Agenda

This day-long program will consist of three 90-minute sessions with discussion panels and a roundtable-style luncheon discussion led by John Ahearn, Global Head of Supply Chain Management and Structured Trade, Citi and Susan Ferraris, Global Director of Trade Finance for Nike. All participants are encouraged to submit questions by e-mail, to Neil Shister, Editorial Director of WorldTrade magazine at shistern@worldtrademag.com, prior to the event that draw from their own particular needs and situation.

March 10
Reception
Intercontinental Hotel
6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

March 11
Moderator: Robert J. Belshaw, Senior Vice President Business Development, Trade Services General Electric Commercial Finance

TRADE FINANCE AND WORKING CAPITAL
“The Levers of Working Capital that the Supply Chain Controls”

• Part A: A brief primer for the supply chain officer on the three key metrics he/she impacts: days sales outstanding, days inventory on-hand, and days payable outstanding.
• Part B: Working with suppliers and payables: supply chain policy as a strategic element in working capital policies that can be implemented to impact working capital including consignment inventory, vendor managed inventory, just in time delivery.

PANEL PARTICIPANTS: Beth Enslow, Senior Vice President, Supply Chain Risk Management, Marsh, Inc., Philippe Lambotte, Senior Vice President, Global Customer Service and Logistics, Kraft Foods, and Jonathan Heuser, Executive Director Global Trade Services, J.P. Morgan, Julio Nemeth, Vice President-Product Supply, Global Family Care, Procter & Gamble.

TRADE FINANCE PRODUCTS
“Combining ‘Traditional’ Instruments with New Approaches”
The expanding varieties of potential instruments available to finance supply chain transactions correspondingly impacts working capital. In this session panelists will discuss: Letters of Credit/Open Accounts and Purchase Orders (the ‘traditional’) and emerging initiatives such as Reverse Factoring and Third Party Inventory Ownership.

PANEL PARTICIPANTS: Tony Brown, Managing Director, International Region, First Capital and Chris Vukas, Senior Managing Director, Global Trade Finance, UPS Capital

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
This session will be a moderated conversation addressing the development, execution, and on-going processes associated with merging the physical and financial supply chains in the context of foreign sourcing and trade.

PANEL PARTICIPANTS: John Ahearn, Global Head of Supply Chain Management and
Structured Trade, Citi, Susan Ferraris, Global Director of Trade Finance, Nike, and Neil Shister, Editorial Director, World Trade magazine

INNOVATIVE USES AND APPLICATIONS OF TRADE/FINANCE PLATFORMS AND PROCESSES
“The Uses of Supply Chain Finance Tech Platforms: Managing Processes and Driving Thought”
The appearance of tech platform providers (e.g. TradeBeam, TradeCard, Ariba, Prime Revenue, etc.) offers a ‘less painful’, cost-effective transition into single platform joint management of the physical and finance supply chains. The retail sector, with multiple vendors operating under considerable time pressure, is a particularly good candidate for such platforms—all the more so since, with the exception of the giant merchants, many retailers are not in a position to underwrite the implementation of their own dedicated systems. But should customers regard the platforms as ‘the magic operational bullet’ or more akin to “drivers of new ideas and processes?”

PANEL PARTICIPANTS: Sue Welch, CEO, TradeStone Software, Kurt Cavano, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, TradeCard, Mark Self, Vice President of Industry Solutions, Motorola, and Greg Johnsen, Executive Vice President, Marketing, GT Nexus