Supply chain management innovator
Ron Ireland is a 1974 graduate of Missouri State University with a bachelor's degree in business management. He has 37 years of experience in business, ranging from 12 years with Martin Marietta Aerospace, to 5 years with Walmart in Bentonville, Arkansas as a strategy manager in information systems for basic replenishment and supply chain execution.
Ireland was awarded the Walmart IT Visionary of the Year in 1995 for his design and implementation of the award-winning Walmart Automated Replenishment Planning system, which included the creation of what later became an industry global standard called Collaboration Planning Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR).
He has been a management consultant for the past 20 years, working with many Fortune 500 companies in 35 different countries on processes such as integrated business planning, demand planning, and supply chain collaboration and optimization.
Ireland is the author of the book Implementing Supply Chain Collaboration and Other Collaborative Best Practices.
The Wall Street Journal referred to Ireland as the "Will Rogers of the Supply Chain," calling him "the guy who brings simplicity and humor to complex supply chain issues."