ROGERS, Ark. – On March 27, the U of A WISE organization — Women Impacting Supply Chain Excellence — hosted an AccessAWESOME regional event at the CSCMP Hall of Fame in Rogers for a night full of connection, learning and inspiration.

While the two organizations are separate, WISE and AWESOME — Achieving Women's Excellence in Supply Chain Operations, Management and Education — serve similar missions of wanting to advance and transform the future of supply chain leadership.

AccessAWESOME regional events give leaders the opportunity to focus on important topics and issues in a smaller group setting. Attendees of the event included current and former supply chain management students at the U of A, as well as female supply chain leaders in Northwest Arkansas.

Kicking off the programming was a fireside chat with Stephanie Thomas, U of A WISE adviser and associate professor of practice in supply chain management in the Sam M. Walton College of Business, and Michelle Dilley, CEO of AWESOME, as they discussed topics including the future of supply chain leadership, gaps in equity and talent development.

"I'm so excited to start talking about the next 10 years and the impact that we can have on the industry because there is so much happening." Dilley said. "We have the best jobs in the world."

The evening also featured plenty of networking opportunities, table discussions and a panel featuring former AWESOME Scholarship recipients discussing their current positions in supply chain, what is attractive to them in a company and what they'd like to see progress within the industry.

"It was such a pleasure to co-host this event with AWESOME," Thomas said. "Sharing experiences and ideas with others can be a huge win for all involved, and this AccessAWESOME event enabled that to happen. Involvement in both WISE and AWESOME have had a huge impact on my life personally, and bringing the two groups together for this event was so rewarding."

This was the first in-person AccessAWESOME regional event since 2019, and the first one to have taken place in Northwest Arkansas.