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Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership Hall of Fame salutes 3 in its Future Famers Class of 2024 for October honors

SCHAUMBURG, IL (May 24, 2024) — Bellwether League Foundation's Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership Hall of Fame will recognize and welcome three professionals into the Future Famers Class of 2024 this fall. They join 39 earlier recipients of this notable honor.

The Hall of Fame's Future Famers recognition honors supply chain professionals making significant contributions to their organizations and industry during the first decade or so (up to 12 years) of their careers.

The Future Famers Class of 2024 includes the following professionals: Angie Bruns, Senior Director, Spend Management and Administration, The University of Kansas Health System; Chico Manning, System Vice President, Enterprise Supply Chain, PIH Health; and Corey Schmidt, Assistant Director, SHS Operations & Spend Management Integration, The University of Kansas Health System.

This trio represents the latest examples of the next-generation supply chain leader with deep ties in the clinical and information technology realms that motivate colleagues to unite around a common mission and vision during crises and day-to-day operations.

The Future Famers Class of 2024 will be recognized at the 17th Annual Bellwether League Foundation Induction & Recognition Event (BLFIRE), scheduled for Monday, October 7, at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI.

"The Bellwether League Foundation proudly introduces Angie Bruns, Chico Manning and Corey Schmidt as the 2024 Future Famers," said Barbara Strain, Bellwether Class of 2021, and BLF Board Chairman. "The strength of their innovative strategies and outcomes belies the early stages of their careers allowing for glimpse of the healthcare supply chain to come. We congratulate them and look forward to following their careers." 

Future Famers Class of 2024

Angie Bruns oversaw the implementation team supporting her organization's distribution conversion for acute care and nonacute care facilities, provided the vision and strategic direction to support clinical integration and remove risks within its spend management processes. She realigned the department's functional area structure to achieve balance between organizational culture and industry best practices. Bruns directed the launch of a consignment program to support continuous patient safety while minimizing uncontrolled expenses as well as a category management team to concentrate on contract compliance. Bruns developed the organization's "Spend Management Plus Leadership Program" to support front-line staff through consistent mentoring, development of essential leadership tools and resources and collaboration among peer groups. To partner with the Value Analysis team, Bruns launched the Utilization Management team, designed to monitor initiatives for success, oversee product formularies, increase compliance and standardization across contract categories and align with clinicians via committees as part of clinical integration efforts. Together, these two teams formed the organization's Clinical Supply Optimization process, which is being implemented throughout the organization.

Chico Manning helped lead the conversion to "enterprise supply chain" within his organization that involved centralizing purchasing, strengthening vendor relations and engagement and establishing logistical teams to implement system-wide process and performance improvements. Manning also spearheads supplier and vendor diversity initiatives within his organization and facilitates strategic networking opportunities for education and information sharing on minority-owned and operated healthcare businesses, including a Vendor Diversity Fair with its regional hospital association as a way to participate in diverse vendor databases, engage in regional business and quality networks for economic opportunity and connect purchasing agents to relevant product and service companies. Manning also led successful product and service procurement opportunities during the global pandemic to ensure his organization was amply stocked to meet and serve patient demands. Through his leadership his organization has seen supply expenses drop 10% annually during the last three years, translating to $10 million in savings, as well as reduced overall standing inventory levels by 35%, translating to an additional $1 million in savings.

Corey Schmidt helped to improve organizational performance through granular efforts in modernizing the storeroom footprint and updating information technology. He reorganized hospital storerooms for improved "pick-pack efficiency" and the ability to hold more stock and created a cycle-counting process that enabled better expiration date tracking. He redesigned, standardized and "right-sized" PAR locations throughout the organization that included the addition of point-of-use technology to eliminate manual counting and reduce inventory. He also debuted a case cart picking area adjacent to the perpetual storeroom that reduced stockouts and automated case cart replenishment. He further launched a sub-inventory for isolation cart products, introduced Kanban for home health and hospice supplies, redesigned the departmental staffing model and led department leaders through the request-for-proposal (RFP) process for purchased services and capital equipment. During the global pandemic, he helped lead the conversion and consolidation of information systems among multiple facilities using in-person expertise initially before transitioning to completely remote support halfway through the project.

About Bellwether League Foundation

Bellwether League Foundation (BLF) offers programs that educate, endow and evaluate professionals in healthcare supply chain performance excellence via the Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership Hall of Fame and its growing philanthropic efforts.

The Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership Hall of Fame evaluates and validates professionals submitted for consideration in its three award programs: Bellwether Honorees, Future Famers and Ammer Honorees. The Hall of Fame also offers educational and professional development content via the Bellwether Leadership Forum and its "Leaders & Luminaries" multimedia 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 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 honored 143 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 four 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 collegiate 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 19 additional sustaining sponsors at the Gold, Silver and Bronze levels, a generous group that represents manufacturers, distributors, group purchasing organizations (GPOs), integrated delivery networks (IDNs), consulting firms, associations and media outlets.

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.