The Partners

A Championship mentality and commitment. Mark has been instrumental in the selection, development, network design, training start up and operational improvement of Manufactuing, Transportaion and Distribution Centers in the U.S. and Internationally.  A Lean Six Sigma Black Belt that constantly strives for improvement. Keying on process definition and simplification while eliminating waste. Mr. Smith held the position of Area Vice President for Penske Logistics growing the warehouse and transportation business on the West Coast . Mr. Smith held the position of Executive Vice President, for Americold Logistics, the world’s largest provider of temperature-controlled food grade warehouse space with over 149 locations in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and China.  Mark served as Vice President of P&O Cold Logistics US Operation.  Mr. Smith previously worked for Nature’s Best, a distributor of consumer-packaged goods in the natural and specialty food category, where served as the Senior Vice President of Operations (warehouse and Transportation) and Labor Relations. Mr. Smith has also served as VP of Logistics (warehouse and transportation), at Hughes Family Markets, a division of Kroger. Mark performed leadership roles in Manufacturing for Dairy and Ice Cream products; Perishable and Frozen Food Buyer; Transportation; and Perishable warehousing at Vons Grocery, a division of Safeway.  

Senior management professional with over 34 years of leadership and management experience including 28 years as a Marine officer leading Marines and managing operations and logistics from the Platoon to the Marine Expeditionary Force level, retiring as a Colonel.  Possesses strong strategic planning and operational expertise.  He is highly skilled with proven leadership in the areas of operations, complex problem solving, planning, business development, supply chain operations, infrastructure development, inter-department and inter-agency relations, crisis action planning, budgeting management, economic development and personnel management. Current private sector experience includes all facets of civilian supply chain and logistics operations management. Mid-level management leadership development. Teaching Servant Leadership and decision-making abilities at front line operational level. Teacher and coach of Commanders Intent, Common Intent and Command Intent planning.  

David has been involved with the automation of over 1,000 warehouses and distribution centers worldwide during a 30-year career focused on the cost effective use of information technology and material handling systems in support of best practice distribution operations. David has extensive knowledge of supply chain systems hardware, software, and Material Handling Systems, Engineered Labor Standards, wireless RF and RF Voice devices, RF-ID, case and pallet conveyors, high speed sortation systems, AS/RS crane, mini loader, and Goods-to-Person systems, Pallet Mole, Pick/Put-to-Light, and autonomous robotics systems.  Mr. Price has also worked as a senior in-house automation consultant for Honeywell Intelligrated, MCA Universal Studios, Bank of America, and Hughes Aircraft. He was the principle designer and VP of Product Development for an award-winning WMS software developer. David's industry experience includes third party logistics (dry & cold storage and e-commerce), retail & wholesale grocery, apparel, and consumer goods distribution, liquor/beer/wine, electronics and manufacturing.  David has a BS in Chemistry from UCLA and an MBA from California State University.  David is a member of CSCMP, IARW, IWLA and WERC.

A Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy with 30+ years in Supply Chain leadership. Ed is a Six Sigma Black Belt and a teacher of the TPS Lean processes. Ed has lead Industrial Engineering teams at a National level producing results that reduced expenses by 25%. He has experience in refrigerated and Frozen food, working as a General Manager over six sites for Americold Logistics. Ed has run operation in the textile industry. He has led teams as a consultant in operations on WMS improvement and utilization projects. Ed has been involved with the implantation of WMS systems in hundreds of warehouses over the last 20 years. While the primary focus has been on features and functionality within the WMS, he is also instrumental in gap analysis, configuration, data preparation (test scripts) to include unit testing. Training and go live support are also common activities. Ed has been key in operational reviews and continuous improvements projects from an operational and WMS perspective. He has deep experience in food service, consumer service, electronics, and health care in warehouses of multitudes of sizes with conveyors, pick to light, cross dock and automated equipment. He has strong interpersonal skills and can effectively communicate and work at all levels within a company developed from his time in the military. Additionally, he is a strong liaison between the operations and the technical resources within a project writing functional specifications and reviewing technical specifications. He is also able to read traces to troubleshoot issues that may arise from configuration, testing, training or go live scenarios. Neil has currently added technical resources to his team. The additional team members provide a wide range of services such as assisting (configuring) EDI transactions, developing reports and labels, and writing and implementing code modifications 

 Ron has over 30 years of experience in the transportation and logistics industry. His expertise includes global freight forwarding, logistics demand planning and production scheduling, inventory management, retail strategy and planning, supply chain management and transportation, process improvement and re-design, implementation and management of multiple TMS, WMS and YMS software programs. Mr. Ashley has combined, implemented and managed national transportation and consolidation programs for multiple Fortune 500 companies.

Mr. Ashley has distinguished himself as a leader in logistics who produces strong business results while fostering an efficient and collaborative working environment. His leadership style and uncontested dedication allows him to navigate challenging managerial situations with focus on operational efficiencies. As a certified Six Sigma Lean/ DFSS Green Belt, Ron uses strategic methodology to optimize standards and productivity.

Ron’s professional tenure has held senior leadership positions with leading national and international transportation companies. Leadership skills were developed in the United States Marine Corps as an NCO.

Transportation experience includes -Home Delivery; Final Mile; Over the Road; Airfreight; Backhauls; Consolidation; DSD; FTL/ LTL; Harbor and intermodal drayage; Ocean freight; Small package; Temperature controlled freight