Contributors

Sue Abdinnour (“Hawker Beechcraft Uses a New Solution Approach to Balance Assembly Lines”) is a professor of operations management and holds the Verne and Helen Omer Professorship in Business in the W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University. Her work has been published in journals such as Decision Sciences, International Journal of Production Research, European Journal of Operational Research, and the Annals of Operations Research. Sue engages in consulting that assists companies in modeling their processes and improving their operations. She has won several research and teaching awards during her career.

Marc Albers (“Optimizing Railway Crew Scheduling at DB Schenker”) works as a consultant for Bayer Business Services. Prior to joining Bayer he worked at the University of Cologne, where he received his doctoral degree. His fields of interest include crew scheduling, supply chain management, and business intelligence.

Jude Buquid (“HD Supply Facilities Maintenance Uses Diluted Discounts to Optimize Purchasing Opportunities”) is the director of inventory management and logistics planning at HD Supply Facilities Maintenance. He has more than 15 years of experience across the supply chain in duties that include outbound fulfillment and freight cost optimization, applying academic theory to the realities of modern inventory management, and striking the right balance of speed and cost at which products can be delivered. He is currently focused on optimizing the company's network footprint from an inventory perspective as well as developing strategies to increase throughput through distribution centers. He holds a BS in logistics and economics from the University of Maryland at College Park and an MSBA in finance from San Diego State University.

Philip Hans Franses (“Averaging Model Forecasts and Expert Forecasts: Why Does It Work?”) is professor of econometrics and professor of marketing research, both affiliated with the Erasmus School of Economics. His research interests concern marketing, empirical finance, applied econometrics, and forecasting. He publishes on these topics in a variety of academic journals including Interfaces, the Journal of Marketing Research, and the Journal of Econometrics. Currently he serves as the Dean of the Erasmus School of Economics, serving 5,000 students and 400 staff.

Kevin C. Furman (“Feedstock Routing in the ExxonMobil Downstream Sector”) has been a leader of various programs and teams related to optimization and logistics research and software application development across multiple ExxonMobil affiliates. He received his PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. His eight years at ExxonMobil have focused on research, development, and leadership in the areas of OR and process systems engineering.

David Gibson (“HD Supply Facilities Maintenance Uses Diluted Discounts to Optimize Purchasing Opportunities”) is the manager of logistics planning at HD Supply Facilities Maintenance and has been working within the field of operations and inventory management for the past seven years. His areas of expertise include process improvement, working capital optimization, and distribution center slotting efficiency. He is a leader in reshaping the corporate culture at HD Supply Facilities Maintenance by demonstrating innovative ways that data can be used to make decisions. He is a graduate of San Diego State University and holds a BS in financial services.

Knut Haase (“Optimizing Railway Crew Scheduling at DB Schenker”) is a professor in the School of Business, Economics, and Social Sciences at the University of Hamburg. He received his PhD and his habilitation at the University of Kiel. His current research areas focus on crew scheduling, discrete choice models, line planning, pilgrim scheduling, and revenue management.

Paul Huppert (“HD Supply Facilities Maintenance Uses Diluted Discounts to Optimize Purchasing Opportunities”) received his degree in business administration from San Diego State University. He is a supply chain manager for HD Supply. He has over 12 years experience in real-world inventory optimization including the implementation of supply chain systems that support the function. He is certified by the Institute of Business Forecasting as a Professional Forecaster.

Silke Jütte (“Optimizing Railway Crew Scheduling at DB Schenker”) is a research assistant in the Department of Supply Chain Management at the University of Cologne. She has studied business mathematics at the University of Kaiserslautern and worked as a process manager at DHL. She is writing her PhD thesis in the field of crew scheduling.

Gary R. Kocis (“Feedstock Routing in the ExxonMobil Downstream Sector”) is a senior technologist with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company, presently working in the supply chain optimization field. During his 10 years with ExxonMobil, he has developed and applied optimization-based solutions to refinery planning and scheduling, and logistics optimization. He has 22 years of experience as a mathematical programming practitioner, having worked in systems development for Shell Oil Company and the ROMeo online optimization tool for Invensys.

Michael K. McDonald (“Feedstock Routing in the ExxonMobil Downstream Sector”) is an ExxonMobil Global feedstocks trader. He has been trading refining intermediates and products, and natural gas for 15 years.

Jin-Hwa Song (“Feedstock Routing in the ExxonMobil Downstream Sector”) leads optimization research at Corporate Strategic Research, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company. He received his PhD from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. Since joining ExxonMobil, he has been working on various projects related to optimization and decision science, as well as science-build research programs with several universities.

Ulrich W. Thonemann (“Optimizing Railway Crew Scheduling at DB Schenker”) is a professor in the Department of Supply Chain Management at the University of Cologne. He received his PhD from Stanford University and worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. His current research areas focus on crew scheduling, inventory optimization, and behavioral operations.

Joris van de Klundert (“ANWB Automates and Improves Service Personnel Dispatching”) holds an MSc in computer science from Erasmus University Rotterdam and a PhD in OR from Maastricht University. He has served as the founding director of Mateum, a Maastricht University spin-off delivering OR-based software and consultancy services. After being appointed professor of value chain optimization at Maastricht University, he returned to Erasmus University Rotterdam in 2009 to chair the Department of Health Services Management and Organisation. His main research interests are in the contributions of management science to networks of health-service organizations.

Peter van Huigenbosch (“ANWB Automates and Improves Service Personnel Dispatching”) is trained as a military officer and holds a bachelor's degree in automotive mechanics. He has worked in various positions at ANWB since 1992. He became involved in dispatch services while doing his MBA, which he earned in 2003. He is logistics manager at ANWB responsible for all supporting departments involved in assisting 1,250,000 stranded motorists annually.

Philip H. Warrick (“Feedstock Routing in the ExxonMobil Downstream Sector”) is a Distinguished Engineering Associate with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company. He is responsible for the supply chain technology team. His 30-year career at ExxonMobil has concentrated on the downstream of the oil business, including responsibilities for supply, transportation and refinery operations and planning, cargo trading, and the development and application of optimization technology to refining and logistics.

Laurens Wormer (“ANWB Automates and Improves Service Personnel Dispatching”) holds an MSc in OR from Maastricht University. He works for Mateum, a company providing advanced planning and optimization solutions for complex and innovative business processes. His main interests lie in developing decision support systems with state-of-the-art OR techniques that improve customer satisfaction and operational efficiency in health, home-care, and service organizations.