"Supplier Night" Dinner Meeting - Joint PMARI & APICS Meeting on "Risk Mitigation"

In these days of economic turmoil much has been written on mitigating risk from the financial and trade disruption perspectives. Oft-overlooked in the risk mitigation literature is the impact of natural disasters. As management techniques become more advanced and global trade networks more sophisticated in dealing with trade disruptions, natural disasters become increasingly important as causes of perturbations. This presentation looks at some considerations for researching the impact of natural disaster disruptions on supply chains for research currently underway.

Michael J. Gravier has been an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Bryant University since 2007. He holds a Ph.D. in Marketing and Logistics from the University of North Texas, an M.S. in logistics management from the Air Force Institute of Technology, and a B.A. with majors in Spanish and Anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to his academic career he spent 12 years as an active duty logistics readiness officer in the United States Air Force and worked as a research assistant in the Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Gravier holds professional certification status (C.T.L.) with the American Society of Transportation and Logistics. His research interests include supply chain network evolution, sustainable supply chains, risk mitigation, medical logistics, and transportation public policy. He has published in the International Journal of Logistics Management, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, Journal of Transportation Management, Journal of High Technology Management Research and Journal of Knowledge Management, as well as some dental, medical and anthropological research journals. He and Dr. Ted Farris of the University of North Texas are recent recipients of a research stipend from the IBM Center for the Business of Government to identify opportunities to manage and reduce logistics and supply chain management costs in healthcare.