Following the addition of the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM) to the People that Deliver (PtD) coalition, we took the opportunity to chat with Douglas J. Kent, ASCM's executive vice president of Corporate and Strategic Alliances. We spoke about what our newest coalition member has to offer and what ASCM hopes to gain from membership of the PtD coalition.
Welcome to the PtD coalition! Could you tell us a bit about ASCM and your role within the organisation?
We’re thrilled to be part of the PtD coalition!
ASCM is the world’s largest supply chain association. We have been operating since 1957, have certified more than 120,000 individuals, operate in more than 100 countries and we are growing! As the executive vice-president of Corporate and Strategic Alliances I oversee all our direct corporate relationships with 300 large multi-nationals across many industry sectors, our 60 North American chapters and more than 150 academic, training and advisory strategic alliances across the globe. I am also the executive liaison to other NGO’s, such as IAPHL, and now have the privilege of being our representative on the PtD coalition.
What prompted ASCM to join the PtD coalition and what are your expectations?
Our engagement with the PtD coalition is important to our community-based mission and organisational vision: to ‘make the world better through supply chain!’ Being part of the PtD coalition is important for ASCM: it gives us an opportunity to engage with other coalition members to ensure best practices, tools and approaches are most easily adopted to increase supply chain maturity levels.
By leveraging the assets of ASCM and other coalition members, we will assist in the evaluation, selection, adoption and implementation of best practices that will help build a speedier path to improvement and develop capabilities and capacity. ASCM has many assets that can be leveraged within the global supply chain community that don’t need to be (re-)created but rather curated from our body of knowledge.
What will ASCM bring to the PtD coalition?
We have had the advantage of working with several ministries of health and have been able to drive real transformation using a unique coaching methodology that goes beyond traditional education or credentialing. These accelerated transformations are exactly what we believe the community needs to gain measurable improvement within a shorter timeline and to sustain supply chain capabilities and capacity.
Which specific areas or activities would you like to focus on with the PtD coalition?
As a member of the coalition, we would most like to work together to raise the individual and organisational supply chain competencies that will lead to sustainable change. As a talent development focused organisation, and as a signatory of UN Global Compact, our mission is absolutely aligned with PtD’s and we are keen to work towards the swift and affordable adoption of our products, solutions and approaches wherever they could be beneficial. We also have several true subject matter experts within ASCM who make a substantial contribution to accelerating improvements in global health.
Will you be playing a role in the PtD Global Indaba?
We wouldn’t miss it! We are delighted to financially support the 2024 PtD Global Indaba conference for the second year in a row! And like last year we will be hosting a workshop to help colleagues learn and to share best practices.
Also, I and other members of my team will be working with the Global Indaba technical committee to contribute our technical expertise to help plan the programme.
See you in Bangkok!
