Thomas J. Goldsby is the Dee and Jimmy Haslam chair in logistics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business. He is also the co-executive director of the Global Supply Chain Institute. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Evansville, an MBA from the University of Kentucky and a doctorate in marketing and logistics from Michigan State University.

Goldsby serves as co-executive director of the Global Supply Chain Institute. He is a former co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Business Logistics and Transportation Journal. His research interests include logistics strategy, supply chain integration and the theory and practice of lean and agile supply chain strategies. He has published more than 90 articles in academic and professional journals and is a frequent speaker at academic conferences, executive education seminars and professional meetings.

Goldsby is co-author of five books:

• Logistics Management: Enhancing Competitiveness and Customer Value

• The Definitive Guide to Transportation

• Global Macrotrends and Their Impact on Supply Chain Management

• Lean Six Sigma Logistics: Strategic Development to Operational Success

• The Design and Management of Sustainable Supply Chains.

A recipient of multiple best paper awards, Goldsby has been recognized for excellence in teaching at University of Tennessee, The Ohio State University, the University of Kentucky, and Iowa State University. In 2019, he was named a Rainmaker by DC Velocity and received the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award from Supply Chain Leaders in Action (SCLA). Goldsby delivered a course on business operations for The Great Courses’ Critical Business Skills series in 2015, which continues to rate as a bestselling nonfiction/business title at Audible.com and was ranked by Newsweek as No. 27 on its list of the top 50 bestsellers among all audiobooks for summer 2020.

Goldsby has supervised more than 100 Lean Six Sigma supply chain projects with industry partners, chaired eight doctoral dissertations and served as an investigator on multiple federally funded research projects exceeding $3.5 million in grants.

Dr. Prashanth H. Southekal is the managing principal of DBP-Institute, a data analytics consulting and education company.

Dr. Southekal has over 30 years of information management experience from over 75 companies such as SAP, Shell, Apple, P&G, and GE and has trained over 4,500 professionals worldwide in analytics, data products, and enterprise performance management (EPM). He is the author of three books - Data for Business Performance, Analytics Best Practices, and Data Quality. He writes regularly on data, analytics and machine learning for Forbes.com, FP&A Trends and CFO University. Analytics Best Practices is in the top 100 analytics books of all time and in May 2022 was ranked No. 1 by BookAuthority.

Dr. Southekal is an adjunct professor of data analytics at IE Business School (Spain) where he received the teaching excellence award for the 2020-2021 academic year. CDO Magazine has included Dr. Southekal in the 2022 LIST OF LEADING ACADEMIC DATA LEADERS.

Dr. Southekal holds a PhD from ESC Lille (France) and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management (U.S.).

Jim Collins is a student and teacher of what makes great companies tick and a Socratic advisor to leaders in the business and social sectors. Having invested more than a quarter century in rigorous research, he has authored or co-authored a series of books that have sold in total more than 10 million copies worldwide. They include Good to Great, the No. 1 bestseller, which examines why some companies make the leap and others don't; the enduring classic Built to Last, which discovers why some companies remain visionary for generations; How the Mighty Fall, which delves into how once-great companies can self-destruct; and Great by Choice, which uncovers the leadership behaviors for thriving in chaos and uncertainty. Jim has also published two monographs that extend the ideas in his primary books: Good to Great and the Social Sectors and Turning the Flywheel.

His most recent publication is BE 2.0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0), an ambitious upgrade of his very first book; it returns Collins to his original focus on small, entrepreneurial companies and honors his co-author and mentor Bill Lazier.

Driven by a relentless curiosity, Collins began his research and teaching career on the faculty at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he received the Distinguished Teaching Award in 1992. In 1995, he founded a management laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, where he conducts research and engages with CEOs and senior leadership teams.

In addition to his work in the business sector, Collins has a passion for learning and teaching in the social sectors, including education, healthcare, government, faith-based organizations, social ventures, and cause-driven nonprofits. In 2012 and 2013, he had the honor to serve a two-year appointment as the Class of 1951 chair for the study of leadership at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Collins holds a bachelor's degree in mathematical sciences and an MBA from Stanford University, as well as honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Colorado and the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. In 2017, Forbes selected Collins as one of the 100 Greatest Living Business Minds.

Erik Brynjolfsson is the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki professor and senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, and director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. He also is the Ralph Landau senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, a professor by courtesy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford Department of Economics, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

One of the most cited authors on the economics of information, Brynjolfsson was among the first researchers to measure the productivity contributions of information technology and the complementary role of organizational capital and other intangibles. He has conducted pioneering research on digital commerce, the Long Tail, bundling and pricing models, intangible assets, and the effects of information technology on business strategy, productivity, and performance.

Brynjolfsson speaks globally and is the author of nine books, including, with co-author Andrew McAfee, the best-seller The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies and Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future. He has also written more than 100 academic articles and holds five patents.

He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Harvard University in applied mathematics and decision sciences and a doctorate from MIT in managerial economics. His papers can be found at brynjolfsson.com/research.

Jamie Head is the group chief tech whisperer (also known as chief information officer) at Parts Town Unlimited, where he leads company-wide transformation to drive innovation, scale, and customer-focused growth. With a proven track record of modernizing IT and digital capabilities, Head brings more than two decades of global leadership in technology, operations and change management.

Before joining Parts Town, Head served as chief digital and technology officer at Ocean Spray Cranberries, spearheading the cooperative’s modernization across IT, business processes and digital marketing to unlock top- and bottom-line value. He previously held senior roles as CIO Americas at GSK Consumer Health and divisional CIO at Mars Inc., leading digital, technology and data strategies across global markets.

A passionate people leader and change agent, Head is known for bridging business and technology to deliver impactful outcomes at scale.

Andre Fidellow is a seasoned technology executive with more than 20 years of experience driving digital transformation in the foodservice and healthcare sectors. As CTO of Mission Restaurant Supply, he leads enterprise-wide innovation across IT, ERP and e-commerce platforms, helping the company modernize operations and enhance the customer experience.

Fidellow’s leadership journey at Mission includes prior roles as COO and director of IT, where he built scalable digital infrastructure and championed cross-functional collaboration. Before joining Mission, he spent nearly 17 years at HealthTec Software across multiple departments and roles, managing operations, service delivery and the development of practice management and EMR systems that improved practice efficiency and patient care.

With deep expertise in agile methodologies, ERP, CRM, healthcare IT, and web solutions, Fidellow brings a strategic lens to technology leadership—bridging innovation with measurable business impact.

Erik Brynjolfsson is the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki professor and senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, and director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. He also is the Ralph Landau senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, a professor by courtesy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford Department of Economics, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

One of the most cited authors on the economics of information, Brynjolfsson was among the first researchers to measure the productivity contributions of information technology and the complementary role of organizational capital and other intangibles. He has conducted pioneering research on digital commerce, the Long Tail, bundling and pricing models, intangible assets, and the effects of information technology on business strategy, productivity, and performance.

Brynjolfsson speaks globally and is the author of nine books, including, with co-author Andrew McAfee, the best-seller The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies and Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future. He has also written more than 100 academic articles and holds five patents.

He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Harvard University in applied mathematics and decision sciences and a doctorate from MIT in managerial economics. His papers can be found at brynjolfsson.com/research.

Joe Carbonara is editorial director for Foodservice Equipment & Supplies and restaurant development + design magazines. Prior to becoming editor in chief for FE&S in 2004, Carbonara was a marketing manager for SmithBucklin Corp., where he spent six years working with the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers. A diehard Cubs fan, he is also a fan of the finer things in life, such as an ice cold can of Pabst Blue Ribbon. You can follow Carbonara on X @FES_Editor.

As Avanti Restaurant Solution's founder and leader, Mark Rossi has worked closely with CEO's, restaurant owners and operators for most of his career. He started Avanti in 2003 specifically to help clients grow their businesses with commercial kitchens through design and equipment solutions. Today, under his leadership, Avanti is a forward-thinking partner to national chains, regional restaurant brands and commercial kitchen facilities across the United States and Canada.

Erik Lampe joined the Vollrath Company in March 2023 and became president and CEO in July 2023. He came to Vollrath with a background in general management, strategic growth, innovation, and operational performance for industrial companies. Lampe's professional journey is largely characterized by significant tenures at Oshkosh Corporation and McKinsey & Company, where he assumed numerous pivotal leadership positions. In 2022 as principal for Comvest Partners' Operating Advisory Group, he served as a leader for the firm's privately held companies, guiding them through business challenges.

Lampe is a committed advocate for people development, harboring an unwavering belief in a values-oriented approach. His alignment with Vollrath's culture and deep-seated commitment to its people and stakeholders made the company a natural fit for him. Based on Vollrath's long-standing, family-oriented history and future-centric vision, Lampe feels privileged to contribute to next exciting chapter of Vollrath's story as it crosses the milestone of its 150th anniversary and beyond.

Lampe received dual bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering and management science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He later obtained his MBA from Harvard Business School.