Supply management industry leader honored with prestigious ISM® award


GRAPEVINE, Texas, May 9, 2023 - Institute for Supply Management® (ISM®) named John Blascovich, partner at Kearney, the 2023 J. Shipman Gold Medal Award winner in recognition of his distinguished service to the supply management profession.

Blascovich was honored during the 2023 Shipman Award ceremony at ISM World 2023, ISM's annual international supply management conference, held May 7-10 in Grapevine, Texas. The award, created in 1931, is ISM's most esteemed honor and is presented annually to an individual who contributes to the advancement of procurement and supply management while providing assistance and guidance to other professionals.

"The Shipman award is a great honor; I think of it as the 'Hall of Fame' in the field of supply management. It is a collection of individuals who have contributed in many ways – some with new ideas, some with developing people, and some driving strong organizations or results," said Blascovich. "While it is an individual award, every Shipman winner I know has made others successful and has been a positive force over a long period of time. I am honored and humbled to be selected."

In Blascovich's 27-year career in procurement and supply chain management, he has continually pushed to improve the talent, analytics, and innovation of teams he has advised and led. Since 1995, Blascovich has guided Kearney, a global management consulting team with more than 500 professionals, to set the direction for its procurement research and solution development. As the global leader for Kearney's Procurement and Analytics Solutions group since 2013, he pioneered the use of such advanced analytics as collaborative optimization for supplier engagement and advanced data management to help companies categorize and analyze spend.

With extensive industry and consulting experience in aerospace, consumer products, financial services and utilities, Blascovich is a leading expert in strategic sourcing, procurement transformation and pre- and post-merger value generation. A sought-after procurement speaker across the globe, he has considerable experience managing large, complex global projects and has created prominent client advisory case studies.

He also has been the global leader of Kearney's Assessment of Excellence in Procurement (AEP) Study since 1999. AEP codifies eight essential elements of leading supply management functions and has been a yardstick for benchmarking practices, charting improvement agendas and tracking progress.

Another example of Blascovich's push for innovation: He co-developed the concept of Return on Supply Management Assets (ROSMA™). As a cross-industry, quantitative gauge for determining the payback of supply management, ROSMA was designed to facilitate better communications between CFOs and CPOs.

"John has served the profession as a member of the ISM Board, the Conference Planning Committee, and even to this day, the Nominating and Governance Committee," said ISM CEO Thomas W. Derry. "In addition to his global responsibilities for Kearney leading the procurement, operations, and transformation practices, he manages to find time to chair the board of directors of The Matthew Foundation (charitable organization). John is an outstanding exemplar of the qualities embodied in J. Shipman Medal honorees."

Blascovich served on the ISM Board of Directors from 2005 to 2009. He was active in multiple committee engagements, where he further served in leadership roles and was a keynote speaker at regional chapter events. His commitment was further underscored when he was one of the first voting Board members to earn the Certified Professional in Supply Management® (CPSM®) certification. Since 2021, he has continued to give back to the profession by participating in the Nominating and Governance Committee for the ISM Board of Directors.

"John made a point of seeking me out within a few weeks of my appointment as CEO," said Derry. "And for more than 10 years, he has been a consistent and valued partner and supporter of ISM, and I am personally grateful."

Blascovich is a mentor and trusted adviser to CPOs and emerging professionals alike in the field of supply chain management. This includes his support of young professionals as a long-standing sponsor of the R. Gene Richter Scholarship, providing mentorship and monetary support for future supply chain leaders. It's also evident in the contributions he makes to develop educational programs, including helping to introduce procurement projects to MBA students and launching student labs at the University of Michigan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Howard University, among other colleges.

In addition to co-authoring several joint research reports with CAPS Research, Blascovich has contributed to Kearney's Future of Procurement series of white papers (2017-2021) as well as the notable book, Trade Wars, Pandemics and Chaos: How Digital Procurement Enables Business Success in a Disordered World (2021). He also wrote chapters for the McGraw-Hill Supply Management Handbook in 2006 and authored a case study published in the Harvard Business Review (September 2005).

Blascovich earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in aerospace engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his MBA from the New York University Stern School of Business.

Beyond his full-time professional endeavors, Blascovich has been a volunteer firefighter in New York, where he's served for more than 40 years. He's the president and co-founder of The Matthew Foundation, which supports the lives of people with Down syndrome and developmental disabilities. The Matthew Foundation supports research at Stanford University as well as at Trisomy 21 Research Society (T21RS), which connects hundreds of global researchers in Down syndrome.

About the J. Shipman Gold Medal Award
Johnson Shipman was a pioneer member of the New York affiliate of the National Association of Purchasing Agents, now Institute for Supply Management®, well-known for giving liberally of his time and counsel. The J. Shipman Gold Medal Award was created in 1931, and is presented to those individuals whose modest, unselfish, sincere and persistent efforts have aided the advancement of the procurement and supply chain management field. Those chosen for the award have also assisted and guided members of the profession in their endeavors.

About Institute for Supply Management®
Institute for Supply Management® (ISM®) is the first and leading not-for-profit professional supply management organization worldwide. Its 50,000 members in more than 100 countries manage about US$1 trillion in corporate and government supply chain procurement annually. Founded in 1915 by practitioners, ISM is committed to advancing the practice of supply management to drive value and competitive advantage for its members, contributing to a prosperous and sustainable world. ISM empowers and leads the profession through the ISM Report On Business®, its highly-regarded certification and training programs, corporate services, events and the ISM Supply Chain Capability Model™. The ISM Report On Business®, Manufacturing and Services, are two of the most reliable economic indicators available, providing guidance to supply management professionals, economists, analysts, and government and business leaders. For more information, please visit: www.ismworld.org.

Contact: Jessica Boyd, 480.752.6276, ext. 3085
jboyd@instituteforsupplymanagement.org

SOURCE Institute for Supply Management