Alan Kosansky
President

Dr. Alan Kosansky is co-founder and president of Profit Point Inc. Alan has pioneered the application of advanced analytic techniques to transportation procurement, dynamic scheduling, supply chain management and financial optimization.

Alan has spent the last 16 years delivering technology solutions that are practical and effective. He combines deep insight into state of the art optimization technology with extensive experience working with a diverse group of clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to small startups. Alan's ability to quickly identify and implement useable solutions for his clients is a major contributor to the number of repeat engagements Profit Point enjoys His work is used daily by companies large and small to reduce costs, maximize profits and smooth complicated process flows.

Alan received his Doctorate in Applied Mathematics from The Johns Hopkins University.

Jim Piermarini
CEO, CTO

Jim Piermarini is co-founder and CEO of Profit Point Inc. Jim has extensive experience in the chemical industry, including ten years working in a plant and ten additional years working with businesses to improve manufacturing operations.

Jim excels at implementing technology with maximum positive impact to the business. His technical areas of expertise include eBusiness, supply chain management, and system design. His management areas of expertise include mentoring junior staff and project management. Business functions include: strategic planning, tactical planning, production scheduling, deployment scheduling, transportation planning, transportation scheduling, pipeline scheduling, and eBusiness communications.

Jim received his BS in Chemical Engineering from University of Massachusetts and completed the Management Program at Wharton Business School.

Ted Schaefer
Infrastructure Planning Practice Leader
SC Planning Practice Leader
Green Optimization Practice Leader

Ted Schaefer is the Director of Logistics and Supply Chain Services at Profit Point. He is a practice leader for Infrastructure Planning, Supply Chain Planning, and Green Optimization. He joins Profit Point with 27 years of experience in the chemical industry, most of it with the Rohm and Haas Company. Ted jointly led the transition from a loosely connected group of tactical freight groups to a single global professional logistics organization, managing a logistics spend of over $300 million/yr. Areas of expertise include logistics organizational design & implementation, strategic infrastructure design and supply chain process redesign.

Ted has helped many businesses determine the trade-offs between local and “low cost country” sourcing. He is a leader in the use of optimization models in the freight procurement arena, using them to support core carrier strategies in North America and Europe. He has freight contract negotiation expertise in the maritime, rail and truck categories. Ted also has leadership experience in distribution operations, Customer Service, manufacturing and capital project implementation.

Ted earned his MBA from the University of Houston and his Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Chemical Engineering at the University of Louisville.

Dr. Gene Ramsay
Infrastructure Planning Practice Leader

Dr. Gene Ramsay is an industry leader in supply chain distribution technology. He has both developed and implemented supply chain network design software in industries such as natural gas distribution, beverage production, chemical distribution and maritime shipping. His projects have been for clients with concerns as varied as reloads, cross docks, reverse logistics and container capacities that vary depending on the type of product carried.

Gene received his Ph. D. from the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech.

Mark Rockey
Production Scheduling Practice Leader

Mark Rockey is a practice Leader for Production Scheduling and Supply Chain Planning. He has spent nearly 20 years in industry applying advanced analytic techniques to solving real world problems in the areas of strategic supply chain network design; production and distribution planning and scheduling; and capacity analysis and design. Mark stands out in his ability to combine his technical strength with his organizational skills to manage projects and deliver results. He has spent many years working in both the process industry, and also has experience in discrete parts manufacturing. He has delivered profitable solutions to many companies including Air Products and Chemicals, AMP - Tyco Electronics, Union Carbide and Rohm and Haas.

Mark holds a Master of Engineering degree in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University.

John Hughes
Production Scheduling Practice Leader

John Hughes is a practice leader for production scheduling at Profit Point Inc. He has led the implementation of production scheduling models at such clients as Rohm and Haas, Hercules Chemicals, Bridgestone Firestone, and Exxon Chemicals. The implementation methodology includes the design of new work-processes, training of users, and technical configuration of software tools. Mr. Hughes is also an expert in the use of Monte Carlo simulation, which he has used to analyze the flow of work through manufacturing and quality control laboratory settings, in order to increase capacity and throughput. These projects have required a high level of data interfacing with ERP systems.

John has a Masters Degree in Operations Research from Temple University and 25 years of experience in the practical application of advanced mathematical modeling to business processes and decision-making.

Joe Litko
Business Optimization Practice Leader

Dr. Joe Litko is a retired Air Force officer.  His 24 year career includes a tour as a faculty member at the Air Force Institute of Technology, teaching in its operations research Masters degree program.  It also includes a tour as chief of the optimization branch in the Command Analysis Group of Air Mobility Command.  He received his Masters in Logistics and Doctorate in Operations Research while serving in the Air Force.

After the military Joe worked on supply chain optimization and scheduling for Rohm and Haas – a specialty chemical company in Philadelphia.  After Rohm and Haas, Joe began his long association with Profit Point.  He has been an integral part of Profit Point's team for years, solving a wide variety of client challenges throughout the United States and Europe. 

Joe received his Bachelor of Science, Physics from Illinois Institute of Technology, his
Masters of Science, Logistics from the Air Force Institute of Technology, and his
Ph.D., Operations Research from The Ohio State University. In recent years, Joe was a faculty member at the University of Dayton, teaching primarily probability, statistics, Design of Experiments, and Robust Engineering.

John Muckstadt
Infrastructure Planning Practice Leader

John Muckstadt is a practice leader for Profit Point's infrastructure planning group. He has over 20 years of experience as a Supply Chain Management Consultant.  During this time, he has helped organizations across the globe to improve their Strategic, Tactical and Operational Supply Chain Planning and Scheduling Business Systems.  In his current role as Infrastructure Planning Practice Leader, John has help companies address their future capacity and distribution challenges in today’s ever changing global business environment.

John has worked in a variety of industries including Chemical, Petro-Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Food and Beverage, Automotive, and others; satisfying large, mid-size and small companies’ needs.

John holds a Master of Engineering degree in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University.  John’s interests include triathlon, photography and community service.

Milt Gottschalk
Warehouse Improvement Practice Leader

Milt Gottschalk is the is the practice leader for Profit Point's warehouse improvement services. For more than 25 years, Milt's business responsibilities have included procurement, distribution and warehouse planning and management. Prior to joining Profit Point in 1999, he served as the Department Manager for Rohm and Haas' Distribution and Packaging Services group.

Milt's warehouse and distribution process experiences include an array of industries including, chemicals, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, hazardous waste disposal and 3rd party logistics operators.

Milt earned his MBA from the University of Houston, a Master of Chemical Engineering from Cornell University and BS in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University. He is a member of the Council of Logistics Management and the Warehousing Education and Research Council.

Dwight Collins
Green Supply Chain Expert

Dwight Collins is Profit Point's expert on supply chain sustainability. For the past five years, Dwight has taught sustainable operations management at San Francisco’s Presidio School of Management, a 5 year old graduate program that integrates sustainability throughout its MBA curriculum. His teaching focus incorporates green supply chain design, closed loop supply chains, management of greenhouse gas (GHG) footprints, and product life cycle assessment. Dwight also built and directs the Presidio’s Project Oriented Learning Program, in which MBA students do project work within companies in fulfillment of course requirements.

Prior to his work at the Presidio, Dwight directed Aspen Technology’s Strategic Planning Practice, which provided strategic planning optimization consulting services to senior executives. Common goals included planning acquisitions, divestitures, post-merger capacity rationalization, production consolidation, and distribution network redesign. Clients included BP Chemicals, NOVA Chemicals, Borden Chemicals, and Abbott Laboratories. Earlier, Dwight founded the Semiconductor Industry Practice at pioneering supply chain optimization software/consulting firm Chesapeake Decision Sciences. Here he implemented strategic enterprise planning and customer order promising systems for several semiconductor companies including IBM Microelectronics, LSI Logic and Cypress Semiconductor. In this time frame, Dwight also implemented supply chain optimization capabilities for carpet producer Shaw Industries.

Dwight earned a BS degree in Engineering Physics, and MS and Ph.D. degrees in Operations Research, all from Cornell University.

John Cutler
Senior Programmer

John Cutler is a Senior Programmer for Profit Point Inc. John has over 12 years of experience building and supporting enterprise technology, including software, hardware and networking. His programming experience includes the development of inventory management system with tracking, scanning, a handheld interface and database driven web interface. He has platform experience that includes DOS, Windows 3.1 9.X, 2000 Pro, NT4 Workstation and Server, Novell Network Servers 3.12 and 4.X, Apple workstations and servers, web servers and mail servers. His software experience covers Delphi 4 through 7, C++, C#, Visual Basic, PHP, Assembly, Perl, Java, JavaScript, SQL, MATLAB, OpenGL, and Microsoft Robotics Studio.

John holds a BS in Computer Engineering from Utah State University with Minors in Computer Science and Mathematics and Associate of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering from ITT.

Richard Guy
Director of Sales

Richard Guy is the Director of Sales for Profit Point Inc. Rich has over 25 years of experience selling technology and optimization solutions. He has served a wide range of industries in manufacturing, transportation and distribution, utilities, and finance. He is a thought leader in effective application of optimization technology to achieve increased business profitability. Rich came to us from ILOG Inc. where he managed the ILOG Direct Sales organization and increased sales substantially by offering optimization and visualization software and consulting services to users in manufacturing, transportation, telecommunications, utility and finance industries.

Rich holds a BA in Economics from California State College. He is a frequent speaker at conferences, symposiums, and workshops about optimization logistics and supply chain management. Rich is a member of INFORMS, APICS and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP).

Michael Taus
Director of Marketing

Since 1996, Michael has been starting and managing rapid-growth technology businesses with an emphasis on Internet, Telecom, wireless and software ventures. In 1999, he co-founded and was the VP, Business Development and General Counsel of Rent.com (acquired by NASDAQ:EBAY). Former client companies include In-Sync Interactive, GreenlightJobs.com, Genutec, FlyFone International and Pacific Media Ventures. Michael has participated in the founding, development, financing and management of several early-stage technology companies, including officer and board-level positions. He has maintained a broad range of professional responsibilities including strategic planning, finance, operations, marketing and corporate governance.
 
Michael has an undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of California, Irvine and a Juris Doctorate degree from the McGeorge School of Law.

Other staff

Profit Point has an extended staff providing expertise in a wide range of supply chain, software technology, and optimization fields. These include supply chain maturity assessment, warehouse management, purchasing, transportation and distribution, profit optimization, inventory management, SAP implementation, customer response modeling, financial analysis, and data analysis and optimization.

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