Supply Chain Now Radio Episode 115

Supply Chain Now Radio, Episode 115
“Live from the eft Media Zone: Sweeni Ponoth and James Wilson”
Broadcast from eft’s 3PL & Supply Chain Summit

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Sweeni Ponoth is Vice President & GM of Bristlecone Labs, a division of Bristlecone, the trusted partner in supply chain transformation committed to making a difference. The company’s culture is built on a clear sense of purpose, unshakeable set of values and unrelenting passion for pursuing innovative ideas. Organizations across diverse industries – and in every corner of the world – turn to Bristlecone for supply chain, procurement and analytics solutions that produce higher performing and more profitable environments. To learn more, visit: https://bconelabs.ai/.

James Wilson serves as Regional Director of Client & Partner Development at ThinkOwl, a firm built on 20 years of experience in developing market-leading software solutions based on artificial intelligence. The idea for ThinkOwl came from the clever minds behind the ITyX group which develop AI-based intelligent automation software for the big guys — from huge insurance companies (Allianz) to industry giants (Bosch) to global retailers (IKEA). This team wanted to put the powerful combination of human and machine learning into the hands of inventive entrepreneurs and small to mid-size businesses that may not have an army of agents but who still want to deliver customer service beyond the humanly possible. ThinkOwl redeveloped the AI-based software that had been built for global companies into economical packages, made specifically for smaller service operations who think big. To learn more about ThinkOwl, visit: https://www.thinkowl.com/

Lance D. Roberts serves as Branch Manager at Becker Logistics – a third party logistics company based in Glendale Heights, IL. In this role, he oversees all aspects of the sales and operations for the Irving, Texas facility. At the age of 47, Roberts has been involved in every aspect of the industry. He has spent 31 of his 35 years of business experience in management and leadership positions. A visionary entrepreneur even at a young age, Roberts found ways to make money, selling roses from his mother’s garden and going door-to-door in his Canyon Lake, California neighborhood selling candy. He also held garage sales, selling items around his parent’s house to make money. He paid cash for his first car at age 16 – a 1978 Honda Accord. Roberts spent the first ten years of his professional career at the Canyon Lake Property Owners Association in California, starting as an assistant to the golf pro, and then moving into administration where he was city maintenance manager. He later worked for Gottschalks department store in San Bernardino as a dock worker, and was promoted twice within two weeks to the role of shipping/receiving manager. In 1997 he spent five years with Roadway Express in operations management. During his tenure at Roadway, he successfully completed his Bachelor of Science in Business Management from University of Phoenix. Roberts attributes his promotion at Roadway and successive opportunities to the bachelor’s program. Roberts ran his own company as a truck broker/agent for Freedom Express. He then joined JTS in April 2003 as an agent in the Fresno office. Bringing a small book of business to the company, he quickly developed the dairy division within two months and as a result was promoted in 2003 to Director of Sales for the Dairy division. He left JTS in 2009 as VP of Sales and Marketing and then in 2010 he Open RLS a $65M 3PL & RTC a 20-truck operation. In 2012 Roberts sold the two companies and worked as VP of RMX then in 2016 he opened a consulting firm. Roberts successfully turned around 5 companies & a few M&A due diligence projects including a 100-unit trucking company and helped 3 start ups before joining Becker Logistics. Roberts while working at JTS, received a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix in 2007. The masters program prepared him for the working world using real life business applications of the principles taught in the classroom for courses such as business, finance, sales, and human resources – all of which contributed to the creation of the JTS, RLS, RMX  and many of the turnaround strategic business plan. Roberts resides in Fort Worth, Texas along with his wife Amy, step daughter Asha and son Logan and has one step son in college in Wisconsin.  He is an ardent supporter of charitable organizations such as MDA, United Way, and Habitat for Humanity CEC and is active with his local church. In his spare time he enjoys spending time with his wife and kids and watching his kids hockey matches. Connect with Lance Roberts on LinkedIn and visit Becker Logistics’ website for more information: https://www.beckerlogistics.com/

Will Haraway is Founder & Lead Evangelist at Backbeat Marketing. Will has 20 years of executive experience in B2B Technology Marketing. Will is a certified analyst relations practitioner by the Knowledge Capital Group and has helped companies including Manhattan Associates, Aptos, Atlantix Global Systems, American Software and Rubicon Global improve their brand reputations with marketing results that help increase sales. Will also serves as a member of the APICS Atlanta Executive Advisory Board. The Backbeat team includes lead generation, digital marketing, media relations and content marketing specialists with a combined 50 years of experience in their chosen disciplines. Connect with Will on LinkedIn and learn more about Backbeat Marketing here: www.backbeatmarketing.com

Scott W. Luton is the founder of Supply Chain Now Radio. He has worked extensively in the end-to-end Supply Chain industry for more than 15 years, appearing in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Dice and Quality Progress Magazine. Scott currently serves as Executive Vice President of APICS Atlanta and was recently named a 2019 Pro to Know in Supply Chain by Supply & Demand Executive. He founded the 2019 Atlanta Supply Chain Awards and also served on the 2018 Georgia Logistics Summit Executive Committee. He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and holds the APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) credential. A Veteran of the United States Air Force, Scott volunteers on the Business Pillar for VETLANTA and serves on the advisory board for the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance. He also serves as an advisor with TalentStream, a leading recruiting & staffing firm based in the Southeast. Connect with Scott Luton on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter at @ScottWLuton.

Upcoming Events & Resources Mentioned in this Episode

Connect with Sweeni on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sweeni/
Connect with James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameswwilson/
Learn more about eft: https://www.eft.com/
Learn more about Becker Logistics: https://www.beckerlogistics.com/
2019 AIAG/SCAC Supply Chain & Quality Conference: https://myscma.com/scac-events/2019-supply-chain-quality/
Georgia Manufacturing Summit on October 9th:  https://www.georgiamanufacturingalliance.com/annual-summit
2019 Atlanta Supply Chain Awards: https://youtu.be/z8QCs8lgyMM?t=1
Follow Supply Chain Now Radio on Twitter: @SCNRadio
SCNR on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/scnr-youtube