Operations

Alistair Kett is the Lead Partner of Supply Chain and Operations at PwC UK and has held various appointments within PwC globally, including a role in the Middle East Leading the Regional Operational Consulting business. He specializes in designing and delivering enterprise-wide transformation programs that deliver tangible and sustained outcomes. Typically, these have a sharp focus on cost, and over more recent years this focus is now combining financial cost with the imperative to decarbonize — and Kett has overseen some of PwC’s groundbreaking client partnerships to help develop straightforward plans to measure, monitor, and reduce their operational and supply chain related emissions. Recently, Kett and his team launched the Inspire Initiative — a scholarship program for young women to pursue careers in operations consulting and beyond. The program works on reducing gender disparity across Operations, changing the way women are recruited, retained, and progressed through their career, and pioneering an innovative and industry-first Women in Operations Network, Community, and Retreat. In early 2022, Kett led the acquisition of Olivehorse, a leading consultancy specializing in supply chain management. The acquisition strengthened PwC’s already outstanding and FT Gold Medal-ranked supply chain capability, delivering even better value to the clients. During his time in the Middle East, Kett joined the Board of The Iraq Britain Business Council to chair the Financial and Professional Services Table, and in 2017 he was appointed as Deputy Chairman. He is now Chairman of The Poppy Factory, a U.K.-based charity that supports veterans with health conditions on their journey into employment.

Fredrik de Maré is a Senior Managing Director in FTI Consulting’s Supply Chain Global Solutions Practice. He has more than 20 years of management consulting experience advising clients on supply chain strategy, supply chain risk management, and operational performance improvement. His sector expertise spans across the healthcare, life sciences, and technology industries. De Maré brings deep operational strategy expertise, including global supply chain network strategy and supply chain risk management. Over the course of his career, he has worked with numerous clients on a global basis to mitigate critical supply chain risks and drive transformational improvements to their supply chain operations. Prior to joining FTI Consulting, de Maré served as a senior leader in the Operations & Supply Chain practice of Russell Reynolds Associates, where he advised industry-leading clients on supply chain leadership and management topics. He was previously a partner with Arthur D. Little leading its San Francisco office. Earlier, he was a partner in PRTM’s Supply Chain practice and subsequently a partner in PwC’s Healthcare practice, where he spearheaded the pharma supply chain risk management services. De Maré received a Bachelor of Science in engineering management from the University of Vermont and an MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Gautam Narayan is a Director in Slalom’s Global Supply Chain practice. Slalom is a purpose-led, global business and technology consulting company. In his role, Narayan has helped grow Slalom’s fledgling supply chain capabilities into a multimillion-dollar business. He has worked with companies across industries to address their thorniest problems. He has taken on a variety of leadership roles, from advising the C-Suite of global companies on their supply chain modernization journeys, to overseeing the delivery and sustainment of next-generation supply chain capabilities. His work has led him, and Slalom, to be featured on the Latin America (LATAM) Medtech Leaders Podcast, where he discusses supply chain implications across the region. Prior to joining Slalom, Narayan worked at global Big 4 Consulting firms, where he partnered with senior leaders at large organizations to identify and articulate where strategic capability and technology investments would unlock value. He also spent many years leading large, complex supply chain transformations globally. Narayan prides himself on challenging traditional ways of thinking, approaching problems creatively, building competencies and delivery mechanisms around that, and helping shape the future of what businesses can and should be. He received his industrial engineering degree from Purdue University.

Jim Kilpatrick is the Global Leader of Deloitte’s Supply Chain & Network Operations consulting practice. Deloitte is recognized as one of the world’s leading global supply chain and operations consultancies, working with clients across industries and the public sector to tackle their most complex supply chain challenges and turn supply chain capability into competitive advantage. In his over 30 years with Deloitte, Kilpatrick has led many significant global end-to-end supply chain transformation programs, delivering significant impact through global supply chain optimization, and leveraging advanced supply chain systems and technologies to build supply chain capability and improve performance. During this recent period of unprecedented disruption and volatility, Kilpatrick has led Deloitte’s perspectives, initiatives, and investments to help keep critical global supply chains flowing. Kilpatrick is a frequent speaker and author on supply chain management. He passionately believes that building digital capability is critical to move beyond traditional service, cost, and asset optimization to embrace the new supply chain imperatives of resilience, sustainability, and agility and find the right balance in reimagining supply networks for the future. Kilpatrick received his MBA from the University of Toronto and received a degree in systems design engineering from the University of Waterloo. He is a Professional Engineer and Lean 6-Sigma Master Black Belt.

Martha Carter, PhD, is Vice Chair of the global CEO advisory firm Teneo. She also leads the Governance Advisory practice, which supports clients in all areas of governance, including activism, special situations, board advisory, executive compensation, proxy risk and proxy advisors, ESG, and shareholder engagement. Dr. Carter currently sits on the Advisory Council of the Harvard Corporate Governance Forum and previously sat on the Markets Advisory Council at the Council of Institutional Investors (CII). She is also on the Advisory Council for the Finance Department at the University of Maryland's Smith School of Business. Previously, Dr. Carter was the Head of Global Research at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Chair and Founder of the ISS Global Policy Board. At ISS, she led Global Research’s team of 160 governance analysts in 10 offices worldwide. Her team provided institutional investors with research and voting recommendations on more than 38,000 companies in 115 markets. Carter has been quoted in media worldwide and has also been a speaker at numerous corporate governance events. She has also written articles for a number of publications, including: NYSE: Corporate Governance Guide; International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Benefits Magazine; ICGN Yearbook; and Financial Analysts Journal. Earlier in her career, Dr. Carter held positions at NASDAQ, The Federal Home Loan Banks, IBM, and Touche Ross. She has also held several academic appointments teaching finance courses. She holds a PhD in finance from The George Washington University, an MBA in finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and undergraduate degrees in mathematics and French from Purdue University. She also holds ESG certifications in SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board) Level 1 and TCFD (Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosure).

Sophie Ross is the Global Chief Executive Officer of FTI Consulting’s Technology segment, a global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations manage change, mitigate risk, and resolve disputes. She also leads the Technology Steering Committee and is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Ross has more than 20 years of experience in company management and operations in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, specializing in helping clients manage their overall e-discovery and review through predictable pricing models and by simplifying the multiple layers of discovery management. She additionally serves on the Global Steering Committee of FTI Consulting’s Women’s Initiative, a company-wide program meant to attract, retain, develop, and promote highly talented female professionals. Prior to her current position, Ross led the Western Region for FTI Consulting as well as the Managed Document Review business globally. She initially joined FTI Consulting through its 2008 acquisition of Strategic Discovery, a leader in the litigation discovery industry, where she served as COO and was responsible for all operations including data processing, IT, client support, human resources and administration, finance, and accounting. Prior to Strategic Discovery, Ross was executive VP of Global Delivery & Operations at Freeborders, an application outsourcing and software firm. She has also held strategic and operational leadership roles at Revlon (MacAndrews & Forbes) and The Boston Consulting Group. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Tel Aviv University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Srimathi is a Corporate Vice President and the Program Director for New Vistas at HCL Technologies. With an extensive experience of more than two decades in Business and Human Capital strategy, Shivashankar has headed and primed global transformation initiatives at HCL. Currently, she is responsible for strategizing and operationalizing new HCL delivery centers through the New Vistas program. She was also the key architect of the HCL Foundation and HCL Grant initiatives. Shivashankar is widely admired among her peers for her unique leadership coaching abilities. She is dexterous in bringing together multiple stakeholders from diverse backgrounds to collaborate and deliver business results with unflinching integrity and values. Shivashankar has been a key speaker at various international forums such as the U.N., WBCSD, World Investment Forum, WEF, NASSCOM, and CII, with a focus on leadership, human capital management through diversity and inclusion, and sustainability. She has published many papers and mentors research scholars. Shivashankar holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, which is one of the top 10 engineering colleges in India and which has recognized her accomplishments through the Distinguished Alumna Award. She also received an MBA in International Business Management from Ohio University. Shivashankar recently won the prestigious WeQual 2021 award for Business Turnaround Category. The awards, in partnership with the Wall Street Journal, were evaluated by eminent jury members from Fortune 100 companies. Shivashankar lives in Chennai and is a modern-art enthusiast. She loves biking, traveling, and spending quality time with family and friends.