SAP Supply Chain Executive Forum
The Evolution of Supply Chains: Intelligent, Connected, and Sustainable
August 11–13, 2025 | Waldorf Astoria, Chicago
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Featured Speakers
Keynote
Leading Global Strategy Advisor, Founder and CEO of AlphaGeo,
and Bestselling Author
Parag Khanna is the founder and CEO of AlphaGeo, the leading AI-powered geospatial analytics platform. He is the internationally bestselling author of seven books including MOVE: Where People Are Going for a Better Future (2021), preceded by The Future is Asian: Commerce, Conflict & Culture in the 21st Century (2019), as well as a trilogy of books on the future of world order beginning with The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order (2008), followed by How to Run the World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance (2011), and concluding with Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization (2016). He is also the author of Technocracy in America: Rise of the Info-State (2017) and co-author of Hybrid Reality: Thriving in the Emerging Human-Technology Civilization (2012). Parag was named one of Esquire’s 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century, and featured in WIRED magazine’s Smart List. He holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Born in India and raised in the UAE, New York, and Germany, he has traveled to more than 150 countries and is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.
Leading Global Strategy Advisor, Founder and CEO of AlphaGeo,
and Bestselling Author
Parag Khanna is the founder and CEO of AlphaGeo, the leading AI-powered geospatial analytics platform. He is the internationally bestselling author of seven books including MOVE: Where People Are Going for a Better Future (2021), preceded by The Future is Asian: Commerce, Conflict & Culture in the 21st Century (2019), as well as a trilogy of books on the future of world order beginning with The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order (2008), followed by How to Run the World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance (2011), and concluding with Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization (2016). He is also the author of Technocracy in America: Rise of the Info-State (2017) and co-author of Hybrid Reality: Thriving in the Emerging Human-Technology Civilization (2012). Parag was named one of Esquire’s 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century, and featured in WIRED magazine’s Smart List. He holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Born in India and raised in the UAE, New York, and Germany, he has traveled to more than 150 countries and is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.
Customers
IT Manager, Supply Chain, Corning Incorporated
Aravind Bala is a seasoned IT professional with deep supply chain expertise in leading transformations in the areas of procurement, planning, logistics and warehousing. He is experienced in SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC), SAP S/4HANA, SAP IBP, and SAP Ariba in the automotive, high tech and process industries. Aravind is also passionate about portfolio management, enterprise solution architecture, digital initiatives (data and AI), and supply chain digital transformation.
SVP, Chief Information Officer and Director Supply Chain Integration and Strategy, Brown-Forman
Larry Combs is senior vice president, chief information officer, and director of supply chain integration and strategy for Brown-Forman Corporation. In his role, he is responsible for strategically aligning Brown-Forman’s information technology initiatives with its business goals, overseeing IT operations, infrastructure, and digital transformation efforts. In addition, he oversees global supply chain integration services, including planning, logistics, procurement, customer service, and strategy.
Since 1992, he has held positions of increasing responsibility within Brown Forman’s Global Production group, including director of process research and development, vice president of external manufacturing and quality assurance, senior vice president of technical services and production operations, and, most recently, senior vice president, general manager of Jack Daniel’s Global Supply Chain.
In the community, Larry sits on the board of directors for the Tennessee Alzheimer’s Association and serves on the advisory board for the University of Louisville Engineering School and Motlow College. He previously served as chair of the board for the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Transformational Executive, Oil and Gas Industry
Mike Curtis is a business leader with a focus on revitalizing businesses in energy and manufacturing. He excels in turnarounds, supply chain optimization, and operational excellence, turning cost centers into profit. With expertise in P&L leadership and strategic negotiations, Mike drives innovation, cost savings, and cultural shifts. He’s led multi-billion-dollar restructurings and process optimizations, building resilient, future-ready businesses that exceed expectations.
IT Coordinator and Business Partner, Ipiranga
Wagner Duarte is IT Manager at Ipiranga with over 15 years of experience in technology leadership. He leads key initiatives in the company’s SAP S/4HANA transformation and SAP IBP implementation. His expertise in aligning IT and logistics makes him a strong voice in digital supply chain planning.
Chief Financial Officer, Morgan Foods, Inc.
Steve Hankins joined Morgan Foods as Chief Financial Officer in 2017, bringing a wealth of experience across food production, logistics, and consulting. Prior to Morgan Foods, Steve held senior leadership roles, including Global CFO/CIO at Globe Express Services and CEO of US Bentonite. He also founded and led Accio.US, a successful consulting firm. Earlier in his career, Steve spent over 20 years at Tyson Foods, honing his skills in financial planning, shared services, and technology integration. Renowned for driving digital transformation, he spearheaded the implementation of SAP systems at Morgan Foods. With his unique blend of financial acumen and technical expertise, Steve has been instrumental in optimizing operations and positioning Morgan Foods for sustained growth.
VP of Global Supply Chain, Hollister Incorporated
Jill Maiola is the VP of Global Supply Chain at Hollister Incorporated, a leading medical device company specializing in ostomy care and continence care products. She has a background in Industrial Engineering with over thirty years of experience in supply chain and operations management at leading consumer, pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics, and food and beverage companies, including Johnson & Johnson and Constellation Brands. She possesses an in-depth understanding of supply chain planning, materials and services sourcing, production and distribution operations, and logistics within regulated environments. She is Lean/Six-Sigma Green Belt Certified and holds an APICS CSCP certification.
Director of IT, SAP, Salesforce, and Digital Products, Textron Specialized Vehicles
Nick McBride is the Director of IT – ERP Systems, bringing a wealth of experience to his role. With over five years in IT, he currently leads the SAP/Ariba SCC/Sourcing Suite for TSV. His impressive 14-year background in supply chain and operations is underscored by his APICS CPIM, CSCP, and Six Sigma Green Belt certifications. Throughout his career, Nick has held various leadership and subject matter expert roles across five different companies. He has a proven track record of leading significant enterprise system projects, including four major ERP implementations, five WMS implementations, two Ariba implementations, and two enterprise-wide training software implementations, showcasing his deep expertise in driving technological and operational success.
Director of IT, NA Supply Chain, Kellanova
Ken Merlin is a results-driven business leader with a strategic focus on evolving enterprise processes to enhance profitability and operational excellence. With a strong foundation in information technology and business relationship management (BRMP), Ken specializes in aligning IT capabilities with business objectives to drive value creation and innovation. He brings a proven track record of leveraging technology to automate manual tasks, strengthen internal controls, and deliver real-time metrics that support data-driven decision-making.
Ken’s collaborative approach fosters strong partnerships between IT and business units, ensuring seamless integration of solutions that support long-term organizational goals. Known for his ability to translate complex challenges into actionable strategies, Ken is committed to continuous improvement, cross-functional alignment, and delivering measurable business outcomes.
Director of IT, Daltile México - Mohawk Industries
Luis Mora is the IT Leader for Grupo Daltile’s México Business Unit, bringing over 30 years of experience in information technology, including 27 years with the company. A strategic leader, Luis has driven major initiatives that modernized infrastructure, strengthened cybersecurity, and aligned technology with business growth.
He has led high-impact projects, including the integration of four manufacturing plants simultaneously and the ongoing integration of five new plants from the ground up. His leadership in the implementation of SAP Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) across seven warehouses in multiple Mexican states highlights his ability to manage complex, multi-site deployments.
Luis also contributes to Mohawk Industries’ global IT strategy, adding international insight to local execution. His expertise spans IT governance, enterprise architecture, cloud platforms, and cross-functional leadership.
Based in San Pedro Garza García, Luis works closely with executive leadership to keep technology aligned with business priorities. Known for building collaborative, high-performing teams, he fosters a culture of innovation and continuous improvement across the organization.
Director, Center of Excellence, Benjamin Moore & Co
Joe Peraino is the Director of the SAP Center of Excellence at Benjamin Moore & Co., where he has built a distinguished career spanning over 20 years in IT. With a decade of hands-on leadership in SAP ERP implementation, Joe plays a key role in driving digital transformation and operational efficiency at the iconic architectural coatings company.
Joe leads a high-performing team of IT professionals focused on delivering value-added, business-aligned technology solutions. Under his direction, the team has successfully implemented a wide range of SAP supply chain modules—including manufacturing, planning, product costing, and extended warehouse management (EWM)—along with strategic support for platforms such as SAP Commerce Cloud, SAP Business Planning and Consolidation, SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP Master Data Governance, SAP GRC, and embedded data insights and actions.
A results-driven leader, Joe is passionate about aligning IT capabilities with business priorities to enable sustainable growth and innovation.
Vice President, Global Supply Chain and Logistics, Kennametal
Narain Mutharaj is a seasoned supply chain leader with a proven record of driving progressive growth within Fortune 500 organizations. With deep expertise in distribution and supply chain management, Narain has consistently delivered operational efficiencies and best practices that reduce costs and enhance customer success. He is highly skilled in leading large, global teams and implementing innovative supply chain strategies that optimize forecasting, streamline inventory, and shorten vendor turnaround times. Narain takes pride in building strong, high-performing teams through effective coaching and leadership, with a sharp focus on aligning business operations with commercial goals.
Director, Global ERP & Finance Applications, Simpson Strong-Tie
Venkat Pericherla is an accomplished IT leader with deep expertise in planning and executing technology solutions that drive business transformation. With extensive experience across SAP ERP, purchasing, HCM, commissions, financial planning, customer service, and manufacturing systems, Venkat brings a strategic mindset and hands-on leadership to every initiative. Known for building high-performing teams and fostering a culture of quality and innovation, Venkat excels in road mapping, problem-solving, and delivering impactful enterprise applications. Above all, Venkat is driven by a strong passion for customer success.
National Warehouse Manager (RDC), Daltile México - Mohawk Industries
Alberto Romo Medrano is a logistics and supply chain expert with over 15 years of experience managing finished goods distribution across complex, multi-site networks. As National Warehouse Manager at Grupo Daltile, he leads operations across 12 distribution centers in México, ensuring high service levels and seamless product availability.
Alberto specializes in transforming warehouse operations into strategic customer service enablers. Through the implementation of SAP Extended Warehouse Management (EWM), he has enhanced real-time inventory visibility, improved demand responsiveness, and strengthened alignment between logistics and commercial teams. His data-driven approach and focus on operational excellence have helped consolidate warehouse operations into a high-impact service platform that directly supports customer satisfaction and business growth.
Sr. Director, NA Transportation & Global Customs and Trade Compliance, ACCO Brands
Anand Soni is the Senior Supply Chain Director at ACCO Brands, where he oversees North American transportation and global customs and trade compliance. With over 20 years of experience in logistics and transportation, Anand has a proven track record in the retail, automotive, and manufacturing sectors. He played a pivotal role in the successful implementation of SAP Transportation Management at ACCO Brands, serving as the business owner and lead for the system implementation project. Anand’s expertise and leadership continue to drive operational excellence and innovation within the supply chain industry.
Partner, Manufacturing and Supply Chain, McKinsey & Company
Ketan Shah, based in Chicago, is a partner at McKinsey & Company and led both planning and logistics. In his current role, he is responsible for SCM Connections acquisition as well as the SAP operations alliance. He has done dozens of supply chain transformations across the consumer, life sciences, chemicals, automotive and industrial segments. Prior to McKinsey & Company, he ran a manufacturing company in India.
Partners
Principal, Advisory, KPMG
Hernan is a senior executive with over two decades of experience driving strategic transformation through supply chain innovation, AI integration, and technology-enabled business solutions. As a Principal at KPMG, Hernan leverages deep expertise in SAP and agentic AI to transform traditional supply chains into intelligent, responsive networks, dramatically enhancing visibility, responsiveness, and sustainability. A visionary leader, Hernan pioneered the concept of Neural Supply Chain Orchestration (NSCO), uniting cutting-edge artificial intelligence with strategic supply chain management. His leadership enables companies to move beyond incremental improvements to achieve exponential value through predictive analytics, end-to-end synchronization, and ethical automation.
Hernan champions a future-ready IT organization, advocating for technology teams that act as strategic business partners, driving organizational growth and resilience. He firmly believes in a holistic, ecosystem-driven approach, emphasizing collaboration, innovation, and adaptive governance to create competitive advantage in an ever-evolving marketplace.
Partner, Reveal
Ed Elsbury is a Partner at Reveal, responsible for developing and building client relationships and strategies focused on improving supply chain effectiveness and ensuring client satisfaction. Ed has more than 25 years of strategic business experience providing solutions designed to improve distribution efficiencies, reduce operating costs, and increase product margins.
His experience includes technology, manufacturing, distribution, and finance, helping clients from Fortune 100 to private equity firms. Some clients Ed has helped transform include Sysco, Albertsons, Phillips 66, Tenneco, Mitsubishi, Sears, Nalco, and Walgreens.
Chief Revenue Officer, Stellium
Chris Foster is the Chief Revenue Officer for Stellium, Inc., a global SAP consultancy firm focusing on digital supply chain, manufacturing, and SAP Cloud ERP for customer success. He is responsible for driving revenue growth, defining go-to-market and channel strategies, and influencing product strategy to deliver maximum value across the SAP ecosystem. With over 20 years of experience at SAP, Chris has taken on previous roles such as VP of RISE with SAP, VP of SAP HEC, and VP Consulting Services at SAP. He also led Sales for the NE at G-Log prior to being acquired by Oracle.
Managing Partner, Reveal
Martin's passion is to help companies leverage their current technology investment to optimize their integrated, extended supply chains to achieve a world-class status. His over 20 years of experience cover a wide variety of industries across multiple countries with a specific focus on driving transformational change within the organization and its core value chain. He has helped transform some phenomenal organizations across the globe, such as the US Navy, Campbells Soup, GE, Carlisle, HD Supply, Ryerson Steel, BMW, Toyota, General Motors, Mittal Steel, Sanyo, Insight, and Asics, to name a few.
SAP
CRO, Supply Chain Management, SAP
SAP Supply Chain Management Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), Val Blatt, currently leads Customer Success and Go-to-Market teams for the Supply Chain Management Solution areas, including SAP Business Network. She is responsible for delivering on global revenue targets, defining go-to-market plans, and influencing product strategy to maximize value across the Supply Chain Management buying center. Val is focused on helping customers build transparent, resilient, and connected supply chains that operate efficiently and collaboratively.
Prior to her current role, Val was the CRO of SAP Business Network, where she led the Customer Success and Go-to-Market teams to build the world’s largest B2B commerce network. With over 20 years of experience at SAP, Val has taken on previous roles such as General Manager of the SMB division of SAP Concur, head of the Ariba Network team, and Global Vice President and General Manager of Cloud Services. She currently serves on the board of Taulia, an SAP company, and was named a Top Woman in Supply Chain.
Senior Vice President and Global Head,
Supply Chain Management Domain Advisory, SAP
With over 30 years of experience in the supply chain arena, Rick has worked with companies large and small across numerous industries, helping them establish themselves as innovative, game-changing companies positioned for success.
In his 28 years at SAP, Rick has held a broad range of leadership roles across the entire Supply Chain Management Suite: Product Lifecycle Management, Industry 4.0, Planning, Environmental Health and Safety, Supplier Relationship Management, Mobility, Enterprise Asset Management, and Manufacturing.
Rick engages in creative dialogue with businesses worldwide, addressing customer needs and introducing innovative business processes that push companies to their fullest potential, so they can execute on the next level of innovation.
Head of SCM Americas, SAP
Jeb Insley is a Chief Revenue Officer for Supply Chain Management (SCM) in the Americas at SAP, where he leads the strategy, execution, and end-to-end customer success for the SCM solution area. With over 20 years of global experience in the supply chain industry, Jeb has a strong track record of driving innovation, revenue growth, and business transformation. His career includes leadership roles across the U.S., China, and Latin America, where he played a key role in expanding SAP’s digital supply chain footprint. Jeb oversees solution and portfolio strategy, go-to-market planning, and business execution, helping customers realize value across their supply chain operations.
Chief Sales Officer, Supply Chain Management, SAP
As SAP’s Chief Sales Officer (CSO) for Supply Chain Management, Koen Jacobs leads Customer Success and Go-to-Market teams within the Supply Chain Management Solution areas. He is responsible for driving global revenue growth, defining go-to-market strategies, and influencing product strategy to deliver maximum value across the Supply Chain Management buying center.
With over 15 years of experience in driving digital business transformations, Koen has led go-to-market, delivery, and customer success teams at o9 Solutions, Quintiq, and Dassault Systèmes. His expertise lies in helping organizations build transparent, resilient, and connected supply chains that are efficient and collaborative.
Senior Vice President, Managing Director, Midwest NA, SAP
As Managing Director of the U.S. Midwest region, Kerri Tenbrunsel is responsible for leading the market unit’s overall strategy, business operations, and customer and partner engagements. With decades of experience in software and service sales, Kerri’s performance record has driven teams to decades of exceptional sales results, top-tier employee feedback, and high customer satisfaction.
Since joining SAP in 2007, she has held a variety of industry core and line of business roles across software sales, services, and support, including her previous role as the Senior Vice President and General Manager of SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) North America, where she drove all facets of the NA cloud-based platform business. Kerri also leads with a deep understanding of their customers’ challenges, committed to both customer success throughout the entire customer journey and the optimization of an intelligent, sustainable enterprise.
SAP Global Domain Advisor, Supply Chain Management and Sustainability, SAP
Nadia Torres is a global executive with over 25 years of industry and consulting experience in supply chain operations, digital innovation, and sustainability. She currently serves as Global Domain Advisor for Supply Chain Management and Sustainability, where she helps organizations across industries embed ESG, innovation, and operational excellence into their core value chains.
With more than 13 years at SAP, Nadia has held various global and regional leadership roles, including leading SAP’s sustainability portfolio for supply chain, spearheading IoT and predictive maintenance programs in Latin America, and driving the global rollout of SAP Sustainability solutions across asset-intensive and regulated industries. Prior to joining SAP, she held key operational and strategic positions at companies such as BP, Nokia Siemens, AutoZone, Union Fenosa, and ICA Fluor Daniel.