This past week, the world celebrated International Women’s Day. Here at ASCM, we recognized the accomplishments and contributions of the female members on our board of directors, led by Chair Lisa Veneziano, who is also former head of the ASCM Diversity and Inclusion Task Force. Lisa is in good company: There are six other impressive women on our board, including Amy Augustine, CSCP, senior director at UScellular, who won last year’s prestigious ASCM Award of Excellence — Supply Chain Leader for her extraordinary team and organizational leadership.
Women are always strongly represented in the awards. Also in 2022, Princess Newborn, director of human resources at UPS company Ware2Go, won the impactful ASCM Award of Excellence — Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Champion for her exceptional commitment to DEI in supply chain.
Each year, ASCM presents both individuals and corporations with awards to honor superior performance and dedication to advancing supply chain. (The 2023 Call for Entries just opened, so don’t miss your chance to enter or nominate a deserving candidate.)
While the stories of our award winners inspire, there’s more we must do to foster professional environments that value equality and ensure that people of all profiles and backgrounds succeed in supply chain careers. Attracting women to supply chain, or STEM fields in general, must be a priority. In fact, the United Nation’s (UN) International Women’s Day theme was DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality. Incredibly, the UN predicts that 75% of all jobs will be in STEM fields by 2050, yet women make up only 27% of STEM workers, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. As the UN website states, “Bringing women into technology results in more creative solutions and has greater potential for innovations that meet women’s needs and promote gender equality.”
Sin To, senior director of marketing communications at SAP, shared her thoughts in Forbes about why this is so important for supply chain: “With the increasing use of automation and digital technologies such as robotics, [the internet of things] or machine learning in supply chain management, STEM skills are becoming more important as we become more technology-driven.”
Indeed, digital transformation necessitates rapidly evolving talent, and tomorrow’s supply chain professionals might not be found in the usual places. On a recent podcast episode, Bob Trebilcock and I discussed this with ASCM board members Katie Fowler and Pamela Dow. They talk about their experiences rising through the ranks in supply chain, the importance of finding your voice and why DEI matters more than ever. For even more insights, register for next week’s Panel Discussion: Women in Supply Chain, moderated by ASCM Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Rennie. You'll hear from some fascinating women as they describe their own supply chain career journeys.
Whether encouraging women to pursue STEM fields or contributing to worthy DEI causes, there are so many opportunities to make a difference. Start by nominating an outstanding woman in supply chain for the 2023 ASCM Awards of Excellence today. The deadline is May 15!
