Keynote Speakers

Professor Marshall Fisher is the UPS Professor of Operations and Information Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and co-director of the Fishman-Davidson Center for Service and Operations Management. He holds an S.B. in electrical engineering, an MBA and a Ph.D. in operations research, all from MIT. His pioneering research in supply chain management has been implemented by many companies and recognized by numerous awards.

 

He is a recipient of the 1977 Lanchester Prize for the best paper in operations research in that year, the 1983 Edelman Prize for development of a large-scale logistics planning model for a major industrial gas firm, 2005 Philip McCord Morse Lectureship Award and the E. Grosvenor Plowman Award from the Council of Logistics Management for contributions to logistics.

 

He is a Fellow of INFORMS, MSOM and POMS and a member of the national Academy of Engineering. In 2005, his paper, "The Lagrangian Relaxation Method of Solving Integer Programming Problems" was voted by the membership of INFORMS as one of the ten most influential papers published in Management Science during its 50-year history. He served as president of the Institute of Management Science during 1988-89.

 

Martin Christopher is Professor of Marketing and Logistics at Cranfield School of Management. His work in the field of logistics and supply chain management has gained international recognition. He has published widely and his recent books include Logistics and Supply Chain Management and Marketing Logistics. Martin Christopher is also co-editor of the International Journal of Logistics Management and is a regular contributor to conferences and workshops around the world.

 

At Cranfield, Martin Christopher directs the Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management, the largest activity of its type in Europe. The work of the centre covers all aspects of logistics and supply chain management and offers both full-time and part-time Masters degree courses as well as extensive management development programmes. Research plays a key role in the work of the Centre and contributes to its international standing.

 

In addition to leading a number of on-going research projects in logistics and supply chain management, Martin Christopher is active as an advisor to many organisations and is non-executive director of a number of companies.

 

Martin Christopher is an Emeritus Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport on whose Council he sits. In 1988 he was awarded the Sir Robert Lawrence Gold Medal for his contribution to logistics education, in 1997 he was given the USA Council of Logistics Managements Foundation Award and in 2005 he received the Distinguished Service Award from the USA Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.

Nils Rudi is an Associate Professor of Technology and Operations Management

at Insead University , France.

 

Nils Rudi's research is in operations management with overlap to information systems, marketing and finance. He has been focusing on supply chain management and how one can use different strategies (e.g., variety postponement, real options, flexibility, financial hedging and incentive structures) to better handle demand uncertainty. Journals where his research has appeared include Interfaces, Journal of Management Information Systems, Management Science, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Operations Research and Supply Chain Management Review.

 

After high school, Nils worked for three years as a computer programmer of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems at Movex. He then formed Minard, specializing in decision support systems for forecasting and inventory management. Minard did an IPO and went public on the Oslo Stock Exchange (Norway) in 1996. Other work experience range from consulting for firms in a wide variety of industries to negotiating professional football contracts.

 

Nils studied part time for a B.S. degree in computer science at Molde College (Norway), and holds a Ph.D. in operations management from Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.