H.H. Franklin Center for Supply Chain Management

• For students: Provide a challenging and enjoyable environment in which to learn, do, and grow. Mentor, place, and maintain relationships with them.
• For alumni: Provide ongoing career advice and opportunities for networking.
• For practitioners: Provide services and products to meet your needs, such as internships/co-ops, talented employees, opportunities to share your experiences with our students, and executive education.

Co-directors: Gary La Point and Scott Webster

Franklin Advisory Board
The Franklin Advisory Board meets twice per year and plays a role in fundraising, student placement, curriculum input, and Salzberg Memorial program input. The current members are listed below.

Robert L. D'Avanzo, Partner, Accenture

D’Avanzo is a partner in Accenture's Communications and High Tech practice, having joined the firm in 1990. His education and professional experiences are in supply chain management and corporate strategy. Prior to joining Accenture, D’Avanzo held supply chain positions at Ocean Spray Cranberries and Hub Air International. He earned a BS in operations management from the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University in 1988.

D’Avanzo is co-author “Supply Chain Directions for a New North America” and has published numerous articles on management strategy. D’Avanzo led Accenture’s research into Supply Chain Mastery and High Performance. He is a frequent speaker at conferences, professional association meetings, and corporate events. 

D’Avanzo is active in several civic, social, and charitable organizations. In addition to his leadership role on the Franklin Advisory Board of Syracuse University, he is a director on the boards of the Family Resource Network and the Epilepsy Foundation of New Jersey, and a Trustee of the American Boychoir School in Princeton, NJ.

Gar Grannell graduated from the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University in 1988 with a double major in supply chain management and marketing management.

Currently, Grannell is president and co-owner of Mohawk Global Logistics which employs 62 people and is based in Syracuse. Mohawk provides international trade services including import and export freight forwarding, customs clearance service, warehousing, and distribution services. The company also has offices in Albany and Rochester and plans on opening several more offices in the Northeast in the next five years. This responsibility takes Grannell to Asia and Europe one or two times per year.

Grannell has served on the board of directors and as president of the Transportation Club of Central New York. He also serves on the Franklin Supply Chain Advisory Board in the Whitman School. He is also a guest lecturer for Export NY, a program sponsored by Whitman and National Grid to encourage local companies to expand into the global marketplace.

Grannell serves on the board at the Huntington Family Center, a not-for-profit human services organization located on the West side of Syracuse. He is a 2004 graduate of Leadership Greater Syracuse and was named a 40 under 40 recipient in 2000 for his business accomplishments and community involvement. Mohawk Global Logistics was selected as second fastest growing company in sales and employee growth in Central New York as part of the FastTrack 50 in 2006.


Patrick Hackett is director of International Supply Chain at Bed Bath & Beyond. He’s responsible for transportation, distribution and customs compliance-related activities for all US and Canadian imports and exports supporting 890 Bed Bath & Beyond and buybuy BABY stores.

Prior to his current role, Hackett held several corporate and manufacturing site supply chain-related positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb encompassing the areas of transportation, procurement, production planning, and inventory management. Prior to that, he was a supply chain consultant working for both KPMG Peat Marwick and Deloitte & Touche where he focused on clients in the retail, consumer product, and food industries. Before consulting, he worked for Hills Department Stores where he was responsible for carrier contract negotiations, and implementing inbound, and outbound freight management systems. He started his professional career at IBM as a transportation analyst.

He graduated from the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University in 1984 with a BS degree in transportation & distribution management and marketing.

Kevin Jost, president, Honeywell Imaging and Mobility (formerly Hand Held Products)

Honeywell Imaging and Mobility is a leading manufacturer of reliable, high-performance data collection and communication solutions including mobile computers and handheld scanners.

Starting on the manufacturing line in 1972, Jost’s tenure in the Automatic Data Collection (ADC) industry is unparalleled. His three+ decade’s of experience, passion, and commitment to employees and customers has earned him great respect throughout the industry.

In 2000, Jost began his role as president and CEO of Hand Held Products, Inc. As CEO, Jost, along with an accomplished leadership team, has guided the company through a highly successful spin-off from the Welch-Allyn companies – operating as an independent entity since 1999, has delivered record growth and profitability, and has positioned Hand Held Products as a true global presence in the ADC industry with operations in every major market of the world. Largely as a result of the company’s performance and rapid growth, Hand Held Products was successfully acquired by Honeywell International, Inc. in 2007, and became Honeywell Imaging and Mobility.

Jost’s focus remains on the medium- and long-term strategic direction of the company and leads a team of professionals who have gained international respect as innovative leaders in the Automatic Identification, Data Capture and Mobility industries. He is a graduate of Syracuse University, an active supporter of many local community initiatives, and serves on several boards of directors.

Nancy Jenkins Kennedy, director, Global Logistics, IBM
Nancy joined IBM in 1985 as a professional hire in the Americas/Far East Distribution organization. Prior to joining IBM, she worked for JCPenney’s corporate logistics department and at Metro Marketing, a small marketing communications firm.

After a number of planning and operations positions, Jenkins Kennedy was promoted to manager of Latin America operations and planning for High Volume products in 1988 and held a series of management positions primarily supporting personal systems operations, distribution, and planning for Latin America.

A two-year technical assistant assignment to the vice president of WW Supply and Acquisition for PC products and to the general manager of real estate and site operations was completed in 1995, when Jenkins Kennedy was named Latin America Distribution Manager reporting to the vice president of worldwide distribution.

In July of 1999, Jenkins Kennedy accepted a newly created position as director of delivery operations in the new delivery management - Americas group that had line responsibility for the quote to cash operations supporting hardware, software and services in the United States, Canada, and Latin America.
In January 2003, she was named director, global logistics operations support with responsibility for Worldwide Global Logistics operations support, and network design and optimization.

Jenkins Kennedy graduated from the Whitman School of Management with a BS and recently joined the advisory board of the Franklin Industrial Program at SU supporting the learning experiences in supply chain management.

Ronald Leibman joined Riker Danzig as counsel in January 2003. He practices in the firm's corporate group, concentrating in the areas of transportation and logistics. Leibman focuses his practice on the business needs of manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, distributors, motor carriers, third party logistics providers, and other logistics-related businesses. He is also experienced in commercial litigation and corporate law.
Prior to becoming a lawyer, Leibman was a senior logistics executive at Wakefern Food Corporation (ShopRite Supermarkets) and Fortunoff's. In addition to his law degree, he has an MBA in transportation/distribution management from the Whitman School.

Representative clients include Ahold USA, Capacity LLC, C&S Wholesale Grocers, Gerber Products, International Paper, National Starch and Chemical, Prestige Brands, Rema Foods, Silverline Building Products, and Wakefern Food.

Leibman is on the board of directors of the Institute of Logistical Management and is a member of the Association for Transportation Law, Logistics, and Policy. In addition, he serves on the Franklin Industrial Advisory Board of the Whitman School of Management. He has recently been listed as a Member in National Register's Who's Who in Executives and Professionals.
Leibman has written and lectured on a variety of transportation and logistics topics. His articles include "Workplace Injuries: New OSHA Standards Hit Power Equipment Operators" (New Jersey Law Journal, August 12, 1999).


Matthew E. Menner is the senior vice president of sales & alliances for Transplace, Inc. a leading third party logistics and technology solutions provider focused on transportation management business processes outsourcing. Menner leads a team of sales directors, develops, and executes alliances strategies as well as oversees industry analyst relations for Transplace. He brings more than 17 years of transportation and logistics industry experience. Prior to joining Transplace, Menner served as senior vice president of global sales and alliances for Optiant, a leader in strategic supply chain design and optimization.

Through a series of acquisitions over the course of a decade, Menner rose to the position of vice president of sales at Manhattan Associates, a global leader in supply chain execution solutions. Menner’s recent positions have been achieved through a culmination of rich experiences from a number of diverse companies which include: Logistics.com, Inc., Sabre, Inc., Princeton Transportation Consulting Group, Inc., Andersen Consulting’s (now Accenture) Logistics Strategies Practice, Burlington Northern Railroad, and St. Johnsbury Trucking Company, Inc.

Menner earned an AA in 1990 in liberal arts from Green Mountain College, a BS in 1990 in business administration/marketing management and MBA in 1994 in transportation& distribution/marketing management from the Whitman School. He was honored by SU as the 2007 Young Alumni of the Year and the 1997 Green Mountain College Young Alumni of the Year Award Recipient.

He has served as a Green Mountain College Trustee since 1999; he is currently a member of the Executive Committee, Chair of the Development Committee for the Comprehensive Capital Campaign (first in the history of the 170 year old institution, achieving US$9.5M (+120 percent) against a goal of US$8.0M) and Nominating Committee and recently appointed to his second Presidential Search Committee.

Menner also serves on both the Whitman Advisory Council and is a founding member of the Franklin Supply Chain Management Advisory Board at SU. He was also recently appointed to the position of vice president of strategic development for the Council of Supply Chain Professional (CSCMP) New England Roundtable.

In the battle against cancer, Menner is the captain and COO for Team Eradicate of the Pan Mass Challenge, who have raised almost $1M in eight years, contributing meaningfully to the aggregate fundraising for the Pan Mass Challenge of $171M.

Chuck Miller, consultant, North Pond Consulting.
Miller has more than 25 years of industry and government experience across a wide range of operations and R&D activities. Miller has held engineering and project management positions with the General Electric Co., the United States Naval Sea Systems Command, and 20 years of experience with United Technologies Corporation (including 10 years of executive management responsibilities as director of product reliability engineering, director of corporate engineering services, R&D programs director, and director of global sourcing for raw materials and electronics.) Miller has extensive management and training experience in global strategic sourcing, supply chain management, reliability and quality systems, and new product development processes. He also has extensive international business experience. He is the author of numerous books, articles and papers on supplier quality, reliability, engineering, and new product development. He also currently teaches adjunct at the Whitman School of Management.

Nicholas T. Pinchuk is president and COO of Snap-on Incorporated (NYSE: SNA), an S&P 500 company. He is also a member of Snap-on’s Board of Directors. Prior to that, Pinchuk served as senior vice president and president of Snap-on’s Worldwide Commercial and Industrial Group since June 2002. Prior to joining Snap-on, Pinchuk served in several executive operational and financial management positions at United Technologies Corporation, including president of global refrigeration operations of its Carrier Corporation unit and president of Carrier’s Asia-Pacific Operations. He also served in financial and engineering managerial staff positions at the Ford Motor Company from 1972 to 1983. Pinchuk held the rank of First Lieutenant in the United States Army from 1970 to 1971.

Jason H. Seidl is the director of equity research department at Dahlman Rose & Co., covering the airfreight & surface transportation sector. He was formerly vice president in equity research at Credit Suisse. He began his career in transportation equity research with Furman Selz in 1998 and continued to follow the railroad, trucking, and airfreight industries throughout the company's reincarnations as ING Barings and then ABN AMRO. Following the closure of ABN AMRO's US equities division, he joined Avondale Partners LLC in 2003 and continued his coverage of the transportation space there. Seidl remained at Avondale until 2005, when he shifted his franchise to Credit Suisse. Seidl has a solid transportation background outside of the investment industry as well--having worked for the New Jersey Bureau of State Use Industries in fleet management for two and a half years while spending another year with Roadway Package Systems (now FedEx Ground). He holds an MBA in finance from Rutgers University and a BS in transportation distribution management and marketing from the Whitman School. He is a contributing editor to Railway Age, a member of numerous transportation groups and has been recognized for both stock-picking and earnings accuracy by several nationwide analyst surveys, including the 2008 Financial Times World’s Top Analysts awards.

Herb Shear, CEO & president, GENCO, Inc.
Herb Shear owns GENCO, Inc., which was founded in 1898 by his grandfather Hyman Shear. GENCO Distribution System provides third-party logistics services, including direct logistics (warehousing and distribution services), reverse logistics and pharmaceutical returns (processing of returned goods, including pharmaceuticals), supply chain analysis, transportation management (including parcel management), and unsaleables (analyzing causes of damage to customers' product). The company maintains about 30 million square feet of warehouse space at some 95 locations in the US and Canada; it also has operations in Australia and the UK. Customers include manufacturers, retailers, and government agencies.