John Isbell - Vice President, Starboard Alliance Company LLC

Professional Experience

Mr. Isbell joined Starboard Alliance in the summer of 2009 to add to the bench-strength of the supply chain consulting practice and lend expertise to finding actionable solutions for our clients.

Mr. Isbell’s 31-year career at Nike, Inc. provided him with a wealth of experience and knowledge in a variety of disciplines. During his long and highly successful Nike career, he held the following positions:  Director Corporate Delivery Logistics; Director Asia-Pacific Logistics; Director U.S. Distribution and Customer Service; General Manager of Wilsonville, Oregon Distribution Center; Managing Director Malaysia Outsole Production; General Manager Nike Taiwan Manufacturing Operations; Manager Corporate Inventory Control; and Manager of Corporate Budget.

While at Nike, Mr. Isbell had the privilege of:

• Directing the activities of the Corporate Delivery Logistics group that is accountable for both strategic planning  and the actual management of Nike’s global logistics service providers. These providers, under his direction, were responsible, at a minimum, for origin consolidation, destination deconsolidation, ocean and air freight, as well as security and claims management. 
• Managing the team that reorganized the inbound delivery infrastructure and created better alignment and improved the execution of the various components of the  supply chain initiatives Nike initiated to:
  • Reduce the cost of delivery;
  • Improve customer delivery performance;
  • Reduce order to cash cycle; and
  • Create multiple supply chains for seasonal, auto-replenishment and consumer-direct products.

An innovative thinker and team leader, Mr. Isbell knows the value of logistics partners and teamwork in advancing new global supply chain concepts and constructing performance-based contracts that create effective service/value propositions for both transportation providers and users. Mr. Isbell uses Lean Thinking techniques to optimize supply chains.

From an international perspective, Mr. Isbell knows what it takes to get time-sensitive products sourced and shipped from off-shore locations, especially in Asia and Indian Subcontinent. He helped implement Nike’s Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program and implemented an effective vendor management program that is currently achieving compliance at 98+%.

As a Member of the Board of the Waterfront Coalition and the Coalition for Responsible Transportation, Mr. Isbell advocated on behalf of the freight community for improvements to the U.S. freight transportation system. Mr. Isbell’s advocacy for shippers extends beyond the U.S. Over the past six years, Mr. Isbell has been actively engaged in working with logistics stakeholders and Vietnamese government officials in addressing the lack of effective port, highway and rail infrastructure in Vietnam.

Professional Experience Highlights

• Negotiated innovative, annual and multiple year global contracts for origin consolidation, deconsolidation, ocean, airfreight and expedited small package contracts that positioned Nike with win-win, competitive partnership agreements. The ocean and airfreight contracts for 2009 will save Nike about $75 million. (1998-2009)
• Developed a logistics service provider recognition award program that recognizes quantitative and qualitative performance. In the initial year of this award, 25% of Nike’s inbound logistics providers demonstrated performance at 98+% and another 30% raised their performance above 95%. (2008)
• Worked with the Nike global precision delivery team in designing and implementing new supply chain processes and metrics to provide more timely delivery of complete orders for Nike retail customers. On-time delivery, within seven days of customer’s cancel date, has improved 15 percentage points. (2007-2009)
• Implemented a penalty-based, vendor compliance program that measures accuracy and timeliness of shipping data transmitted from vendors to consolidators and condition of cartons and carton scan files. Factory compliance is now at 98+%. (2003)
• Prepared a study that would enable Nike to co-load multiple direct ship customers’ cargo in the same container and deliver to an interior U.S. destination within 500 miles of these customers for deconsolidation and onward truck delivery to each customer’s distribution center. The program would save Nike millions of dollars in ocean freight cost through better container fill rates and the use of higher cubed containers. (Implementation delayed due to SAP issues.) (2007)
• Directed the evaluation of Nike’s global origin consolidator network. Selected A.T. Kearney to assist with the best practice study that recommended transitioning from six to two global consolidators. Managed the RFP process that selected the two consolidators and was senior project manager for a 13-month implementation that saw no business disruption for a company sourcing over $5 billion in finished goods. (1999-2000)
• Senior project manager for the design, construction and implementation of a $79.5 million (including WMS), semi-automated 50,000 sq meter distribution facility South Korea for Nike Sports Korea. Constructed in 1997-1998, the facility currently is Nike’s lowest cost distribution center. (1996–1998)
• Oversaw the consolidation of three Nike footwear distribution centers into two centers including associated customer service support. (1993)
• Developed a $400,000 project proposal for U.S. Department of Transportation to determine how to improve drayage truck efficiency at marine terminals, and currently has oversight responsibility for the contractor performing the work. (2008)

Education
Portland State University – MBA
University of Colorado, Boulder – BS Finance

Professional Information

• The Waterfront Coalition – Board Member and Vice President (2003–2009)
• The Coalition for Responsible Transportation – Board Member and Treasurer (2008–2009)
• National Cooperative Freight Research Program, Washington DC – Advisor (2007–Present)
• Speaker at Journal of Commerce Trans Pacific Maritime Conference (2004, 2005, 2008, and 2009)
• Speaker at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals annual conference (2009)
• Speaker at Vietnam International Port Conference (2007 and 2008)
• Testified at the U.S. Senate Surface Transportation sub-committee hearing on the benefits of a coordinated national freight infrastructure policy (2008)