Supply Chain and Analytics Advisory Board

The College of Business Administration looks to the Supply Chain & Analytics Department Advisory Board to:

• Provide guidance and thought leadership on matters related to educational quality, curriculum, business needs, academia-industry collaboration, student engagement and research
• Provide counsel on the Supply Chain & Analytics department strategic plan
• Partner with the faculty to ensure that graduates are prepared to succeed in their jobs and careers
• Provide guidance and advice on the skills businesses require from our students
• Serve on a subcommittee
• Give advice to students regarding career selection and career development activities
• Mentor high performing students
• Facilitate logistics, operations and supply chain internships for students
• Support scholarship opportunities for supply chain students
• Support the Supply Chain Club (student organization) and Supply Chain Alumni Board and their initiatives
• Support department conferences and seminars through participation and sponsorship
• Facilitate guest speakers from your company for classes and facility tours
• Promote industry and academic collaboration in applied research
• Be an ambassador for UMSL and the Department to professionals, companies and the community

Board Member Companies receive value in a variety of ways:

• Engagement with UMSL’s best supply chain, operations and analytics students
• Help the region grow as a supply chain and analytics center of excellence
• Access to leading edge supply chain, operations and analytics knowledge and methods via interaction with faculty, involvement with applied research projects and summaries of academic research
• The ability to shape what your current and future employees learn at UMSL
• The College has 27,000 alumni, 80% of whom live in the St. Louis region
• Networking with industry peers

The Board is composed of accomplished executives, professionals and industry leaders with backgrounds in the field of supply chain, logistics, analytics, and operations management. Companies represented on the board include corporations, non-profits, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and family-owned businesses. Industries include: agribusiness (Bunge, Bayer Agriscience), distribution (Graybar, St. Louis Area Foodbank), Retail (Weekends Only), Consumer Products (AB-InBev), Government advocacy (St. Louis Regional Freightway), Utilities (Ameren), Transportation (Unyson Logistics, Hub Group, UniGroup), Manufacturing (Boeing), Technology (World Wide Technologies, Cass Information Systems), Healthcare (Express Scripts), Hospitals (Mercy, SSM), and Natural Resources (Mississippi Lime).

The Department’s four subcommittees and programs are the key way we implement our strategic priorities. Each subcommittee is co-chaired by a member of our Faculty and one or two Advisory Board Members.

I. Student and Alumni Engagement: Provides overarching coordination of our student engagement programs including activities with the Supply Chain Club, the Young Alumni Board, and the Student-Executive Mentoring and Guest Speaker programs.

• Supply Chain Club: A student led organization that promotes supply chain management amongst our student body, by arranging engagement activities (panels, tours, seminars, networking events, etc.) that bring together students and Advisory Board members.
• Supply Chain Alumni Board: A board of recent alumni, within the past 5 years, to communicate with and engage the large UMSL alumni community in supply chain and analytics roles in the region. Also provides events to help current students understand how to succeed as they transition from college to the workplace.
• Student–Executive Mentoring: A program that pairs high-performing and high-potential students with leaders from our Board to help prepare students for leadership and success in the workplace.
• Guest Speaker Program: A program that facilitates employees from the Advisory Board companies speaking on their areas of expertise to our introductory classes. This is a valuable first exposure for many students to a supply chain professional.

II. Curriculum Development: Ensures that our curriculum is relevant and rigorous to prepare students for success, including undergraduate, masters, doctoral (PhD and DBA) and certificate programs in supply chain management and analytics. In addition, this committee advises the department on modes of learning including in-class, online (synchronous and asynchronous) and hybrid.

III. Center of Excellence: Works toward seeking University of Missouri System-wide recognition as a center of excellence for supply chain management. Some key issues include: 1) How do we advance supply chain management in Missouri, 2) How can we extend our teaching and research missions to support this goal, and 3) How do we support other University of Missouri System campuses to strengthen supply chain research and education in the state and region.

IV. Marketing/Communication: Facilitates the sharing of the accomplishments and achievements of the students and faculty, and at Board Member companies, with the region’s business community, students, alumni, parents and the global supply chain academic community.

Our board is comprised of alumni and non-alumni of the University of Missouri-St. Louis. In fact, less than 25% of our board members are UMSL alumni. The primary requirement is that you are a leader in the field of supply chain, logistics, analytics or operations management and are passionate about education and research. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Dr. Mitch Millstein, our faculty member responsible for industry partnerships. He may be reached at millsteinm@umsl.edu or (314) 406-4962.