Speakers

William Ferrell started his collegiate studies at Wake Forest University where he received a B.A. in Physics. Later, he earned his M.S. in Nuclear Science and Engineering from Virginia Tech. Ferrell then earned his Ph.D. in Operational Research at North Carolina State University. His main research areas are supply chain logistics systems design and analysis and warehouse operations modeling. In May of 2015, Dr. Ferrell was named the Flour-Clemson International Capital Supply Chain Partnership Professor in Industrial Engineering. The professorship recognizes a sustained record of excellence in research, teaching, service and scholarship. Additionally, he serves as the Associate Dean of the Graduate School. Dr. Ferrell teaches four different upper-level course at Clemson University. He has been published in a various academic outlets and is recognized as an expert in his field.

Brian Greene oversees supply chain planning and strategy as well as IT infrastructure and development across the HMTX family of companies.

Running an efficient worldwide supply chain operation demands coordination of vast information and business systems. Brian’s “sales first” leadership style ensures that the company’s robust and dynamic global supply chain enables each division’s business objectives.

Brian joined Halstead in May 2002 as Vice President of the Southern division. Once the lone Georgia associate, he helped create initiatives that would eventually lead to three major offices in Georgia and an expanded supply chain footprint around the world. During that time, Brian moved from a merchandising role to the supply chain and IT-centric role he has today.

Brian’s 25-year career in the industry includes prior experience with major retailers, including The Home Depot, where he served as Import Merchant for flooring.

Brian earned a B.B.A. in International Business and Economics from Georgia Southern University and an Executive Masters in International Logistics and Supply Chain Strategy from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is an avid percussionist and can be seen sitting in with bands from time to time. He resides in Marietta, Georgia with is his wife and two children.

Matthieu LAURAS is Full-Professor and Deputy-Head of the Industrial Engineering Center at IMT Mines Albi (France). He is Adjunct Professor at the Physical Internet Center, School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology (USA) and member of the International Associated Laboratory SIReN (Sentient Immersive Response Networks Lab) between Georgia Institute of Technology (USA) and Institut Mines Telecom (France). He is the Pierre Fabre “Agile Supply Chain” Chair and the Scientific Director of various public-private joint research labs and research projects. He is the Founder and Director of the international MSc SCALE (Supply Chain And LEan management). He is Affiliate Professor at the School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University (China) and Toulouse Business School (France). He is also the scientific director of the Supply Chain Management consulting and training company AGILEA (France) which he cofounded in 2009.

His research works develop contributions to support collaborative networks’ stakeholders to better make their decisions in uncertain and/or disruptive environment. His research activities concern both industrial management systems and crisis management systems such as humanitarian supply chains. His main scientific abilities mainly relate to Operations Research (linear optimization, heuristics and metaheuristics), Discrete Event Simulation, Enterprise Modelling (business process and ontology management, performance measurement systems) and Data Analysis. He stands at the crossroads of industrial engineering; operations research; computer sciences; supply chain management; artificial intelligence; and risk management. His research works are systematically field-oriented and currently focus on the application of Physical Internet and Demand-Driven Adaptive Enterprise paradigms. He also has strong entrepreneurial and collaborative research experience with industry. He worked with dozens of industrial partners in various sectors such as cosmetic, pharmacy, automotive, aeronautic, healthcare, humanitarian, transportation, consulting, etc.

Bill serves as Principal of Supply Chain Ecology, a boutique consultancy he created in 2020 as a platform to research, develop and promote more environmentally sustainable supply chain strategies through research and advisory services. A career supply chain management consultant, Bill has managed complex supply chain initiatives for some of the world’s largest companies as a Director at Deloitte Consulting, a Director at Kurt Salmon (now Accenture Strategy) and as Principal at Chainalytics.

Bill comes to the conference with previous case work with both the Physical Internet and the intermodal freight ecosystem. In 2012 he was a contributing author to the Final Research Report of the CELDi Physical Internet Project, Phase I. In 2016 he presented a case study on collaborative logistics for the Physical Internet conference in Atlanta, GA. Last year he led a research study sponsored by The Environmental Defense Fund exploring how to expand intermodal freight as a sustainability strategy. Many of the recommendations from the intermodal study are aligned with physical internet concepts.

Bill graduated from Georgia Tech with a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering. Industry honors include being named "Pro to Know" by Supply and Demand Chain Executive Magazine in 2010 and 2018, and Champions Award "Rock Stars of the Supply Chain" by Food Logistics Magazine in 2018.

Bill lives in Asheville, North Carolina with his wife Susan.

Leon McGinnis is a Professor Emeritus in the Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. 

Dr. McGinnis's research focuses on fundamental representation issues in discrete event logistics systems, on performance assessment models, and on the development of integrated computational tools. He has been a leader in developing and administering industry-focused and interdisciplinary education and research programs at Georgia Tech. He helped establish the Material Handling Research Center in 1982 and managed one of five research programs over the next decade. He also helped establish the Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems Program in 1983, which received a LEAD Award from ASME for excellence in graduate-level interdisciplinary manufacturing education, and served as Director from 1988 to 1998. As CIMS Director, he lead a team that competed for and won a $1 million TRP grant, resulting in the establishment of the Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing Institute within the Manufacturing Research Center. In 1994, he led a team of Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering faculty to win over $2 million in grants from the W. M. Keck Foundation to create the Keck Virtual Factory Lab as a focal point for IE systems design and control research.

The Institute of Industrial Engineers has recognized Dr. McGinnis with the Outstanding Publication Award, the David F. Baker Distinguished Research Award, and the Fellow Award. He has given the Inyong Ham Lecture at Penn State, the Jones Lecture at Dartmouth, and the Schantz Lectures at Lehigh.

Dr. McGinnis enjoys teaching students how to think like industrial engineers, particularly in developing and using mathematical and computational models to support design of facilities and control systems. 

He received his BS in IE from Auburn University, and MS in IE and PhD from North Carolina State University.

Josh Raglin is Chief Sustainability Officer at Norfolk Southern Corporation, one of the nation’s premier transportation companies. Norfolk Southern connects customers to markets and communities to economic opportunity, with safe, reliable, and sustainable shipping solutions. The company’s network spans 22 states, every major container port in the eastern United States, and a majority of the U.S. population and manufacturing base.

Appointed Chief Sustainability Officer in 2020, Raglin leads Norfolk Southern's sustainability strategy by championing sustainable practices in the company’s daily operations to achieve efficiencies, control costs, generate revenue, and reduce environmental impacts. These efforts include close collaboration with department leaders company-wide, along with external stakeholders such as customers, investors, suppliers, and communities.

Raglin, a wildlife biologist, joined Norfolk Southern in 1996 as a Forest Ranger at Brosnan Forest, the company’s 14,400-acre conference and research facility in South Carolina. He would continue rising through the ranks at Brosnan Forest before being named General Manager Facilities in 2006. 

For two decades, Josh led the railroad’s efforts to create a nature-based solutions platform. This innovative approach optimizes multiple ecological assets such as forest carbon sequestration, wetland and stream restoration, and land conservation while generating revenues from both forestry and traditional land-management practices.

He shares his experience with the next generation of environmentalists by serving on college advisory boards for Auburn University, Clemson University, and Georgia Tech. He also serves the greater community as an active board member for the US Endowment for Forestry and Communities and The Longleaf Alliance. He is also a founding member and active advisor to Drawdown Georgia and Sustain SC.

Raglin earned a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife and Fisheries Ecology from Oklahoma State University.

Marty Schlenker joined Parallel Systems as Head of Strategy in September 2023 after serving as a consultant to the company since 2021. Marty’s responsibilities include guiding the company’s offerings to best serve the needs of the global rail industry and supply chain, market selection, and financial and operational modeling.

Prior to joining Parallel, Marty conducted an independent transportation consulting practice, Schlenker LLC, offering services to the supply chain technology industry and to railroads, rail shippers, rail equipment suppliers, and rail oversight and development bodies worldwide. His clients have included major bulk material shippers, several US west coast ports, analytics and software development companies, and startups on multiple continents developing autonomous transportation technologies.

Marty brought 25 years of Class I railroad experience to his recent roles, the majority with BNSF. Marty held AVP roles there from 2012 to 2021 in service planning and information technology.

Marty led BNSF Railway's Merchandise Service Design team from 2010 to 2019, during which BNSF pioneered optimization tools for service planning and rewrote its systems and metrics for pickup and delivery service to industries, driving significant performance improvement. During the fracking boom, the team facilitated $2+ Billion in revenue growth by adapting service plans to rapidly expanding volumes of crude oil, gas, frac sand, and other materials supporting domestic energy production, and overseeing the design and connection of dozens of new customer sites into BNSF's rail network. As this market matured, Marty led multiple service plan rationalizations that decreased BNSF's operational costs by more than $50 Million per year. Marty was also the principal service planning liaison to connecting railroads and spoke at numerous industry meetings.

As a technology leader, Marty led efforts to apply machine vision systems and other advanced defect detection technologies to railway track and rolling stock, contributing to all-time best derailment performance. Marty established the vision to overhaul BNSF's operational metrics; began the transition of BNSF's data warehouse and other critical applications to the cloud; and led optimization, AI, and BI development and custom software development.

Marty has also served as an operations supervisor and financial analyst, and has provided analytic support to collective bargaining.

Marty began his career with Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman) and consulted to railroads on three continents, international shipping companies, and large freight shippers.

Marty holds a BA in Economics from the University of Chicago and a MS in Transportation from MIT, where his graduate research in advanced railroad service planning techniques was funded by the Association of American Railroads.

Marty is a member of the American Railway Engineering & Maintenance Association (AREMA) and serves on three AREMA technical committees. He is a member of the Institute for Operations Research & Management Sciences (INFORMS) and the Transportation Club of DFW.

Marty is an amateur French hornist, and is a former marching member of the World Champion Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps of Rosemont, IL. He serves on the board of directors of their parent organization, The Cavaliers Arts, Performance & Education.

Sahrish Shaikh is a Ph.D. student in Supply Chain Engineering at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. She received her BSc Hons degree in Management Sciences from Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan in 2016 and Master of Science in Supply Chain Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2019.

Phil joined Hub Group in 2011 in Atlanta, GA.  In his current role as Vice President of Consumer Product Solutions, Phil collaborates with shippers by keeping business needs in focus while creating end-to-end supply chain solutions for better service, greater efficiency, and total visibility.  Phil graduated from University of North Florida with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and from University of Denver with a master’s degree in transportation and supply chain management. Phil lives in Ponte Vedra, FL with his wife and two daughters.