education associates

Britta Scherer

Britta Scherer holds a diploma in Business Administration and Logistics Management, and is a Supply Chain Management lecturer and trainer, as well as an Education Associate for the DACH region. Britta teaches SCM, Purchasing and Procurement, and Service Providing Logistics at the Universities of Mosbach, Heilbronn, Stuttgart, Reutilingen, Goppingen, and Frankfurt.

Furthermore, she is an Associate and authorized Signatory at DILOG GmbH, Heilbronn as well as an independent logistics consultant at SonoLog Britta Scherer, which focuses on strategic site planning, global planning, processes, logistics in infrastructure, and preparing outsourcing decision.

Ed Weenk

Ed Weenk has an MSc in Business Administration from Rotterdam School of Management, a Professional Doctorate in Engineering (PDEng) focused on Supply Chain Management from Eindhoven University of Technology, is the author of the book “Mastering the Supply Chain”, and the founder of QuSL. Additionally, he is a delivery partner and authorized trainer in the business simulation games of Inchainge in The Netherlands and Palatine Group of New York, USA.

Ed has extensive experience since the mid-1990s in managing international logistics and distribution projects at strategic and operational levels. He is also working as a Senior Associate Professor at different business schools, like EADA Barcelona, Maastricht School of Management, Antwerp Management School and Centrum Graduate School of Business (Lima, Peru) on the topics of operations & supply chain, project management and intra- & entrepreneurship. Ed is currently working on a new book with the working title ‘Mastering Circularity’, about the Circular Economy.

Chuck Nemer

Chuck Nemer is a trainer/consultant with 40 years of experience in Supply Chain Management, Lean Leadership, and APICS. He has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Minnesota, a master’s degree in leadership from Augsburg College in Minneapoli. He holds CPIM, CSCP, and CLTD certification from APICS, and an on-line curriculum development certification from the Wisconsin Technical College System.

Aside from teaching at an urban based university in St. Paul Mn., Chuck is also an Education Associate of Inchainge supporting universities in the USA who utilize The Fresh Connection and The Cool Connection in their classrooms. He currently works with approx. 40 universities and 3000 students annually in supporting the use and play of the simulations in the classroom.

Kedar Joshi

Kedar Joshi is an associate professor at T A Pai Management Institute, Manipal, India and a Fellow (PhD) in the Operations Management Area from Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow. He is also an Education Associate with Inchainge for the India, Australia, and Middle East region since 2015.

Kedar holds more than a decade worth of experience in academia in the fields of Operations and Supply Chain Management and his areas of research and interest are Operations Management, Supply Chain Management, Pricing, and Revenue Management.

Yeri Villamizar

is an expert in Logistics and Supply Chain Management. She is the president for CSCMP - Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals for Colombia. She is responsible for the CSCMP development and maintenance of the professional networks in both logistics and supply chain across the country. She has broad experience developed increasing productivity, sustainability, profitability, and efficiency levels in multiple companies across a variety of industries such as Automotive, FMCG, Oil & Gas and Packaging.

Additionally, she is part time professor of simulation and modelling techniques for masters studies in Logistics and Supply Chain fields at EAN University in Colombia. She has started being part of the Inchainge educational partners since 2015 and currently she is the the representative in Colombia.

Prof. Igor Lopes

is an Industrial Engineer from the Technological University of Havana, he received a PhD in Technical Sciences focusing in Logistics and Supply Chain (2013), is active in Teaching, Research and Business Consulting. He has accumulated more than fifteen years of experience as a teacher at Universities in Cuba and Latin America, and ten years of experience in joint work with Universities Worldwide, especially in Germany. Igor is also an Education Associate of Inchainge supporting universities in Latin America to utilize The Fresh Connection, The Cool Connection and The Blue Connection in their classrooms.

Kleber Esposto

graduated in Mechanical Production Engineering from the University of São Paulo (2000), Master's degree in Engineering (Production Engineering) from the University of São Paulo (2003) and a PhD in Engineering (Production Engineering) from the University of São Paulo (2008). He is currently a Professor at the University of São Paulo and Editor of the Management & Production journal (UFSCAR. Printed).

Kleber has experience in Production Engineering, with emphasis on Production Management. His focus is thereby on the following topics: Performance measurement, Performance Management, Lean Production, and Visual Management.

Joaquin Jimenez

is active in Supply Chain Finance consulting, for banks and companies and issues related to working capital and the financial supply chain. His specialty is in working capital financing and international trade through digital platforms integrating buyers, sellers and investors. Currently, he leads the market and business development operations in Europe for global supply chain finance (SCF) provider Harbor Trade Credit.

He previously spent 13 years at ING’s commercial banking arm, most recently as director of working capital solutions. He also served as head of supply chain finance, with roles based in Amsterdam and Moscow. Joaquin was also sales director at Capital Chains, an Amsterdam-based consultancy firm that works with corporates, financial institutions and fintech platforms on their SCF arrangements.

Leonardo Garcia Razera

is passionate about demand planning and its comprehensive management. It inspires him to work on new supply chain optimization challenges. He has a Master in International Trade and Integration at UAGRM Business School and Micromaster ™ in Supply Chain Management at MITx (Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Edx ™) and Master's degree candidate in blended Supply Chain Management from the MIT cohort 2021/2022.

Luis Enrique Herrera del Canto

is an Associate Professor in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Monterrey Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D in Industrial Engineering with special focus in Supply Chain Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2007. His research focuses primarily on transportation and logistics systems planning and control, with a focus both on innovative modeling and solution methodologies, and on challenging application areas including dynamic and stochastic vehicle routing and scheduling, reverse logistics network design, and congestion analysis of transportation networks. His primary analysis tools are combinatorial optimization and discrete-event simulation modeling.

Dr. Herrera has published papers, speaks at continuing education short courses, develops design and analysis software, and consults in various areas of supply chain systems design. He is currently developing solutions for various problems of logistics systems (Wal-Mart, Bachoco, BIMBO, Pepsico), material flow systems, manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution facilities design.

Stefan Hoogervorst

is Director of Education and Research at PMI Production Management Institute GmbH in Planegg (Germany), and is responsible for trainer qualification and education program content and didactics. Stefan has more than 14+ years experience in training and education. He holds all supply chain certifications offered by PMI and works as trainer for S&OP and Supply Chain Management. Stefan is a trainer for APICS certifications and the business simulation games “The Fresh Connection” and “The Cool Connection”.

In the past, Stefan was Director Education at Inchainge, the company that developed the business simulations “The Fresh Connection” and “The Cool Connection”. He worked as senior lecturer at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences for 7+ years. Prior to this he was employed as regional sales and operations planner at Philips Consumer Electronics Headquarters in Amsterdam and as controller purchasing mainstream CE at Philips Consumer Electronics in Eindhoven.

Andrea Walbert

is Managing Partner of the PMI Production Management Institute GmbH in Planegg (Germany). She has been teaching trends, developments and topics in SCM and Operations Management for many years for customers and as lecturer at Munich University of Applied Sciences, where she mainly plays serious games with students. Andrea is trainer for APICS certifications and the business simulation game “The Fresh Connection (TFC)”. She holds the supply chain certifications APICS CPIM, APICS CSCP, PLS, CDDP, CLTD, DDFP and CSCA.

Andrea has 15+ years professional experience in enrolling and changing global SCM and IT processes. She worked as Director Supply Chain Tools & Infrastructure at Qimonda AG and Infineon Technologies AG, Supply Chain Manager at Sandoz Pharmaceuticals GmbH, and Senior IT Consultant at BearingPoint Consulting in Germany.

Laurie Denham

Principal at Denham Advisors, is an independent consultant and has been in the education sector of associations focused on supply chain, logistics and transportation over sixteen years. She was president of the American Society of Transportation and Logistics (AST&L) 13 years expanding the organization from a domestic to international association and growing the certification program to a three-tier career pathway working with high schools, community colleges, and universities.

Ms. Denham managed the AST&L merger with APICS and remained as the Senior Director of Academic Relations. She became Vice President of Education at the Transportation Intermediaries Association prior to opening Denham Advisors. During her tenure with AST&L, Laurie was also the General Manager for the US offices of Association Global Services, a global association management company. She has experience in small, midsize and large associations focusing on domestic and international education and certification.

Rita Giuffrida

is an Industrial Engineer with international working experience in Supply Chain and Project Management in food industries. Originally from Italy, she has multicultural spirit, and has also lived in Sweden and Poland for studies and working purposes. After several years in the industry world, she decided to change her working career and join the education and digital fields.

Her passions are mainly linked to the circular economy and sustainability. She is always eager to learn new things. Indeed, it is not uncommon to find her reading books about subjects she never studied before or learning new languages.

Tracy Cheetham

is an APICS recognized instructor, Master Instructor for The Fresh Connection, and founder of ParadoxSolve LLC. Her specialty is experiential learning workshops based on best-in-class supply chain content (DOI, APICS) coupled with business simulations. She is co-designer of the Demand Driven Sales and Operations Planning (DOS&OP) with The Fresh Connection workshop. Her more recent clients inclued ESSILOR (Lenses), Albea (packaging), LVMH (high end fashion), GKN (aerospace, automotive), UN (humanitarian), and GSK (pharma).

She is a board member and past president of SAPICS (APICS premier channel partner in South Africa), and the current ASCM Research, Innovation, and Strategy Committee Chair. She is The Fresh Connection Gobal Challenge partner for the USA and as Education Associate, she supports professors using The Fresh Connection and The Cool Connection business simulation platforms in the United States.

Patrick Willems

is a Professor of Supply Chain Management at the Universities of Leuven, Brussels, and Hasselt. He has been using the business simulation The Fresh Connection in his curriculum since 2009. Aside from teaching, Patrick is also an Education Associate at Inchainge for Belgium, France, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and North Africa since 2015, and a management consultant for retail and FMCG companies (Ici Paris XL, Carrefour, Metro, Smurfit Kappa, and more).

Aldo de La Cruz

is a trained Industrial Engineer and logistics specialist, holds an MBA from ESAN, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Educational Sciences. His professional experiences range from auditing, to processes and operations, to Supply Chain Management in economic groups such as “Luz del Sur” and “Gloria” in the energy, food, and construction sector.

He has participated in training and development projects of SMEs, is a Professor of the Center for Entrepreneurial Development, and an investor in a SME “B3 Food and Drinks”. Aldo is Inchainge’s Education Associate for Latin America.

Ashish Mendiratta

is a seasoned professional specialized in Supply Chain Management Strategy, Operations and Training. His 25+ years of career includes working with a number of globally renowned and leading Indian organizations like Gillette, Nestle, BILT, Philips and Kohler. In his previous roles Ashish was Director-Supply Chain, Asia Pacific at Kohler and Director-Supply Chain, India & Pakistan at Philips.

Over last few years he has been actively engaged with well-known companies to deliver measurable outcomes using a comprehensive approach including competency mapping, assessment and development. He has conducted supply chain training using experiential learning tools for various well known companies.

Bas Hillerstroem

studied process technology, where he experienced technology up close within the process industry. Here he learned how offshore gas platforms, waste incineration plants and polymer plants work. Subsequently, Bas studied Technical Business Administration at the Hogeschool Rotterdam.

His travels motivated him to head in the direction of ‘’sustainability’’ and more specifically Circular Economy and biomimicry.

Caroline Mondon

has over 30 years of experience in managing operations in French and international manufacturing companies of medium and large sizes as plant manager, supply chain director and manager of a professional association. She also has extensive experience in Supply Demand Chain Management, implementation of Supply Chain functions and processes, expertise in Sales & Operations process and in Demand Driven Adaptive Enterprise with DDMRP and more than 20 years of experience as board member of a professional association promoting innovative educational approaches.

She is APICS instructor (CSCP), DDI instructor (Master Instructor and co-designer of 'Adaptive Enterprise Foundations' course), trainer of The Fresh Connection serious game in 4 continents and co-designer of the Demand Driven S&OP experience version.

She also is the author of a bestselling management book : "Le chaînon manquant : management agile de la chaîne logistique en PMI".

Riquier Duprez’s

experience as a business manager in the production of decorative objects, as a director of a manufacturing and packaging workshop in industry and mail order sales gave him the keys to the analysis and strategic development of PME-PMI. For more than 20 years, he has have been able to develop several management techniques such as strategic plans, agile organizations, operational processes, costing techniques, commercial, production and financial dashboards as well as transversal management and skills development tools.

His specialties are sales forecasts and industrial planning (PIC, PDP, scheduling), the mapping of management processes, and the implementation of monthly income statements oriented towards performance objectives.

Kaushik Ghatak

has, over the past 25 years, acquired deep experience in Business Transformation engagements in the Digital and Supply Chain domains, across multiple industries (Distribution, Consumer Products, High-Tech, Automotive) and multiple geographies (Asia, USA, ANZ)

He recently started his own boutique management consulting and training company that focuses on the 'People' dimension in Business Transformations with two clear themes - Building employee capability and drive organizational alignment by changing mindsets, and breaking down the silos. An experiential learning approach using business simulation games and interactive workshops is at the core of our methodology.

Laurent Foetisch

a Supply Chain expert with more than 25 years of experience in the Biotech and Pharmaceutical fields with proven track records. He has successfully integrated two diametrically opposed organizations and build one fully integrated Healthcare Supply Chain with common tools (JDA/Manugistics) and harmonized processes.

He also has experience in reshaping the Biotech distribution network in creating a PanEuropean platform to serve centrally more than ten countries and implementing the postponement concept to serve Latin America and Asia Pacific countries. Laurent is always focused on creating a team of Supply Chain highly skilled professionals to foster peak performance.

Stefano Riboni Stefano

has developed strong expertise in Supply Chain Information Systems throughout his career. Since 2000, Stefano shares his time between project management consulting, supporting Supply Chain and Information System design, implementation and optimization initiatives, Business Information Systems, Project Management and SCM teaching at different Swiss and European universities.

Jun-jun Gao

received the Ph.D. degree from the Department of Business Administration Northeastern University, in 2004. Currently,Currently she is an Associate Professor at Sydney Institute of Language and Commerce Shanghai University, P. R. China. Her research interests include demand chain management, service operations management and inventory management. She has authored articles published in International Journal of Services Operations and Informatics, System Engineering.

David Ramirez

is a Logistics Consultant, who focuses on KPIs, Warehouses, Transportation, Production, Demand Planning, Negotiation with suppliers, and Process Optimization.

As Education Associate, he is responsible for providing logistics and supply chain professionals with broad and practical experience in decision making in Supply Chain, Purchasing, Operations and Sales; in a real-world environment, to assess the impacts on financial statements (ROI). He also raises awareness of company performance and profitability on collaboration between teams with a common vision. Increase the ability to manage advanced supply chain networks.

Dmitrii Gavrilov

is a trainer/consultant/educator with more than 25 years of experience in Supply Chain Management. He has a Master Degree in Business Informatics from Peter the Great Saint-Petersburg Polytechnic University. He holds CPIM, CSCP, CLTD and SCOR-P certifications from APICS and a status of APICS Master Instructor.

Dmitrii supports universities in Russian speaking countries in using The Fresh Connection, The Cool Connection and The Blue Connection, and teaches master degree students in university he graduated from.

Jan H. Jansen

Jan H. Jansen (1955) holds state degrees in Economics and Statistics (MO KX & MO Q; equivalent to M.Ed) since 1978; during his professional career he had several updates in Finance at the London School of Economics and in Business Administration at the University of Hertfordshire.

He started (1978) his teaching career at a grammar school (Stedelijk Gymnasium Arnhem) and continued (1985) to become a senior lecturer at Arnhem Business School (faculty of economics of HAN University of Applied Sciences) in subjects like: Economics, Finance, Management Accounting, and Supply Chain Finance)