Where Are They Now? A Updated Look at the Most Influential Supply Chain Leaders

Jan. 11, 2013
A look at what the Most Influential Supply Chain People of 2003 are doing today, ten years later.

Back at the dawn of the 21st Century, when I was the chief editor of a Penton Media publication called Supply Chain Technology News, my boss at the time – the legendary Bob Rosenbaum – came up with the idea of an annual feature that would profile the most influential practitioners of supply chain management. We all agreed this was a great idea, since nobody else had ever done anything like this before, so my staff and I put together a lengthy process to vet the top supply chain people.

Somehow we decided to create a “Top 25.” I don’t remember how we arrived at that number, other than we thought 10 sounded like too small a number and 50 sounded like too many, so 25 became our target. We also decided early on that we would focus only on senior executives at manufacturing and retail companies, since these were the types of people who were receiving the magazine, so we eliminated from consideration consultants, academics and analysts on the grounds that we wanted to limit the honor to just those who actually managed supply chain activity at their companies.

As you would imagine, this annual feature became very popular with our readers, and of course it was particularly popular with those who were named to the list. The “Top 25” profiles ran from 2001-2003, and would no doubt have continued on had not the plug been pulled on SCTN due to the bottoming-out effect of the dot-com collapse that saw many of our advertisers being acquired by other companies or in some cases go out of business completely.

For reasons too convoluted to go into here, SCTN’s archives are no longer available on the Internet, but I’m not going to let a little thing like that stop me from revisiting the last installment of the Top 25. It being a full decade since the last time we put together a Top 25 (the idea eventually morphed into the “10 Best Supply Chains” profiles we did for Logistics Today), I thought I’d do a “where are they now?” update of the 2003 class of the “25 Most Influential People in the Supply Chain.” Following in alphabetical order are each of the 25 honorees (actually, there are 26, since we honored the co-CIOs at Intel at the time), along with what they did ten years ago and what they are doing now.

As you’ll see, some have remained with their companies over that time span, some have moved on to similar supply chain roles with other companies, some are profiled in my book, Supply Chain Management Best Practices, some have formed their own companies, some have retired, and in the case of Avnet’s Jim Smith, some have passed away. In any event, all were significant contributors to the supply chain field in 2003, and many remain just as influential to this very day.

Karen Austin

2003: senior VP/CIO, Kmart Corp.

2013: senior VP and CIO, PG&E

Brad Boston

2003: senior VP and CIO, Cisco Systems Inc.

2013: retired

Wayne Bourne

2003: VP, logistics-transportation, Best Buy Co. Inc.

2013: Bourne Management Group Inc.

Bob Boyd

2003: VP of procurement and supply chain management, Weyerhaeuser Co.

2013: retired

Bruce Burnham

2003: VP, North American supply chain management, Burger King Corp.

2013: managing member, Burnham & Tillinghast LLC

Doug Busch

2003: co-CIO, Intel Corp.

2013: senior VP and COO, Intel-GE Care Innovations

Mel Campbell

2003: executive VP of customer support services, Johnson & Johnson

2013: VP, worldwide operations, external supply, Johnson & Johnson

John Campi

2003: VP of global sourcing and chief procurement officer, DuPont

2013: managing partner, Genesis Management Group

Steve David

2003: CIO, Procter & Gamble Co.

2013: Boston Consulting Group

Linda Dillman

2003: CIO, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

2013: CIO, QVC

Nicholas Donofrio

2003: senior VP, technology & marketing, IBM Corp.

2013: retired

Kirk Gutmann

2003: product development information officer, General Motors Corp.

2013: VP of automotive strategy, Siemens PLM

Dick Hunter

2003: VP, Americas Manufacturing Operation, Dell Computer Corp.

2013: partner, Daylight Partners

Patrick Hurley

2003: VP integrated supply chain, North American tire operations, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

2013: VP manufacturing & chemical operations, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

Larry Kittelberger

2003: senior VP of administration and CIO, Honeywell International Inc.

2013: retired

Theresa Metty

2003: senior VP and chief procurement officer, Motorola Inc.

2013: CEO, Metty Advisory Group

Sandra Morris

2003: VP/co-CIO, Intel Corp.

2013: CEO, CafeGive

David Podeschi

2003: senior VP of merchandising and logistics, 7-Eleven Inc.

2013: principal, D&SP LLC

Helmut Porkert

2003: chief procurement office, ChevronTexaco

2013: consultant, Strategic Procurement Solutions Inc.

Gary Reiner

2003: senior VP and CIO, General Electric Co.

2013: operating partner, General Atlantic LLC

Alexandre Royez

2003: VP and executive director, supply chain, Dow Corning

2013: retired

Thomas Sidlik

2003: executive VP, procurement and supply, Chrysler Group, Daimler Chrysler

2013: director, Delphi Corp.

Paul Singer

2003: senior VP, technology services/CIO, Target Corp.

2013: CIO, Supervalu

Cheryl Smith

2003: CIO, McKesson Corp.

2013: principal, Smith & Associates

Jim Smith

2003: senior VP and director of operations, Avnet Electronics Marketing, Americas

2013: passed away on January 10, 2012

Veasey Wilson

2003: executive director of supply chain management, Northrop Grumman Newport News

2013: VP of business operations, Northrop Grumman Corp.

Popular Sponsored Recommendations

What Does Agility Look Like for Today's Auto Industry?

Dec. 4, 2023
Without modern technologies, enterprises aren't able to fully analyze the risks and respond to ongoing supply chain issues and semiconductor shortages.

Customer-centric Discovery Experiences Reduce Sales and Content Management Costs by 15%

Sept. 11, 2023
In this article, research and analysis is provided on the results of developing product discovery experiences in the B2B sales process. In addition, it provides details on how...

The Ultimate Guide for Surviving Economic Uncertainty & Supply Chain Disruption

March 13, 2024
Are disruptive external forces putting a squeeze on your supply chain? Nulogy can help. Access our Survival Guide to uncover 5 critical areas of investment for external supply...

Are You Positioned To Tackle Supply Chain Risk?

Sept. 20, 2023
Supply chain disruption is here to stay, but you can keep ahead of potential issues — and identify new opportunities — by regularly assessing your suppliers. Download our supplier...

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of IndustryWeek, create an account today!