Optricity leaders awarded for contributions to client success, promoting the value of the warehousing community and mentorship

Optricity President, Sheila M. Benny, and Optricity Vice President of Market and Client Relations, Lindsay Olla, have been recognized by Supply & Demand Chain Executive (SDCE) in its first Women in Supply Chain Award. This award has been indoctrinated into SDCE's annual awards to honor female Supply Chain leaders and executives whose accomplishments, mentorship and examples set a foundation for women in all levels of a company’s Supply Chain network.

“We received over 200 entries for this new award, entries that were submitted from a combination of men and women. This proves that our industry needed an award like this, especially in conjunction with Supply & Demand Chain Executive’s 20-year anniversary,” says Marina Mayer, Editor-in-Chief of Supply & Demand Chain Executive and Food Logistics. “According to Gartner’s 2020 Women in Supply Chain Survey, 17% of chief supply chain officers are now women – a 6% increase compared to 2019. This award resembles females supporting other female leaders; men supporting their female counterparts. It resembles the future. It represents growth, evolution and community. And, that future shows that it’s a great time to be a part of the Supply Chain industry. So, congratulations to these top female leaders. I look forward to seeing what else you do to grow the Supply Chain industry.”

Sheila's passion for supporting the broader Supply Chain industry as a whole and warehousing specifically, through client engagement, knowledge-share, mentorship via her Mentor-in-the-Moment approach, and service leadership in organizations like the Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC), where she served as President and continues to be an active member, the Advisory Board of the Global Logistics Technology and Supply Chain Program at Wake Tech in her home state of North Carolina, and Awesome Leaders (aiming to achieve women’s excellence in supply chain operations, management and education), motivates and paves the way for her team at Optricity to get involved and make a difference.

Among the team members influenced by Sheila's drive to promote individuals within the Supply Chain that make the world turn, Lindsay has made it a part of her career path to share knowledge to support clients and broader community success through creation, curation and dispersion of educational materials through articles, whitepapers, blogs and presentations both at conferences and via virtual platforms.

With a focus on supporting industry and community success, paired with the goal to highlight the unsung heroes of warehousing, Sheila and Lindsay worked to establish an annual event dedicated to the initiative: World Slotting Day. World Slotting Day, now entering its 5th year on October 19th, was created to extend awareness and understanding of importance of warehousing operations. It is a day dedicated to those who work behind the scenes to ensure essential elements of daily life are met, whether it is delivering hospital supplies and pharmaceuticals to help facilitate healing, automotive parts to keep vehicles moving, clothing to keep people warm, or food to nourish communities.

Further setting the foundation for women leaders through highlighting individuals and knowledge-share, this award announcement follows the recent WERC, powered by MHI, and Optricity-sponsored Supply Chain Panel presentation which focused on leaders in the Supply Chain sharing their proven success strategies. A panel comprised of women leaders from diverse backgrounds, the panelists Erin Donnelly, Director of Supply Chain Development for The Home Depot, Maike Sievers, Vice President of Logistics and Supply Chain for Hibbett Sports, Megan Smith, CEO of Symbia Logistics and Chaneta Sullivan, Director of Safety, Quality and Compliance for Chick-fil-A Supply®, had a lively discussion featuring strong takeaways, real stories and powerful, real-world advice. This panel presentation, the first in a soon-to-come series of presentations, is just one example of how Optricity's leaders promote and support success for those in the Supply Chain industry.

"The passion Optricity holds for supporting clients and the supply chain community is not by chance; our company's President, Sheila Benny truly embodies and leads our team with these values, shaping the directive," said Alicia Hickman, Manager of Accounts and Commercials at Optricity. "Her passion radiates and I can see in myself and others the drive and commitment to work towards these goals; we know what we do can make a difference."