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Bellwether League Foundation welcomes new year with look ahead

SCHAUMBURG, IL (January 12, 2025) — Bellwether League Foundation™ and its Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership Hall of Fame™ opens the New Year with a host of announcements and initiatives to promote supply chain performance improvement and to shine a light on supply chain leadership excellence.

First, BLF announces its elected Board of Directors (BOD) and Board-appointed Advisory Council (AC) members for 2025. The BOD includes:

• Chairman: Barbara Strain, Bellwether Class of 2021, principal, Barbara Strain Consulting, Charlottesville, VA
• Secretary: Rick Dana Barlow, president, Wingfoot Media Inc., Schaumburg, IL
• Treasurer: Thomas P. Harvieux, Bellwether Class of 2021, Chief Supply Chain Officer, BJC HealthCare, St. Louis, MO
• Advisory Council Chairman: Gary Rakes, Bellwether Class of 2021, retired system vice president and Chief Supply Chain Officer, Aspirus Inc., Wausau, WI
• Outreach Ambassador: Fred Crans, Bellwether Class of 2020, Business Development Executive, St. Onge Co., Cleveland, OH

AC Chairman Gary Rakes is joined by the following eight executives on the Advisory Council:

• Rachel K. Anderson, Future Famers Class of 2023, Vice President, Supply Chain, DCH Health, Tuscaloosa, AL
• Angie Bruns, Future Famers Class of 2024, Senior Director, Spend Management and Administration, The University of Kansas Health System, Kansas City, KS
• Ryan R. Burke, Future Famers Class of 2022, Vice President, Strategic Sourcing, Pandion Optimization Alliance, Fairport, NY
• Jacob J. Groenewold, Bellwether Class of 2021, Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer, Froedtert Health, Milwaukee, WI
• Thomas M. Lubotsky, Bellwether Class of 2022, Vice President, Supply Chain Management, Allina Health, Minneapolis, MN
• Chico Manning, Future Famers Class of 2024, System Vice President, Enterprise Supply Chain, PIH Health, Whittier, CA
• Carl P. Meyer, Bellwether Class of 2019, President, The Wetrich Group, Southlake, TX
• Susan M. Tyk, Bellwether Class of 2022, Independent Supply Chain Coach, SMT Supply Chain Innovations, Grafton, WI

• The deadline for submitting nominations for the Bellwether Class of 2025, Ammer Honoree Class of 2025 and the Future Famers Class of 2025, is Monday, February 3. Download official nomination forms here — https://www.bellwetherleague.org/nominations.php — where you also can access videos about the nomination process and how the candidate assessment works.
• BLF is securing a specific date and college location this fall for the 18th Bellwether League Foundation Induction & Recognition Event (BLFIRE18), which will feature the 2025 Collegiate Capstone Project team as part of the Bellwether Leadership Symposium. Stay tuned for more information on attendance, registration and sponsorship that will be featured on BLF's website. Access photos and videos from prior events here: (https://www.bellwetherleague.org/sliders/gallery.php) and (https://www.bellwetherleague.org/sliders/videos.php).
• Last fall, BLF awarded the inaugural recipients of its three dedicated scholarships and nowcalls for submissions for its 2025 scholarships. The Jamie C. Kowalski Scholarship recognizescritical thinking around leadership development and succession planning, the Robert A. Simpson Scholarship recognizes career and professional mentoring for supply chainadvancement and the Lillian R. Matiska Scholarship recognizes entrepreneurial motivationsand performance in healthcare operations.
• BLF also is developing a collegiate outreach program where BOD and AC members, BellwetherHonorees, Ammer Honorees and Future Famers can travel to college campuses to share theiradvice, experience and perspectives on the healthcare supply chain profession with studentspursuing supply chain degrees and careers. The goal is to educate, inform and promotemission/service-based supply chain as a viable and worthwhile choice.
• BLF is updating its Supply Chain Maturity Assessment Tool (SCMAT) for licensing by provider organizations to assess their own internal operations. Contact BLF for details.
• BLF's "Leaders & Luminaries" online content repository includes podcasts, webcasts, monthly opinion columns, our bimonthly email newsletter "REMEMBER" and the Leaders & Luminaries e-magazine as well as Collegiate Capstone Project reports, executive fireside chats and interviews with Hall of Famers and Sustaining Sponsors. Access content here: ( https://www.bellwetherleague.org/leaders-luminaries.php)
• Follow BLF's LinkedIn page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/bellwether-league/ for additional content, including links to the "Famed Flashbacks" column by Fred Crans, who offers unique commentary on and recollections of his healthcare experiences, and the "Vintage Voice" column from the pages of Leaders & Luminaries by Rick Dana Barlow, BLF co-founder and executive director, who provides thought-provoking observations and commentary about industry and professional actions, decisions and events.

BLF salutes its six sustaining sponsors at the Founding/Platinum level — GHX, HealthTrust, Owens & Minor, Premier, Vizient and Wingfoot Media — and more than 20 additional sustaining sponsors at the Gold, Silver and Bronze levels, consisting of manufacturers, distributors, group purchasing organizations (GPOs), integrated delivery networks (IDNs), consulting firms, professional associations and media outlets.

For more information on how to become a sustaining or event sponsor; how to donate to BLF, Collegiate Capstone Project or dedicated scholarships; or register for the 18th Annual Bellwether League Foundation Induction & Recognition Event, contact BLF headquarters via email at rickdanabarlow@bellwetherleauge.org.

About Bellwether League Foundation

Bellwether League FoundationTM (BLF) is an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit charitable organization that offers programs to educate, endow and evaluate professionals in healthcare supply chain performance excellence. BLF accomplishes this through its primary operation, the Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership Hall of FameTM, its growing philanthropic efforts, which include Collegiate Capstone Projects and scholarships and its various multimedia properties.

The Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership Hall of Fame evaluates and validates professionals submitted for consideration in its three award programs: Bellwether Honorees, Ammer Honorees and Future Famers. The Hall of Fame also offers educational and professional development content via the annual Bellwether Leadership Symposium and its "Leaders & Luminaries" multimedia properties of online and printed content.

The Hall of Fame selects deceased, retired and currently active professionals with a minimum of 25 years of exemplary service and leadership performance in supply chain operations that meet its criteria to be recognized publicly as Bellwether Class Honorees.

Future Famers represent supply chain professionals early in their healthcare careers (first 10- 12 years) who do not yet qualify for Bellwether consideration but have contributed meaningfully to the profession and industry.

Honorees who receive the "Dean S. Ammer Award for Healthcare Supply Chain Performance Excellence" represent noteworthy executives and professionals in the middle of their careers who, through their innovative leadership and influential project management experience, best exemplify the practice and spirit of healthcare supply chain performance excellence.

To date, the Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership Hall of Fame has inducted 148 innovators, leaders and pioneers in healthcare supply chain management in seven distinct categories: Provider- Based Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing, Distribution, Group Purchasing, Consulting Services, Academia and Media. The Hall of Fame also has recognized 42 Future Famers and six Ammer Honorees.

BLF's philanthropy efforts support capstone educational and developmental projects, grants and scholarships to college-bound high school students who plan to study supply chain curricula, current college students who major in supply chain-related careers and professionals who pursue continuing education through associations and universities.

BLF salutes its six sustaining sponsors at the Founding/Platinum level — GHX, HealthTrust, Owens & Minor, Premier, Vizient and Wingfoot Media — and more than 21 additional sustaining sponsors at the Gold, Silver and Bronze levels. This is a dedicated group that represents manufacturers, distributors, group purchasing organizations (GPOs), integrated delivery networks (IDNs), consulting firms, associations and media outlets. BLF also appreciates and thanks its devoted corporate and professional donors for their generosity, participation and partnership.

Launched in late July 2007 by a group of influential veterans in the healthcare supply chain industry, Bellwether League Foundation began as a 501(c)(6) not-for-profit corporation that upgraded to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in January 2021.