Today at ISM World 2024: Longtime Face of the Services PMI® Retiring
Anthony Nieves, CPSM, C.P.M., A.P.P., CFPM, Chair of the Institute for Supply Management® (ISM®) Services Business Survey Committee, discusses the ISM® Report On Business® during a session at ISM World 2023 in Grapevine, Texas.
The Services ISM® Report On Business® has reflected a variety of economic data and conditions since its first public release more than 16 years ago, but a constant has been the man who explains what the numbers mean.
Anthony Nieves, CPSM, C.P.M., A.P.P., CFPM, is not the first Chair of the Institute for Supply Management® (ISM®) Services (formerly Non-Manufacturing) Business Survey Committee, but he has been the face of the monthly report since its debut in January 2008. (Services PMI® data collection began in 1997.)
That era ends this month, with Nieves’ retirement from the Business Survey Committee. On Tuesday at ISM World 2024 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nieves was honored with a 3½-minute video during the Opening General Session.
Nieves is the 2010 recipient of the J. Shipman Gold Medal Award, presented by ISM for career achievement. His expertise of the services sector has not only been invaluable to the Report On Business®, but also helped transform ISM as an association.
“When I first joined ISM, (most of the members) worked in metals or manufacturing,” he said during a Conference session on Tuesday. “That dynamic has really shifted over the years.” Nieves served six years on ISM’s Board of Directors, including a tenure as Chair.
“ISM would not be the organization it is without your contributions in a variety of roles,” ISM CEO Thomas W. Derry told Nieves when introducing the tribute video.
Nieves will be succeeded as Business Survey Committee Chair by Steve Miller, CPSM, chief commercial officer at DeepLogica, a Shelton, Connecticut-based proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) platform. He will remain active in the profession by developing supply chain infrastructure for a marina management company.
“The company is based on the East Coast, and I’m in Southern California. So, it’s nice to be able to start work at 3:30 or 4 o’clock in the morning and be finished in time for happy hour,” Nieves said, smiling.
The Richter Scholar ‘Family’ Grows
The five 2024 R. Gene Richter Scholars, who make up the program’s 21st class, were honored twice Tuesday, first during a reception and lunch with ExecIn2024 participants and later in the day during the ISM Awards Gala.
The scholars — rising college seniors — are Alivia Clawson and Megan Marie Merola of Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pennsylvania; Alex Cousino of Wayne State University in Detroit, James Webb Fox III of the University of Cincinnati and Taahera Islam of the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina.
Being a Richter scholar opens doors, said Elizabeth Richter, CPSM, CSCP, trustee of the R. Gene and Nancy D. Richter Foundation. “They always say when you become a Richter scholar, ‘Welcome to the family,’ ” she says.
The R. Gene Richter Scholarship Program partners with ISM to award the scholarships, with recipients receiving a monetary award of up to US$15,000 in tuition assistance. Notably, the scholars are also given access to an executive mentor and leader in the profession and a former Richter scholar as a junior mentor.
No ‘Layup’ Cases for Students
It wouldn’t be their school’s highest-profile championship this year, but a victory by the University of Michigan in the ISM International Student Case Competition would be impressive, as the team from Ann Arbor, Michigan, would have to disrupt a dynasty to win.
That’s because Masstricht University in the Netherlands — the three-time defending champion — is also back. The four finalists — Wayne State University and Rutgers University are the other two — were assigned a case study that made them newly-hired supply chain practitioners. Their case study, “Strategic Priorities for an Aerospace Company,” required them to design plans to contain commodity and logistics costs, as well as enhance environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards.
“These teams did not get a layup,” Thomas Maher, assistant director of the supply chain executive consortium at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, said before moderating the Case Competition final round on Tuesday. “They got a tough case to put together.”
Each team was allotted 15 minutes to present its case, followed by a five-minute question-and-answer period. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, and a poll on Conference attendees through the ISM Events app factored into the voting.
Wednesday’s Highlights
The Closing General Session at 9 a.m. PT features keynote speaker José Andrés, celebrity chef and founder of nonprofit World Central Kitchen (WCK). On April 1, seven WCK workers were killed in Gaza when their aid convoy was hit by what Israel later called an “unintended strike.”
Also:
- Breakout sessions continue, featuring such topics as negotiation, environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics, risk, supplier diversity, artificial intelligence and change management, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
- Presentations on various topics by ISM Supply Chain Trailblazer Award-winning companies, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
- Closing Party, 6:30 p.m.
A detailed ISM World 2024 agenda can be viewed here.