Look closely at the intersection of art and science, and you’ll find logistics is transforming delivery of the next big thing. GROUNDBREAKERS 2024 explores the technologies and solutions advancing the worlds of fashion, health, energy and delivery in concert with revolutionary supply chain visionaries and innovators.
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Join the legendary founders who have not only envisioned the possibilities foretold by the supply chain but have also built the very foundation, infrastructure, and ongoing transformations of what we now know as logistics.
Frederick W. Smith is the founder of FedEx Corporation and executive chairman of the board of directors. After four years of service in the Marines, including two tours of duty in Vietnam, he launched the original air-ground Federal Express network, which began operations in 1973. The company has since grown into a $87 billion global enterprise that serves more than 220 countries and territories. FedEx operations include 698 aircraft, more than 200,000 vehicles and approximately 5,000 operating facilities. More than 500,000 team members worldwide currently handle approximately 15 million shipments each day. As executive chairman, Smith focuses on board governance, as well as issues of global importance, including sustainability, innovation and public policy.
Hamid Moghadam is co-founder, chairman and CEO of Prologis. In 1983, he co-founded the company's predecessor, AMB Property Corporation, and led it through its initial public offering in 1997, as well as its merger with Prologis in 2011. He is a trustee emeritus of Stanford University and currently serves on the boards of Stanford Management Company, Stanford Health Care and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He received the 2013 Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year Overall Award and is a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. He has been named CEO of the Year and received multiple lifetime achievement awards from leading publications and industry organizations, as well as Harvard Business Review, which, in their latest rankings, listed him as the #17 Best-Performing CEO in the World.
Susie Gharib is an award-winning national television financial journalist with extensive knowledge of U.S. and international business, economics and markets. She is a highly experienced anchor, reporter and writer for the nation's most prestigious news organizations, including PBS, CNBC and Fortune magazine.
By 2030, the supply chain will process and deliver 100 billion packages. Who will deliver all those packages? And how? Learn how game-changing transportation will bypass congested streets by using the lower airspace.
Patrick Hertzke is a partner at McKinsey and leads the Global Electrified Vehicle and Battery Service line within McKinsey’s Center for Future Mobility (MCFM). Across the U.S. and EU, he is a leader in McKinsey’s automotive and transportation practices with an emphasis on serving auto and truck original equipment manufacturers, suppliers, transport operators and mobility clients. He has led research and client service on electrification, transportation decarbonization and mobility topics across the value chain, including deep modeling of global electric vehicle markets, consumer trends and demand, EV market economics, OEM and supplier strategies, transportation electrification, battery tech/battery energy storage systems and charging infrastructure.
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Dr. Stephan Peters is a distinguished logistics expert and a member of the board of directors, Rhenus Group, a global logistics services company. With over 20 years of experience in the logistics and transportation industry, he has been pivotal in shaping the strategic direction and growth of the Rhenus Group. Previously, he served as the managing director of Rhenus Office Systems. Prior to Rhenus, Dr. Peters was head of project management for small- and medium-size enterprises at the business consulting firm agiplan, which specializes in integrated optimization services for industry, logistics and production processes. He was awarded a Ph.D. in economics and logistics from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
Alex Coates is the president and chief financial officer at Airspace. Since joining the company in 2020, he has spearheaded long-term growth strategy and fundraising. Prior to Airspace, Coates served as SVP of Finance and acting CFO at Xos Trucks, a leader in last-mile transportation technology, where he led corporate development and strategy, along with finance and several other internal administrative functions. He began his career at McKinsey & Company with a focus on operations and strategy for transportation clients. He then joined private equity firm HGGC, investing in and leading planning for emerging technology businesses.
A logistics real estate veteran, Dan Letter is responsible for Prologis’ global real estate operations and capital deployment across the 19 countries in which the company operates.As a leader, he is passionate about workforce culture, Prologis’ leadership in sustainable building and operations, and helping Prologis customers grow and succeed.
What trends are affecting the fashion industry in disruptive and astonishing ways? Sustainable products and slow fashion, diversity and inclusion, an engaging digital experience and the impact of disruptive technologies, such as artificial intelligence, are reshaping an already-dynamic industry.
Paolo Zannoni is the president of Prada Holding and executive deputy chairman of Prada SpA. He is also international advisor to the Executive Office of Goldman Sachs International. He serves on the advisory board of the Jackson Institute and the International Center for Finance for Global Affairs at Yale University. His former positions include partner of Goldman Sachs, president of Fiat USSR, president of Fiat USA, chairman of the board of Autogrill from 2019 to 2021 and chairman of the board of Prysmian from 2005 to 2021. Before venturing into the financial world, Zannoni studied at the universities of Bologna, Florence and Yale.
Andy Ruben founded Trove in 2012, pioneering the first brand resale program, which has since grown into an industry with 150-plus global brands operating dedicated programs. Trove powers companies—such as Patagonia, lululemon, Levi’s, Gucci and REI—with its suite of resale and reverse logistics technology. Previously, Ruben led a number of transformations at Walmart, including launching their heralded sustainability program, reimagining private brands, and leading strategy and the omnichannel business. He serves as lead independent director of the Zevia board and is an active member of the Competitive Council at Cerberus Capital Management.
Kirsty McGregor is the executive European editor at Vogue Business, the digital title Condé Nast set up in 2019 to offer a global perspective on how tech, sustainability and cultural trends are impacting the luxury fashion and beauty industries. She was previously editor of the fashion trade magazine Drapers and has a background in social policy journalism.
Dive into a rapid-fire panel where industry titans Relay Technologies and Gideon Brothers herald the advancements in artificial intelligence that are redefining the supply chain. This segment will provide sharp, actionable insights combined with forward-thinking perspectives on using AI to transform delivery and maximize supply chain efficiency.
Josip Cesic is the co-founder and CEO of Gideon, a pioneering robotics and artificial intelligence company. Gideon revolutionizes supply chains with AI-powered robots, automating one of the hardest problems: the loading and unloading of truck trailers with autonomous forklifts. His visionary leadership and strategic insights drive Gideon's growth and success in the robotics market. Cesic holds several patents, has published over 20 research papers on robotics and autonomous systems and has a Ph.D. in autonomy technologies from the University of Zagreb (FER), Croatia, completed with the University of Waterloo, Canada. He serves on the board of alumni at FER.
Nicole Mazza is the co-founder and chief customer officer of Relay Technology. Prior to Relay, she scaled Stuart Delivery's business from incubation to market leader for same-day delivery. Mazza began her career at HotelTonight, now part of Airbnb, where she focused on market launches.
As chief technology officer at Prologis, Sineesh Keshav oversees all aspects of technology and the design, development and delivery of Prologis’ global technology initiatives. An IT veteran, he’s held leadership roles at Experian PLC, where he was responsible for the development of decisioning solutions; Safeway, where he led application development and the team that rolled out the company’s acclaimed customer-facing loyalty program; and American Express, where he led the global mobile development team and digital customer acquisition teams.
The EU’s efficiency goals are driving logistics forward with a fully integrated, interconnected and digitized energy market. Our future depends on visionaries at the forefront of an energy transformation in the EU and across the globe.
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Jean-Pascal Tricoire is the chairman of Schneider Electric. He previously served as COO of Schneider from 2003, CEO from 2006 to 2011, and Chairman and CEO from 2011 to 2023. Under his leadership, Schneider transformed to become a technology company leading in software, sustainability, digitization and electrification. As CEO, he redefined the company’s purpose and technology portfolio, growing the company to four times its size, with revenues and a footprint balanced across the globe. Tricoire joined Schneider Electric in 1986 and held various positions across France, Italy, China, South Africa, the United States and Hong Kong.
Dr Toby Ferenczi is CEO of Granular Energy, a software company that helps energy utilities provide greater transparency to their customers on energy sourcing and carbon emissions. He is an experienced executive in the energy sector, having founded and sold two previous energy startups and having held positions at OVO Energy and General Electric. He is also the founder of EnergyTag, a nonprofit. Dr Ferenczi has a degree in physics from Cambridge University and a Ph.D. in solar energy from Imperial College London.
Amund Vik is a senior advisor to Eurasia Group, advising internal teams and the firm's clients on Europe's energy transition, European geopolitics and more. He served as state secretary—the equivalent of deputy minister—in the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy from 2021 to June 2023. Prior to that, he worked for the Norwegian Labour Party, beginning in 2010 as a political advisor in the parliamentary group before transitioning to head of strategy and policy for the party. He has also worked as a consultant for Nordic Energy Research.
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Susan Uthayakumar leads the evaluation and scaling of existing and emerging energy solutions to ensure Prologis continues to be the leader in sustainability in the logistics real estate industry. She was recognized as a 2021 Environment+Energy Leader 100 Honoree for successfully delivering climate mitigation action to enterprise customers.
With over 50% of world's population managing chronic health issues, demand for innovation in the pharma, medtech and biotech industries has triggered a tsunami of change. Join our panel of groundbreaking visionaries, designers and scientists shaping and enabling the treatment of complex diseases with one goal in mind: better health.
Josh Makower is the Yock Family professor of medicine and bioengineering at the Stanford University Schools of Medicine and Engineering and is the director and co-founder of the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign. He is the founder and executive chairman of ExploraMed, a medical device incubator that has created 10 companies over the past 20 years. Makower is also a senior advisor to Patient Square Capital and an advisory venture partner with Sofinnova Partners. He holds over 300 patents and patent applications for various medical devices in the fields of cardiology, ENT, general surgery, drug delivery, plastic surgery, dermatology, aesthetics, obesity, orthopedics, women’s health and urology. Currently, he serves on the boards of Elevage, Revelle Aesthetics, ExploraMed, Moximed, Willow, X9 and Coravin.
Kristin-Anne Rutter is a trained medical doctor and former McKinsey partner who devised, and is now leading, the implementation of the life science strategy for Cambridgeshire. The strategy is designed to attract global talent and international investment to the region and nurture breakthrough discoveries, rapidly testing and scaling them to deliver step changes in health care and economic growth for the country. At McKinsey, she developed successful health care ecosystems with clients in the Middle East, USA, Australia and Europe and founded the McKinsey Health Tech network, which connects tech innovators with health care institutions globally. Currently, she leads the Secure Data Environment program for the East of England and is heading up a workstream for Roland Sinker’s National Health Service (NHS) review into how to bring more innovation to health care.
Peter Skillman currently serves as the global head of design for Royal Philips. He is focused on radical empathy and transforming the lives of patients and clinicians through simplicity, clarity and the predictive insights of data. Skillman spearheads the company's design strategy and oversees the designers responsible for shaping the physical and digital environments of Royal Philips. His journey began at IDEO, a globally acclaimed design consultancy, where he honed his skills as a designer and engineer. His expertise further extended to Microsoft, followed by steering the UX for nearly all Amazon Web Services (AWS). Skillman has earned numerous awards for his contributions to the design industry, securing a spot from Fast Company as one of the “100 Most Creative People in Business.”
Naomi Grimley is a strategic communications advisor who currently advises the new Ellison Institute for Technology in Oxford after transferring from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. She was previously a TV and radio correspondent with over 20 years of experience at the BBC in London. Grimley became a global health correspondent at the start of the pandemic, covering all aspects of the COVID in both the UK and worldwide. Before that, she was a global affairs correspondent and political correspondent. During her broadcasting career, she presented many radio documentaries and podcasts for Radio 4 and BBC World Service on political and social history.
The next generation of racing is here! Formula E and Stark Future are pushing boundaries with groundbreaking fusions of performance, sustainability and innovation on and off the track in the world's most renowned cities and venues. Get an insider's perspective from two visionary leaders who are revolutionizing motorsports.
Before co-founding the first all-electric motorsport world championship in 2011, Alberto Longo was the team principal of the motor racing Barwa Addax Team, which saw a successful revamp under his leadership. He initially purchased the team under the name of Campos Racing GP2 Team with current Formula E Co-Founder and Chairman Alejandro Agag. Longo’s first experience in motorsport came in the early 2000s when he and Agag began purchasing and commercializing Formula 1 TV rights in Spain. Longo started his career as an investment advisor for Santander Private Bank, where he worked in multiple locations around the world for five years, followed by more than a decade working in law.
Anton Wass founded Stark Future with a mission to revolutionize the motorcycle industry through sustainability. Stark Future’s first model became the best-selling electric motorcycle globally (excluding scooters) within two months of launch. As CEO, Wass’ strong business background, which has been instrumental in the success of multiple ventures, is complemented by his technical skills, honed from rebuilding car and motorcycle engines since the age of 12. He is dedicated to leading Stark Future for the next 20 years, focusing on delivering outstanding results, challenging industry norms, and setting new standards for sustainability and performance in the motorcycle industry.
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With 25 years of commercial real estate experience, Scott Marshall taps into his deep expertise to drive customer-related initiatives across all Prologis business lines and geographies. He also guides the teams responsible for broadening Prologis’ use of data-driven insights and executing the company's comprehensive customer strategy.
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Join Bear Grylls, the master of survival, and discover how logistics plays a key role in life on the edge.
Bear Grylls is probably the most recognizable face of adventure on the planet. He is a former 21 SAS soldier who became one of the youngest-ever climbers of Mount Everest, despite breaking his back in a free-fall accident only months earlier. From Everest, he went on to host extreme adventure TV shows, which include Discovery channel’s “Man vs. Wild” and “Running Wild with Bear Grylls,” now in its seventh season on the National Geographic channel. He also hosts the Emmy-nominated interactive Netflix series “You vs. Wild.” He is a family man, bestselling author, honorary colonel to the British Royal Marine Commandos and the first-ever chief ambassador to 55 million young Scouts worldwide.
Tracy Ward is the managing director, global head of Marketing at Prologis. She is responsible for defining and implementing the company’s brand and growth programs and plays a pivotal role in shaping and driving the company's marketing initiatives worldwide. Her goal is to ensure the company's marketing efforts support and enhance its growth, brand positioning and customer relationships. During her tenure with Prologis, she has worked in numerous capacities. She led the company’s Investor Relations team from 2006 to 2021 and is a co-founder of the company’s women’s network, designed to promote inclusion and diversity and ensure gender equity throughout Prologis and across the industry.
Join the legendary founders who have not only envisioned the possibilities foretold by the supply chain but have also built the very foundation, infrastructure, and ongoing transformations of what we now know as logistics.
By 2030, the supply chain will process and deliver 100 billion packages. Who will deliver all those packages? And how? Learn how game-changing transportation will bypass congested streets by using the lower airspace.
What trends are affecting the fashion industry in disruptive and astonishing ways? Sustainable products and slow fashion, diversity and inclusion, an engaging digital experience and the impact of disruptive technologies, such as artificial intelligence, are reshaping an already-dynamic industry.
Dive into a rapid-fire panel where industry titans Relay Technologies and Gideon Brothers herald the advancements in artificial intelligence that are redefining the supply chain. This segment will provide sharp, actionable insights combined with forward-thinking perspectives on using AI to transform delivery and maximize supply chain efficiency.
The EU’s efficiency goals are driving logistics forward with a fully integrated, interconnected and digitized energy market. Our future depends on visionaries at the forefront of an energy transformation in the EU and across the globe.
With over 50% of world's population managing chronic health issues, demand for innovation in the pharma, medtech and biotech industries has triggered a tsunami of change. Join our panel of groundbreaking visionaries, designers and scientists shaping and enabling the treatment of complex diseases with one goal in mind: better health.
The next generation of racing is here! Formula E and Stark Future are pushing boundaries with groundbreaking fusions of performance, sustainability and innovation on and off the track in the world's most renowned cities and venues. Get an insider's perspective from two visionary leaders who are revolutionizing motorsports.
Join Bear Grylls, the master of survival, and discover how logistics plays a key role in life on the edge.
Thank you for your interest in attending GROUNDBREAKERS! Our in-person space is extremely limited and available by invitation only. Please reach out to your Prologis contact or [email protected] for more information.
In the meantime, we encourage you to register for the livestream experience. Your participation is important to us, near or far.
Each year, Prologis’ thought leadership forum welcomes some of the supply chain's foremost visionaries to examine the complexities and possibilities that groundbreaking innovations bring to the world of logistics today and in the future.
London is incredibly busy the week of GROUNDBREAKERS. We encourage you to make your travel arrangements and book accommodations through your preferred provider as soon as possible. We recommend the following nearby hotels:
GROUNDBREAKERS will be broadcast live on October 2, 2024, and will be available on demand following the forum. You need to register for the event to access the livestream.
Prologis is the world’s leader in logistics solutions and logistics real estate, paving the way for more than 40 years to deliver the most advanced logistics platform to meet the ever-changing demands of today's global supply chain.
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