Speakers

Julie Dussliere is President and CEO of the Purdue for Life Foundation, the organization that inspires lifelong engagement with Purdue University through philanthropy, alumni relations, membership programs, and volunteer involvement. She oversees all aspects of the Foundation’s alumni-facing organizations, including the Purdue Alumni Association, President’s Council, and John Purdue Club, while leading efforts to strengthen engagement, advance fundraising, and deepen connections among Purdue’s global community of alumni and friends.

Prior to joining Purdue for Life, Julie spent more than 20 years with the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), serving in a series of increasingly senior leadership roles, including senior vice president, chief of Paralympic sport, and senior vice president, chief of Paralympics and internally managed sports. A nationally and internationally respected leader in Olympic and Paralympic sport, she directed high-performance planning, sport development, and National Governing Body support across Olympic and Paralympic summer and winter sports. She also oversaw the USOPC-managed Olympic and Paralympic National Governing Bodies and led Paralympic strategic planning, international relations, and Games planning, execution, and operations.

Throughout her tenure, Julie served as a key liaison to the USOPC Board of Directors and Paralympic Advisory Council while overseeing a broad portfolio that included athlete and sport development, governance, safe sport compliance, operational excellence, budget and contract management, and the leadership of more than 225 staff members. She championed grassroots Paralympic outreach and athlete identification initiatives nationwide and developed the U.S. Paralympics National Classification strategy, ensuring compliance with international standards. Her leadership contributed to the successful preparation and performance of Team USA at multiple Olympic and Paralympic Games while strengthening relationships with international sport organizations and stakeholders around the world.

Julie has also been a trailblazer in international sport governance. In 2018, she was elected president of the Americas Paralympic Committee (AmPC), becoming the first woman and first U.S. representative to lead the organization. Previously serving as vice president, she later assumed an additional leadership role as AmPC treasurer in 2021.

Before transitioning into executive leadership, Julie spent more than a decade coaching Paralympic swimming at the international level. She was named U.S. Olympic Committee Paralympic Coach of the Year in 2006 and was recognized by the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2015 for her contributions to the sport. Earlier in her career, she spent eight years as a swim coach and administrator with USA Swimming-affiliated clubs.

A proud Purdue alumna, Julie earned a bachelor’s degree in Russian from Purdue University in 1994, where she was a member of the swimming team and received Academic All-Big Ten honors. She went on to earn a master’s degree in Slavic and East European Studies from The Ohio State University and completed the Olympic Sport Leadership Certification program offered through a partnership between the USOPC and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Julie has remained deeply connected to Purdue throughout her career. She received Purdue’s College of Liberal Arts Emerging Voice Award in 2012 and returned as a participant in the university’s Old Masters program in 2020. A lifelong Boilermaker, she has long been an active member of the Purdue Alumni Association, President’s Council, and John Purdue Club.

She continues to serve the Olympic and Paralympic movements through volunteer leadership roles, including as a member of the Board of Directors of U.S. Masters Swimming, Head of Classification for World Para Swimming, and a member of the International Paralympic Committee’s Paralympic Games Committee.

Eric Kennedy is Senior Director of Transformation for Dell Financial Services (DFS) at Dell Technologies, where he leads enterprise-wide transformation initiatives focused on simplifying end-to-end business processes, improving operational performance, and enabling strategic growth.  Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) is a global technology leader headquartered in Round Rock, Texas, providing the infrastructure, devices, and services that help organizations build their digital futures. Founded by Michael Dell in his dorm room at the University of Texas at Austin in 1984, the company pioneered the direct-to-consumer PC model and today spans the full technology landscape, from PCs and peripherals through its Client Solutions Group to servers, storage, and networking through its Infrastructure Solutions Group.  Over his 16-year career at Dell, Kennedy has built and led organizations across consulting, finance, internal audit, enterprise risk management, and enterprise transformation.

Eric spent more than a decade in Dell’s internal consulting organization, including eight years leading the team, where his consultants partnered with executives across finance, sales, supply chain, marketing, legal, and other business functions to deliver large-scale transformation initiatives.  That work took him into nearly every corner of the company and shaped his approach to leadership and problem-solving.  He went on to lead Dell’s Enterprise Risk Management program and most recently served as Senior Director of Global Retail Finance, owning the P&L for Dell’s $3 billion global retail business. Eric currently serves as President of the Association of Internal Management Consultants.

A proud third-generation Boilermaker, Eric earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University in 2008 before completing his MBA at the Daniels School of Business in 2010. While at Purdue, he played both the saxophone and the World’s Largest Drum in the All-American Marching Band, earned his private pilot’s license, and was inducted into Pi Tau Sigma, the international mechanical engineering honor society.  Eric lives in the Austin, Texas area with his wife and two daughters and is honored to return to Purdue to share lessons from his career.

Chris Roark is a Vice Chair of the Reinvention Executive Advisory. He joined Accenture in 2001. Accenture’s Reinvention Executive Advisory Vice Chairs partner with CEOs and their top teams at leading companies worldwide to help them architect their success and that of the organizations they lead. They build executable strategies and work hand-in-hand with clients to deliver results. They bring deep industry knowledge as well as leading capabilities in strategy, technology, and organizational performance. Their approach and reinvention mindset is producing breakthrough results for the world’s leading companies.

Chris is a Chicago-based Senior Managing Director responsible for Accenture’s Industry & Process capabilities in the Americas. He previously led Accenture’s Americas Strategy Practice and global Accenture’s Cost & Productivity capabilities. Chris works with management teams and boards of directors to drive enterprise value through growth strategies, operating model designs, and structural cost and productivity resets.

Chris is the co-author of "The Big Zero" and several thought leadership pieces related to growth, cost and productivity. Chris holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University.

Keith Risinger is Executive Director of Leadership Development at Eli Lilly and Company, where he has spent 27 years helping leaders and teams perform at their best. His work is grounded in the practical realities of leadership—how leaders create clarity, build discipline, strengthen trust, and translate strategy into action through the teams they lead.

Across his career, Keith has coached, taught, analyzed, and advised leaders across the company, with a consistent focus on improving performance where it matters most: in the everyday decisions, behaviors, conversations, and operating rhythms that shape team effectiveness. He helps leaders move beyond good intentions and broad leadership concepts to the practical work of setting direction, aligning effort, making tradeoffs, and creating the conditions for teams to deliver meaningful results.

Keith is known for bringing a discerning and pragmatic perspective to leadership development. He challenges conventional wisdom that may sound compelling in theory but fails to hold up in real-world environments, while embracing the principles, practices, and insights that have consistently created value over time. His approach blends internal experience with external perspective, including work with universities and leading thought leaders who help bring research, challenge, and fresh thinking to the way leaders learn and grow.

Outside of work, Keith enjoys life with his wife, Jill, and their two children, Grace and Ryan. He is also an avid fly fisherman who appreciates the patience, focus, and presence the sport requires—qualities that show up in both his time on the water and his work with leaders and teams.

Randy Haines is an accomplished supply chain executive with over 20 years of experience spanning large multibillion dollar manufacturing organizations to 2 startups he founded. Randy completed his undergraduate degree from Krannert (now Daniels) in Management and returned back to West Lafayette 4 years after his undergraduate degree to earn his MBA in the weekend program. Randy is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity where he still keeps in touch with many of his brothers and has strengthened his professional network.

He started his career in supply chain in East Chicago, Indiana, working for ArcelorMittal, the largest steel company in the world at the time. He quickly rose through the procurement ranks becoming the youngest category manager in his department while having the most spend under management, roughly $300mm. After 4 years there, he transitioned to the food industry, working for Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer, in their newly formed Strategic Sourcing department in downtown Chicago. Again, he quickly advanced in the organization where he was the Managing Analyst responsible for all sourcing analytical activities as well as overall category strategy design.

After 6 years at Smithfield, he set out to scratch his entrepreneurial itch and co-founded a boutique procurement consulting firm, Strategic Buying Group headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois. Randy grew this business over 5.5 years before Smithfield brought him back to corporate America to be their Chief Procurement Officer. He once again advanced quickly and in less than 6 months, his role was expanded to also manage the Transportation and Warehousing operations, adding Senior Vice President of Supply Chain to his title. He was responsible for $3 billion in expense, 1100 employees, 7 distribution centers, over 35 third party warehouses, roughly 600 private and dedicated trucks and procurement for over 40 manufacturing facilities.

The second venture Randy founded after 4 years at Smithfield and taking 6 months off for "temporary retirement" is ScaleBridge.  He currently serves as the President and Founder.

ScaleBridge is a supply chain management platform that acts as an extension of their clients' teams to solve problems for manufacturers in transportation, warehousing and procurement. With decades of experience on their core team and established, vetted and trusted partners, ScaleBridge acts as the general contractor for their clients to bring the right tools, processes and teams to execute on their problem statement. Engagements range from redesigning processes coupled with technology deployment to full supply chain transformation at publicly traded multibillion dollar organizations. ScaleBridge is privately held with no outside investment that has quickly grown and continues to scale both with internal resources (both human capital and AI agents) and strategic partnerships that augment staff and capabilities.

Randy is an Indiana native, raised in "The Region" and then moving to Chicago post college. Currently, he resides in Williamsburg, Virginia, with his wife of 13 years and 10- and 8-year-old boys. Randy is an avid golfer and boater and enjoys traveling both for work and pleasure with his family.

Matt Vuckov is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of TalentCraft, a national workforce solutions and advisory firm headquartered in the Chicago area. TalentCraft is a national workforce solutions and advisory firm that helps organizations build the talent required to power America's most important industries. The company partners with employers ranging from high-growth startups to Fortune 500 organizations across semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, AI and digital infrastructure, healthcare, financial services, and technology. Through executive search, professional staffing, workforce strategy, and talent advisory services, TalentCraft helps clients reduce workforce risk, accelerate growth, and develop long-term talent pipelines for critical business initiatives.

Since founding the company in 2018, he has led TalentCraft's evolution from a technology recruiting firm into a strategic workforce partner helping organizations solve talent challenges across semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, data center infrastructure, healthcare, financial services, and other critical industries.

Recognized for his ability to connect industry, education, government, and the workforce, Matt advises organizations undertaking large-scale workforce transformation initiatives and major capital investments throughout the United States. His work focuses on helping companies mitigate workforce risk while building sustainable talent ecosystems that support long-term economic growth.

Beyond TalentCraft, Matt serves in several national leadership roles advancing workforce development and U.S. competitiveness, including leadership positions with the American Staffing Association and the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue. He also chairs the Workforce & Innovation Committee for One Region, helping shape workforce strategy across Northwest Indiana.

A Purdue University graduate, Matt is passionate about helping future business leaders understand how demographic change, artificial intelligence, reshoring, and advanced manufacturing are transforming the future of work. He believes that the greatest opportunities are created where business, technology, education, and public policy intersect.

Timothy J. Cartwright is a founding partner at Fifth Avenue Family Office. Fifth Avenue Family Office serves a select group of high net-worth families with multigenerational wealth. Fifth Avenue provides a broad range of services from investment management to sophisticated estate planning, evaluation of private equity and venture investment opportunities, succession and exit strategies for closely held businesses, and thoughtful multi-generational legacy transfers.

Prior, he co-founded By-Products Interactive, an electronic trading, market research and publishing company which he sold in 2021 to Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC, a FTSE 250 Public Company. Earlier, he founded Benchmark Solutions, a supply chain consulting company, which was sold in 1999. He began his career working with middle market companies at Arthur Andersen in Chicago, Illinois.

Mr. Cartwright recently completed a 12-year term as a member of the Florida Gulf Coast University’s Foundation Board, finishing as Chair of the Board. During this time, he was a prime mover in starting the Institute for Entrepreneurship which grew into the DK School of Entrepreneurship at FGCU where he served as Adjunct Professor for six semesters. For the eighth consecutive year, he was named by Florida Trend Magazine to their list of Florida’s 500 Most Influential Business Leaders due to his venture capital and private equity activity with the Tamiami Angel Funds and Adrenaline Venture Fund. He resides in Naples and has three grown children. He is a softball coach, a soccer coach, and an active member of First Baptist Church of Naples.

Aaron Lai, CFA, is an executive and thought leader in data, analytics, and AI strategy, with more than two decades of experience across healthcare, financial services, and management consulting. He currently serves as a Senior Fellow at Purdue University’s Krenicki Center for Business Analytics & Machine Learning and was most recently Director of Data & Analytics at Manifest MedEx, one of California’s major health information exchanges.

Mr. Lai has held leadership and expert roles at PwC Advisory, Castlight Health, Blue Shield of California, Bank of America, Charles Schwab, and Wells Fargo Bank. His work focuses on applying advanced analytics and risk management to complex business and societal challenges. He holds two U.S. patents and has authored more than 40 publications and conference papers across data science, healthcare, finance, and AI.

A Purdue MBA alumnus, Mr. Lai is currently pursuing a Doctor of Technology at Purdue University, where his research examines the use of large language models for pre-emergency department triage in disaster response, with a focus on Responsible AI. He also holds two master’s degrees from the University of Oxford: an M.Sc. in Evidence-Based Healthcare and an M.Sc. in Sociology.

Heath Billingsley grew up in southern Illinois working in his family’s agricultural retail business, where he developed an early appreciation for the critical role supply chains play in agriculture. After earning a degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from Tulane University, he built a global career spanning agriculture, manufacturing, and supply chain leadership.

During his 17 years at Monsanto, Heath held a variety of leadership roles across the Crop Protection and Seeds businesses.  A highlight of that time was building a greenfield production facility in Brazil, an experience that triggered his passion for leading teams in a global business context.

Since joining Syngenta in 2012, Heath has held senior leadership positions across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia. He currently leads supply chain operations for Syngenta’s North America Crop Protection business, with end-to-end accountability for balancing customer service, cost, and working capital across a complex supply network.

Heath serves on the MBA Advisory Board of the Joseph M. Bryan School of Business and Economics at University of North Carolina Greensboro, where he works with students and faculty to connect academic concepts with real-world business challenges and enjoys sharing lessons from his global leadership experience in supply chain operations and business transformation. He also serves on the Board of Directors of United Way of Greater Greensboro, where he contributes his experience in strategy, operations, and organizational leadership to support the organization's mission and strengthen its impact in the community.

Outside of work, he enjoys classic cars, cooking, travel, and spending time with his wife and two children in Greensboro, NC.

Vivek Chakrabortty was born in Mumbai, India, in a Brahmin Hindu and Catholic household and grew up in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, a Muslim country. One grandfather was an Indian Freedom Fighter, and the other was in the British Navy. From a very young age, his parents instilled an empathetic, diverse way of thinking. His love for travel and desire to know people with different backgrounds and life stories is rooted in his own diversity.

You could say he has been a risk taker and entrepreneur his whole life. He grew up in the rigorous and structured CBSE Indian school system where you had to choose between science, commerce, or arts at the age of 16. He craved freedom and knew that a path in America would enable him to be whomever he wanted to be. He negotiated with his dad to attend high school and college in the US, and moved when he was just 16. His life forever changed.

It was only by chance that he started to work in operations resilience before two major US events happened: 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.

As a business continuity and crisis management consultant, he learned that businesses must be one step ahead of the threats faced by their clients whether they are natural disasters, civic unrest, terrorism, active shooters, cyber-security breaches, technology failures, or catastrophic accidents.

He was the emergency preparedness advisor to the Louisiana Recovery Authority in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and led the California Healthcare Surge Planning which was the first of its kind in the U.S. in terms of scale and scope. The teams he led on these two projects were awarded the Chairman’s Award, PwC’s highest recognition for outstanding client service. In the past 25 years, he has worked in the American South, Northeast, Midwest, Pacific Northwest, California, and Mid-Atlantic. His work has taken him to Europe, Australia, and Asia.

These experiences as well as his understanding of culture and people prepared him to be an entrepreneur. In 2014, his wife Kathy and Vivek invested their life savings to start the Kavi Group, a management consulting firm that provides business continuity and crisis management advisory services.

Today, Kavi Group is a 7-figure company with Fortune 100 companies as their clients. Kavi has helped our clients navigate the COVID19 pandemic, supply chain risks and disruptions, geo-political conflicts, climate-change associated threats, and adjust to the new normal of risk management.

Jeff Swartz is Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Seaman Corporation, a global manufacturer headquartered in Wooster, Ohio. Since joining the company in 2020, he has led its strategic direction and global operations, focusing on sustainable growth, innovation, and long-term value creation.

Prior to Seaman Corporation, Jeff served as President of Moen North America, a $1.5 billion business, and previously held senior leadership positions in global operations, supply chain, and retail. Earlier in his career, he spent 23 years with Armstrong World Industries, serving in a variety of manufacturing, sales, operations, and general management roles in both the United States and internationally.

Jeff has lived and worked in China, England, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States, bringing extensive global leadership experience and a broad perspective on business strategy, operations, and organizational development.

In addition to his responsibilities at Seaman Corporation, Jeff serves on the Board of Directors of LATICRETE International, Inc., a leading global, familyowned manufacturer of construction solutions. Jeff holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Korie Nash is Senior Vice President, Human Resources for Corporate Functions at Eaton, based in Cleveland, Ohio.

In this role, Korie leads the global human resources strategy for Eaton’s corporate functions, operationalizing talent strategies and overseeing business transitions to drive organizational excellence and collaboration across the enterprise.

Previously, Korie served as Senior Vice President, Human Resources for Eaton’s Industrial Sector, where she was responsible for talent management, leadership development, and cultivating growth throughout the sector. In this role drove strategic impact by streamlining global HR processes and implementing talent programs that advanced Eaton’s enterprise priorities.

Korie joined Eaton through the Cooper Industries acquisition in 2012, where she held a series of HR leadership positions of increasing responsibility, including roles in the corporate office, Lighting, and Bussmann divisions.

Korie holds a bachelor’s degree in Management from Purdue University.

Winston Crawford is the Senior Director of Global Ad Sales at Apple Ads, overseeing 700 people across 22 offices around the world responsible for driving advertising revenue across Apple Services including the App Store, Apple News and Stocks, MLS and F1 on Apple TV, Apple Maps, and Apple Podcasts.  Apple Ads is the business within Apple Services that runs all of the advertising businesses within Apple’s owned and operated ecosystem. This includes the ad business within the App Store, Apple News & Stocks, Apple Maps, Apple Podcasts, and all of the advertising on Apple TV for MLS and F1.

Prior to this role, Winston held the position of Senior Director of Business Management at Apple, where he led all the go-to-market functions for Apple Ads including marketing, operations, business development, business strategy, and new business initiatives.  For three years in between two stints at Apple, Winston held the position of COO at Drawbridge Inc., where he played a pivotal role in the company's eventual acquisition by LinkedIn / Microsoft.  As the COO of Drawbridge, Winston was responsible for all commercial efforts, including sales, business development, client strategy, and operations.  Before Apple and Drawbridge, Winston held positions at Quantcast, Yahoo!, NBC Universal, General Electric, and IGN.com.

Winston holds an MBA with a focus in marketing from Purdue University as well as a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Puget Sound with a major in Psychology and a minor in Philosophy.  Winston grew up in Silicon Valley where he currently lives with his wife and two teenage children.

Jennifer Richter serves as the Vice President, Supply Chain for The Clorox Company's US Cleaning business unit. In this role, she leads the supply chain networks, operations, and talent that support some of the company’s most recognized household and professional cleaning brands. Her work sits at the intersection of strategies across business aspirations, suppliers, manufacturing, distribution, technology, innovation, and people leadership.

The Clorox Company champions people to be well and thrive every single day.  Founded in 1913 and headquartered in Oakland, California, Clorox is driven by consumer-centric innovation.  From cleaning to food storage to natural personal care, the company is committed to delivering clearly superior experiences through its trusted brands including Brita®, Burt's Bees®, Clorox®, Fresh Step®, Glad®, Hidden Valley®, Kingsford®, Liquid-Plumr®, PineSol® and Purell® as well as international brands such as Chux®, Clorinda® and Poett®.  With operations in about 25 countries and territories, Clorox products are sold in more than 100 countries, helping people around the world live happier, healthier lives.  Having recently been named by Forbes as one of America’s Best Employers for Women 2026, Clorox is proud to be recognized for efforts and impact in areas such as corporate and social responsibility, leadership development, inclusion and diversity, and culture.

Since joining The Clorox Company in 2000, Jennifer has held roles across Supply Chain Planning, Customer Service, Transportation Operations, Customer Logistics, and Manufacturing for multiple Clorox businesses.

Jennifer is a passionate people leader who believes a leader’s most important responsibility is enabling others to succeed. She believes optimism is a force multiplier, principles matter more than rules, and that performance and engagement are strongest when people are able to apply their strengths. Within Supply Chain, she has implemented a leadership approach that is grounded in raising the bar while creating the clarity, confidence, and space teammates need to do their best work. With the core leadership principle of “everyone wants to succeed” in mind, she is dedicated to developing talent, implementing inclusive leadership, supply chain competency building, and career pathing for her team.

Jennifer graduated from North Carolina State University with BS degrees in Chemical Engineering and Pulp & Paper Science. She lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband and two children. A local community advocate, she serves on the board of directors for the Chastain Park Conservancy, an organization dedicated to restoring, enhancing, maintaining and preserving Atlanta’s second largest public park. She also enjoys creating lifetime memories with her family and volunteering with her local faith-based organization.