FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Bob Johansen, senior researcher and immediate past president of the Institute for the Future, will headline the Supply Chain Management Research Center’s annual conference for industry professionals on Wednesday, April 5.

Kirk Thompson, president and chief executive officer of J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc.; Monica Mullins, vice president for logistics from Wal-Mart Stores Inc.; and a group of industry and academic experts will discuss a variety of alternative transportation and logistics solutions for both the near and distant future.

The center, based in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, is sponsoring the conference, titled “What Does the Future Hold for Your Supply Chain,” in collaboration with the Ozark Roundtable of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. The program will be held in the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. For more information and registration, go to http://scmr.uark.edu/conference/ or call (479) 575-7334 or e-mail: mboles@walton.uark.edu.

From 1996 to 2004, Johansen served as president and CEO of the Institute for the Future, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif. He holds a doctoral degree from Northwestern University and has worked for more than 30 years as a forecaster, exploring the human side of new technologies. He has worked with senior corporate executives across a wide range of industries. The institute has developed a simple foldout map that brings a complex global society down to fundamentals, illustrating the coming decade at a glance. The institute’s “2005 Map of the Decade” will be handed out to all attendees.

“We are very pleased to bring Dr. Johansen to our annual conference,” said Jim Crowell, managing director of the Supply Chain Management Research Center. “Scanning this map is a little like swallowing a time capsule from the future and getting very smart very fast. Our world and our supply chains seem to be characterized by one common theme: change in technologies, rising energy prices, new energy sources, environmental concerns, health care costs, and China. We hope this conference will help the industry make sense of all the change. The agenda also features other top professionals.”

In addition to Johansen, Thompson and Mullins, other speakers include: Steve Roop, assistant director of the Texas Transportation Institute; and Greg Swoyer, director of customer service/logistics for Procter & Gamble. From the University of Arkansas College of Engineering, the program includes Buddy Babcock, Jerry King, and Ed Clausen, all professors of chemical engineering. Michael Popp, professor of agricultural economics and agribusiness in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, is also on the program.

Crowell added, “We plan to explore emerging trends and discontinuities that will transform the global society and the global marketplace, asking such questions as: Is there a way to solve ocean port congestion, capacity constrained transportation infrastructure, and environmental issues with existing technologies? What are the facts and myths about the use of bio-diesel? Can animal waste and the like that have been identified as serious water and environmental pollution sources really be 'renewable energy resources’? And can there be hybrid trucks?”

The Institute for the Future is an independent nonprofit research group. It works with organizations of all kinds to help them make better, more informed decisions about the future. Founded in 1968 by a group of former RAND Corporation researchers with a grant from the Ford Foundation to take leading-edge research methodologies into the public and business sectors, the institute is committed to building the future by understanding it deeply.

The Supply Chain Management Research Center is a direct link between the private sector and the University of Arkansas supply chain resources. It sponsors activities that promote both the academic and general body of knowledge encompassing supply chain management. It also supports student-focused activities centered on recruitment, retention and graduation.