LQ's mandate to provide “Ideas for Leadership in Logistics,” is clearly evidenced this issue with articles written by professionals and logisticians from America and Canada who are leading and transforming business by creating new roadmaps and definitions for leadership in this exciting field.
William G. Ciemny is Vice President, business transformation outsourcing, IBM business Consulting Services. Appointed to this position in March 2005, Mr. Ciemny is responsible for worldwide sales and development for IBM’s supply chain business transformation outsourcing (BTO) solutions. This is a new business for IBM that encompasses transforming and in some cases operating aspects of the supply chain for enterprise clients with focused offerings in direct procurement, global logistics, product design and supply chain optimization. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Ciemny was group Vice President for Siemens Medical Solutions for the healthcare market. In this position he was responsible for building a world class services organization with more than 2000 employees worldwide. Mr. Ciemny was also the process owner for Siemens internal supply chain where he established performance metrics to ensure the effective integration of the company’s internal customer relationship management and product lifecycle management processes.
Mr. Ciemny originally joined IBM in 1994 to establish a strategy and a business plan for the development of the IBM Global Services’ enterprise resource planning (ERP) practice. Shortly after the launch of the practice, which has since received industry accolades as the leading ERP services practice, Mr. Ciemny was promoted to Vice President.
Mr. Ciemny also held a variety of positions at SAP America Inc, Computer Horizons Corporation and General Electric.
He is a graduate of Philadelphia College of Textiles and Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with a B.S. degree in computer Management and a minor in mathematics.
David J. Closs, LQ Executive Editor: Dr. Closs is the John H. McConnell Chaired Professor of the Eli Broad College of Business, Department of Marketing and Supply Chain management, Michigan State University. He has consulted with more than 100 of the world’s Fortune 500 corporations regarding logistics strategies and systems. He is an active member of the Council of the Supply Chain Management professionals.
Jim Davidson, President, iWheels dedicated Logistics, began his career in logistics at The Ford Motor Company in 1963 working in all aspects of logistics for 17 years. Mr. Davidson joined TNT in 1983 and held various management roles, including roles in operations, staff, administration and general management for a number of different divisions. He also served as the TNT board member representing North America at their European-based board meetings. He has served on the executive of the Canadian General Motors Supplier Council as well as Executive Vice President of the ATA Council of Logistics located in Alexandria, Va.
Warren Neel, Ph.D., recently returned to the University of Tennessee to establish a Corporate Governance Center and is serving as its Executive Director. Until February 2003, he was Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration, managing a $20 billion budget.
Prior to joining the State Cabinet, Dr. Neel served as Dean of the College of business Administration at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and in the Cabinet of Governor Lamar Alexander.
His academic career began in the University of Tennessee’s Department of Management where his research focus was on corporate policy. Dr. Neel has served on nine corporate boards and currently is a board member of a NYSE and NASDAQ-listed company. His board experience has included chair roles on a variety of committees including audit, compensation, nominating, and governance, in addition to having chaired special committees conducting fraud audits, acquisitions, mergers, and the sale of the business. Dr. Neel’s primary corporate governance interest is the distribution of power between the board and the CEO/Chairman.
Peruvemba Ravi, Ph.D., is a member of the Supply Chain Management faculty group in the School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University. Professor Ravi holds a B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, India, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta, India, an MS in Operations Research from the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, and an MSBA and Ph.D. in Operations management from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Prior to joining Wilfrid Laurier University, Dr. Ravi was a visiting faculty member at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Dr. Ravi’s research interests include logistics and supply chain management, the marketing-manufacturing interface, and scheduling. He was awarded the Petro-Canada Young Innovator Award in 2001 and holds a research grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Dr. Ravi is a member of numerous professional societies, including the Institute of Industrial Engineers, The Production and Operations Management Society, Decision Sciences Institute, Canadian Operations Research Society, and Institute of Operations Research and the Management Sciences.
Nicholas Seiersen, B.Sc.(Hons.), M.B.A., P.Log. LQ Executive Editor: Mr. Seiersen is a Senior Manager with KPMG, based in Toronto, Ontario. He specializes in Supply Chain consulting, with particular attention to Strategic Sourcing and Supply Chain Planning & Operations. Mr. Seiersen is the Canadian lead for Supply Chain at BearingPoint. Mr. Seiersen holds a B.Sc. (hons.) in Biochemistry and an M.B.A. in Industrial Management. He teaches executive development courses at top Universities in Europe and North America. He has written for numerous publications in North America and Europe on ePurchasing, Logistics, Supply Chain Management and Cost-to-Serve. He is the past President of the Toronto Roundtable of the Council of Logistics Management, (now CSCMP), Vice President of the French Logistics association (ASLOG), and a member of the European Logistics Association Business Management committee.
These authors contributed to the 2005 Canadian Logistics Labor Market Survey featured on page 13.
Jennifer Harrington is a recent sociology graduate (B.A. Hons.) from Trent university specializing in religion. She played many roles on the research team with a particular focus on questionnaire design and data analysis.
Stirling Lafrance is a recent Sociology graduate (B.A. Hons.) from Trent University. Mr. Lafrance led the team that produced the research results. He recently accepted an internship with a national social policy agency.
Oliver Costa is a recent Sociology graduate (B.A. Hons.) from Trent University specializing in philosophy. Mr. Costa’s primary roles on the research team extended to questionnaire design and data analysis.
Dr. Alan Law is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Trent University in peterborough, Ontario. He specializes in applied social research across a broad array of policy arenas and has been conducting research on the Canadian logistics labor market since 1996. Professor Law teaches the Applied Social Research course by facilitating students through funded research contracts from negotiation of an RFP through final reporting and presentation.