Supply Chain Summit 2025

Jason Thorne - SVP, Global Supply Chain at Nouryon

Jason Thorne is a seasoned supply chain and business executive with over 30 years of experience. Thorne currently serves as Senior Vice President of Integrated Business Planning & Commercial Services at Nouryon, overseeing global supply chain, including business planning, customer service, and logistics. He has previously led enterprise-wide planning and procurement initiatives in leadership roles at Eastman Chemical Company, including major transformations in procurement and planning. A retired Major in the Indiana Army National Guard with 27 years of service, Thorne brings a disciplined, strategic perspective from a distinguished military career. Jason holds an MBA from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and a B.A. in Chemistry from Purdue University, and is recognized for expertise in supply chain management, integrated business planning, procurement, and cross-functional leadership.

Diane Acevedo - SVP, Operations and Customer Experience at Gabb Wireless

Diane Acevedo has served as the Senior Vice President of Operations & Customer Experience at Gabb Wireless for over 5.5 years and is now the COO of Path Health & Wellness. Throughout her career, she has received multiple Operational Excellence Awards and currently serves on five corporate boards. As a dedicated single mother of four, Diane is passionate about equipping her children with the tools to succeed, nurturing their curiosity, building confidence, and helping them discover their passions. A creative problem solver, Diane approaches business challenges like intricate puzzles, leveraging her imagination to uncover innovative pathways forward. Her ability to see diverse, viable solutions enables her to execute strategic initiatives effectively and efficiently. She has built high-performing, diverse teams with a focus on recognizing potential and recruiting exceptional talent. By actively seeking candidates from varied backgrounds and skill sets—including areas outside her own expertise—she ensures her teams possess the comprehensive capabilities needed to achieve their goals and excel. Finding her craft in building from the ground up, Diane has led cross-functional teams across supply chain and logistics, sourcing, customer and technical support, self-service, corporate training, and research on family resources. She managed a team of 268, including internal employees as well as nearshore and offshore partners. She established standardized processes, frameworks, and forged strategic vendor relationships that continue to drive organizational success. Diane’s emphasis on data-driven decision making fosters a culture of collaboration and accountability—key drivers of growth in a hyper-expanding business like Gabb. Her strategic insights and analytical rigor have heightened departmental performance while elevating organizational standards across the company. An authentic leader, she takes a genuine interest in mentoring her team and supporting their career development. Her open-door management style encourages open communication and trust—empowering her team to leverage their expertise while providing guidance when needed.

Chris Libutti, Director, Research Programs at University of Central Florida

Dr. Chris Libutti is a combat veteran of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and a proven leader across the battlefield, boardroom, and classroom. He has successfully started and scaled seven-figure businesses, as well as sold and acquired companies. Over the course of his career, he has managed contracts and projects exceeding $100 million, demonstrating expertise in both strategy and execution at the highest levels. Dr. Libutti holds a Doctorate Degree in Business Administration with a focus on Organizational Behavior, along with undergraduate and graduate studies in psychology and engineering. His multidisciplinary background provides a unique lens on leadership, human performance, and organizational growth. He is the founder of Breaking Barriers Consulting, LLC, which he co-owns with his fiancée. Through Breaking Barriers, he empowers leaders and organizations to lead with precision, break through limitations, and build lasting legacies. In addition, Dr. Libutti serves as the Research Director of the Tech Grove at the University of Central Florida, where he leads Department of Defense–funded initiatives in modeling, simulation, and training. His work focuses on enhancing human performance and advancing innovation in military and defense applications. Bridging his combat experience, entrepreneurial success, and academic research, Dr. Libutti is dedicated to helping others unlock potential, cultivate resilience, and achieve excellence in every domain of life.

Yamila Harris, Gloabal Head of User Experience and IT Support at Munich Re

Yamila is a dynamic global leader, board member, public speaker, author, executive coach, and mentor with 30+ years of executive leadership experience across multiple IT and Business disciplines. She has spent much of her career leading organizational change, fostering innovation, and driving large-scale technology transformation. At her core, she is a zealous believer in the art of the possible and is passionate about empowering both individuals and teams to push boundaries and realize their potential. Yamila is on the board of both the Hispanic Technology Executive Council (HITEC) and Operation Literacy.

 She is an active mentor and sponsor, and regularly collaborates with universities and other organizations on executive coaching and leadership programs, as well as industry-related topics. Her breakthrough leadership has earned her numerous accolades over the years. Most notably, Yamila is a HITEC Hall of Fame award winner, multi-year HITEC 100 award recipient, 2021 HITEC Member of the Year, 2020 Great Minds in STEM Luminary Award recipient, and 2020 Stetson University Business School Foundation Ted Surynt Leadership Award winner. On a personal note, Yamila believes in defying conventional limits, consistently pushing herself out of her comfort zone, and challenging herself and others to continuously embrace a growth mindset to learn new things.

Tim Waldo, Workforce Consultant at University of TN Center for Industrial Services

Tim’s passion for helping people discover their full potential has been a primary motivator over a career that includes 17 years in manufacturing and 12 years focusing exclusively on workforce and workplace development. As a Workforce Development Consultant, Tim helps manufacturers assess their people-development systems, using a systems-thinking approach to optimize performance. Tim facilitates training and coaching in leadership and problem-solving and is always looking for opportunities to apply adult learning principles to today’s hectic workplaces. Tim regularly collaborates with other workforce development partners on strategies to improve the talent pipeline across the state and within communities.

Daniel Brown, Plant Manager at Cornerstone Building Brands

Dan is the Plant Manager for the Elizabethton, TN Cornerstone Building Brand facility, manufacturing Pre-engineered Metal Buildings. The plant is a full building site that produces complete metal building packages sold as pre-engineered, configured solutions. Prior to joining Cornerstone, Dan served as Operations Manager for US Endodontics in Johnson City, prior to which he served as a Process Improvement Consultant, contracted by the University of Tennessee, Center for Industrial Services. For most of his career, Dan was employed with NN Inc (formerly headquartered in Johnson City), where he served for over 29 years, the last nine filling the role of Corporate Continuous Improvement Manager, directing the Corporate Six Sigma/Continuous Improvement vision and strategy for fifty-four manufacturing sites located in the United States, Europe, and China. Dan is a proven continuous improvement professional with experience leading cross-functional teams in the development of strategic business objectives, as well as creating, resourcing, and leading tactical action plan activities to achieve those objectives, resulting in effective change and sustainable results. As a Lean Master and Six Sigma Master Black Belt, Dan has a history of utilizing a practical approach to adult learning in those disciplines, qualifying associates from the C-suite to the shop floor to work at a higher level, resulting in a continuous learning culture, within which engaged and empowered associates delivered verifiable results.

Umit Saglam, Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management at ETSU

Ümit Sağlam, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management in the Department of Management and Supply Chain at East Tennessee State University. Dr. Sağlam received his Ph.D. in Business Administration from Drexel University and his dual undergraduate degrees in the Honors Program in Mathematics and Economics from Istanbul Bilgi University and the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research projects focus on mathematical programming, energy economics and management, supply chain management, and behavioral operations management. Currently, he teaches analytical approaches for how to model and solve complex real-world business problems in his Decision Science and Production Operations Management courses. Dr. Sağlam has received the Faculty Excellence Award for Research (2018), the New Faculty Excellence Award (2018), and the Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching (2019) from the College of Business and Technology of East Tennessee State University.

Matthew Jenkins, Associate Professor of Supply Chain at ETSU

Matthew T. Jenkins, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management at East Tennessee State University. Dr. Jenkins received his Bachelor of Science in Logistics and Transportation, Master of Business Administration, and Ph.D. in Supply Chain Management from the University of Tennessee. Dr. Jenkins’ primary research interests concern supply chain resource orchestration, cross-functional relationships, and supply chain risk and disruptive events. He has published articles in the Journal of Supply Chain Management, Journal of Business Logistics, and Journal of Organizational Behavior. He primarily teaches courses related to logistics management, strategic sourcing, international distribution, operations management, and supply chain optimization. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Jenkins’ professional career involved working at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory / Department of Energy, managing database systems, Pfizer Inc., where he led the development of business intelligence systems for North American Logistics, and Siemens Medical Solutions, where he led the international supply chain management operations for the PETNET Solutions strategic business unit.