WERC partners with Supply Chain Visions as our auditors for this program.
Bill Keogh
Principal Consultant, Supply Chain Visions
Bill Keough helps companies improve their supply chain operations and profitability by incorporating industry best practices into a company’s day-to-day operations. Bill has helped clients in a range of industries, including aerospace & defense, transportation, logistics, and the public sector to make better use of their resources to achieve their strategic objectives through assessments and benchmarking of existing systems and operations.
Bill is an adjunct professor with the SP Jain Centre of Management MBA program in Dubai and Singapore, where he teaches courses in Lean Supply Chain and Performance Management and has served as a guest lecturer at the University of Washington Foster School of Business, and at Rice University’s Jones School of Business. Bill is also a reviewer for the Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing. Bill sits on the Board of the Center for Value Chain Research at Lehigh University and the King County Library System Foundation.
Mike Ledyard, Partner, Supply Chain Visions
Program Faculty, University of Tennessee
Mike Ledyard has exceptional credentials in business process design and the management of planning, manufacturing, distribution, product development, and engineering in high volume consumer goods and food industries. Mike has worked with clients large and small to analyze current process, determine opportunities, and implement process improvements. He is also an author and frequent speaker on process assessment and measurement, and was selected as one of the Top 20 Logistics & Supply Chain Executives of 2001-2002.
Prior to Supply Chain Visions, Mike was a Principal with CSC’s Supply Chain Practice, where he spent three years working with leading companies to improve the management of their supply chains. He has held senior management positions with consumer products and paper companies. Mike has a B.S.in Industrial Design from the University of Cincinnati, and has done post-graduate work in Business Management. He is a member of the CSCMP and served on the Deliver technical sub-committee of the Supply Chain Council.
Steven R. Murray
Principal Consultant and Chief Researcher, Supply Chain Visions
Steve Murray’s focus is on understanding and implementation of warehousing, end to end supply chain processes and technology aligned to corporate strategy.
Steve has accumulated extensive experience architecting, implementing and managing business processes and teams, including warehousing process improvement projects and supplier / customer process and data integration projects. He has participated in numerous warehouse process improvement projects and developed employee training and supply chain partner training materials and delivery of training on business and technology concepts and processes.
Steve was principal researcher and developer of the first edition of the CSCMP Supply Chain Processes and Best Practices Guides and a co-author of WERC's Warehouse Manager’s Guides and the WERC Warehouse Certification Program.
He is a long standing member of the Supply Chain, Manufacturing and Distribution profession – having been recognized as a 30 year member of APICS. He sits on the CSCMP International Roundtable Finance Advisory Committee.
Steven R. Symmes
Principal Consultant, Supply Chain Visions
Steve Symmes is a thought leader in the area of benchmarking and operational assessment. Steve led the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals’ effort to revise the Supply Chain Process Standards and co-authored the Second Edition of the Standards. In addition, he was a co-author of the WERC Warehouse Manager’s Guide to Benchmarking and the WERC Warehousing and Fulfillment Process Benchmarking and Best Practice Guides.
Steve’s passion is helping companies improve their supply chain through assessments and performance management projects. He is an expert in business operations – enabling him to develop and redesign end-to-end business processes that deliver significant paybacks for his clients.
Steve has 30 years of wide-ranging global operational and consulting experience with leading companies that represent the retail, high tech, industrial, medical and third party logistics sectors. Steve has held senior positions in Operations, Supply Chain Management and Sales/Marketing Organizations. He holds an MBA from the University of Colorado.
Joseph Tillman
Consultant and Senior Researcher, Supply Chain Visions
Joe Tillman is highly qualified in supply chain logistics, performance management, performance measurement, and benchmarking. He has been a contributor for DC Velocity and other publications with regards to international logistics management, order management performance and trends in logistics.
Joe is a co-author and the lead analyst for WERC's Annual Benchmarking Study. He is also certified as a Supply Chain Operations Reference Model Professional. As a practitioner, Joe has extensive operational experience in import and regional distribution centers while working for Wal-Mart Logistics. He has an in depth understanding and knowledge of order management and fulfillment techniques.
Joe has helped leading companies including Union Pacific Railroad, Defense Logistics Agency, and Gopher Sport. Joe has an MBA from Georgia Southern University with an emphasis in Logistics and Organizational Performance. He also holds a BS in Geography from the University of Georgia.
Kate Vitasek, Founder, Supply Chain Visions
Faculty, University of Tennessee and Wright State University
Kate Vitasek is a thought leader in the area of Supply Chain Management and is a well-recognized authority on performance management and metrics implementation. She served on the Board of Directors for the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals as well as on the Supply Chain Council’s Deliver Committee. Kate is also a faculty member for the University of Tennessee’s Center for Executive Education and Wright State University.
As a consultant, Kate brings a unique blend of consulting, practitioner and general management experience to the firms she works with. This blend of skills ensures that solutions are both practical and cost effective. Kate has managed or been actively involved in scores of supply chain and warehouse process assessments during her career
As a practitioner, Kate has worked for P&G, Kroger, Accenture’s Logistics Strategy Practice, Microsoft and Modus Media International, a global 3PL. Kate has served in marketing, operations, and general management roles - including Director of Marketing, Director of Supply Chain, Vice President of Operations Services, and Vice President and General Manager for Global Accounts.