DSC Logistics Invites Business Leaders from Across the U.S. to Ideas about Future Challenges

Chicago, Illinois (November 9, 2010) - DSC Logistics hosted a future-focused Business Symposium entitled Leading on the Edge, on October 21. Approximately 150 guests participated, as well as 25 panelists including business leaders from a variety of industries and supply chain professionals, professors and students. In addition to executives from DSC's customer base and other Chicago-area and Midwest companies, panelists and participants came from as far away as Cambridge, Massachusetts; Miami, Florida; Ft. Worth, Texas; San Francisco, California; and Santiago, Chile. They represented the fields of finance, consulting, education, consumer goods, health care, food, industrial manufacturing, law, real estate, transportation, and government policy-making.

According to Ann Drake, DSC CEO, As supply chain management plays an increasing role in helping businesses achieve their business goals, we wanted this exchange of ideas to take place among all members of the partnerships that are moving successful companies forward. We decided focusing on the future is the most exciting way to celebrate our company's 50th Anniversary.

DSC Logistics was founded as Dry Storage Corporation, a warehousing firm, in 1960 by Drake's father, Jim McIlrath. Drake became CEO in 1994 and has led the company through a transformation -- expanding into an integrated nation-wide network and developing operational and knowledge-based capabilities -- into its current role as strategic supply chain partner and lead logistics partner to leading companies, including Fortune 500 firms.

The DSC event began in the morning with a three-hour Supply Chain Forum, featuring two panels offering insights into future supply challenges and opportunities. The first panel was composed of students representing seven of the top university-based supply chain management programs in the U.S., including M.I.T., Miami University, Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan State, Penn State, University of Tennessee, and TCU. Members of the second panel were leading supply chain professionals.

The afternoon Symposium -- Leading on the Edge -- Toward 2025 -- focused on circumstances businesses in general are likely to face over the course of the course of the next 5-to-15 years as well as strategies that leading companies may choose to utilize. Ann Drake's remarks on Daring to Lead opened the discussions by relating her own path toward leadership as she identified and interpreted conditions surrounding her company and began to take steps to lead the company in new directions.

The first of two panels that followed offered a view of trends in five areas with a critical impact on business, including technology, new media, information proliferation and cyber security, changing demographics and workforce talent, and sustainability. The second Symposium panel, featured executives of leading companies in a variety of industries who focused on issues and strategies.

Although the future is unpredictable, as business leaders, we gain a better understanding of the possibilities and the opportunities by sharing information and perspectives, Drake explained. Our goal with the Symposium and the Supply Chain Forum that preceded it was to put thought-provoking ideas and perspectives onto the table for future inspection and discussion.

Members of the first afternoon panel, entitled As Far As We Can See, included David Simchi-Levi, co-Director of Leaders for Global Operations at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Joanna Drake Earl, COO of Current TV; Sandra Baer, former principal of Ridge Global and currently an executive with Bloomberg Government; Donna St. Aubin, founder of human resources firm St. Aubin Haggerty Associates; and JohnPaul Kusz, founder and associate director of the Center for Sustainable Enterprise at Illinois Institute of Technology. Moderator was Cheryl Harbour, chief communications advisor, DSC Logistics.

The second panel included Daan Delen, president and CEO of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and recently named president- and CEO-Elect of parent company Reynolds American Inc.; Deb DeHaas, vice chair, Deloitte LLP; Sharon Flanagan, senior vice president, Strategy, of TreeHouse Foods; Steve Inacker, president, Channel Management, Medical Segment, Cardinal Health; Jane Warner, executive vice president, global finishing and stretch and protective packaging, Illinois Tool Works; and Teresa Weintraub, president, Fiduciary Trust International of the South. Moderator was Donna Zarcone, president and CEO of D.F. Zarcone & associates and former president and CEO of Harley-Davidson Financial Services.

Professionals participating as panelists at the Supply Chain Forum were Rick Blasgen, president and CEO of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP); Ralph Drayer, former chief logistics officer of Procter & Gamble; Nick LaHowchic, former president and CEO of Limited Logistics Services and author of Start Pulling Your Chain; Leading Responsive Supply Chain Transformation'; Dr. Nancy Nix, executive Director of the EMBA program and professor, Supply Chain Practice, at TCU; and Justin Zubrod, chairman of Northwestern University Transportation Center's Business Advisory Council (BAC). Moderator was David Simchi-Levi, MIT professor of Engineering Logistics and author of Operations Rules: Delivering Customer Value through Flexible Operations.

The Symposium is the concluding event in a series of activities marking DSC's milestone of 50 years in the business.

About DSC Logistics

DSC Logistics, a leading supply chain management company, focuses on designing, integrating, managing, and adapting supply chain solutions. DSC's capabilities as a Lead Logistics Partner (LLP) and third-party provider (3PL) include supply chain analysis, network optimization and management, supply chain visibility, business process integration, Logistics Center management, transportation management, and value-added services. In today's environment, filled with rapid and unpredictable change, DSC helps customers achieve their goals by being ready for anything! To learn more, please visit www.dsclogistics.com, call (800)372-1960 or e-mail customersolutions@dsclogistics.com.

Website: http://www.dsclogistics.com