Awards
there are universities that offer programs. There are colleges that offer programs in supply chain and people are making it a conscious decision to make it their profession and I think that’ s great.”
Birkett is also active as an instructor for SCMA programs. She has served on boards and committees both at the national and provincial levels, including terms as president of the SCMA Ontario board and chair of the SCMA national board.
Gray has worked in the supply chain management field for almost 40 years. He is at Manitoba Hydro International, and was most recently a department manager at Manitoba Hydro. He has also worked with companies in East Timor and Saudi Arabia in the area of supply chain management. As part of his current role, Gray helped establish procurement operations for East Timor’ s state-owned electrical utility, and took on the challenge to develop and mentor the middle management of the Saudi Electric Company.
I THINK THAT COMPANIES NOW ARE STARTING TO REALIZE THE VALUE OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS.
Gray has been an advocate for the supply chain profession and an active member of SCMA in various roles on boards, committees and acting as an instructor for its programs.
“ LouAnn and Glenn have embodied the professionalism and dedication to continual improvement required for supply chain management in a fast-changing world. Their passion for the profession and their active contribution to the success of our association has benefited all our members greatly,” said Mike Whelan, chair of SCMA’ s national board.
The Ascendant Award, given to Daaca, is for an individual who early in their career demonstrates the characteristics of a strong, innovative and creative leader, dedicated to the supply chain profession.
Daaca, who graduated in 2014 from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Commerce( Honours) degree, is a procurement specialist for Manitoba Housing.
“ It’ s been overwhelming the response and all the messages on LinkedIn and all the people reaching out to me. It’ s been very overwhelming in a good way. It’ s exciting news and I’ m very honoured to receive the award,” said
Daaca, who serves as a director on the SCMA Manitoba board and is a candidate in the Supply Chain Management Professional designation program.
“ It’ s an interesting time to be part of supply chain management. I think that companies now are starting to realize the value of supply chain management professionals. The jobs that are available are growing and even the roles for supply chain management professionals are growing. So in terms of it being an important part of the economy, the opportunities for supply chain professionals are only going to grow from here. I can’ t see us getting any smaller. People are finally starting to understand the value of supply chain professionals within their organizations,” she said.
Medbuy Corporation captured the Supply Chain Excellence Award, which recognizes an organization that leverages strategic supply chain management to enhance its competitive advantage.
The Medbuy Clinical Product Risk Rating Tool is a proprietary risk assessment tool, created by the company to anticipate the potential risk of a product to health-care providers and their patients, and drives the organization’ s sourcing strategies. The tool has been shared throughout North America. More than 149 requests for proposals and 612 contracts for 28 member health-care organizations across Canada have already benefited from Medbuy’ s innovative tool, which in turn has reduced the risk of patient harm from supply disruption or product failure.
“ It is an honour to be recognized for our contributions to the field of supply chain management, but even more importantly, we are proud of the positive impact we have made on our member hospitals and the patients they serve,” said Tom Warner, interim CEO of Medbuy.
“ We developed the Medbuy Clinical Product Risk Rating Tool to contribute to the health-care supply chain as a whole and assist health-care organizations with addressing risk within their sourcing processes. This ultimately benefits the patient as health-care providers improve their ability to deliver higher quality and safer care. Receiving industry recognition of this significance helps us share this important tool with others.”
Warner said that effective supply chain management is critical to an organization’ s success and plays a central role in determining its competitive advantage within today’ s economy. Not only does effective supply chain management enable organizations to reduce and optimize costs associated with products and services, but it improves revenue performance as well by driving competitive pricing, improving quality, and reducing time and cost to market.
26 • SUPPLYCHAINCANADA. CA • SCMA