Panel of Experts


Melinda Spring, Communications Director, Supply-Chain Council Inc
Ms. Spring is responsible for conference development and management, as well as the development and execution of marketing/communications programs. This includes writing and production management of all association informational and educational materials, many of which appear in print and on SCC web sites. Ms. Spring also provides support to Supply-Chain Operations Reference-model (SCOR) development teams, technical committees, industry groups, and event planning committees. She represents the Council at conferences and trade shows.

Melinda has been involved in a wide range of communications work over the years, including serving as conference coordinator for the 1997 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania/University of Pittsburgh state conference Pennsylvania Acquisition Strategies for Telecommunication Services, Systems, and Infrastructure. She has been an advertising agency assistant production supervisor and provided computer applications services for a variety of small companies in the Pittsburgh area. Melinda served as Communications Manager for both Verosol USA at their national headquarters in Pittsburgh and for the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation international headquarters, also based in Pittsburgh. She holds BA and MBA degrees from the University of Pittsburgh.


David Simchi-Levi, Professor of Engineering Systems, MIT/ Independent Consultant, Frost & Sullivan
David Simchi-Levi is a professor of Engineering Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Simchi-Levi holds a Ph.D. from Tel Aviv University. His research currently focuses on developing and implementing robust and efficient techniques for logistics systems. He has published widely in professional journals on both practical and theoretical aspects of logistics and supply chain management..

Professor Simchi-Levi is the co-author (with Julien Bramel) of The Logic of Logistics, published by Springer in 1997. His second book, Designing and Managing the Supply Chain (with P. Kaminsky and E. Simchi-Levi) was published by McGraw-Hill in August 1999. The second edition appeared in October 2002. The book received the Book-of-the-year award and the Outstanding IIE Publication award given in 2000 by the Institute of Industrial Engineers. The book also received the Outstanding First Edition of the Year award given in 2000 by McGraw-Hill. The book was selected by Business 2.0, December 2001 issue, as the best source for slashing time and cost and increasing productivity in the supply chain. The book has been translated to Chinese, Japanese and Korean. His new book, Managing the Supply Chain (with P. Kaminsky and E. Simchi-Levi) was recently published by McGraw-Hill.


Jim Olivero, HP Corporate IT, NED, Hewlett Packard
With over 23 years experience in the computer industry, Jim heads up the Zero Latency Enterprise marketing team delivering key messaging and sales programs to the field at HP. A Zero Latency Enterprise (ZLE) is the ability to ingrate data in real time across the enterprise, analyze the data and take the appropriate response. In addition to ZLE marketing, Jim also helped in the creation of customer proof of concepts in the Telco, retail and travel industries, as well as building ZLE demonstrations for other key industries such as finance, supply chain and Government. In past roles at Tandem - Compaq - HP, Jim held positions as a customer engineer, systems engineer, product manager, competitive analyst, partner manager and European marketing manager.


Paul Hofmann, Director, Application Solution Management Manufacturing, SAP
Paul Hofmann studied Chemistry and Physics at the University of Vienna, and received his Ph.D. in Physics at the Technical University at Darmstadt. He was a member of faculty at the Technical University in Munich and at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, USA. In the IT division of BASF in Ludwigshafen, Germany, he headed the development of object-oriented production planning and scheduling software for BASF's plants. Before joining SAP in 2001 as Director, Global Strategic SCM Initiative, he was Plant Manager at BASF's Catalysts Global Business Unit. He is the author of numerous publications and books, including a book on SCM and environmental information systems as well as Performance Management and Productivity of Supply Chains. He is also a presenter and speaker at SCM conferences.


Mike Romeri, Director, PRTM Technologies Group
Mike graduated from Harvard College (1976) and Harvard Business School (1978). He has worked in high technology since the late 70’s. His career began with Advanced Micro Devices in operations. He joined PRTM in 1980 and worked primarily in supply chain projects for semiconductor companies for the next three years. Between 1983 and 1989, Mike was a member of the start-up management team of Flextronics, the electronics contract manufacturer. He worked with Flextronics for six years and played a significant role in developing the business model and launching Flextronics’ business in Asia and Europe. His roles over those six years spanned operations management, new product introduction, and general management.

Mike rejoined PRTM in Europe in 1989 and became a PRTM Director in 1990. Mike was responsible for launching the new Paris office and worked extensively on client projects in France and Germany, splitting his work efforts between supply chain management and product development projects. In 1992, Mike returned to the US and launched the Telecommunications Industry Group, which grew rapidly throughout the 90’s. In late 1999, Mike launched the PRTM Technology Group, a horizontal organization that provides information technology expertise to PRTM clients. Mike is co-leading the development of PRTM’s Next Generation Supply Chain consulting services.


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