American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN) announces new board chair

The American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN) today announced that it has named Robert O. Martichenko chairman of the board. Martichenko assumes his new role from current ALAN board chair and co-founder Mark E. Richards.  

“As ALAN enters a new year, I’m delighted to hand off the baton of leadership into Robert’s very capable hands,” said Richards. “His combination of heart, compassion, creativity and logistics experience makes him the ideal choice to guide ALAN as it continues to forge innovative paths in disaster response.”

An ALAN board member since 2019, Martichenko is a longtime industry thought leader and active member of the business community. Passionate about the people side of enterprise excellence and the future of workforce development, he co-founded TrailPaths Inc. in 2022, a people development and technology company whose purpose is to create Meaningful Employment Environments. Prior to that, he spent 15 years as founder and CEO of LeanCor Supply Chain Group.

He is an award-winning author of five business books, multiple articles related to Lean, enterprise excellence, supply chain management and leadership, and one novel, Drift and Hum, which won multiple awards, including the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Gold Winner Award for Best First Book-Fiction. He’s the recipient of numerous prominent industry awards, most notably the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals’ Distinguished Service Award. He is also a popular speaker and active participant/volunteer on multiple advisory boards, including the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME).

“It is extremely humbling to step into Mark’s current role,” said Martichenko. “Both he and ALAN Executive Director Kathy Fulton are visionary leaders whose passion and work ethic have earned ALAN an upstanding reputation throughout the supply chain industry. I look forward to working side by side with them as ALAN continues to show how meaningful logistics is to the disaster relief community.” 

“Over the years, Mark has guided us so capably through everything from hurricanes and tornadoes to global pandemics, all with incredible calmness, intelligence and humanity,” said Fulton. “However we’re delighted to know that we have such a capable successor in Robert. We’re looking forward to the amazing talent and new energy and ideas he’ll bring to this role.” 

Founded in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, ALAN is a philanthropic, industry-wide organization that provides free logistics assistance to disaster relief organizations before, during and after catastrophic events. It does this by bringing the expertise and resources of the logistics industry together with humanitarian organizations so that help can arrive sooner, and each relief dollar can be maximized. Over the years it has coordinated compassionate supply chain services for more than 90 disasters including hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes and floods.