"The mission of the Advisory Board for GSU’s Supply Chain Innovation Center and Business Incubator is to provide guidance, advice and support to the Director and Associate Director, and to help the Center/Incubator achieve its mission. It will also help the Center/Incubator to secure external funding to support its operations".
Inaugural SCICBI Advisory Board Members:
- Mollie Dowling, Executive Director, OAI
- John Grueling, President and CEO, Will County Center for Economic Development
- Edward Hobson, Senior Manager, Production Planning, Amazon
- William Innes, Mentor, Past Chicago Chapter President, SCORE
- Kimberly King, Director, Global Sourcing and Procurement, Elkay Manufacturing
- Philip Resendiz, VP, Midwest Region, XPO Logistics
- Dr. Olumide Ijose, Professor of Management and Division Chair, SCICBI Director
- Dr. Tricia Kerns, Lecturer of Management, SCICBI Associate Director
- Dr. Jun Zhao, Dean, College of Business
Mollie Dowling, Executive Director of OAI
Mollie holds a MA in Community Development and has a passion for creative social change that has grown over 16 years of experience leading large-scale employment and training programs. Dowling has managed a variety of complex federal, state, and private workforce development initiatives serving employers as well as low-income adults and youth including the successful Calumet Green Manufacturing Partnership. She launched High Bridge, L3C as a social enterprise of OAI, aimed at creating employment opportunities through the installation and maintenance of green infrastructure. She is responsible for all operational oversight including core business and functional disciplines of both OAI and High Bridge. Dowling serves on the Board of Directors of the Chicago Jobs Council, and the Muslim Women’s Resource Center, and Greenprint Communities in addition to the Chicago Wisdom Project. She is a beekeeper, an avid runner and vegetarian home cook.
John Grueling, President and CEO, Will County Center for Economic Development
John E. Greuling has over 40 years of experience as a professional economic developer. He is currently the President and CEO of the Will County Center for Economic Development (CED) and Will County Economic Development Foundation—a position he has held since 2001. Among his priorities are business recruitment and retention/expansion, managing the development of the largest Inland Port in North America and the development of the Illiana Expressway and the South Suburban Airport.
Prior to joining the CED he was Chief Operating Officer and Vice President for Business & Economic Development for InterMountain/RKH, a corporate affairs firm based in Denver specializing in government relations, strategic communications and business and economic development. Prior to that, he served as Vice President of Economic Development for the Greensboro Area Chamber of Commerce in Greensboro, North Carolina; Executive Director for the Southeast Denver/Douglas County Economic Development Council; Director of the Colorado Office of Business Development; and Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development of the Bloomington-Normal Area.
Greuling, a native of Oak Park, Illinois is a graduate of Illinois State University, where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy in 1974, he received his Master of Science in City and Regional Planning
from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville in 1976. In 2016 he was conferred a Doctor of Humanities Honorary Degree from Lewis University.
Edward Hobson, Senior Manager, Production Planning, Amazon
Edward Hobson has nearly two decades of experience in various supply chain roles at fortune 500 organizations. He started his career at UPS where he held several leadership roles in operations at their large Chicagoland Area Consolidation Hub. From there he moved on to Anixter International continuing in operations management and after two years moved on to distribution accounting as a Sr. Accountant. After holding that role for 4.5 years, he returned to supply chain operations as an Inventory Control Manager for Office Depot. After holding that role for ten months, he was promoted to Senior Manager of Supply Chain Operations. During that time he was able to lead several transformative initiatives including creating the forecasting methodology for volume for each process path at his site. He also completed his ASQ Certified Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt certifications and utilized this knowledge to make sustainable process improvements and train additional CSSGB leaders.
After five years at Office Depot Edward moved on to Amazon as an Operations Manager in their Inbound Cross Dock network. After assisting in turning around the operation, Edward was promoted to Sr. Operations Manager leading the Joliet, IL IXD night shift operation. With Amazon’s expansion in Illinois Edward moved to the Amazon Robotics customer fulfillment site in Monee, IL in March of 2018. While there, he led the inbound night shift operation and led a turnaround of the ship dock operation in the first half of 2019. Always looking to learn more and take on new challenges, Edward moved to the production planning team in June of 2019. In his current role, he leads a team of Business Intelligence Engineers and is working towards moving the planning process towards full automation.
Edward is a proud alumnus of Governors State University having graduated with a BA in Business Administration/Finance.
William Innes, Mentor, Past Chicago Chapter President, SCORE
William Innes is a volunteer mentor and former chapter chairperson for SCORE; a resource partner of the Small Business Administration (SBA). SCORE Chicago is a chapter of the national nonprofit, all volunteer, small business mentoring organization. SCORE encompasses some 350 chapters across the 50 domestic states and utilizes the volunteer talents of more than 13000 current and former business owners and executives.
William first joined SCORE in 2010 after retirement as an engineering consultant in the steel industry. He began as a mentor and served as the south metro area vice chair for three years before becoming chairperson. Currently Bill is a resource counselor and facilitator for the Chicago south suburban area. He promotes the characteristics of a "Valued Believer" for yourself and a "Bold Believer" for others.
Bill’s education includes a Bachelor of Science in both Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He has an industry background with 40 years’ experience of plant engineering and construction management. Innes' entrepreneurial work includes self-employment for consulting services. Bill is also a member of the Chicago South Suburban Small Business Association and the Lions Club International group. He and his wife are retired and are blessed with four children and ten grandchildren.
Kimberly King, Director of Global Sourcing and Procurement, Elkay Manufacturing
Kim King is Director of Global Sourcing and Procurement for Elkay Manufacturing Company located in Downers Grove, IL. She is responsible for the sourcing and procurement function, including building and maintaining supplier relationships, risk mitigation, cost savings, and overall procurement and sourcing strategy for Elkay’s Plumbing division. Kim brings over 20 years of sourcing/procurement experience between Elkay and Sears. Kim has an undergraduate BBA-Finance degree from University of Michigan, and an MBA from University of Chicago.
Kim lives in Flossmoor, IL with her husband and is now officially an empty nester, with a son and daughter, both in college. She enjoys watching and attending sporting events, especially football and basketball (Go Blue!). Kim also loves spending time in the New Buffalo, MI area and spending time on Lake Michigan and lounging on the beach.
Elkay is a US based, family owned company that produces, sources and delivers exceptional residential and commercial building products and services. Elkay Plumbing has been an innovative provider of stainless steel sinks for residential and commercial use for nearly 100 years. Elkay Plumbing products include sinks, faucets, foodservice products, water coolers, drinking fountains and rapid bottle filling stations from multiple regionally located manufacturing plants.
Philipp Resendiz, Director, VP, Midwest Region, XPO Logistics
Phil Resendiz is Regional Vice President – Operations at XPO Logistics. Phil is a 25 year career transportation and logistics executive who is responsible for a team of more than 7,400 employees in 94 locations in all Canadian provinces and 14 U.S. states. Prior to joining the XPO team, Phil served as Managing Director – Operations at FedEx Freight, where he also chaired veteran recruiting initiatives and held a leadership position on the corporate Inclusion & Diversity council. Phil is a past member of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) Freight Committee. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army and a B.A. candidate at Eastern Illinois University.
Dr. Olumide Ijose, Professor, Chair, Director, SCICBI, College of Business, GSU
Dr. Ijose joined GSU’s College of Business in 2010, and currently serves as the Chair of the Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship Division and Director of the newly created Supply Chain Innovation Center and Business Incubator (SCICBI). Dr. Ijose teaches strategic management and international business at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
AS COB’s MBA coordinator, Dr. Ijose led the successful revision of the MBA program in 2016-2017, adding business analytics, finance and leadership as new MBA specializations in addition to supply chain management and general management. He also led the development of GSU’s new MS in Human Resource Management program in 2017-2018, which started enrolling students in Fall 2019.
Dr. Ijose has published in the areas of knowledge transfer and global value chains and has additional research interest in job creation, and economic development models. He is a member of the Academy of International Business and the Industry Studies Association and has prior work experience with Accenture, Royal Dutch Shell and in private equity. He earned his doctorate in Management and Human Resources from the Ohio State University.
Dr. Tricia Kerns, Lecturer, Associate Director, SCICBI, College of Business, GSU
Dr. Tricia Kerns earned her Ed.D degree from Olivet Nazarene University with a concentration in Ethical Leadership. She has extensive management experience in various industries in operations, manufacturing, material management, distribution, warehousing and transportation along with 20+ years in the Operations/Supply Chain Management field. Her research study explored Midwest small- and medium-sized manufacturing and their ability to compete in the global economy. Dr. Kerns earned her MBA from Governors State University with a specialization in Leadership and a BA from Governors State University with a concentration in Operations Management. She also holds a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt from Purdue University and is APICS – CPIM certified (The Operations Management Association) and APICS - CLTD certified and is also a APICS CPIM & CLTD Certified Trainer. Dr. Kerns also earned a SCPro certification from CSCMP (Council of Supply Chain Management Professional) and mentors students today who elect to take this exam.
Dr. Kerns is an active member of the International Testing Committee at APICS Corporate located in Chicago. Her active term is 2017-2019 as she explores current industry material to develop and analyze examination material for the international testing that APICS utilizes globally. Dr. Kerns joined the GSU’s College of Business in August 2014 as a University Lecturer. She teaches Operations Management, Quality Management, Project management, Lean Six Sigma, as well as Business Ethics at both undergraduate and graduate levels as well as Leadership at the graduate level. Dr. Kerns is the lead
advisor for our GSU Supply Chain Student Club and provides consulting opportunities for GSU Continuing Education as well as the College of Business. She continues to work with various business leaders and professional Supply Chain organizations that provide students real-life opportunities to help them advance in their career goals.
Dr. Jun Zhao, Professor, Dean, College of Business
Dr. Zhao joined GSU’s College of Business in 1999, and has been actively engaged in COB’s efforts to develop and offer high quality academic programs as faculty leader, division chair, and most recently Dean of the College. Under her leadership, GSU’s Online MBA in General Management and Supply Chain Management programs have earned top rankings and recognitions for its high quality and affordability, and enrollment in the online programs increased significantly.
As Dean of the college, Dr. Zhao leads the college’s efforts in enhancing its engagement with various stakeholders, including its business partners. She serves as member of the South Suburban Economic Growth Initiative (SSEGI) workforce group, Will/South Cook TDL Employer Partnership, as well as Calumet Manufacturing Sector Partnership.
Dr. Zhao’s research interests include corporate restructuring, organizational downsizing, psychological contract, and cross-cultural management issues. Her work has appeared in scholarly journals including Academy of Management Review, Management Research Review, Chinese Management Studies, Advances in Competitiveness Research, and Journal of Business Diversity. She earned her bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Shanghai Jiaotong University, and her master and doctorate degrees in business administration at Southern Illinois University.