Video – recap of the Symposium
On a beautiful Fall day in Merrickville, ON the second annual Wills Logistics Symposium of Eastern Ontario was held, hosting over 110 attendees and featured 5 guest speakers.
Video – Jordi Wills welcomed everyone to the Symposium
The first speakers were Mike Quinn (Giant Tiger, VP Warehouse and Distribution) and John Hubbard (Giant Tiger, VP Distribution Operations) who gave a roaring presentation about ‘Building a world class, state of the art DC for the future’ in Johnstown, ON.
Video – Mike Quinn and John Hubbard
Mike started with Giant Tiger in 1991, as the Giant Tiger Warehouse Manager. In 2002, he became Director of Warehousing & Distribution, and in 2007 he was promoted to Vice President, Warehousing & Distribution. Prior to joining Giant Tiger, Mike spent 18 years with Kmart. He lives in Ottawa and hobbies include, hockey, golf, skiing and pretty much any other sport. He is married with two children and two grandchildren. He takes pride in having grown Giant Tigers distribution and transportation from 25,000 sq. ft. to 700,000 and growing the Tiger Trucking fleet from 5 trucks to over 90 power units and 180 trailers. He attributes his success in growing Giant Tigers logistics to a fantastic team of management and associates.
John Hubbard started with Giant Tiger Wholesale in 2006 as the operations manager. In 2010 became Director of Warehousing, in 2012 was promoted to AVP of Warehousing and in February 2019 promoted to his current position of VP Distribution Operations. John has over 25 years in operations with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Ottawa. Started his career in Montreal, Quebec and moved to the Ottawa region in 1996 where he currently live with his wife and 3 children in Kanata, Ontario.
Speaker Mark Seymour, Kriska Transportation Group, President took us down the road with a Q&A about ‘Changes in the Trucking Industry’.
Video – Mark Seymour and Jordi Wills Q&A
Since 1978, Mark Seymour has lived trucking. From his start as a driver to growing Kriska into a multi-company corporation with over 800 trucks, Mark has a keen understanding of the Transportation. He has been a dedicated advocate for the Canadian trucking industry. Serving as the Chairman of the Ontario Trucking Association, the Canadian Trucking Alliance and as a board member of the Trucks for Change Network. In 2015, Mark received the Ontario Trucking Association’s Service to Industry Award. As the CEO of the Kriska Transportation Group, Mark leads an innovate group of trucking and logistics companies. As members of their community, he and his family are loyal patrons to local food banks, youth sport and hospice.
Speaker Darryl King, JMP Solutions, Director of AGV’s guided us through the world of ‘Autonomously Guided Vehicles & What the Supply Chain needs to know’.
Video – Darryl King
JMP has installed hundreds of automated vehicles at industry-leading companies including Toyota, Nestle, Unilever, and Honda. Working for a leading-edge automation company has fed Darryl’s passion for invention and application of technology, and he continually challenges the boundary of what is possible in automation. Darryl has recently completed a half Ironman triathlon, and with three kids under seven, including 5-year-old twins, eliminating waste at home is just as important as it is in his job.
Our last speaker Guus van de Peppel, Traffic Tech Inc, Vice President of Business Development propelled us on the ‘State of Sea Freight and Overseas Shipping’.
Guus grew up in the Netherlads where he majored in Marketing and Economics. He started his first job in logistics in 1982. Two years later he moved to Canada and pursued the same career path. Guus has held various management and executive positions in air freight, ocean freight and projects. He is currently Vice President of Busienss Development at Traffic Tech in Montreal. In addition to being passioante about logistics and freight forwarding, Guus loves music and playing soccer and is a big fan of the Chelsea Football Club.
Looking forward to next years event!
