Going global at ISM

Two years ago, I had the chance to meet the first group of 30 Under 30 rising supply chain stars chosen by ISM and Thomasnet.com. The goal of the initiative is to recognize what we all hope is the next generation of supply chain leaders in the making, both to encourage them to stay in the profession and bring supply chain management as a career to the attention of other students and young professionals.

It’s certainly a goal that I share wearing my Supply Chain Management Review hat, which is one of the reasons we featured four young managers in the July issue. And while supply management and procurement aren’t always discussed at Modern Materials Handling, every one of our readers has a procurement function, as does the suppliers of our technologies and solutions. Heck, they may have a rising supply chain star.

With two years under their belts, ISM and Thomasnet.com are opening up the nominations to a global audience – to nominate a rising star in your organization, click here. Nominations are open until December 1 and must be in English. You can also read the following article on tips to nominating a winner by Dave Allen, whose nominee was the 2014 Megawatt Winner.

The rationale for casting a wider net is to better represent the direction the industry is headed, says M.L. Peck, ISM’s senior vice president of programs and product development. “A large number of professionals are managing global suppliers or have global assignments,” she says. “We discussed this initially, but wanted to have a few years of experience first.”

Now that ISM and Thomasnet.com have recognized a total of 60 winners, I asked Peck how past winners have fared. The good news is that these are the cream of the crop, and many have been promoted since being nominated. Others have been given the opportunity to lead major initiatives that have resulted in significant savings and innovations for their companies. A several were offered scholarships to further their educations. She also believes that having an award winner promotes companies. “When we talk to Millennials, they want to know what companies are promoting their young talent,” she says. At the same time, she adds, some of those promotions have taken the past winners out of the profession, and into other areas of their organizations, such as finance.

Ultimately, she hopes the award – and the winners – create an avenue to promote the profession. “We want to get the message out that supply management isn’t just about cutting costs, which can be boring to this group, but about affecting a company’s strategic advantage. It’s efficiency that allows a company to invest and affect societal change. Those very much dovetail with the values of Millennials and Generation Z.”

Remember that you have until December 1 to nominate a rising star in your organization.