A graduate of Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, Adriana has been a financial news reporter since 1998, covering everything from privatizations, presidential elections, social clashes and fires in the suburbs of Paris, and oil discoveries in the Amazon. She worked with Reuters News in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and in 2000 joined Dow Jones Newswires and the Associated Press in Rio de Janeiro, where she was the sole economic news reporter. Adriana moved to Sao Paulo when she became Dow Jones bureau chief, responsible for a staff of eight reporters in Brazil. In her last assignment with the company, she worked as the news coordinator of the Paris bureau for two years until mid-2006. Adriana started her career as a television producer in Montreal, responsible for current affairs programs and documentaries for the U.S.'s Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Adriana is currently based in Rio de Janeiro, her home town.

Gabriele Borla has earned both his M.Sc. in Mining Engineering (1992) and his Ph.D. in Environment Engineering (1996) from the Politecnico di Torino, Italy. He is a professional licensed engineer. He recently graduated from Instituto de Empresa AMP (2005/06 edition) and from the Amsterdam Institute of Finance on project finance.

He has more than 15 years of professional experience covering most facets of infrastructure and environment engineering – from program and projects to cross cutting issues. During the past seven years he has been working for the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) with different responsibilities, both in the field and at the UN Headquarters (Logistics Division of DPKO) in New York.

His professional work experience includes working for the Academic Sector, Public Administrations, International Organizations and private contractors. He has worked in USA, Western Europe and also in developing countries (mainly Africa) for extended period of times.

He has participated in conferences and radio-television programs. He is author of more than 30 publications in reputed journals, manuals, monographs, technical reports and conference papers.

Jean-Julien obtained a B.Sc in Physics (2002) from Université de Sherbrooke, Canada and M.Sc.A in Electrical Engineering (2005) from Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal, Canada.

He has been working on different modelization problems for 5 years. During his masters’ studies, he worked on autonomous map building and space modelling in an artificial intelligence laboratory. In 2004, he joined the Graduate School of Environment and Earth Sciences of Hokkaido University, Japan, where he conducted research on ocean circulation and global warming.

Jean-Julien started to work for Bayes Forecast as a Market Analyst in 2006. He currently works on marketing and distribution models and applications for written press.

Javier Chécoles has been director of the Corporate Social Responsibility department at Inditex since 2000. Prior to joining Inditex, he was Local Partner at PriceWaterhouse Coopers, having previously worked for Coopers & Lybrand and PwC at their London and New York offices.

Javier is a Member of the Board of the Ethical Trading Initiative among other institutions. He was also the first Chairman of the UN Global Compact in Spain.

The CSR Department of Inditex is charged with coordinating the implementation of the Code of Conduct for External Manufacturers and Workshops within the large production line of the group and it ensures the enforcement of the Internal Code of Inditex

The work of Martin Christopher in the field of logistics and supply chain management has gained international recognition. He has published widely and his recent books include Logistics and Supply Chain Management and Marketing Logistics. Martin Christopher is also co-editor of the International Journal of Logistics Management and is a regular contributor to conferences and workshops around the world.

At Cranfield, Martin Christopher directs the Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management, the largest activity of its type in Europe. The work of the centre covers all aspects of transportation and logistics and offers both full-time and part-time masters degree courses as well as extensive management development programmers. Research plays a key role in the work of the Centre and contributes to its international standing.

In addition to leading a number of ongoing research projects in logistics and supply chain management, Martin Christopher is active as an advisor to many organizations and is non-executive director of a number of companies.

The Council for Supply Chain Management Professionals has awarded Martin Christopher its Distinguished Service Award for 2005. This is North America's highest accolade for work in the area of supply chain management and is the first time it has been given to anyone outside North America. Martin Christopher is an Emeritus Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport on whose Council he sits. In 1988 he was awarded the Sir Robert Lawrence Gold Medal for his contribution to logistics education and in 1997 was given the USA Council of Logistics Management's Foundation Award.

Volker holds a Master of Science in Supply Chain Management from the Institute of Supply Chain Excellence, of the Bordeaux School of Business from which he graduated in 2000. Before enrolling in the program at ISLI he has studied Biology at the University of Cologne and Sport Science and European Sport Studies at the Sports University Cologne in Germany.

Currently Volker is Senior Manager at the Department of Global Operations; Planning and Supply Chain Integrations at the Adidas Group in Germany, where he is Area Head in charge of Operation Management and Supply Chain Projects. Before joining Adidas Volker has gained substantial Supply Chain experience whilst working for well known companies as the Hewlett-Packard Corp., Solectron Europe and Deutsche Telecom. In 2001 he received the Annual Conference Student Award in Supply Chain Management from the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP). In addition to his current responsibilities at the Adidas Group Volker is associate professor at the ‘Institute of Supply Chain Excellence’ of the Bordeaux School of Business in France.

The very hands-on attitude towards business and industry is what distinguishes the philosophy of Angel Díaz Matalobos, whether that’s applied to his teaching, writing or research. “I believe that in the business we have to be practical,” he says. “You need a conceptual framework, but this framework has to work in the real world.”

It was his time spent working in industry and the private sector - including experience as a maintenance manager for a water supply system, consulting contracts in the oil, steel and aluminium industries as well as a stint with the Venezuelan metro system - that gave Prof Díaz many of his insights into the implementation of not only of Operations Management and Logistics but also of Information Technology.

His views on operations management, logistics and information technology systems, have been aired in more than 40 publications - among them the International Journal of Logistics and the European Journal of Operations Research - as well as in his three books. But if Prof Díaz is a prolific writer, he also has extensive teaching experience, having taught in at least 13 countries.

Dominique Estampe is currently Professor in Supply Chain Management and Director of the Institute for Supply Chain Excellence – ISLI, a Department of Bordeaux Business School.

He is author of several publications on Supply Chain processes and performances. He is Editor in Chief of Supply Chain Forum: An international journal, a refereed Journal (http://www.supplychain-forum.com) and Logistique & Management, a French refereed Journal.

He holds an Engineer Diploma of Bordeaux Electronic Engineering School in France. He was formerly senior consultant in reengineering processes and implementation of information systems for a nuclear engineering company SGN. He has worked for many European Companies as consultant in Operation Management.

For over 24 years, Luis Herrero has been working in the area of operations, logistics, organization, and information systems. During these years he has been employed by multinational companies in several sectors including consultancy, industry and distribution. Currently Luis Herrero is director of Organization, Logistics and Information systems at Leroy Merlin Spain.

Furthermore he is on the board of two companies, located in Italy and Portugal, and is associate professor of Operations and Information Systems at the Instituto de Empresa and the IDRAC (France) Luis Herrero is an Industrial Engineer graduated from ETSII of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. He further holds an Executive MBA from the Instituto de Empresa and is a Doctoral Candidate in Economics from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

A specialist in the field of Supply Chain Management, Organization, Innovation and Information Systems strategies, Luis Herrero has presented and published his work nationally as well as internationally.

Since 2000 Javier Gándara Martínez has been the legal representative of the company in Spain and Portugal as well as its Director of Operations. Prior to this position he directed the Planning and Engineering Department of FEDERAL EXPRESS in the same region and he worked for AENA, managing their Work Practices of the Maintenance Division in Seville.

His professional excellence and experience has made him a much asked for contributor conferences. Amongst others he presented at the 6th Postal Forum (Recoletos Conferencias y Formación) speaking about the “Convergence between Postal Services and the Express sector: the Alliance Experiences of FedEx”; at the 27 Jornada de Logística of the Spanish Logistics Center (CELS) presenting “FedEx: Whatever it takes”; at the 5th Postal Forum (Recoletos Conferencias y Formación) presenting “New Technologies and the Postal Sector, the Experience of FedEx”; at the International Security Management Conference (ASIS) presenting “Air Transport of Merchandize and Safety”; at the “First Air Freight Forum” of the Institute for International Research (IIR).

Javier Gándara is a member of the board of directors of the Asociación Española de Courier Internacional (AECI). By education he is Aeronautic Engineer graduated from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, he holds an BA in Business Administration from the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia and an Executive MBA from the Instituto de Empresa.

Nicolas Godron was appointed at Airbus UK - Head of Quality and Supply Chain for Landing Gears - in 2004 within Airbus Procurement Directorate Equipment and Propulsion Systems. As such he is in charge of Supply Chain, Quality and Risks across all Airbus programmes, A380, Long Range and Single Aisle Programmes for the Landing Gears and Equipment. He is accountable for managing all supplier relations, and ensuring timely delivery of all purchased goods on-cost and with the proper quality.

Mr. Godron began his professional career as a qualified Loss Adjuster for PolyExpert (Montpellier), responsible to investigate claims for Insurance companies related to commercial and industrial risks and had been promoted in 1996 Senior Manager for the South West area in France.

He joined Aérospatiale-Matra in 2000 as a Project Manager within Procurement organisation to create and lead an integrated French & German supply chain team with Hamburg Aircraft Final Assembly Line. 2 years later, he was promoted Supply Chain Manager at Airbus France in Toulouse for Avionics, Hydraulics and Electromechanical equipment based in Toulouse.

Nicolas Godron was born in 1969 in Rouen. He graduated in 1994 with a Masters degree in Electronics from Ecole Polytechnique University of Nantes where he specialised in Robotics, Power Electronics and in 1999 he gained a postgraduate diploma in Purchasing Supply Chain and Risk Management from Bordeaux Management School. Nicolas is very interested in the Lean Six Sigma methodology and obtained the Airbus Black Belt accreditation in 2005. On top of his current role, he is currently studying an Executive MBA with Lancaster University sponsored by Airbus.

Married with 5 children, Nicolas lives with his family in Bristol and enjoys participating in numerous sports in his free time including sailing, windsurfing, skiing and snowboardin

The Speaker's Bio is pending.