Wikipedia

Shekar Natarajan

Shekar Natarajan (Chandrashekar Natarajan; born 23 July 1979 in Secunderabad, India) is a business executive known for his work in the supply chain industry.[1] He has held supply chain executive positions at various corporations including Coca-Cola Consolidated, PepsiCo, Anheuser-Busch, Disney, Walmart, Target and American Eagle Outfitters.[2][3] He also writes in the field of supply chain management.[2][4][5]

Shekar Natarajan
Born
Chandrashekar Natarajan

(1979-07-23) 23 July 1979 (age 44)
Secunderabad, India
EducationB.Tech and MSc
Alma mater

Early life edit

Natarajan was born in Secunderabad, Telangana, India. Natarajan received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad in India and master's degree in industrial engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2003.[1][6] He also holds an executive certificate from the Center of Transportation and Logistics at MIT, and an advanced management degree from Harvard Business School.[7]

Executive career edit

Natarajan began his career as a Corporate Development Specialist for Alliance Rubber Company, and then worked with Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated as the Senior Supply Chain Network Manager.[8] He moved on to PepsiCo in 2006, where he was the Director of Supply Chain Planning. At PepsiCo, he headed the project to increase storage and productivity at Pepsi Beverages Company warehouses.[9]

He then moved to Anheuser-Busch to serve as the North American Senior Director of Supply Chain Planning.[10] In September 2013, Natarajan was named Vice President of Business Process and Technology at Disney.[11]

In November 2014, he became the Vice President of Last Mile and Emerging Sciences at Walmart,[12] where he led the implementation of autonomous drones in Walmart distribution centers to reduce time required for inventory checks, collaborating with the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA.[13] Natarajan demonstrated the technology at a distribution center in Arkansas in 2016.[14] In November 2016, he became the Senior Vice President of Network Planning and Operational Design of Target Corporation.[15]

Natarajan joined American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) in December 2018 as Senior Vice President of Global Supply Chain, Logistics and Services before becoming Executive Vice President, Chief Supply Chain Officer for AEO and President of Quiet Platforms. On March 31, 2023, Natarajan left AEO and Quiet Platforms owing to a disagreement with its board on vision execution for the company.[16][17][18]

Industry contributions edit

In 2013, Natarajan partnered with Ron Hammond to research best practices in the supply chain management industry. Based on that research, they created a "supply chain maturity model", used to identify a range of corporate behaviors and place corporations into one of five categories: myopic, sluggish, aware, anticipative, and prescient.[19][20]

He is also a public speaker on the subject of supply chain and executive management.[20][21]

Natarajan's delivery systems, typified by the "CoolLift" technology, reportedly reduced the workplace injuries by 97%, reduced the carbon footprint of the system by 50%, and reduced delivery costs by 2.5%. He has also been involved with on the ground delivery logistics, creating delivery plans in traffic-congested cities like São Paulo, Brazil to deal with traffic jams. In Tanzania and Zambia, Natarajan also linked his delivery systems to the delivery of children's medication through the ColaLife program.[22]

As of 2020, Natarajan has been issued 73 patents[5] in subjects such as autonomous vehicle and UAV delivery, predictive buying, automatic inventory replenishment using IoT, hyperspectral imaging to detect food quality, and virtual shopping.[7][23][24] At Walmart, he led the Emerging Sciences division, which reportedly had 1,800 patent applications.[5]

Board positions edit

Natarajan has served as a member of the editorial advisory board for Material Handling & Logistics,[10] an industry member of the board for the College-Industry Council on Material Handling Education,[25] on the board for the Material Handling Institute of America, the co-chairman of the Institute of High Performance Planners,[26] on the board of ColaLife,[20] an advisory board member of the supply chain magazine DC Velocity,[27] and a member of the Catastrophic Disaster Recovery Plan program headed by the White House.[28]

Awards and recognition edit

 
Natarajan receiving the Times Now NRI of the Year Award in 2013

In 2008, the Brazilian government formally recognized him for his keynote delivery at Movimat 2008 for "the content and insights he provided for developing and managing supply chain processes".[29][26] In 2009, Global Supply Chain Review named Natarajan to its list of "Top 25 Supply Chain Executives".[30] In 2010, he received the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals Supply Chain Innovation Award.[7] In 2010, he was named one of the top visionaries of the year by Consumer Goods Technology[8] and a 2009 as well as 2010 "Rainmaker" by DC Velocity.[27][31] In 2010, he also received an Institute of Industrial Engineers Medallion for "outstanding contribution to the field of industrial engineering through leadership and innovation of methodology".[1][29] In 2011, Natarajan was named a Next-generation Thought-leader by Supply & Demand Chain Executive[20] and again called a thought leader in 2013 by Logistics Insight Asia.[32] In 2013, Natarajan was named one of the "Non-Resident Indians of the Year" in the Professional category by Times Now television.[33][34] Supply Chain Quarterly named Natarajan a "Pragmatic Futurist" in 2018. In 2020, he won the Retail Innovator of the year award.[7] In 2021, he won the American Supply Chain Leadership Award and Visionary Award.[35]

Books edit

  • Planning by Design, co-authored with Richard Muther[1]
  • Simplified Systematic Network Planning, co-authored by Lee Hales[1]
  • Systematic Logistics Redesign and Optimization
  • Art and Science of Planning Anything

Personal life edit

Natarajan is married to Hima Venkata since 2007.[36]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e BHARGAVI KULKARNI (10 September 2010). "Supply Chain Expert Honored by Engineering Group". News India Times. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  2. ^ a b Smith, Jennifer (12 August 2020). "Companies Step Up Distribution Automation Under Pandemic Strains". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  3. ^ Cosgrove, Emma. "New logistics startups say they can take on UPS and FedEx without owning a single truck, plane, or warehouse. Here's how it works — and why investors are placing bets". Business Insider. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  4. ^ "Shekar Natarajan | Project Production Institute". projectproduction.org. Archived from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  5. ^ a b c "The SCMR Interview: Shekar Natarajan". www.scmr.com. Archived from the original on 8 January 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  6. ^ "Shekar Natarajan Education". Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  7. ^ a b c d "The pragmatic futurist". www.supplychainquarterly.com. Archived from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  8. ^ a b Alliston Ackerman & Alarice Padilla (2 June 2010). "2010 Visionaries". Consumer Goods Technologies. Archived from the original on 10 July 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  9. ^ "ProsFile: Shekar Natarajan". Supply & Demand Chain Executive. 30 April 2010. Archived from the original on 20 August 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  10. ^ a b Tom Andel (7 September 2010). "Andel and Handling: The Meeting of Your Life". Material Handling & Logistics. Archived from the original on 3 September 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  11. ^ Tom Andel (20 September 2013). "Disney and Fortna Hire MH&L Board Members". Material & Handling Logistics. Archived from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  12. ^ "Wal-Mart says it is 6-9 months from using drones to check warehouse inventory". Reuters. 2 June 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  13. ^ Feloni, Richard. "Walmart is developing a drone". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  14. ^ Abrams, Rachel (2 June 2016). "Walmart Looks to Drones to Speed Distribution". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 7 January 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  15. ^ Kumar, Kavita (7 November 2016). "Target hires another supply chain executive — this time from Wal-Mart | Star Tribune". M.startribune.com. Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  16. ^ "Quiet platforms president leaves the company". 4 April 2023.
  17. ^ "Navigating retail through supply chain agility | McKinsey". www.mckinsey.com. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  18. ^ Natarajan, Shekar; Teixeira, Thales S. (7 November 2022). "How American Eagle Reinvented Its Fulfillment Strategy". Harvard Business Review. ISSN 0017-8012. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  19. ^ Tom Andel (August 2013). "Let Your Prescience be your Guide". Material Handling & Logistics. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  20. ^ a b c d "2011 Next-generation Thought-leader for the Supply Chain — Shekar Natarajan" (PDF). Supply & Demand Chain Executive. 24 March 2011. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 August 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  21. ^ "Are You Really Thinking Outside of the Box?". Supply Chain Brain. 9 November 2009. Archived from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  22. ^ "Finding systems solutions to BIG problems". South Asian Times. 24 May 2014. p. 26. Archived from the original on 9 December 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  23. ^ "Chandrashekar Natarajan". Google Scholar. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  24. ^ "Walmart's IoT Patent Application Takes On Amazon Dash". CB Insights Research. 4 May 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  25. ^ "Members". Archived from the original on 26 August 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  26. ^ a b Lee Kok Leong (1 March 2012). "Conversation with a Thought Leader". Logistics Insight Asia. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  27. ^ a b "SCOPE West conference slated for Aug. 21-23 in Las Vegas". DC Velocity. 30 June 2011. Archived from the original on 30 August 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  28. ^ "Summit Day One schedule" (PDF). Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  29. ^ a b "CONVERSATION WITH A THOUGHT LEADER - Logistics Insight Asia". Logistics Insight Asia. 1 March 2012. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  30. ^ "2009 Top 25 Supply Chain Executives". Global Supply Chain Review. Archived from the original on 25 September 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  31. ^ "The Rainmakers". DC Velocity. July 2009. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  32. ^ "Forging Ahead: The Path for 2013". Logistics Insight Asia. January–February 2013. p. 11. Archived from the original on 12 March 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  33. ^ "Times Now Honours NRIs of the Year". The South Asian Times. 5–11 April 2014. p. 15. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  34. ^ "NRI winners". Archived from the original on 14 April 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  35. ^ "NextGen Supply Chain Conference". NextGen Supply Chain Conference. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  36. ^ "IHPP - Spring 2010 - Workshop Photo Gallery". www.ihpp.org. Archived from the original on 25 December 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017.

Further reading edit

External links edit

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