CSCMP announces winner of “Distinguished Service Award”

Ann M. Drake, chairman and chief executive officer of DSC Logistics, Inc., will receive the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals’ (CSCMP) prestigious 2012 Distinguished Service Award.

CSCMP presents the award annually to an individual who has made significant contributions to the art and science of supply chain and logistics management. The award is the highest honor that can be bestowed on an individual for achievement in these two professions. She will be the 47th professional to receive the award since it was inaugurated in 1965 as a tribute to John Drury Sheahan, a logistics consultant and partner in the consulting firm that bore his name.

“Ann Drake is a person who is continually making contributions to the supply chain discipline, giving of herself to the people in the industry,” said Rick Blasgen, CSCMP president and chief executive officer. “She is the epitome of what the Distinguished Service Award embodies—a leader, a mentor, a pioneer, and an extraordinary, energetic ambassador for the logistics and supply chain management professions.”

Drake has been described by her colleagues as “a tireless advocate for the importance of the supply chain and a visible example of using logistics to drive performance, growth, and manage change.” She has been at the forefront of one of the industry’s most significant achievements: opening opportunities to both men and women.

Since becoming CEO of DSC Logistics in 1994, Drake has guided DSC through transformations designed to provide supply chain leadership to customers with changing needs. The company has gone from an extended family of 22 separate companies to an integrated network of logistics and supply chain management operations to a strategic supply chain partner (and, in some cases a Lead Logistics Partner/LLP), with industry-leading companies in a variety of industries, including consumer goods and food, healthcare and medical devices, electronics, paper products, and others.

She is vice chairman of the Business Advisory Council (BAC) for the Northwestern University Transportation Center. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the A.M. Castle Company, the Board of Governors for Chicago’s Metropolitan Planning Council, and the Board of Governors for The Committee of 200, a global organization of women business leaders. In 2011, she received the Alumni Merit Award from the Kellogg School of Management and in 2009, was named “Industry Leader of the Year” by the Illinois Institute of Technology. Recently, she agreed to serve as a strategy leader in transportation and logistics for Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s World Business Chicago Economic Growth Plan.