Ara is a supply chain visionary with over 30 years of manufacturing and technology experience. He currently leads product management and engineering for Plex Systems Advanced Supply Chain Planning Suite, known as DemandCaster, the industry’s first cloud-based supply chain planning solution. Prior to his current role, Ara was the Founder and President of the consultancy Cadent Resources, Inc. where he consulted with 100’s of companies helping them improve their manufacturing and supply chain performance. Prior to leading Cadent, Ara honed his supply chain expertise as a turn-around consultant at Jacquard Associates, as a Plant Manager at Universal Superabrasives, Inc., a division of St. Gobain International, and as a mechanical engineer at Raytheon’s Missile Systems Division. He holds an MBA from the University of Illinois and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University.

Tim Hotze is Corporate Vice President, Supply Chain – Planning, Digitization & AI at Trane Technologies. A recognized supply chain leader, he has held executive planning, network strategy, and operations roles across global organizations, including Target, Amazon, and Panalpina. His expertise spans S&OP, Integrated Business Planning (IBP), network optimization, capacity planning, and supply chain digitization. Tim serves on the IBF Advisory Board and holds a joint Master’s degree in Engineering and Supply Chain Management from TU Darmstadt.

John Cao is Director of Demand Planning at GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Health. He leads a team a of planners overseeing the Respiratory and Smoking Cessation categories, providing forecasts and analytics to support the consumer health (OTC) business within these categories. Prior to joining GSK in 2016, he held a number of leadership roles, for both US and Globally, in the beauty industry at both L’Oreal and Shiseido for about 9 years, including demand planning, supply planning, contract manufacturing and procurement. John holds an MBA from NYU, along with a BS from Columbia University for Operations Research. He also has an ACPF certification from IBF and CPIM certification from APICS.