ISM Supply Chain Trailblazer Awards
The ISM Supply Chain Trailblazer Awards celebrate the organizational programs that set new standards, drive new possibilities, and exceed expectations. These are the organizations that set the bar. These are the organizations that help to advance the supply management profession.
2023 ISM Supply Chain Trailblazer Award Finalists Announced
Finalist organizations announced in eleven categories for this year's Trailblazer awards. Hear some of the organizations' trailblazing case studies first-hand at the ISM World 2024 annual conference and celebrate their success at the Awards Gala taking place on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. View the shortlist organizations below.
Categories
Honoring Organizations Making Trailblazing Impacts
Select from any or all of the 14 supply management categories. Your entries should be timely and relevant, having occurred and/or begun within the last 12 months . Entries are evaluated on initiative, process, outcomes, commitment, impact and achievements.
Below are the details for each of the award categories:
Transformation
Tell your organization’s supply management/procurement transformation journey and the impact it has made. Include appropriate results and successes.
Innovation
Share the problem or opportunity your organization has recently resolved through innovative practices. Explain how it created accelerated revenue, reduced costs, added value, created a competitive advantage, or solved a pervasive issue in your company.
Risk and Crisis Management
Share a problem scenario your organization has recently resolved including risks involved, crisis or challenge that did or could have occurred, that was mitigated or managed by the organization.
Thought Leadership Game Changers
Describe how your company has advanced the profession with demonstrated thought leadership and provide specific examples that outlines the impact it’s already making.
Sustainability Commitment
Share your company's story and results around how you've committed to demonstrating some or all of the eleven principles of sustainability.
Diversity Chamption
Share a recent project or program your organization has developed to advance diversity within the profession either within your talent and/or within your supply base.
NEW: Advanced Technology Digital Impact
Share the problem or opportunity your company has recently solved for leveraging advanced digital technology (ML, AI, RPA, IoT, blockchain, etc.) across the function or broader business enterprise.
NEW: Category Management Excellence
Share the problem or opportunity your organization has recently solved for leveraging category management strategies and demonstrating excellence.
NEW: Data & Analytics Initiative
Share the problem or opportunity your organization has recently solved for leveraging data and analytics across the function or broader business enterprise.
NEW: Logistics Excellence
Share the logistics problem or opportunity your organization has recently solved for the business or enterprise.
NEW: Procurement Solution Provider Impact
Share the problems or opportunities your solution solves for clients. Specific case studies will be required for review.
NEW: Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) Initiative
Share your organizations specific supplier relationship projects or an overarching SRM strategy development project that demonstrates the processes and mechanisms that the procurement team and supplier(s) have put in place to work together on a successful project.
NEW: Supply Chain Consultancy Project
Share the problem or opportunity your organization has recently solved for on behalf of or in partnership with a client.
NEW: Talent Management Excellence
Share the problem or opportunity your organization has recently solved for within the talent of their respective team(s).
2023-2024 Trailblazer Award Judges
Camille Batiste
ADM
John Blascovich
Kearney
Kim Brown
GSK
Ralph Carlton, CPSM
Velcro
Kimberly DeWitt, CPSM
CF Industries
John Foody
United States Steel Corporation
Howard Levy
Zimmer Biomet
Maria Lindenberg
(Retired CPO, Chevron)
Tom Linton
Linton Advisors
Lisa Martin, CPSM, C.P.M.
GSK
Lara Nichols, CPSM
Flatiron Health
Anthony Nieves, CPSM, C.P.M., CFPM
Five Star Home Health
Ann Oka
Sodexo, Inc.
Anthony Santiago
AES Consulting & Business Services LLC
Ronald D. Schnur, CPSM
UTZ Brands, Inc.
Shelley Stewart Jr., CPSM
Bottom Line Advisory LLC.
2023 ISM Supply Chain Trailblazer Award Shortlist
Award Category |
Finalists |
Advanced Technology Digital Impact |
Wesco International Las Vegas Valley Water District |
Category Management Excellence |
DuPont |
Data & Analytics Initiative |
Velcro Companies Mercury Marine (division of Brunswick) |
Diversity Champion |
DuPont Nova Southeastern University Apache Corp |
Innovation |
Zimmer Biomet |
Procurement Solution Provider Impact |
Kloopify |
Risk Management and Resilience |
Cipla Ltd. Alkermes |
Supply Chain Consultancy Project |
BDO USA |
Sustainability Commitment |
GSK Zimmer Biomet DuPont |
Talent Management Excellence |
Zimmer Biomet IHG Hotels & Resorts |
Transformation |
Cipla Ltd. DuPont IHG Hotels & Resorts |
2022 ISM Supply Chain Trailblazer Award Winners
Diversity Champion
Charter Communications
Stamford, Connecticut
In 2018, Charter Communications, which had launched a supplier diversity program a year earlier, established a goal to double the company’s initial diverse spend percentage within five years. Charter’s procurement team initiated a process to identify companywide opportunities for success and engaged stakeholders across the company to take action. . .
MGM Resorts International
Las Vegas
As part of an effort to elevate the overall impact of diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives and further infuse supply chain inclusion across the company, MGM Resorts International created a cross-function supplier inclusion task force to identify and remove barriers within processes, policies and supplier engagement. . .
San Jose Water
San Jose, California
In a meeting with the company’s board of directors, best practice considerations were presented according to two factors: ease and impact of implementation. The board approved numerous measures that could be funded and/or implemented with existing resources. These included tying a formal company supplier diversity. . .
Innovation
Flextronics Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.
A division of Flex; San Jose, California
Flex’s global business services master data management (MDM) function is an integral part of the company’s global procurement and supply chain organization, which is responsible for maintaining key data fields for procuring parts in ERP for 50 production. . .
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
Brentford, England
Within the oncology area, GSK’s focus is maximizing patient survival through transformational medicines, and to deliver first-to-market and first-in-class solutions that have the potential to address some of the biggest challenges. The cell and gene therapy. . .
Hilton Supply Management
McLean, Virginia
Hilton’s procurement team, Hilton Supply Manage- ment (HSM), developed a bedding solution that (1) enhanced the overall guest experience, (2) supported the company’s commitment to sustainable sourcing and (3) could be scaled. . .
Vantiva
Paris
Vantiva (formerly known as Technicolor), which partners with service providers to help them embrace complex broadband and video technologies to deliver seamless connectivity and premium entertainment experiences, was faced with inefficient manufacturing of. . .
WESCO International
Pittsburgh
With COVID-19’s unprecedented supply chain disruptions and product shortages making historical lead time data unreliable, on-time delivery became much more challenging. In order to remain best in class, Wesco International needed to validate scheduled. . .
Risk and Crisis Management
Mercury Marine
A division of Brunswick Corporation; Fond du Lac, Wisconsin
The coronavirus pandemic greatly impacted Mercury Marine across all supply chain tiers. Factory shutdowns constrained such supplies as petroleum derivatives, fiberglass, resins and semiconductors. In addition, the company faced. . .
Zimmer Biomet
Warsaw, Indiana
Last November, Zimmer Biomet learned that, due to a significant supply chain disruption, there was a shortage of a critical adhesive ingredient in a packaging component used in more than 80 percent of the company’s products. . .
Sustainability Commitment
Johnson & Johnson
New Brunswick, New Jersey
With impact as a focus, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) launched its Onward Sustainability program in 2021. The program, which complements the company’s supplier sustainability. . .
Loadsmith
Denver
An environmental waste lawsuit settlement agreement required Santa Barbara County, California to export recyclables to developing countries struggling with sourcing raw materials to produce supplies like. . .
Thought Leadership Game Changers
GSK
London
GSK is a global company with an internal manufacturing footprint of more than 35 sites and 70 procurement sites. Each procurement team was somewhat siloed, not sharing their best practices or connecting enough across the vast . . .
Transformation
ADM
Chicago
Since 2014, ADM’s procurement organization has focused a multi-year approach to transformation through the 3Ps: people, process and platform. The company revisited its procurement operating model to build and drive a sustainable category management framework servicing the company’s multibillion dollar . . .
DC Water
Washington, D.C.
Since 2014, ADM’s procurement organization has focused a multi-year approach to transformation through the 3Ps: people, process and platform. The company revisited its procurement operating model to build and drive a sustainable category management framework servicing the company’s multibillion dollar . . .
GSK
London
With GSK dividing into two entities — pharmaceutical and consumer health care — in mid-2022, the company conducted a review of the procurement function’s operating model. The goal: To right-size each entity while finding efficiencies. . . .
Schneider Electric
Rueil-Malmaison, France
Schneider Electric had no single, global organization accountability for indirect procure to pay (P2P) and no standard processes, and many legacy indirect e-procurement tools, the company said in its application statement. . .
Get Organizational Awards Updates
FAQ
Q: What is the entry deadline?
A: October 13, 2023
Q: Can organizations enter for multiple categories?
A: Organizations are limited to one submission/entry per category. A complete online entry and fee are required to be considered.
Q: When is the awards celebration?
A: April 29, 2024 explore more Trailblazer Awards Gala details here.
Q: Are awards finalists announces, and if so, when?
A: Category winners will be formally announced at the 2024 ISM Awards Gala.
Q: What is the judging criteria?
A: Entries are evaluated on initiative, process, outcomes, commitment, impact and achievements. Click “About” section within entry site to review criteria for each category.
Q: Who are the judges and what is the review process?
A: A panel of subject matter experts with numerous years of supply management experience and expertise. Reviews take place between October and November 2023.
Q: What questions are required on the online entry form?
A: You’ll be asked submitter contact information, information about your company such as size, location and industry and a short description of your entry. And most importantly, a series of questions about your company’s accomplishments for your chosen category:
- What is the problem your organization faced?
- What was the plan and process the team took to address this problem?
- How did it address the problem and what impact did it make to the organization?
- What stakeholders and/or departments/teams were involved and impacted?
- What were the specific results/KPI’s (financial cost savings, value-added, relationship supplier, stakeholder, team, etc.)?