Talent Management Playbook for Supply Chain Leaders: Supply Chain Now Webinar
Webinar Summary
During a recent webinar hosted by Supply Chain Now, industry leaders Rodney Apple of SCM Talent Group, Chris Gaffney of Georgia Tech, and Scott DeGroot of the University of Tennessee discussed how supply chain talent is evolving and what organizations must do to remain competitive. The ways in which employers are building high performing supply chain teams is changing by the month with the ever present technological advances. While these technologies continue to reshape the profession, the panel consistently returned to a common theme. Companies that invest in leadership development, organizational design, communication skills, and workforce planning will be best positioned to navigate disruption and drive long-term performance.
“Supply chain is moving from a strategic growth enabler to a resilience driver, and talent expectations are outpacing organizational design and capabilities.” Rodney Apple, Founder, Managing Partner SCM Talent Group.
The discussion highlighted several supply chain trends. Chief among them was that leadership shortages are accelerating as experienced professionals retire, leaving industries struggling to replace not only the institutional knowledge but the soft skills necessary to lead teams. Technical proficiency is becoming more prevalent while communication and leadership skills become harder to find. Analysts, buyers, planners, and engineers are also lacking more traditional operational exposure, which has helped with long term succession planning for leaders. This also creates a more siloed effect, with leaders emerging only within a specific function or practice area, and not the end to tend supply chain. Finding the right person with the blend of operational expertise, analytical capability, business acumen, and transformational leadership continues to be the primary challenge for a lot of supply chain businesses.
The panel continued to discuss who the winners and losers of the supply chain technology and talent battle will be and why. Here’s a hint: Not investing in your people could backfire, quickly.
This webinar provides incredible insights into the minds of some of supply chain’s most influential thought leaders. Disruption can be difficult to navigate without a comprehensive understanding of the landscape.
Key Takeaways from the discussion
- AI-generated applications are making traditional screening less reliable. Resumes may align perfectly with a job description while interviews reveal significant capability gaps. Employers need more rigorous assessment methods, while candidates need to be prepared to show how they have applied their skills and if they indeed produced measurable results.
- The search for the “perfect candidate” is slowing companies down. This is an evergreen point in the world of supply chain talent. Employers can spend an infinite amount of time waiting for a candidate who meets every requirement when a strong candidate could have closed a manageable skills gap during that same period. Mid-career professionals should keep this in mind and not automatically disqualify themselves when they meet the role’s most important requirements but not every preferred qualification.
- It’s important for employers to align their hiring strategies with what market demands for compensation. Companies cannot expect to attract transformational or highly specialized leaders while offering median or below-market compensation. You’ll be paying now or later so why not pay for the best talent the first time? If you don’t, your competition will.
- Supply chain roles should be designed around business outcomes, not inherited job descriptions. Checking boxes on a job description is not going to help future proof your supply chain with the best talent. You will get people who don’t have the ambition or drive to work across verticals and gain the necessary knowledge base to develop into the leaders of tomorrow. Orchestrating solutions across a value stream is more more valuable than functioning within a narrow box. For professionals, this increases the value of cross-functional experience and the ability to connect decisions to customers, cost, service, and risk.
- Short-term workforce decisions can create long-term talent losses. Broad return-to-office mandates, impersonal layoffs, and purely transactional employment practices may prompt highly mobile top performers to leave first. The reputational effects also extend into recruiting because candidates can quickly determine whether an organization’s stated culture matches the employee experience.
- Retention should be managed proactively through feedback and stay interviews. Rather than waiting for an exit interview, employers should ask employees what keeps them engaged, what could cause them to leave, and where they need greater support. Mid-career professionals should also seek organizations that provide clear expectations, frequent feedback, visible career paths, and managers who are held accountable for developing people.
How to Watch the Webinar
You can watch this webinar at any time using this dedicated webinar link.
Here’s a youtube link if you would prefer to have it in your feed.
Panelists:
Rodney Apple:
Rodney Apple has over 20 years of experience in talent acquisition and executive search within the supply chain management sector. His supply chain journey began in 2001 with a pioneering role at The Home Depot, a Fortune 15 retailer at the time, where he led recruitment for the company’s inaugural supply chain department.
He went on to lead professional and executive supply chain recruitment at The Coca-Cola Company for more than six years, followed by roles with Kimberly-Clark and Cummins, successfully filling more than 1,000 professional to executive-level supply chain positions. In 2012, Rodney expanded SCM Talent Group’s offerings, broadening the firm’s impact across most key industries in the United States, including manufacturing, retail, wholesale distribution, and logistics & supply chain service providers.
Rodney is a respected figure in the supply chain sector, known for his impactful contributions and thought leadership. As a founding author of the Supply Chain Talent Blog and co-host of the Supply Chain Careers Podcast, he dispenses invaluable advice on hiring, leadership, and career advancement.
Rodney’s commitment to elevating supply chain careers and organizations has established him as a trusted advisor and coach, dedicated to the growth and success of supply chain professionals at all levels. He served as the Supply Chain Career Coach for the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM, formerly APICS) for 7 years and has presented at leading supply chain conferences, including CSCMP and ISM.
Chris Gaffney
Chris Gaffney is an Edenfield Executive-in-Residence and a Professor of the Practice in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. He also serves a dual role as Managing Director of the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute (SCL) and Academic Program Director for Georgia Tech Professional Education (GTPE).
Gaffney was most recently VP of Global Strategic Supply Chain at The Coca-Cola Company. During his 25-year tenure with Coca-Cola, he held multiple leadership roles including President of Coca-Cola Supply, SVP Product Supply System Strategy, VP of System Transformation, and VP of Logistics for North America. Chris also served as President of the National Product Supply Group; a governing body responsible for 95% of volume produced in North America.
Following his retirement from Coca-Cola in 2020, he assumed the role of Principal at ECG and partner at EDGE Supply Chain, providing advice and consulting in the Supply Chain space, as well as serving as podcast host and supply chain adviser at SCM Talent Group.
Gaffney has extensive experience in Consumer Products Supply Chain, Supply Chain Strategy & Transformation, Footprint Design & Network Optimization, Supply Chain Operating Model and Capability Building and Logistics and Supply Chain Planning.
Scott Luton
Scott W. Luton is the Founder and CEO of Supply Chain Now, the #1 voice of Supply Chain. Supply Chain Now is an award-winning global digital content platform dedicated to the global supply chain industry and its robust community. At the heart of the platform, is the almost daily Supply Chain Now podcast, which has hit podcast leadership charts in over 60 countries. With over 20 years of extensive experience in the end-to-end supply chain, Scott has become a recognized global thought leader in the industry. His insights have been featured in major publications such as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and CNN. In 2024, Thinkers360 named him the #1 Global Thought Leader and Supply Chain Influencer. Additionally, Supply & Demand Chain Executive recognized him as a Supply Chain Pro to Know in both 2019 and 2025, and he has also been recognized by RateLinx, ISCEA, and other organizations for his industry leadership.
Scott is a proud United States Air Force veteran, and since transitioning to civilian life in 2002, he has been committed to supporting the veteran community through various initiatives.
Under Scott’s leadership, Supply Chain Now has grown into the premier source of industry insights, offering a variety of content including podcasts, livestreams, webinars, and virtual events that engage a global audience. His passion for fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing continues to drive the platform’s success.
Scott DeGroot
Scott DeGroot joined the Global Supply Chain Institute in August 2024 after serving as the vice president of global distribution and planning at Kimberly-Clark Corporation. In that role, he and his team were accountable for planning, sales and operations planning, customer-facing logistics, physical logistics operating excellence, on-time in-full and North American transport.
Before this role, DeGroot was the general manager of Kimberly-Clark’s Eastern Grocery team in North America. His responsibilities included driving over $650 million in revenue while working with a highly engaged team that included Ahold, Wakefern, HEB, Publix, Delhaize and BiLo Holdings.
During his more than 30 years at Kimberly-Clark, DeGroot held roles of increasing responsibility and leadership, including director roles in supply chain strategy, consumer planning, distribution operations, transportation procurement and analysis and transportation operations. Further, he served as the company’s regional logistics leader in Chester, Pennsylvania, where he led logistics operations at the largest tissue site in the Kimberly-Clark network.
