Supply Chain Hall of Fame Grand Opening Set for Oct. 8

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The new home of the Supply Chain Hall of Fame in Rogers.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals Supply Chain Hall of Fame will hold its grand opening on Thursday, Oct. 8, for its new home in Rogers.

Because of health and safety concerns sparked by COVID-19, the grand opening will be available online with speaker contributions available on the Supply Chain Hall of Fame and CSCMP websites.

“I am extremely proud to announce that in October the physical CSCMP Supply Chain Hall of Fame will be officially opened in Rogers,” said Erik Bo Hansen, recently retired vice president of Kansas City Southern and CSCMP board member responsible for the Hall of Fame Committee. “This new building will be an event space, as a service to CSCMP, its membership and the supply chain profession, and will also house a permanent exhibit honoring the annual inductees.”

The hall of fame will feature space devoted to rotating exhibits about the CSCMP Hall of Fame Award inductees, an award that recognizes and celebrates the significant achievements of practitioners and academics that have created, innovated and mastered the discipline of supply chain management.

The space also will be used for lectures, roundtable meetings and functions for as many as 100 attendees. Construction of the hall of fame was announced at the council’s annual conference in September 2019.

The virtual grand opening event is sponsored by Blue Yonder, a leading digital supply chain platform provider.

Speakers for the event include:

• Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson
• University of Arkansas Chancellor Joe Steinmetz
• Johnelle Hunt, co-founder of J.B. Hunt Transport Inc.
• Matt Waller, dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business
• Rick Blasgen, chief executive officer of CSCMP
• Kathy Wengel, executive vice president and chief global supply chain officer for Johnson & Johnson
• Girish Rishi, chief executive officer of Blue Yonder
• Remko van Hoek, professor of practice in the Walton College Department of Supply Chain Management

Some of the speakers will deliver pre-recorded remarks.

“We are thrilled by the opening of the hall of fame in Northwest Arkansas,” Waller said. “It not only will highlight great achievements and innovations by the historic leaders in supply chain management, it will continue to drive supply chain innovation and research in our region, our business college and our university.”

Waller, who also is a writer, researcher and professor of supply chain management, was honored with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals’ 2020 Distinguished Service Award, the most prestigious in the industry.

Van Hoek, a supply chain professional with a long history in the industry, was instrumental in securing a place for the hall of fame in Northwest Arkansas, partly to recognize the central role in supply chain management played by many of the companies headquartered in the region, such as J.B. Hunt, Walmart, Tyson Foods and many others.

Northwest Arkansas is also home to the No. 1 supply chain management undergraduate program in North America, as ranked by leading global research firm Gartner, at the Walton College at the University of Arkansas.

“By engaging our students and entrepreneurial region we can bridge the greatest of the past with the best of the future,” Van Hoek said. “The hall of fame will help educate, engage and inspire our future and current supply chain leaders.”

The hall of fame was made possible thanks to the generous support of Johnelle Hunt, along with the support of Gus Blass III, general partner of Capital Properties LLC and a member of the board of 10 other companies, and Alex Blass, a partner in Sage Partners LLC. Both Gus Blass and Alex Blass are alumni of the Walton College.

“The Hall of Fame was built with very generous support from the Hunt and Blass families, and is hosted by the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas,” Hansen said.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among fewer than 3 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.