Circular. Complex. Collaborative.
Supply chains in the year 2030 will look very little like those of 2000. Already, multinationals are making sweeping changes to the way they design, create, and move products in response to competitive, environmental, and societal pressures. Here are a few examples:
- Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and other Responsible Business Alliance companies are using new technology and the competencies of non-profit partners to tackle conflict minerals;
- Unilever and IKEA are advocating for ambitious policies that reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions; and,
- Maple Leaf, Ippolito, and Celestica are developing circular supply chains so collaborating firms can collectively prioritize the reduction of products and materials to minimize the waste that goes to landfills.
Can firms consolidate current supply chain strengths while elevating environmental and societal impact? How are business leaders organizing initiatives that deliver transformational change while ensuring short- and long-term stability for the supply chain and its ecosystem?
For the Bob Britney Lecture in Operations, Jury Gualandris, Assistant Professor of Operations Management and Sustainability, will discuss findings from his research on next-generation supply chains and the main operational, institutional, and collaborative challenges firms need to overcome to improve effectiveness and impact.
A panel of business leaders, including John Coyne (Vice-President and General Counsel, Unilever Canada), Nadine Gudz (Director, Sustainability Strategy, Interface Canada Inc.), David Hughes (President and CEO, The Natural Step Canada), Mike Wilson (Executive Director, Smart Prosperity Institute), and Alan Young (Managing Director, Circular Economy Leadership Coalition) will share insights from their first-hand experiences transforming supply chains.
REGISTRATION CLOSED
Event Details
Bob Britney Lecture in Operations
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
7:30-8 a.m. – Registration and breakfast
8-9 a.m. – Presentation from Jury Gualandris and panel with business leaders
9-9:30 a.m. – Q&A
Location: Ivey's Tangerine Leadership Centre, King and York Street, Toronto.
Tickets: $30 (non-alumni), $25 (alumni), $20 (current students)
Topics You Will Explore
- Operational challenges: Which product-process configurations, operating policies, and supply chain partnerships to disrupt, and which to keep?;
- Institutional challenges: Which stakeholders to involve in a change initiative and the best sequence of influencing, advocacy, and development to support a transition; and,
- Collaborative challenges: How a change process can be stabilized and “de-risked” by cultivating and sustaining a climate for pursuing joint value creation opportunities across supply chain partners.
About the Moderator
Jury Gualandris
Jury Gualandris is an assistant professor of Operations Management & Sustainability. His research interests focus primarily on exploring when and how supply chains generate negative (positive) externalities for society and the natural environment. This research has received several awards and has appeared in top academic journals including Journal of Operations Management, Journal of Supply Chain Management, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, and several others.
About the Panellists
John Coyne
John Coyne is vice-president of legal and external affairs at Unilever Canada Inc. He is a passionate activator of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan. Coyne was named a Clean 50 honouree in 2013 and a Clean 16 honouree in 2018. He also received the Canadian General Counsel Award for Environmental, Social and Governance Leadership in 2018. Coyne also works closely with industry groups and other organizations. He is Chair of the board of the Look Good Feel Better Foundation and is director and past Chair of Cosmetics Alliance Canada.
Nadine Gudz
Nadine Gudz is director of sustainability strategy at Interface Canada Inc. where she is responsible for leveraging and expanding Interface’s sustainability leadership through education and community engagement. She also leads Interface’s global organizational learning team. Before joining Interface, Gudz taught in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University and served as a research fellow with the Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability.
David Hughes
David Hughes is President and CEO of The Natural Step Canada and Co-Chair of the recently launched Circular Economy Leadership Coalition. He has a strong track record of scaling the impact of some of Canada’s leading charities. He has served as President and CEO of both Habitat for Humanity Canada and Pathways to Education Canada during periods of unprecedented growth and transformation. Prior to that, he spent 10 years working with the international headquarters of the SOS Children’s Villages (SOS Kinderdorf International), which included postings to Africa, Asia, Europe, the U.S., and the United Nations. He also previously served as President of AIESEC Canada and AIESEC Western. He holds an economics degree from Western University and a postgraduate degree in social policy and non-profit management from the London School of Economics (LSE).
Mike Wilson
Mike Wilson is executive director of Smart Prosperity Institute, a national environment-economy research and policy network based out of the University of Ottawa. He began his career as a lawyer in Toronto and left to become senior policy adviser to the federal Environment Minister. He then went on to hold a series of increasingly senior roles in the Government of Canada working at the intersection of the environment, economy, and innovation.
Alan Young
Alan Young is Managing Director of the Circular Economy Leadership Coalition. He is also Chair of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, has served on Mining Association of Canada’s Expert Advisory Committee on Tailings Management, and is Chair of the Center for Science in Public Participation. Since 1990, Young has worked to advance conservation and sustainable development as a facilitator, planner, analyst, and activist. He has worked with a wide range of conservation groups, Aboriginal organizations, companies, and governments in North America, Latin America, and Europe. He has been involved in socio-economic impact assessments, large-scale conservation strategies, certification programs in the forestry and mining sectors, as well as various legislative reform initiatives in the extractive sectors nationally and internationally.
About the Bob Britney Lecture in Operations
This lecture series was established by friends, students, and colleagues in honour of the late Professor Bob Britney, who passed away in 1994. A Western University graduate, Professor Britney excelled in both the teaching and publishing fields of Operations Management. Professor Britney was active in a global study of benchmarking operations practices and standards around the world. Always interested in manufacturing process and quality assurance, he taught Manufacturing Strategy and a course on Productivity and Quality.