Podcast

Supply Chain Revolution

Business, Management

Supply Chain Revolution®: Sustainability, Innovation, Technology

The supply chain podcast where sustainability, AI, and global trade strategy collide. If you run supply chains, set procurement strategy, or lead enterprise transformation, this is the show that connects the dots others miss.

Hosted by Sheri Hinish, the Supply Chain Queen, each episode tackles the questions keeping executives up at night: how tariffs and trade disruption reshape sourcing and supplier networks, where agentic AI and automation are actually delivering ROI in supply chain planning, what reshoring and nearshoring mean for sustainability commitments, how to operationalize ESG and Scope 3 reporting without destroying margins, and why the companies building circular economy and regenerative supply chains are outperforming those that are not.

Guests include senior leaders from Microsoft, SAP, IBM, Amazon, Starbucks, Unilever, MIT, TerraCycle, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and the most ambitious climate technology companies in the world. These are not scripted talking points. These are real operators, real decisions, and real outcomes.

Whether the topic is autonomous supply chain planning, digital twins, supply chain cybersecurity, trade compliance, sustainable procurement, carbon data transparency, or the talent pipeline for next generation supply chain leaders, every episode delivers frameworks you can use Monday morning.

Built for chief supply chain officers, heads of procurement, sustainability leaders, operations executives, technologists, policymakers, and graduate students in supply chain management, operations, and sustainability. If your role touches global supply chains, this show was made for you.

Sheri Hinish is an award winning executive strategist, board advisor, and global thought leader in supply chain transformation, sustainability, and AI. She is the Founder of Supply Chain Revolution Global and previously led sustainability consulting at EY and IBM. Featured in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Economist, and Forbes. Named the number one Global Supply Chain Leader and Top 250 Leaders in Sustainability. She speaks regularly at COP, New York Climate Week, Reuters Events, and Gartner Supply Chain Symposium.

Show notes and resources at supplychainqueen.com

Full episodes on YouTube at youtube.com/@supplychainqueen

Follow Sheri on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/supplychainqueen

Episodes
94
Releases
Every two weeks
Typical length
23 min
On air since
2020
Latest episode
4 days ago

Episodes

94 episodes, newest first

  1. Women in Supply Chain: Why Access, Not Talent, Is the Real Career Gap with Ladies Who Logistic

    Season 1, Episode 103

    Show notes

    Women in supply chain and logistics do not lack talent. They lack access. Harshida Acharya, co-founder of Ladies Who Logistic, explains how to close the gap.

    In this episode of the Supply Chain Revolution podcast, Sheri Hinish (Supply Chain Queen) talks with Harshida Acharya, Partner and Chief Strategy Officer at Fulfillment IQ and co-founder of Ladies Who Logistic, one of the newest community partners on the Supply Chain Queen and Supply Chain Revolution platform.

    Harshida co-founded Ladies Who Logistic with Tori Deems and Amy Dai after the three of them kept finding themselves among the only women in decision-making rooms. When they asked on LinkedIn whether a community like this should exist, more than 130 women asked to join within a few hours. Two and a half years and 31 events later, the community has become career infrastructure rather than a networking club.

    You will learn why the real constraint for women in logistics is an uneven distribution of social capital, how Chatham House rules create space for the questions people cannot safely ask at work, and why a Montessori-style model that mixes early-career, mid-career, and senior leaders accelerates learning for everyone. Harshida also shares the skill that will matter most in fulfillment over the next five years, the test that separates a useful community from a performative one, and a direct ask for leaders and allies.

    This conversation is for women building careers in supply chain, logistics, procurement, and operations, and for the executives and allies who want to sponsor them.

    Chapters

    00:00 From networking to infrastructure: why Ladies Who Logistic exists

    00:46 Meet Harshida Acharya and how Sheri and Harshida met at NY Climate Week 01:16 Fulfillment IQ, the eCom Logistics Podcast, and the origin of Ladies Who Logistic

    04:06 The real gap for women in supply chain: social capital, not capability

    07:20 Why authentic community beats traditional networking

    08:51 The Montessori model: learning across every career stage

    11:55 The skills women need in the age of AI and automation

    12:29 Allies, not adversaries: the community's ethos

    13:11 Staying grounded while AI changes everything

    14:15 Why breadth matters: lessons from the book Range

    14:53 Lightning round

    16:47 Standing on the shoulders of giants

    17:06 How to join Ladies Who Logistic and Harshida's ask for leaders and allies

    17:56 Closing

    Connect

    Ladies Who Logistic: https://ladieswhologistic.com and the Ladies Who Logistic group on LinkedIn

    Harshida Acharya on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harshida/

    Fulfillment IQ: https://fulfillmentiq.com

    eCom Logistics Podcast: available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

    Sheri Hinish, Supply Chain Queen: https://supplychainqueen.com

    LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/supplychainqueen

    YouTube (full episodes and clips): https://youtube.com/@supplychainqueen Instagram: https://instagram.com/supplychainqueen

    Newsletter: subscribe to The Supply Chain Revolution Newsletter at https://supplychainqueen.com

    If this episode helped you, follow Supply Chain Revolution and leave a rating on Apple Podcasts. Ratings are the single fastest way to help other women in supply chain find the show.

    Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: MBXOZNDJNYNM1OGS

    18 min
  2. Climate Week NYC 2026 Recap: What Supply Chain and Sustainability Leaders Should Do Next

    Season 1, Episode 102

    Show notes

    Supply chain was rarely in the title at New York Climate Week 2026, but it was in every answer. In this Revolution Roundtable, recorded live on LinkedIn days after the week closed, Sheri Hinish brings together three practitioners to compare notes on what they saw, what felt real, what felt performative, and what executive teams should do differently on Monday morning.

    Sandy Leyva, co-founder of Sustainability Decoded, is an engineer who works at the intersection of supply chain and sustainability. Wesley Herche, PhD, co-founder of Sustainability Decoded, is a former U.S. intelligence officer who now works across solar, battery storage, EV charging infrastructure, and on-site power. James George, founder of Provocative Human and a Supply Chain Revolution collaborator since 2020, spent 12 years as a Royal Navy clearance diver before moving into circular economy work with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. He now advises on critical minerals and rare earth supply chain risk in defense, aerospace, and automotive.

    Each panelist names the week in one word: locked in, interdependence, economics, and access. The conversation then moves to the investor who told a room to stop framing climate action as an environmental choice, the quiet disappearance of net zero, the rollback of the Chief Sustainability Officer role and its cost to technical expertise and to women in the C-suite, and whether every job is now both a technology job and a sustainability job. An audience question brings the missing Scope 3 stakeholder into the room: the small and mid-sized supplier asked to fund the transition on margins that cannot absorb it.

    The roundtable closes with three decisions for Monday morning: price volatility itself, put critical materials on the risk register with a named owner, and treat disruption as information.

    Chapter Markers:

    0:00 Welcome to the post-Climate Week Revolution Roundtable

    0:57 Introductions: Sandy Leyva, Wesley Herche, James George

    3:53 One word for Climate Week NYC 2026

    6:10 "Stop telling me we're doing this for environmental reasons"

    8:28 Supply chain was in every answer

    10:03 The value was in the room, not on stage

    11:44 What changed: net zero fades from the agenda

    12:51 What felt performative: folding in the CSO role

    14:19 The double loss: technical expertise and women in the C-suite

    18:15 Is every job a technology job?

    21:52 Is every job a sustainability job?

    25:22 Audience question: the SME supplier missing from Scope 3

    29:05 One decision for executive teams on Monday morning

    31:37 Final word: circularity as a resilience discipline

    Key Topics:

    Climate Week NYC 2026, supply chain, sustainability, circular economy, critical minerals, material security, energy transition, price volatility, Chief Sustainability Officer, Scope 3, SME suppliers, just transition, ESG, AI, green jobs, Sustainability Decoded, Provocative Human

    Connect and Learn More:

    Sustainability Decoded (Sandy Leyva and Wesley Herche): sustainabilitydecoded.beehiiv.com

    James George (Provocative Human): linkedin.com/in/james-george-20995b75

    Sheri Hinish (Supply Chain Queen): supplychainqueen.com

    Subscribe to Supply Chain Revolution on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you listen.

    33 min
  3. Community Ownership in Circular Supply Chains: The Cooperative Model | CSCC Series Finale (5/5)

    Season 1, Episode 101

    Show notes

    This is the series finale. Across five episodes, the Circular Supply Chain Coalition series has built the system around circular supply chains: coalition architecture, trusted networks, buyer-operator alignment, enabling policy. Episode 5 asks who owns the infrastructure, who has agency, and who benefits when reverse supply chains are built.

    Deirdre White is CEO of Pyxera Global with nearly 40 years in supply chain development and social impact, from oil and gas localization on Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East to the Jiva program, a 10-year partnership with the John Deere Foundation in rural Rajasthan that transformed agricultural livelihoods, girls' education, and community governance. Deirdre frames community ownership as the opposite of extraction: local people building and retaining the assets that should be theirs.

    Nancy Charaya leads circular economy work at Pyxera Global India, with a decade of experience across tire, textile, plastics, and critical minerals value chains. Nancy built the Pride Cooperative in Guwahati, Assam, a female-led waste worker collective organizing 160 informal workers into a cooperative with collective bargaining power and shared governance. India has 4 to 5 million waste workers, up to 80 percent women working informally with zero agency. The cooperative model gives them a seat at the table.

    John Holm, SVP of Partnership Development at Pyxera Global, moderates and connects the five-episode arc, framing community ownership as the "Trojan horse" for circular supply chains at scale.

    Chapter Markers:

    0:00 Introduction: from enabling policy to community ownership

    1:05 John Holm: community benefit as the missing layer in circular supply chains

    2:03 Deirdre White: 40 years of supply chain localization, from Sakhalin to CSCC

    5:41 Jiva: 10 years with John Deere in rural Rajasthan

    7:08 Why the changes held two years after the program ended

    7:54 "Fall in love with the problem, not the solution"

    8:25 India's waste sector: 4-5 million workers, 90% informal, 60-80% women

    9:27 Pride Cooperative: 160 waste workers, collective bargaining, government access

    10:26 The smart dustbin story: waste worker knowledge vs. high-tech design

    11:21 Cooperatives in the global north: Land O'Lakes and hidden scale

    12:37 Community-owned business: keeping equity local in reverse supply chains

    14:44 Building trust: 36 person-weeks of listening in three villages

    16:11 Pride as a female-led cooperative: agency and collective voice

    17:15 Lightning round: misconceptions, capabilities, optimism

    19:34 Series close: the complete blueprint for a circular economy

    Key Topics:

    Community ownership, cooperatives, circular supply chains, reverse logistics, waste workers, informal economy, critical minerals, cooperative governance, Pyxera Global, CSCC, Pride Cooperative, Guwahati, MSMEs, female-led enterprise, global south innovation

    Connect and Learn More:

    Circular Supply Chain Coalition: http://circularsupplychain.org

    Pyxera Global: http://pyxeraglobal.org

    John Holm: jholm@pyxeraglobal.org

    Deirdre White: http://linkedin.com/in/deirdre-white

    Nancy Charaya: http://linkedin.com/in/nancycharaya

    Sheri Hinish (Supply Chain Queen): http://supplychainqueen.com

    Please subscribe and follow

    21 min
  4. Circular Economy Policy: How New Mexico and the EU Are Building Reverse Supply Chains | CSCC (4/5)

    Season 1, Episode 100

    Show notes

    Circular supply chains do not scale on corporate pilots alone. They require enabling policy: state-level incentives, workforce alignment, environmental regulation, capital pathways, and cross-border investment structures that make reuse-based business models viable. This is episode four of a five-part series with Pyxera Global and the Circular Supply Chain Coalition, exploring what the enabling environment looks like when policy moves from aspiration to implementation.

    Secretary James Kenney leads the New Mexico Environment Department, where he has built one of the most ambitious state-level circular economy strategies in the US. Under Governor Lujan Grisham, New Mexico offers free education from pre-K through university and trade school, universal child care, a 50-year water action plan backed by $400 million in annual investment, and PFAS legislation that listed discarded PFAS as hazardous waste with a consumer-facing label accessible to every New Mexican. The department created economic development positions whose only metric is jobs created and net income generated.

    Manuel Carmona Yebra is Deputy Head for Global Issues and Innovation at the EU Delegation to the United States. He has led EU-US circular economy engagement at the state level, engaging governors including Governor Wes Moore (Maryland), Governor Hobbs (Arizona), and Governor Lujan Grisham (New Mexico). His work has revealed that circular economy is bipartisan because it addresses economic development, environmental protection, employment, and supply chain security simultaneously.

    John Holm, SVP of Partnership Development at Pyxera Global and CSCC representative, frames the enabling environment strategy and explains why the coalition focuses on governor-level alignment rather than federal solutions. Together they unpack why states are laboratories for policy that scales and why the EU Circular Economy Act is expected to require 25% of critical minerals supply from recycling.

    Chapters:
    0:00 Introduction: the enabling environment
    1:00 John Holm: enabling environment in practice
    1:33 Security economy framing
    2:38 Why CSCC focuses on states and governors
    3:42 Secretary Kenney: New Mexico's model
    4:45 Free education, child care, workforce transition
    5:46 50-year water action plan
    6:19 Waste to marketplace: critical minerals
    7:48 PFAS legislation and the consumer label
    9:25 Consumer access to information about PFAS
    10:08 Secretary Kenney on trade association lawsuits
    11:12 EU Circular Economy Act and competitiveness
    12:26 25% of EU critical minerals from recycling
    13:04 EU-US state engagement
    14:18 Why the EU engages US states directly
    15:04 Circular economy as bipartisan
    17:48 Replicability and interstate symbiosis
    19:55 Sovereign supply chains, Mexico border corridor
    21:01 How to engage

    Topics: Circular economy policy, PFAS, EU Circular Economy Act, critical minerals, economic development, workforce transition, bipartisan policy, reverse supply chain

    Connect:
    New Mexico Environment Department: http://env.nm.gov
    Manuel Carmona Yebra: http://linkedin.com/in/manolo
    CSCC: http://circularsupplychain.org
    Pyxera Global: http://pyxeraglobal.org
    John Holm: jholm@pyxeraglobal.org
    Supply Chain Queen: http://supplychainqueen.com

    Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you listen.

    23 min
  5. Circular Sourcing & Procurement: Critical Minerals Recovery w/ ABTC and Cummins | CSCC Series (3/5)

    Season 1, Episode 99

    Show notes

    This is episode three of a five-part series produced in partnership with Pyxera Global and the Circular Supply Chain Coalition. Recovering a material is only the beginning. For circular supply chains to scale, operators must understand what buyers can qualify and use, while buyers must create credible demand signals and procurement pathways for secondary materials. This episode covers the matchmaking layer: how the CSCC connects reverse supply chain operators with industrial buyers.

    Ryan Melsert is the co-founder and CTO of American Battery Technology Company (ABTC), which operates a battery recycling facility selling approximately one thousand tons per month of critical minerals back into the market. Ryan's career spans Tesla (where he helped design and build the first gigafactory) and the company is now BASF's exclusive battery recycling partner for all of North America. Rafael Vasquez Lombardo leads sustainability strategy and customer solutions at Cummins, a 100+ year industrial manufacturer with global remanufacturing operations. Anita Schwartz returns as CSCC co-founder.

    Together they unpack what it takes to move from collecting battery feedstock to producing materials that industrial buyers can evaluate, qualify, and integrate into established supply chains. Rafael outlines the performance-cost-trust triangle that governs sourcing decisions at scale, and Ryan explains why the qualification process will never get shorter (consumers demand zero tolerance for component failure). They close with a lightning round where Rafael delivers the episode's defining line: stop talking about circular sourcing, this is just sourcing.

    Chapter Markers:

    0:05 Introduction: buyer-operator matchmaking in reverse supply chains

    1:19 Meet Anita Schwartz (CSCC co-founder)

    2:06 Meet Ryan Melsert (ABTC): Tesla, gigafactory, battery recycling

    3:47 Meet Rafael Vasquez Lombardo (Cummins): engineering to circular economy strategy

    6:33 From convening to active matchmaking: what changes

    7:50 Operator perspective: from feedstock to buyer-ready supply

    9:10 BASF partnership: becoming their exclusive North American battery recycling partner

    10:51 Buyer perspective from Cummins: performance, cost, trust

    15:04 After the introduction: what happens day-to-day

    16:59 Data exchanges, audits, and the high-trust environment

    17:33 Validation steps from pilot to production

    20:07 Lightning round: what to stop, what data matters, optimism

    Key Topics:

    Reverse supply chain, buyer-operator matchmaking, battery recycling, critical minerals, Cummins, ABTC, BASF, circular procurement, secondary materials, supply chain qualification, remanufacturing, performance specs, supply chain trust, CSCC, Pyxera Global

    Connect and Learn More:

    American Battery Technology Company: http://americanbatterytechnology.com

    Cummins: http://cummins.com

    CSCC: http://circularsupplychain.org

    Pyxera Global: http://pyxeraglobal.org

    Sheri Hinish: http://supplychainqueen.com

    23 min
  6. Circular Economy Network Building: Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Automotive Suppliers, and the Architecture of Reverse Supply Chain Collaboration | CSCC x Pyxera Global Series (2/5)

    Season 1, Episode 98

    Show notes

    This is episode two of a five-part series produced in partnership with Pyxera Global and the Circular Supply Chain Coalition. If episode one was the origin story, episode two is the architecture layer: who is showing up, which networks matter, and why convening existing conveners is more powerful than starting from scratch.

    Featured Guests:

    Danielle Holly leads the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in North America. Kellen Mahoney is the executive director of the Suppliers Partnership for the Environment, an automotive industry leadership forum. John Holm returns as CSCC co-founder. Together they unpack how the CSCC network model creates value through pre-competitive collaboration, why tech companies are showing unprecedented eagerness to collaborate on supply chain resilience, and why the automotive industry needs alignment beyond its own value chain.

    Danielle reveals that the critical minerals market is $770 billion and growing, that e-waste is the fastest growing waste stream with critical minerals embedded in it, and that secondary markets for critical minerals are now necessary because extraction alone cannot meet demand. Kellen outlines what automotive suppliers actually want: clarity, consistency, and an open lane of two-way communication.

    Chapter Markers:

    0:00 Introduction: the architecture layer

    1:09 Meet Danielle Holly and Kellen Mahoney

    2:07 Why convening conveners matters

    4:02 Speed to trust through existing ecosystems

    5:11 Target industries: automotive and technology

    6:12 What suppliers want: clarity, consistency, communication

    7:28 Unprecedented pre-competitive collaboration in tech

    8:14 CSCC model: invite-only working groups, buyers consortium

    11:59 Critical minerals: $770B market, e-waste as fastest growing waste stream

    14:30 Data sharing, trust, and clarity of roles

    17:29 Alignment on North Star over structure

    20:09 Lightning round: myths busted

    21:44 How to engage

    Key Topics:

    Circular economy, network architecture, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Suppliers Partnership, pre-competitive collaboration, critical minerals, EV battery, automotive supply chain, e-waste, convening conveners, trust, CSCC, Pyxera Global

    Connect and Learn More:

    Ellen MacArthur Foundation: ellenmacarthurfoundation.org

    Suppliers Partnership: supplierspartnership.org

    CSCC: circularsupplychain.org

    Pyxera Global: pyxeraglobal.org

    Sheri Hinish: supplychainqueen.com

    Subscribe to Supply Chain Revolution on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you listen.

    23 min
  7. Circular Supply Chain Strategy: How to Build Circular Economy Infrastructure from Coalition to Community | CSCC x Pyxera Global Series (1 of 5)

    Season 1, Episode 97

    Show notes

    This is episode one of a five-part series produced in partnership with Pyxera Global and the Circular Supply Chain Coalition (CSCC) to explore how to build a circular economy from coalition to community. The series covers origin story, network architecture, buyer-operator matchmaking, enabling policy, and community ownership.

    About CSCC:

    Anita Schwartz spent over ten years at Waste Management before building out the zero waste and circular economy practice at WSP. John Holm cut his supply chain teeth in Central and Eastern Europe before leading Pyxera Global's circular economy practice. They connected at a GreenBiz panel in 2021 and realized their complementary perspectives could form the architecture for something the market was missing: a coalition that convenes the entire value chain around reverse supply chains.

    Together they unpack why a single company cannot resolve the reverse supply chain on its own (the cost and impact of individual reverse logistics footprints negate the benefit), why everything after point of sale is "the dark side of the moon" with zero data visibility, why the CSCC frames circular economy as security economy rather than sustainability, and why 70 to 80 percent of the world already lives on reuse behavior. They close with a lightning round where Anita names the biggest misconception about circular economy (it is recycling) and John names the one thing companies should stop doing when they talk about circularity (lying).

    Chapter Markers:

    0:00 Introduction: five-part series overview

    0:31 Meet Anita Schwartz and John Holm: co-founders, CSCC

    1:02 Anita's origin: Waste Management, WSP, and the reverse supply chain gap

    2:35 John's origin: Central and Eastern Europe to Pyxera Global

    4:01 Enabling environment: policy, subsidies, communities, and systems change

    5:44 What was broken: why operators need shared infrastructure

    7:50 The dark side of the moon: zero data after point of sale

    8:46 The CSCC blueprint: coalition building at scale

    12:45 What happens when companies try to build reverse supply chains alone

    15:21 Competitors collaborating: specialty chemicals and cross-sector parallels

    16:41 Aligning organizations with different incentives and timelines

    17:46 What to expect from the full five-episode arc

    20:00 Lightning round: biggest misconception, what to stop doing, optimism

    21:01 How to engage with the CSCC

    Connect and Learn More:

    Circular Supply Chain Coalition: circularsupplychain.org

    Pyxera Global: pyxeraglobal.org

    John Holm: jholm@pyxeraglobal.org | LinkedIn

    Anita Schwartz: LinkedIn

    Sheri Hinish (Supply Chain Queen): supplychainqueen.com

    Subscribe to Supply Chain Revolution on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you listen.

    Key Topics:

    Circular supply chain, reverse supply chain, coalition building, circular economy, waste as resource, security economy, critical minerals, reuse, urban mining, local procurement, systems change, data visibility, post-consumer waste, infrastructure, CSCC, Pyxera Global

    20 min
  8. Supply Chain Career Growth: How to Build Community, AI Skills, and Confidence with Liz Raman, Supply Chain Gals Founder | Forbes 30 Under 30

    Season 1, Episode 96

    Show notes

    Supply chain is no longer a hidden career path. It is where strategy, technology, operations, consumer behavior, product management, data analytics, and resilience meet. In this episode of the Supply Chain Revolution podcast, Sheri Hinish sits down with Liz Raman, founder and CEO of Supply Chain Gals, Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree (Transportation and Mobility, 2025), MIT and Georgia Tech alum, and senior product manager in tech.

    Liz built Supply Chain Gals because the community she needed early in her career did not exist. Starting as a transportation analyst, she navigated her way to becoming one of the youngest supply chain directors at Nike by age 26, ran a multibillion-dollar third-party sales division at Amazon, and founded a 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional network that now connects over 20,000 women across career stages through workshops, mentorship circles, networking nights, case competitions, and a Slack-based membership with 120+ active members.

    Together, they explore why supply chain is the ultimate connector career for professionals who get bored easily and love learning new things, how Supply Chain Gals is building AI and technology fluency through hands-on workshops with leaders from Microsoft and Accenture, why community is career infrastructure (not just a nice-to-have), and how case competitions simulate executive-level decision-making that early-career professionals rarely get to experience. Liz closes with a lightning round that includes one of the most important career messages: go before you are ready.

    Chapter Markers:

    0:00 Introduction: supply chain as the career

    0:51 Meet Liz Raman: Forbes 30 Under 30, MIT, Georgia Tech, Supply Chain Gals

    1:07 The gap: why Supply Chain Gals was built

    2:48 Supply chain as a connector field: twenty careers in one domain

    4:28 Every job is a sustainability job, every job is a technology job

    5:08 Community as career infrastructure: workshops, mentorship circles, Slack

    7:11 Building AI fluency: Microsoft and Accenture workshops

    8:56 Case competitions as executive simulation

    10:08 Lightning round: misconceptions, skills, talent, and going before you are ready

    11:17 Where to find Liz and Supply Chain Gals

    Key Topics:

    Supply chain careers, women in supply chain, Supply Chain Gals, community building, career development, mentorship, Forbes 30 Under 30, AI literacy, technology fluency, supply chain talent, career infrastructure, case competitions, next generation leaders, supply chain education, professional networking, career growth

    Connect and Learn More:

    Liz Raman: @itsLizRaman on Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn

    Supply Chain Gals: supplychaingals.com

    Become a member and join the Slack community at supplychaingals.com

    Sheri Hinish (Supply Chain Queen): supplychainqueen.com

    Subscribe to Supply Chain Revolution on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you listen.

    12 min
  9. The AI Energy Reckoning: From Mega Data Centers to Small Local Models with IDC's Dan Versace

    Season 1, Episode 95

    Show notes

    AI workloads are forcing a reckoning. The mega data centers being built today will impact communities tenfold more than coal mines did during the Industrial Revolution, and most organizations still cannot answer a basic question: what is the carbon cost of their compute? In this episode of the Supply Chain Revolution podcast, Sheri Hinish sits down with Dan Versace, Senior Research Analyst for ESG Business Services at IDC, for a conversation about energy intelligence as the new operating discipline for AI, sustainability, and enterprise growth.

    Dan brings an uncommon origin story to corporate sustainability. He started in environmental science, studying the effects of large operations on watersheds in New Hampshire. He then moved to the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee to conduct invasive species and climate change research, where he spent a year working in a single four-square-mile plot. When he asked when they would move to the next area, the answer was ten years. That was the moment he decided to scale his impact, earned a sustainable innovation MBA from the University of Vermont, and joined IDC to lead their sustainability strategy and services research.

    Together, they unpack the cynical and the hopeful answer for why AI is forcing enterprise leaders to rethink energy and infrastructure. Dan explains why sustainability linked to business value operates on two axes (brand and market cap on one side, operational efficiency gains on the other), why the talent retention argument for sustainability is underappreciated, and why the measurement gap for data center energy consumption remains one of the biggest obstacles to credible sustainability commitments. He makes the case for small local models (SLMs) as a counterweight to cloud-dependent AI, argues that sustainability subject matter experts need to be physically present in data centers, and delivers a lightning round that includes one of the most important metrics enterprise leaders should understand: energy consumption per rack.

    Chapter Markers:

    0:00 Introduction: energy intelligence as a new operating discipline

    0:43 Meet Dan Versace: from environmental science to IDC sustainability research

    2:40 Where organizations are connecting sustainability to business value

    3:38 Two axes: brand/market cap and operational efficiency gains

    5:38 The talent retention argument for sustainability

    6:29 AI, automation, and the race for sustainability unicorns

    8:40 Why AI workloads are forcing a rethink of energy and infrastructure

    9:22 Mega data centers, community impact, and grid resiliency

    10:18 Energy security, energy inequity, and social license to operate

    10:42 Tenfold the Industrial Revolution: data centers in communities

    11:37 Small local models vs. cloud: a sustainability pivot point

    12:12 The measurement gap: why energy data is not granular enough

    14:16 Cross-functional accountability: who owns energy intelligence?

    14:54 Sustainability SMEs in the data center

    16:56 Lightning round: biggest misconception, energy metrics, and optimism

    18:14 Where to find Dan and the United in Green podcast

    Connect and Learn More:

    Dan Versace: linkedin.com/in/danielversace

    IDC Sustainability Research: idc.com

    United in Green Podcast (sustainability + soccer): available on podcast platforms

    Sheri Hinish (Supply Chain Queen): supplychainqueen.com

    Subscribe to Supply Chain Revolution on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you listen.

    Key Topics:

    Energy intelligence, AI sustainability, data center energy consumption, AI workloads, grid resiliency, energy equity, small local models SLM, ESG, sustainability ROI, talent retention, carbon measurement, energy consumption per rack, IDC, sustainable digital transformation, community impact, cloud sustainability, embodied carbon, Dan Versace, United in Green

    19 min
  10. #1 Industry 4.0 Thought Leader on What Manufacturers Get Wrong About Digital Transformation | Insights with Jeff Winter (Belden)

    Season 1, Episode 95

    Show notes

    Industry 4.0 is not a tool set you buy. It is a business transformation that requires the right strategy, storytelling, change management, and credible execution across both business and the plant floor. That is the thesis Jeff Winter has been refining for years, and it is why he has been ranked the number one global thought leader for Industry 4.0 by Onalytica, named the number one global influencer in manufacturing by Manufacturing Digital Magazine, and has amassed over 100 million views across more than 1,300 LinkedIn posts.

    In this episode of the Supply Chain Revolution podcast, Sheri Hinish sits down with Jeff, now VP of Commercial Strategy at Belden, for a conversation about what it actually takes to make Industry 4.0 real inside a manufacturing organization. Jeff traces his career from sales engineer to safety PLC turning point to the moment he stopped selling products and started selling visions, and how LinkedIn and storytelling transformed not just his career but his identity.

    Together, they unpack why manufacturers struggle to turn proven technologies into a clear path forward (most start with nouns like AI and IoT when they should start with verbs like reduce, accelerate, and standardize), the five prerequisites that must be true inside an organization before technology creates value, and the emerging concept of the "two factories" model where a physical factory makes the product and an AI factory produces the intelligence that runs it. Jeff also shares his framework for understanding Industry 4.0 as both an era and a destination, why every plant thinks it is special (and why that kills scale), and what connected intelligence looks like when done right.

    Chapter Markers:

    0:00 Introduction: making Industry 4.0 real

    1:03 Meet Jeff Winter: origin story and career arc

    2:07 LinkedIn, storytelling, and 100 million views: building a movement

    3:41 The safety PLC turning point: from selling components to selling the safe machine

    8:40 Selling the product vs. selling the problem vs. selling the vision

    10:21 Industry 4.0 defined: era vs. destination (and why both are right)

    13:32 Why manufacturers struggle: starting with nouns instead of verbs

    14:17 Cross-functional value, functional budgets, and the ownership gap

    15:20 Industry 5.0 vs. 4.0: is 15 years enough for an industrial revolution?

    19:27 What real digital transformation requires: five prerequisites

    21:25 Every plant thinks it is special (and why that kills scale)

    23:21 The next manufacturing operating model: from connected equipment to connected intelligence

    24:51 Jensen Huang's two factories: the physical factory and the AI factory

    25:14 Making intelligence operational: the real competitive advantage

    26:19 Final words and how to find Jeff on LinkedIn

    Key Topics:

    Industry 4.0, digital transformation, IT/OT convergence, manufacturing strategy, smart manufacturing, physical AI, connected intelligence, NVIDIA two factories, Belden, change management, human centricity, cross-functional KPIs, manufacturing operating model, automation, IoT, digital twin, business case for transformation, plant floor to enterprise, operational technology, Jeff Winter

    Connect and Learn More:

    Jeff Winter: linkedin.com/in/jeffreyrwinter

    Belden: belden.com

    Sheri Hinish (Supply Chain Queen): supplychainqueen.com

    Subscribe to Supply Chain Revolution on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you listen.

    27 min
  11. From Silos to Systems Thinking: How Inchainge Is Rewiring Supply Chain Skills for the Age of AI and Circularity with Rada Lazarova

    Season 1, Episode 94

    Show notes

    Simulation is the missing layer in supply chain talent development. That is the thesis of this episode of the Supply Chain Revolution podcast, where Sheri Hinish sits down with Rada Lazarova from Inchainge, the company behind The Fresh Connection and The Blue Connection, the world's leading supply chain business simulations used by over 40% of the world's top 100 manufacturers and nearly half a million learners across more than 100 countries.

    Rada, based in Utrecht in the Netherlands, brings a perspective shaped by her own journey from Bulgaria to Wisconsin to the Dutch experiential learning ecosystem. She explains why traditional supply chain education falls short: it teaches theory without context, creating professionals who understand frameworks but freeze when confronted with the cross-functional complexity of real supply chain decisions. Inchainge's simulations drop participants, whether university students or Fortune 500 executives, into virtual companies where they take on VP-level roles and discover, often painfully, that optimizing their own function can bankrupt the entire business.

    Together, they explore why silos are the root cause of supply chain underperformance, how the human behaviors of students and C-suite executives are remarkably similar when placed in simulation environments, why sustainability thinking only takes hold when every decision is linked to impact metrics, and how Inchainge's new AI tutor responds like a teacher (with more questions, not answers) rather than a chatbot. Rada closes with a challenge to every supply chain leader: stop saving the day, start solving the problem.

    Chapter Markers:

    0:00 Introduction: simulation as the missing layer in supply chain talent

    0:24 Meet Rada Lazarova: from Bulgaria to Wisconsin to Inchainge

    1:29 Why traditional supply chain education falls short

    2:21 Inside the simulation: VP-level roles, cross-functional decisions, and sandbox failure

    3:58 The power of going bankrupt with no consequences

    4:33 Context engineering in the age of AI and automation

    5:08 Silos as root cause: how one client restructured their KPI system after training

    5:57 40% of the world's top 100 manufacturers: students vs. executives in the simulation

    8:06 Recovery in a simulation vs. recovery in the real world

    8:26 New AI and circularity capabilities on the Inchainge platform

    9:12 The sustainability hands-up moment: before and after the simulation

    11:00 Circular metrics: return on material, circularity of inputs, alternative revenue models

    11:52 The AI tutor: why it asks questions instead of giving answers

    13:35 Rapid fire: the biggest misconception about supply chain talent today

    14:18 What every supply chain leader should unlearn

    15:29 Rotate, explore, get your hands dirty: career advice

    15:39 What excites Rada most about the next five years of supply chain education

    Key Topics:

    Supply chain talent development, simulation-based learning, experiential learning, Inchainge, The Fresh Connection, The Blue Connection, supply chain skills gap, cross-functional KPIs, silo breaking, supply chain education, AI in education, circularity simulation, supply chain sustainability training, core skills, context engineering, supply chain gamification, workforce development

    Connect and Learn More:

    Rada Lazarova: linkedin.com/in/radalazarova

    Inchainge: inchainge.com

    The Fresh Connection (supply chain simulation): inchainge.com/learning-solutions

    The Blue Connection (circular economy simulation): inchainge.com/learning-solutions

    Sheri Hinish (Supply Chain Queen): supplychainqueen.com

    18 min
  12. The State of Sustainable Apparel: What North America Needs to Know with Christine Goulay | Innovation Forum Partnership

    Season 1, Episode 93

    Show notes

    In this episode of the Supply Chain Revolution podcast, produced in partnership with the Innovation Forum, Sheri Hinish sits down with Christine Goulay, founder of Sustainabelle Advisory Services in Paris. Christine brings 20 years of experience at the intersection of sustainability and fashion, including operational roles at Pangaea and the Kering Group (the luxury conglomerate behind Gucci and Balenciaga), advisory work with UNEP and the Textile Exchange, and board positions with traceability and materials startups including Fairly Made.

    Together, they unpack the honest state of sustainable apparel in 2026. Christine identifies three distinct tiers of brand behavior: the core leaders who are integrating sustainability as a risk reduction and customer engagement strategy, the compliance hedgers who are calculating whether to invest now or pay fines later, and the silent majority waiting to see which way the regulatory wind blows.

    She explains why regulation was the decisive differentiator in scaling reuse in France, why the same dynamic is now playing out with the California Textile Recovery Act and Digital Product Passport requirements in the EU, and why simply checking the compliance box builds adequate supply chains, not extraordinary ones.

    Christine introduces a powerful framework: the love language of sustainability. Borrowed from Gary Chapman's 1992 book, the concept is that sustainability leaders must speak the language of their audience, replacing terms like ESG with resilience when talking to procurement, framing impact as risk reduction for CFOs, and embedding sustainability KPIs alongside financial metrics so sourcing teams can make balanced decisions without career risk.

    She shares how France's EPR eco-modulation bonus returns 70 cents per garment for certified materials versus a five-to-seven cent average EPR cost, and how forward-thinking brands are embedding CO2 emissions data directly into RFPs.

    Connect with our guest: Christine Goulay, Founder, Sustainabelle Advisory Services LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinegoulay/

    Our partner for this episode: Innovation Forum Website: https://innovationforum.co.uk/conferences/sustainable-apparel-and-textiles-conference-usa/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovation-forum-uk/posts/?feedView=all

    Join us at the Sustainable Apparel and Textiles Conference USA New York City | June 3–4, 2026 | 230+ leaders | Chatham House Rules Register: https://innovationforum.co.uk/conferences/sustainable-apparel-and-textiles-conference-usa/

    Connect with Sheri Hinish (Supply Chain Queen®): Website: https://www.supplychainqueen.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherihinish/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupplyChainQueen Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/supplychainqueen/ Listen to Supply Chain Revolution on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/supply-chain-revolution/id1496639064 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2yfqyaA8FtAcwjUDi2nrhe

    Key Topics: sustainable apparel 2026, textile regulation, EPR Extended Producer Responsibility, California Textile Recovery Act, Digital Product Passport DPP, circularity textiles, traceability, supply chain transparency, Kering Group, Sustainabelle, Innovation Forum, Sustainable Apparel and Textiles Conference USA, fashion supply chain, supplier de-risking, impact KPIs, love language of sustainability, Fairly Made, eco-modulation, total cost of ownership, procurement sustainability

    23 min
  13. Energy Is Not a Line Item; It is an Operating System: Rethinking Supply Chains on Earth Day with Wes Herche, co-founder of Sustainability Decoded

    Season 1, Episode 92

    Show notes

    In this special Earth Day episode of the Supply Chain Revolution podcast, Sheri Hinish sits down with Wesley Herche, Director of Energy and Sustainability Solutions at Prologis and co-founder of the Sustainability Decoded newsletter. Wesley brings one of the most unconventional career paths in the sustainability world, from civilian intelligence officer at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and deployment to Iraq, through BCG and Amazon, to his current role at the world's largest logistics real estate company.

    Wesley's thesis is as provocative as it is precise: there is no difference between GDP and energy. Every supply chain decision that appears to be about cost, resilience, or emissions is fundamentally an energy decision. He argues that organizations must stop treating energy like a procurement line item and start treating it as the operating system on which their entire supply chain runs.

    Together, they unpack why the discovery of fossil fuels created the sharpest inflection point in human development history, how Pakistan added 25 gigawatts of rooftop solar (most of it through DIY TikTok tutorials) to build energy resilience now larger than all other generation combined, and why the Strait of Hormuz crisis is revealing what has always been true: energy logistics are the invisible substrate of the global economy.

    Wesley breaks down the three energy services every business actually consumes (heat, propulsion, and electricity), how to evaluate alternative generation architectures across onsite solar, battery storage, green tariffs, and offsite renewables, and why treating emissions like product specs transforms procurement from a cost function into a strategic weapon. They close with the announcement of Sustainability Decoded as a new Supply Chain Revolution community partner.

    Follow Wes and Sustainability Decoded

    Key Topics: Earth Day 2026, energy supply chains, energy as operating system, renewable energy strategy, Prologis, Sustainability Decoded, Strait of Hormuz, electrotech, Scope 1 2 3 emissions, supplier decarbonization, onsite solar, battery storage, energy resilience, Pakistan solar revolution, GDP and energy, supply chain sustainability, green tariffs, climate strategy

    21 min
  14. The Strait of Hormuz Playbook: Navigating the Biggest Supply Chain Crisis Since COVID with Sam Achampong, CIPS

    Season 1, Episode 91

    Show notes

    The Strait of Hormuz crisis has become the largest disruption to global energy supply since the 1970s oil embargo, with ship transits collapsing by over 95% and an estimated 230 loaded oil tankers stranded inside the Persian Gulf. Fertilizer exports through the strait have plummeted by more than 90%, threatening global food production heading into planting season. So what does the recovery playbook actually look like for supply chain and procurement leaders whose operations run through the Gulf?

    In this episode, Sheri Hinish sits down with Sam Achampong, Regional Director for CIPS across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific, live from Dubai in the middle of the crisis. Sam brings over 18 years of experience operating in the Gulf region and offers an unvarnished, on-the-ground perspective that transcends the headlines.

    Together, they unpack how business continuity plans are holding up (and where they are falling short), why organizations are renegotiating payment terms with strategic suppliers to fund local sourcing pivots, and how the cash-flow circularity strategy is helping companies stabilize operations in real time. Sam shares hard-earned lessons on supplier relationship management, the critical difference between transactional and strategic partnerships, and why the best procurement leaders never become famous.

    They also explore the talent gap, the underinvestment in people skills relative to technical capabilities, and why context engineering is the true differentiator for AI-enabled supply chain decision-making. Sam closes with a powerful historical parallel: CIPS itself was founded in response to the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of the 1930s, proving that procurement professionals have been navigating geopolitical disruption for nearly a century.

    Key Topics: Strait of Hormuz crisis, Middle East supply chain disruption, procurement recovery playbook, business continuity planning, supplier relationship management, strategic sourcing, energy supply chain, petrochemical trade disruption, fertilizer supply crisis, AI in supply chain risk, talent development, CIPS, geopolitical risk management

    29 min
  15. How This CEO Built a $100M Business From Garbage and Redesigned the Circular Supply Chain | TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky

    Season 1, Episode 90

    Show notes

    What if the $2.6 trillion in materials the world throws away every year is not a waste problem, but a supply chain design problem? What if there was a way to capture that value and build a 9 figure empire?

    In the Season 3 premiere, Sheri Hinish sits down with Tom Szaky, the founder and CEO of TerraCycle, a company operating in 20 countries that has recycled over 8 billion items the traditional waste system refused to touch. Tom dropped out of Princeton to build a business around garbage. Twenty-five years later, TerraCycle generates nearly $100 million in annual revenue and just announced a Reg A $75 million investment offering to scale its operations further.

    In this episode, Tom breaks down why 95% of products have no viable recycling pathway (and why it has nothing to do with technology), why everything is getting less recyclable over time as products get cheaper, how Loop cracked the code on reusable packaging in France while it stalled in the US, and why waste is the least innovative industry in the world, making it the biggest blue ocean for entrepreneurs.

    Sheri and Tom share insights on frameworks for circular supply chain design, extended producer responsibility, and the role of supply chain leaders as planetary systems architects. Whether you lead procurement, operations, logistics, or sustainability, this episode reframes waste as a competitive strategy conversation, not an environmental afterthought.

    Connect with Tom Szaky and TerraCycle:

    Terracycle.com + Tom on LinkedIn + Learn more http://invest.terracycle.com/

    Topics covered: circular economy, circular supply chain, waste economics, waste management, recycling, reuse, Loop, extended producer responsibility (EPR), packaging, zero waste, supply chain innovation, TerraCycle, regenerative supply chains.

    28 min
  16. Designing for Access: How Supply Chain Thinking Can Fix AI + the Talent Gap

    Season 1, Episode 89

    Show notes

    Join Sheri Hinish for the launch of Student Voices, a new curated conversation within the Supply Chain Revolution pod spotlighting standout student and early-career leaders shaping the future of supply chain, sustainability, and innovation. In this debut episode, Sheri sits down with Yaseen Ahmid, founder of Luna, to explore how more human-centered systems can unlock overlooked value in people, communities, and markets.

    This conversation moves beyond resumes. Yaseen shares why he sees talent access, circular economy, and Africa-centered systems leadership as part of one larger operating philosophy: redesign the flow, restore agency, and build pathways to opportunity that are more inclusive by design.

    Listeners will hear how Luna responds to an increasingly automated and impersonal hiring landscape, why human judgment still matters in talent development, and how supply chain thinking can help leaders rethink access, resilience, and value creation at scale.

    Key Insights

    • Why Yaseen views careers, circularity, and regional development as one connected systems challenge

    • How Luna was built to restore agency in a job-search process that often feels automated and generic

    • Why access should be treated as infrastructure, not as a matter of chance

    • What global leaders still misunderstand about African markets, innovation, and supply chain potential

    • How circular thinking applies not only to materials, but also to where value is created, captured, and shared

    • What employers, students, and operators can do now to build pathways that are more fair, practical, and future-ready

    What Listeners Will Learn

    • How a supply chain lens can strengthen talent systems, sustainability strategy, and community impact

    • Why personalized guidance can outperform one-size-fits-all career support when the stakes are identity and opportunity

    • How young leaders can balance execution, systems thinking, and ecosystem building

    • What it means to design opportunity systems that are both human-centered and scalable

    Why This Conversation Matters

    The episode frames opportunity as a design question. Rather than treating career access, sustainability, and regional development as unrelated topics, it shows how thoughtful system design can surface value that traditional models often miss.

    Who Should Listen

    Ideal for students, early-career professionals, hiring leaders, supply chain operators, sustainability advocates, and anyone interested in building more inclusive systems of opportunity.

    About the Guest

    Yaseen Ahmid is the founder and CEO of Luna, a personalized resume review service designed to help students and young professionals communicate their strengths with clarity and confidence. Across his broader work in consulting, circular economy, and student leadership, he brings a consistent focus on access, agency, and system redesign.

    About the Series

    Student Voices is a new curated conversation within the Supply Chain Revolution pod featuring emerging leaders whose stories, ideas, and operating philosophies can help shape the future of supply chain.

    🔗 Connect & Learn More

    🌐 Supply Chain Revolution® Podcast: http://www.supplychainqueen.com/podcast

    💬 Follow Sheri Hinish (The Supply Chain Queen®): linkedin.com/in/supplychainqueen

    📺 YouTube: youtube.com/@supplychainqueen

    📸 Instagram: instagram.com/supplychainqueen

    📱 TikTok: @supplychainqueen

    🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/supply-chain-revolution

    🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/supply-chain-revolution

    28 min
  17. Decarbonizing Transportation with Precision Data - 10 Big Ideas to Transform Supply Chains for a Regenerative Future

    Season 1, Episode 88

    Show notes

    What if the emissions hiding in your transportation network could cost your company millions in regulatory exposure — and you didn't even know?

    In this final episode of the Supply Chain Revolution's 10 Big Ideas to Transform Supply Chains for a Regenerative Future, hosts Sheri Hinish (Supply Chain Queen) and co-host James George close the series with a conversation that ties it all together: end-to-end decarbonization powered by precision data.

    Their guest is Constantine Komodromos, founder of VesselBot and a Time 100 Award honoree, who built his company after a visit to the Parthenon in Athens changed everything. What began as a maritime optimization platform evolved into a mission-critical data infrastructure company helping shippers understand — in real time — the emissions their carriers are generating, and what it's actually costing them.

    In this episode, you'll learn:

    • Why spend-based emissions accounting creates dangerous blind spots for large organizations
    • How one automotive customer discovered €300K to €1M+ in preventable cost exposure from 160,000 tons of emissions they didn't know they had
    • Why 40% container utilization is a fixable problem that saves money and carbon simultaneously
    • How real-time vessel data — including Suez Canal rerouting and fuel consumption shifts — gives shippers an edge in volatile geopolitical environments
    • Why sustainability embedded into daily operations is more durable than compliance-driven initiatives

    Sheri connects Big Idea 10 to themes across the series: James Mnyupe's case for CBAM as a business ROI lever (Big Idea 9) and Sophie Beckham's packaging taxation insights (Big Idea 7), reminding listeners that data literacy at every node of the value chain is what makes regenerative transformation real.

    Ideas 1 through 6 asked us to envision what's possible. Ideas 7 through 10 showed us how to execute. This is the one that brings it home.

    Nothing's stopping us now.

    supplychainqueen.com

    Episode Tags: supply chain, decarbonization, emissions data, maritime logistics, transportation sustainability, VesselBot, EU ETS, CBAM, regenerative supply chain, supply chain queen, circular economy, data-driven sustainability

    19 min
  18. How Clean Energy Powers African Industrialization: Sovereignty, Partnership, and the New Value Chain - 10 Big Ideas to Transform Supply Chains for a Regenerative Future

    Season 1, Episode 87

    Show notes

    "Be careful about trying to solve 2050 problems with 2025 technology," says James Mnyupe, former Namibia Senior Economic Advisor and Green Hydrogen Commissioner. Join Sheri Hinish, the Supply Chain Queen®, and co-host James George for Big Idea 9 of the Supply Chain Revolution podcast exploring how clean energy actually powers industrialization in practice.

    This episode is part of the 10 Big Ideas to Transform Supply Chains for a Regenerative Future series and reveals the structural choices, systems thinking, and policy frameworks that determine how African nations own the value chains they create in clean industrialization revolution happening now in the global south.

    Featuring James Mnyupe, Senior Vice President for Sub-Saharan Africa at ThyssenKrupp Uhde. James brings rare perspective having architected Namibia's green industrialization blueprint from the government side and now scaling the model across 49 African nations through a European industrial platform. His work spans everything from fertilizer and food security to mineral beneficiation, mobilizing fit-for-purpose capital while ensuring African ownership of technology, data, and manufacturing capacity. His TED Talk on economic diplomacy and industrial policy has inspired leaders globally to rethink development partnerships.

    Chapters

    00:00 - Introduction to Clean Energy and Industrialization

    00:15 - Navigating Geopolitical Tensions in Clean Energy

    06:45 - Blueprint for African-Led Clean Industrialization

    14:19 - Redefining Bankability in African Terms

    25:22 - African Sovereignty and Global Partnerships

    29:11 - Looking Ahead: The Future of African Industrialization

    Connect with the Supply Chain Revolution

    Subscribe for the full "10 Big Ideas" series exploring how to transform supply chains for a regenerative future. Follow the Supply Chain Queen on LinkedIn for additional insights and resources.

    33 min
  19. Regenerative Work Systems: Bridging Indigenous Wisdom and Modern Skills to Transform Organizations - 10 Big Ideas to Transform Supply Chains for a Regenerative Future

    Season 1, Episode 86

    Show notes

    Join the Supply Chain Queen® and James George with Namuun Purevdorj—a leader who bridges two powerful knowledge systems that together can create transformation neither achieves alone.

    Namuun brings an extraordinary blend of experiences: born and raised in Mongolia's deeply communal, nature-centered culture, MIT-trained in supply chain management, and seasoned across consulting, Amazon operations, and retail leadership. As someone who grew up learning that wellbeing depends on the wellbeing of people and nature around you - persevering through -40°C winters and seasonal apprenticeships—she offers a unique lens on building regenerative organizations.

    Currently leading the eyewear category at Amazon Retail US, Namuun's journey spans sourcing, supplier development, packaging sustainability, network design, and procurement decarbonization. Throughout her career, she's discovered that Mongolian worldviews of interdependence, stewardship, and dialogue pair naturally with analytical training and technical skills. One helps understand people, relationships, and long-term impact. The other helps design mechanisms and make data-driven decisions.

    For anyone feeling the pressure to find perfect AI-powered answers, Namuun's story is permission to progress without perfection, to trust in timely human action, and to see supply chains as living networks.

    Key Insights:

    • The Bridge Between Worlds: How indigenous wisdom about community resilience and long-term stewardship complements modern capabilities in data, AI, and digital transformation
    • Progress Over Perfection: The Mongolian saying "even muddy water can put out fire"—why timely human action matters more than waiting for perfect solutions
    • Seasonal Discipline as Systems Thinking: How growing up with nomadic rhythms—spring for growth, fall for preparation, winter for protection—builds natural understanding of adaptive networks
    • Building Capability, Not Just Output: Why the most regenerative solutions focus on strengthening people and systems, not just delivering projects
    • Co-Creation at Scale: How to build solutions with the people who will own them after implementation—from Amazon's supplier-facing teams to retail operations
    • The Interdependence Question: "Who else needs to thrive for this work to succeed?"—a frame that widens perspective and reveals the true system
    • Cultural Translation in Corporate Settings: Navigating the tension between communal, nature-based values and P&L-driven global logistics operations
    • Resilience as Foundation: How harsh climates and seasonal adaptation build the perseverance required for systems transformation

    About Namuun Purevdorj:

    Namuun is Category Leader for Eyewear at Amazon Retail US. Previously, she led procurement decarbonization initiatives at Amazon, building tools and training for thousands of supplier-facing teams. Her background spans consulting, logistics, and procurement, an MIT master's in supply chain management, and early career work in international economics.

    Connect with the Supply Chain Revolution:

    Subscribe for the full "10 Big Ideas" series exploring how to transform supply chains for a regenerative future. Follow the Supply Chain Queen on LinkedIn for additional insights and resources.

    28 min
  20. Forest Positive Transformation: Designing Supply Chains That Regenerate Nature - 10 Big Ideas to Transform Supply Chains for a Regenerative Future

    Season 1, Episode 85

    Show notes

    Join Sheri Hinish, the Supply Chain Queen®, and co-host James George for Big Idea 7 of the Supply Chain Revolution podcast all about Forest Positive Supply Chains. This episode is part of the 10 Big Ideas to Transform Supply Chains for a Regenerative Future series and explores how global supply chains can evolve from deforestation free compliance to forest positive regeneration.

    Featuring Sophie Beckham, Chief Sustainability Officer of International Paper and one of the world’s most respected leaders in forestry and biodiversity stewardship, this conversation reframes forests as living infrastructure that underpins long term business resilience, economic value, and climate stability.

    Drawing on decades of experience across forest management, conservation partnerships, and large scale industrial operations, Sophie shares how supply chains that depend on forest systems must move beyond short term optimization toward multi generational regeneration. Forests are not interchangeable inputs. They are place based systems that require trust, data, collaboration, and long horizon thinking.

    In this episode, you will learn why deforestation free is only the starting point, how forest positive supply chains actively enhance biodiversity, water quality, and ecosystem health, and why nature must be treated as a core stakeholder rather than an externality. The discussion spans landowner trust, regulatory uncertainty on EUDR, data and GIS enabled transparency, climate volatility, and the role of fiber based packaging in keeping forests standing.

    Key themes include how forests function as living infrastructure that cannot be relocated, why regenerative forestry does not require economic tradeoffs, how early data driven interventions create positive outcomes on the ground, and why nature is the silent guarantor of all other forms of capital.

    This is not a theoretical sustainability discussion. It is a practical, business grounded exploration of how supply chains can become regeneration catalysts that strengthen operations, protect assets, support communities, and restore biodiversity at scale.

    Perfect for supply chain leaders, sustainability and ESG executives, risk and resilience leaders, operations and procurement teams, and anyone responsible for long term sourcing, infrastructure, or climate adaptation strategies.

    What You Will Learn

    • Supply chains can act as catalysts for forest regeneration.
    • The European Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) poses challenges for businesses.
    • Technology is essential for bridging gaps in forestry management.
    • Understanding the interconnectedness of forest ecosystems is crucial.
    • Nature should be viewed as a key stakeholder in supply chains.
    • Balancing commercial viability with sustainability is a complex challenge.
    • Adapting to climate change is vital for forestry management.
    • Consumers play a significant role in promoting sustainable packaging.
    • Forests have the potential to contribute to climate change mitigation.
    • The future of forestry lies in sustainable and regenerative practices.

    Sound Bites

    • "We should lean into unsentimental valuation."
    • "What can the average consumer do?"
    • "How do we deliver sustainable outcomes?"

    Chapters

    00:00 - Introduction to Supply Chains and Regeneration

    02:07 - Understanding the European Deforestation Regulation (EUDR)

    06:08 - Technology Bridging Gaps in Forestry Management

    09:32 - The Interconnectedness of Forest Ecosystems

    12:04 - Nature as a Stakeholder in Supply Chains

    15:01 - Balancing Commercial Viability with Sustainability

    18:14 - Adapting to Climate Change in Forestry

    21:22 - Consumer Responsibility in Sustainable Packaging

    25:36 - Looking Ahead: Future of Forestry and Sustainability

    Keywords

    supply chain, forest regeneration, sustainability, EUDR, technology in forestry, biodiversity, climate change, consumer responsibility, packaging, carbon sequestration

    29 min