Mike Ledyard has exceptional credentials in business process improvement and design, including planning, forecasting, order management, distribution, and product development. Mike also has experience in building Vested® relationships between buyers and suppliers, and in the international sourcing, manufacture and importation of product and tooling, especially from China. He is a skilled communicator, and is able to concisely explain complex supply chain concepts in understandable form to audiences ranging from boardroom executives to shop floor personnel. He is also an author and frequent speaker on process assessment, measurement and improvement, as well as relationship-based acquisition and management of services. Mike was selected as one of the Top 20 Logistics & Supply Chain Executives of 2001-02.

Mike has worked with clients large and small to analyze current process, determine opportunities, and implement process improvements. These projects have included:

• Analyzing worldwide demand planning, order management and production scheduling and planning implementation of “To-Be” processes to reach desired delivery excellence goals

• Building mutually beneficial relationships between buyers and service providers where both parties work together to create a “we” focused partnership that drives value neither could obtain individually

• Assessing planning and forecasting functions, and developing a sales and operations planning structure to improve on-time commitment and delivery

• Changing assembly scheduling to a demand driven model supported by Kanban cells to improve on-time performance to 99+% while reducing WIP

• Identifying significant potential for cost savings in distribution, and assisting in the implementation of a corporate centric forecasting and inventory management processes to capture the savings

• Assessing off-shore procurement and import supply chain, and developing the improvements needed to reduce variability and improve service levels

• Developing global end-to-end business processes with focus on opportunity management

In previous lifetimes, 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. During his 25 years in industry, he established product development and quality functions, and implemented systematic production planning. He created and installed systems for scheduling new products, planning production needs and tracking product costs. Mike also established Asian sourcing offices for two different companies, and managed those activities for over ten years.

Mike served as the project manager for a joint CSC/University of Tennessee team that conducted a study on supply chain measurement for the Council of Logistics Management (now CSCMP). He is a co-author of the book resulting from that study, entitled Keeping Score: Measuring the Business Value of Logistics in the Supply Chain. Mike is also a co-author of Vested Outsourcing: Five Rules That Will Transform Outsourcing. He was the program manager for the UT research project for the US Air Force on strategic sourcing and performance-based acquisition of services, and has helped to create and teach on these topics for the Air Force. He has authored several articles, and spoken frequently on implementing Vested relationships, the effects of measurement on supply chain performance and optimization, and on the design and implementation of process improvements.

Mike has a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design from the University of Cincinnati, and has done post-graduate work in Business Management. He is a member of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, and served on the Deliver technical sub-committee of the Supply Chain Council.

Dr. Manrodt serves as a Professor of Logistics in the Department of Management at Georgia College & State University, located in Milledgeville Georgia. He is also the Director of the Master of Logistics and Supply Chain Management, a ranked and accredited program in the discipline. His degrees include a B.A. in Philosophy and Psychology, Wartburg College, M.S. in Logistics, Wright State University, and his Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee. He is the recipient of the Chancellor's Citation for Professional Promise, the Walter Melville Bonham Dissertation Scholarship, both at the University of Tennessee, and the E. Grosvenor Plowman Award awarded by the Council of Logistics Management. He was recognized as a "2004 Rainmaker" by DC Velocity Magazine and in 2005 was awarded the Eugene Bishop Award for Sustained Academic Excellence by the College of Business at GSU.

Teaching and research interests include information technology and its impact on supply chain management, performance measurement, CEO perceptions of logistics and supply chain management, customer service and corporate strategy. His research has appeared in such journals as the Journal of Business Logistics, Transportation Journal, the International Journal of Physical Distribution and Materials Management, Journal of Transportation Management and Interfaces. His research on top shippers has appeared in Logistics Management for the last twenty four years. Dr. Manrodt is a recognized speaker, making over one hundred and fifty presentations to government, industry and academic groups in Sweden, Austria, Brazil, Denmark, China, Peru, South Africa, Germany, Canada, Australia, Turkey and the United States. He co-authored his first book, Customer Responsive Management: The Flexible Advantage in 1992. His second book on logistics and supply chain measurement - Keeping Score: Measuring the Business Value of Logistics in the Supply Chain -a joint effort with CSC for CLM, and was published in 1999. Vested Outsourcing was published in 2010 with co-authors Kate Vitasek and Mike Ledyard.

Dr. Manrodt also had served the profession in several forums. He served on the Board of Directors for the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP, formerly CLM). Dr. Manrodt served as the 2004 Program Chair for the Council of Logistics Management's annual conference, as well as a Track Chairperson for the annual meetings of the Warehouse Education & Research Council.

Dr. Manrodt's web site is: www.manrodt.com

Lauded by World Trade Magazine as one of the "Fabulous 50+1" most influential people impacting global commerce, author, educator and business consultant Kate Vitasek is an international authority for her award-winning research and Vested® business model for highly-collaborative relationships, Her practical and research-based advice for driving transformation and innovation through highly-collaborative and strategic partnerships launched a book series that includes: Vested Outsourcing: Five Rules That Will Transform Outsourcing, Vested: How P&G, McDonald's and Microsoft Are Redefining Winning in Business Relationships and Getting to We: Negotiating Agreements for Highly Collaborative Relationships

Vitasek has been featured on CNN International, Bloomberg radio, NPR, and Fox Business News. She is contributor for Forbes as their leading authority on the art, science and practice of highly collaborative relationships. Vitasek has been featured in over 300 articles in publications like Chief Executive Magazine, CIO Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Journal of Commerce, World Trade Magazine and Outsource Magazine.

Passionate in her quest to help companies transform their business relationships, Vitasek inspires and motivates business leaders with five proven "rules" for achieving transformational results. Following the Vested mindset and methodology shifts a relationships from a "What's in it for Me" to a "What's in it for We" foundation and outcome based business model. Skeptics walk away believers when Vitasek shares powerful, real-world examples of companies (big and small) that have achieved transformational results by adopting a Vested mindset and business model for highly-collaborate, win-win relationships.