Clarkson celebrates ten years of state-of-the-art program

POTSDAM -- Clarkson’s nationally ranked program in global supply chain management celebrated its 10th year of delivering state-of-the-art education to corporate professionals at the program’s annual executive seminar this month.

Since it was launched in 2001, the annual four-day, on-campus program has had high marks from participants. It has attracted more than 300 senior executives, directors, managers and consultants from 26 states and four continents representing nearly 60 major corporations, including about 30 Fortune 500 companies.

“Clarkson’s seminar takes the most relevant, dynamic and often misunderstood topics in supply chain management and presents them clearly and practically, with sensitivity to today’s business climate,” said Lory Hammer-Young, operations manager at Sikorsky Aircraft following her participation in 2010.

“When we launched this seminar for mid- and senior-level working professionals who deal with global supply chain issues every day, we knew they would gain immediate benefits,” said School of Business Dean Timothy F. Sugrue. “We give these executives and managers critical tools to enhance and streamline their business operations -- tools that enable them to implement and sustain an effective global supply chain.”

The seminar has attracted the sponsorship of leading corporations such as Accenture, Bank of America, Corning Inc., General Dynamics, General Electric, IBM, Saint-Gobain and Stanley Black & Decker.

“With the rapid globalization of the economy, intensifying competition, and proliferation of new technologies, our executive seminar is even more valuable today than when we started it 10 years ago,” says Farzad Mahmoodi, professor of operations and information systems and director of Clarkson’s Global Supply Chain Management (GSCM) program.

Ranked by U.S. News and World Report as a top-20 program nationally since 2003, GSCM has become the university’s largest undergraduate business major at Clarkson, as well as its highest-ranked program. Graduate students may also earn Clarkson degrees through full-time, part-time and online master’s programs. GSCM topics are ideal for executive education, said Mahmoodi, because they focus precisely on complex challenges participants are actually facing.