnesota and an MBA in business analytics and marketing from the University of St. Thomas.

Gary Kinneer

Director, Supply Chain, Weis Markets, Inc.

Gary Kinneer is Director of Supply Chain at Weis Markets, Inc. Gary works collaboratively with the Weis Market’s distribution and transportation teams as well as wholesale, dedicated and third-party carriers, and various associated industry and CPG partners focusing on improving supply chain efficiencies, increasing associated revenue, and mitigating associated costs. Gary has extensive supermarket industry experience, prior to his current role Gary held various leadership positions in Store Operations.  Gary received a BS in Business Management from Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA.  He currently resides in Camp Hill, PA with his wife Katrina, they have one daughter.

Jeff Landowski

Senior Director, Supply Chain Technology, Sysco

Joe Nichols

Vice President, Transportation, Wakefern Food Corp.

Tracey Noffke

Customer Logistics Director Strategies and Service, Kimberly-Clark Corporation

Tracey Noffke joined Kimberly-Clark in 1993 and has over 25 years of growing up in the CPG industry. Tracey is the Director of Customer Logistics. In her current role, she leads the U.S. and Canada Customer Logistics Strategies and Service organization and is responsible for customer facing supply chain activities and initiatives. Tracey has a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the University of Platteville and holds a Master of Arts in Communication from the University of Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

Louis Parker

RFID Market Development Manager, Checkpoint Systems

John Phillips

Senior Vice President, Customer Supply Chain and Go-to-Market for PepsiCo, Inc.

John is Senior Vice President, Customer Supply Chain and Go-to-Market for PepsiCo, Inc.  He has been with PepsiCo for over 33 years and has worked in a number of different sales and field operations roles since joining the company as a route salesperson with Frito-Lay.   In his current role, John is responsible for working with PepsiCo’s largest customers on supply chain and collaboration initiatives to drive both effectiveness and efficiency across the shared supply chain.  

John is a member of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) Smart Label, Industry Affairs, and Supply Chain Committees. He is active in The Consumer Goods Forum as a member of the E2E Value Chain Committee. 

Before joining PepsiCo, John spent ten years in retail store operations with Jewel Food Stores in Chicago and was also a Territory Sales Representative for Procter & Gamble.  John attended Western Michigan University where he received a Bachelor of Science in Food Distribution and also holds an MBA from Southern Methodist University.

Christine Pollack

Vice President, Government Relations, FMI

Christine Pollack serves as Vice President of Government Relations for FMI - The Food Industry Association and oversees the association's advocacy and policy efforts on workforce, supply chain, payments, and privacy/data security. Christine has nearly three decades of federal policy, advocacy, and communications experience in the public and private sectors. Prior to joining FMI, Christine served on the staff of, and consulted for, the Retail Industry Leaders Association where she oversaw health, tax, and sustainability issues and political activities, and consulted on the wide breadth of retail industry policy priorities. She also has extensive experience managing stakeholder coalitions and developing and executing issue advocacy campaigns. Earlier in her career, Christine worked for the American Medical Association, two senior Members of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax, trade, health care, and Social Security policy, and at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. She is a graduate of the University of Delaware and originally hails from Wilmington, Delaware.

Nathan Rhoads, CTP

Fleet Services Director, Fleet Advantage

Nathan Rhoads is an experienced Fleet Professional and possesses over 20 years of experience working with private fleets, including in the food and beverage industries.  His expertise lies in optimizing fleet operations, implementing cost-saving measures, and ensuring compliance with industry regulations. Nathan’s strategic vision and leadership skills have consistently led to enhanced operational efficiency and safety. Nathan is a Certified Transportation Professional (CTP)and has a keen understanding of various fleet operations including Life Cycle Cost Management, Strategic Capital Planning, Operations Management, Inventory Management, Continuous Improvement, Forecasting, and Life cycle Costing. Nathan has created an impressive reputation in the private fleet world working previously at companies like Reinhart and PepsiCo (over 20,000 assets and over 150 locations) and prides himself on strong industry relationships built on years of integrity, consistency, and trust.

Nathan also monitors and evaluates ELD data which is integrated into Fleet Advantage data analytics to apply proper metrics to render vehicle performance into actionable items to lower TCO. KPIs including CPM, MPGs, underperforming vehicles, utilization and life cycle across the fleet are analyzed to prepare a multi-year operations and procurement plan.

Currently he works with companies including – Dollar General, Bunzl, Toyota, Dyno Nobel, and Old Castle (CRH), and provides solutions to both their company specific and industry-wide issues affecting their operations, including the CARB Prebuy. He is also active in many industry associations.

Rhoads was also a speaker at the National Private Truck Council (NPTC) at the Private Fleet Management Institute (PMFI) Institute on multiple sessions including Total Cost of Ownership, Life Cycle Costing, and Trade Cycle and Maintenance Strategies: In-House vs. Outsourced Maintenance Management. Rhodes also built curriculum for multiple colleges for their Diesel Technology Programs, including at the Thaddeus Stevens College.

He is a strong operations professional with a White Belt Certification focused in Lean Business Management from Lean Six Sigma.

Rajib Sarkar

Director of Logistics, Colgate-Palmolive

Sebastian Saunders

Project Manager, KSi, Inc.

As director at KSi, Sebastian brings over a decade of experience developing and implementing customized supply chain technology solutions and practices that support our client’s business strategies. He advises our clients by identifying and implementing the most profit efficient solutions that will maximize output and minimize cost by the identification and modernization of their supply chain practices.

Sebastian leads our team of analysts and designers to devise and design the highest quality data driven process analysis strategies and solutions available in the industry today. These customized solutions provide our clients with the specific solutions, be it conventional, hybrid or fully automated, that is right for them.

Keith Swiednicki

President & CEO, Keith Swiednicki International Inc.

As a trusted Global Supply Chain Technology Consultant well known in the distribution industry for over 40 years, Keith has successfully provided innovative and actionable supply chain optimization solutions on over 500 multi-dimensional projects. His highly specialized comprehensive analysis approach and extensive supply chain experience, including the evaluation of automated facilities, have contributed to his reputation as a trustworthy and respected industry leading expert in his field today.

Donald Wermerskirchen

Director Transportation Optimization, Coca-Cola North America

Ben Wynkoop

Global Retail Industry Strategist, Grocery & Convenience, Blue Yonder

Ben brings more than 20+ years of experience as a retail industry executive, responsible for running merchandising, marketing and analytics at several leading grocery and convenience retailers.  As a Global Retail Industry Strategist, he counsels global retailers on industry trends, leading best practices, and technology advancements. He also collaborates with Blue Yonder’s product development and innovation teams to align on addressing the challenges of today’s retailers with a specific focus on the grocery and convenience channels.

Ben has led the roadmap and implementation of merchandising technology within several retailers, in areas such as space & assortment Planning, price optimization, COGs management, as well as digital marketing and e-commerce.