2026 SUPPLY CHAIN CONSULTING LECTURE SERIES

PURDUE STUDENTS ARE INVITED

Students across Purdue majors and programs are warmly invited to attend any or all sessions. Join us to learn directly from industry professionals, ask questions, explore career paths, and connect classroom ideas with real-world supply chain and consulting practice.

ABOUT THE SERIES

The 2026 Supply Chain Consulting Lecture Series connects Purdue students with experienced supply chain executives, consultants, alumni, and industry professionals to explore how organizations solve complex supply chain and operations challenges in practice.

The series is an integral part of SCOM 469 — Supply Chain and Operations Analytics Consulting, a 3-credit experiential learning course that transforms the classroom into a professional consulting environment. Student teams apply supply chain theory, data analytics, AI-enabled tools, and structured consulting methods to real-world business and industry challenges.

THE THREE-PILLAR EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING MODEL

Consulting & Industry Study Projects — Students learn by solving real business and industry problems through corporate-sponsored consulting engagements and advisor-guided industry studies.Mentoring Program — Experienced alumni and industry professionals coach student teams on problem solving, analytics, project management, executive storytelling, and professional development. Jeffrey R. Powers, retired IBM executive and Purdue alumnus, chairs the Industry Advisory Board.Industry Lecture Series — Practitioners bring current challenges, emerging technologies, leadership lessons, and real-world decision making directly into the classroom.

SCOM 469 builds on Purdue’s university–industry partnerships and experiential projects with organizations including Wabash, Rolls-Royce, Corteva, Taste, and other corporate and industry partners. For Fall 2026, students will work through two experiential project pathways: the corporate project Taste Omnichannel Dining Service Optimization and the industry study Enhancing Pharmaceutical Supply-Chain Resilience.

WHY ATTEND?

Learn from experienced professionals — See how practitioners approach ambiguous, high-impact supply chain problems.Understand professional practice — Explore consulting, leadership, sourcing, planning, program management, and digital transformation in action.Connect analytics and AI to execution — See how data, analytics, and AI shape consulting strategy and day-to-day supply chain decisions.Connect classroom frameworks to real decisions — Examine constraints, cross-functional trade-offs, and the realities of implementation.Build your professional network — Meet Purdue alumni and experienced industry professionals while exploring supply chain career paths.All Purdue students are welcome. You do not need to be enrolled in SCOM 469 to participate. Attend the sessions that match your interests, come prepared to ask questions and share perspectives, and use the series as an opportunity to learn and build professional connections.

FALL 2026 LECTURE SCHEDULE

SEPTEMBER 3 — Consulting 101

Isaac Tipton — CEO, Prowire USA

The opening session introduces the foundations of consulting and structured problem solving. Drawing on professional experience, the speakers will discuss how consultants approach ambiguous business problems, work with clients and teams, communicate insights, and translate analysis into actionable recommendations.

SEPTEMBER 17 — Program Management in Supply Chain: From Plan to Execution

Michelle Kozlowski — Senior Program Manager, Amazon
Catherine “Cathy” Nash — Sales & Operations Execution Planner, Constellation Brands

Strong strategies create value only when organizations can execute them. This session focuses on program management, planning, coordination, accountability, and execution—examining how supply chain professionals move from plans and priorities to operational results across people, processes, and functions.

OCTOBER 1 — Trade-Off Management + Cross-Functional Procurement & Sourcing Decisions

Amanda Tronchin — Finance & Strategy Consultant, Pinnacle Strategy Group
Eduardo Da Silva-Witzke — Aftermarket Sourcing Analyst, Cummins Inc.

Supply chain and procurement decisions frequently require balancing competing objectives across cost, service, risk, quality, capacity, and strategic priorities. This session explores how professionals structure trade-offs, collaborate across functions, and translate financial, operational, and strategic considerations into sourcing and procurement decisions.

OCTOBER 15 — Leadership, Influence & the Human Side of Supply Chain Consulting

Kriti Gupta — Director of Operations, Amazon
Nilo Cedeno-Guadamud — Global Category Manager, Wabash

Analytics alone rarely produces organizational change. This session explores the human side of supply chain leadership and consulting—including stakeholder influence, relationship building, communication, team leadership, negotiation, and the ability to move organizations from insight to action.

OCTOBER 29 — AI in Supply Chain: From Consulting Strategy to Everyday Execution

Vishal Madisetti — Associate, Emerging Platforms, KPMG US
Brookelle Mathieson — Life Sciences Supply Chain Management Consultant, Accenture
Possible contributor: Khushi Karmokar — Procurement Analyst, ThoughtSpot

AI is changing both how consultants solve problems and how supply chain professionals perform everyday work. This session explores practical applications of AI, analytics, automation, and emerging technologies—from consulting strategy and transformation initiatives to operational decision support, procurement, and day-to-day execution.

NOVEMBER 12 — Planning, Constraints & Supply Chain Systems Thinking

Kyle Harshbarger — Supply Chain Engineer, Marathon Petroleum
Lauren Heiss — Senior Technology Consultant, EY

The final session brings together planning, constraints, technology, and systems thinking. The speakers will connect MRP/ERP concepts, bottlenecks, lessons from The Goal, and real-world planning challenges to the broader question of how supply chains operate as interconnected systems. The session will also explore supply chain career paths and how the strategic role of the supply chain function varies across industries.

CONNECTING INDUSTRY AND THE CLASSROOM

The Industry Lecture Series is not designed as a collection of stand-alone guest presentations. Each session is integrated with students’ consulting and industry-study work. Student teams are encouraged to bring questions from their projects into the classroom, apply lessons from speakers to their analyses, and reflect on how different professionals approach similar challenges across industries.

Student ambassadors will also work directly with speakers before selected sessions to help prepare and contextualize the lectures, providing another opportunity to develop professional communication, stakeholder-management, and networking skills.

Theory → Evidence → Insight → Recommendation → Impact

HOSTED BY

Zhan Pang
Professor of Supply Chain and Operations Management
Instructor, SCOM 469 — Supply Chain and Operations Analytics Consulting
Purdue University

REGISTER FOR SESSION UPDATES

https://purdue.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV2fB3x8h9fODi52S

Questions? Contact Professor Zhan Pang: [email protected]

Lecture topics and speakers are subject to adjustment if necessary.