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Women in Supply Chain – Succession Planning in Organizations

RECORDED ON THURSDAY, AUG. 27, 2020

Presented by

• Sydney Donovan, Operations & Supply Chain major, Women in Supply Chain Scholar
  
• Kathryn Kalivoda, Ph.D., Director of Supply Chain, AbbVie
• Amy Meyer, Vice President-Technical Services, Kohler Co.
• Michelle Waite, Grad ’10, Continuous Improvement & Multicultural Outreach Director, Versiti; and Instructor - Lean Six Sigma, Marquette University
  
• Moderator: Kelly Wesolowski, Bus Ad ’90, Associate Director in the Center for Supply Chain Management, Marquette University

This webinar focuses on examining the persistent gender imbalance in the field of supply chain management. Marquette’s nationally ranked supply chain management program invites you to join them for a dialogue with female supply chain industry leaders from Kohler and AbbVie to learn more about their perspective on this gender imbalance, and how their organizations are engaging in succession planning focused specifically on supporting women in supply chain. In addition to this perspective, participants will also learn more about what Marquette is doing to support female students interested in supply chain management.

More about this session

Sydney Donovan is a senior majoring in Operations and Supply Chain Management at Marquette University. She has held various internships including Purchasing Intern at Quality Bicycle Products in Bloomington, Minn., and Procurement Intern at Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Wisconsin in Greendale, Wis. She is currently doing a virtual co-op in Distribution Operations at Kimberly-Clark in Neenah, Wis. Sydney is a Women in Supply Chain Scholar. Outside of school and work, she enjoys going up north with her family and friends, doing yoga, and volunteering.

Kathryn Kalivoda, Ph.D., is Director of Supply Chain at AbbVie. Katie is responsible for the management of Supply Chain activities to maintain full product availability, development of Operations Brand Plans and program planning initiatives to meet strategic and financial needs for the Neuroscience and GI Products. During her career at AbbVie, she has spent the majority of her time in a technical role and have been the technical lead for many of products - both large and small. One career highlight her selection as AbbVie’s first Mother of the Year in 2013 as well as being one of the original AbbVie Culture Ambassadors. It is very important to Katie that her team feels empowered to do what they need to do to balance both work and home responsibilities; she tries to make sure they have the freedom to flex their time to bring their best self to work. Katie holds a B.S. in Bio-Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Veterinary Pathobiology, both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Amy M. Meyer is Vice President, Technical Services for Kohler Co. In this role, Amy is responsible for the management of all aspects of Global Procurement; Aviation and Business Travel; Architecture and Interior Design; Construction Engineering and Management; Facilities, Maintenance and Grounds; Machine Build and Process Automation; Global EHS; Energy Management; and Kohler Operating Systems. In February 2009, Amy joined Kohler Co. as Vice President-Engineering, Kohler Engines, where she was responsible for global engineering and the execution of product innovation for Kohler Engines.  In January 2014, Amy was promoted to Vice President, Kohler Operating Systems, where she was responsible for company-wide supply chain and manufacturing Centers of Excellence along with three service-based, global organizations: the Chemical and Metallurgical Laboratory, the Machine Build and Process Automation Team and the India Technical Center.

Passionate about the personal development of her associates, Amy lives by the motto of “hire great people and enable them to do great work” by providing clear goals and authority, giving direct and honest feedback on both strengths and weaknesses, and celebrating personal growth through successful results and challenging setbacks. Amy holds a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from Michigan Technological University has completed an M.S. degree in Computational Mathematics from Michigan State University and an M.S. degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Case Western Reserve University.

Michelle Waite, Grad '10, is Continuous Improvement & Multicultural Outreach Director, Versiti. She is a proud mother, engineer, educator, and ultimately an effective influencer to colleagues, executives, students, in her community-at-large. Michelle focuses on leading employees through a journey of diversity, equity and inclusion as well as standing up continuous improvement programs inclusive of Lean Six Sigma and the Four Disciplines of Execution (4DX). These efforts heavily influence the culture and KPI improvement strategies she integrates through teams, and then manages for Versiti.

Her experience also includes over 12 years of product development, supply chain management and business transformation at Harley-Davidson where she was awarded a patent; and as an adjunct professor at Marquette University, where she also earned her MBA inclusive of a study-abroad to Belgium. In addition, she has achieved a variety of certifications in lean six sigma, negotiation and project management from esteemed organizations across the country, including Harvard University. Michelle also holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Kettering University.

Kelly Wesolowski, Bus Ad '90, is Associate Director in the Center for Supply Chain Management at Marquette University. In her role, she assists supply chain majors to connect with employers and participate in applied experience opportunities. Additionally, Kelly manages the Women in Supply Chain Scholars program, introducing sophomore business majors to supply chain career opportunities. She enjoys being connecting students to opportunities that will propel them in their careers and is proud to be a part of the #12 Ranked Supply Chain Undergraduate program in the nation (Gartner 2020). Prior to working at Marquette, Kelly was the Program Manager at STEM Forward overseeing events, competitions, and programs to encourage student interest in STEM careers. Kelly received her bachelor’s degree in marketing from Marquette and her MBA from UW-Milwaukee.