Event highlights include keynotes from L.L.Bean, HEINEKEN, and famed NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly; over 100 customer success stories and a focus on leading women in supply chain

JDA Software, Inc., today announced its agenda for its award-winning JDA FOCUS 2018 conference in Orlando May 6-9 at the Orlando World Center Marriott. JDA FOCUS 2018 will be the biggest and best global supply chain conference of the year, bringing together more than 2,000 retail, manufacturing and logistics professionals to network, share best practices and hear real-world use cases from industry leaders who are delivering impressive results using JDA’s innovative solutions. JDA FOCUS 2018 includes a special performance by the chart-topping band Fitz & The Tantrums at Universal Studios Orlando, and will highlight winners of JDA’s annual Real Results Awards competition for outstanding ROI and success using JDA’s solutions.  JDA FOCUS 2018 has a record 50 global sponsors including platinum sponsors Accelogix, FourKites and Honeywell, which is a testament to the vitality and depth and breadth of JDA’s alliance ecosystem.

“JDA FOCUS 2018 will bring together thousands of leading supply chain and retail practitioners from around the globe to learn from each other about how they have reinvented their businesses for the digital age using JDA, while creating a seamless customer experience across every channel,” said Kevin Iaquinto, chief marketing officer, JDA. “We are proud to have a huge number of leading brands speaking at our conference including ConAgra, L.L.Bean, Heineken, PepsiCo and Walgreens and look forward to sharing our innovative vision for the next generation supply chain, which will uniquely capture intelligent edge technology opportunities to meet the challenges of today’s digital-or-die environment.”

The theme for JDA FOCUS 2018, “Expectations Fulfilled,” will demonstrate how JDA helps companies transform their supply chains to create a seamless experience for customers across every channel, leveraging cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), advanced analytics and machine learning. With more than 225 sessions – including more than 100 customer-led sessions – JDA FOCUS 2018 is unique in its size and scope and the opportunities presented to conference attendees to learn best practices in harnessing the power of the intelligent edge in addressing planning, logistics and execution challenges across the value chain. More than 70 Special Interest Group (SIG) meetings also give customers the opportunity to provide input on product direction and meet with individual product directors to exchange ideas and ask questions on the products they use.

JDA FOCUS 2018 features world-class keynote speakers including L.L.Bean, HEINEKEN and NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly

JDA is proud to announce its lineup of speakers for JDA FOCUS 2018 which include:

  • Stephen Smith, President and CEO, L.L.Bean: Stephen Smith began his career in 1992 at J. Walter Thompson in New York City. He moved to Maine in 1997 and rose to become the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Resort Sports Network. In 2002, he began his retail career at Hannaford Supermarket, and this launched nine years at the Delhaize Group, where he gained experience in merchandising, commercial planning, marketing and customer relationship management in the U.S. and Belgium.
  • Johan Smits, Director Global Planning, HEINEKEN: Johan Smits started his career working with a Strategy and Change Management consultancy, focused on supply chain transformations in FMGC. After that, he held various senior operational supply chain roles in the Dutch and International Export organization, also managing the end-to-end supply chain and planning/S&OP. Since 2011, Johan has been responsible for HEINEKEN’s global S&OP expansion and became the senior manager for Global Planning, part of the Global Customer Service and Logistics leadership team. Moving from S&OP to IBP is fundamentally changing the way HEINEKEN plans their business and helps them to get a grasp on complexity and volatility.
  • Scott Kelly, History-Making U.S. Astronaut and Retired U.S. Navy Captain: Captain Scott Kelly’s epic Year in Space (a record) solidified his status as one of the greatest pioneers in history. Now, in his acclaimed speech appearances, he brings audiences to the edge of their seats with transcendent insights that inspire and challenge them to dream big, test the status quo, and “choose to do the hard things.”
  • Mike Walsh, 21st Century Business Designer and CEO of Tomorrow: Mike Walsh is the CEO of Tomorrow, a global consultancy on designing companies for the 21st century. He advises leaders on how to thrive in the current era of disruptive technological change. A true global nomad, Mike travels over 300 days a year worldwide, researching trends, collecting innovation case studies and presenting on the future of business.
  • Heather Sheehan, Executive Director, AWESOME: Heather Sheehan is Executive Director of AWESOME, the senior executive supply chain women’s network, and owner of consulting firm Crispy Concepts LLC. She is the former co-chief procurement officer for Danaher Corporation. Heather has over 30 years’ experience in manufacturing and transportation and also held leadership positions with Honeywell, Union Pacific and NCR. She is on the board of AWESOME and is past Chair of the Board of Directors of CSCMP.
  • Suzanne Toepfer, Director of Merchandise Systems, Chico’s FAS, and JDA Users Group President: Suzanne Toepfer has been with Chico’s FAS for eight years and guides the enterprise systems responsible for merchandising, allocation, and merchandise planning across stores, e-commerce and outlet channels. She is also the JDA Users Group President. Chico’s FAS is a leading omni-channel specialty retailer of women’s private branded, sophisticated, casual-to-dressy clothing, intimates and complementary accessories.
  • Girish Rishi, Chief Executive Officer, JDA: Girish Rishi will speak on the topic of “Exceeding Customer Expectations with a Digital Supply Chain.” As CEO, he leverages his background in product development and go-to-market across a number of leading companies including at Symbol Technologies where he led the company’s EMEA operations, at Motorola where he led the Enterprise division, and at Tyco International where he was responsible for the company’s retail solutions business and the North America services business.
  • Desikan Madhavanur, Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer, JDA: Desikan Madhavanur will speak on the topic of “The Cognitive, Connected and Cloud Ready JDA Solution Vision.” At JDA, he is responsible for the company’s product solution strategy, with a charter to invest in and develop JDA’s current market-leading solutions in the areas of planning, execution and retail while harnessing the collective power of cloud, IoT, analytics and big data to bring new solutions to market that deliver real-time, actionable insights and customer value.

JDA FOCUS 2018 highlights leading women in supply chain

JDA will serve as the host sponsor for the AWESOME 2018 Supply Chain Symposium, May 9-11, an invitation-only event for senior-level women in supply chain that will immediately follow JDA FOCUS 2018. This is JDA’s first time as host sponsor of the Symposium, previously serving as a sponsor in 2015 and 2017. AWESOME is the leading women’s group in supply chain and its Symposium has over 300 senior attendees who will discuss best practices for leading with impact, leadership amid technological change and more. JDA FOCUS 2018 will also feature a Women in Supply Chain networking breakfast on Wednesday, May 9 entitled “Secret Formula for Growth” featuring Lisa Fey, motivational speaker and former sales and marketing leader at The Coca-Cola Company. She will share secrets to accelerating growth – personally and professionally – for herself, her company and her customers in this engaging session.

JDA FOCUS 2018 showcases innovations in a digitally-driven world

This year’s Innovation Zone/Expo Hall will showcase how JDA and its partners are pushing the edge in supply chain innovation. Across the Innovation Zone, JDA will feature hands-on interactive product demonstrations, leveraging the latest IoT, augmented and virtual reality, RFID, and social, news, events and weather (SNEW) technologies.

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About JDA Software, Inc.

JDA Software is the leading supply chain software provider powering today’s digital transformations. We help companies optimize delivery to customers by enabling them to predict and shape demand, fulfill faster and more intelligently, and improve customer experiences and loyalty.  More than 4,000 global customers use our unmatched end-to-end software and SaaS solutions to unify and shorten their supply chains, increase speed of execution, and profitably deliver to their customers.  Our world-class client roster includes 76 of the top 100 retailers, 77 of the top 100 consumer goods companies, and 8 of the top 10 global 3PLs. Running JDA, you can plan to deliver.  blueyonder.com

 

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“JDA” is a trademark or registered trademark of JDA Software Group, Inc. Any trade, product or service name referenced in this document using the name “JDA” is a trademark and/or property of JDA Software Group, Inc.

 

JDA Software Group, Inc.
15059 N Scottsdale Rd, Ste 400
Scottsdale, AZ 85254

 

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