Steven Tompkins, director of sector development for agriculture and rail with Inmarsat, discusses the role of satellite communications in ensuring that shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine remain at designated temperatures for safe transport and delivery.

Rhett Lindsey, founder and chief executive officer of Siimee, discusses the roots of hiring bias, and details the change in mindset that companies need to undergo in order to eliminate it.

Bill Brooks, vice president of transportation with Capgemini, describes the challenge of distributing the COVID-19 vaccine to outlying areas of the country in a safe, secure and timely manner.

Geraint John, vice president analyst with Gartner’s Supply Chain Practice, reveals the results of a survey in which companies described their current efforts at achieving supply-chain resiliency and agility.

Guy Harrison, general manager of risk and compliance with Dow Jones, describes the risks that companies face today from new sanctions and regulations imposed by the U.S. and other governments around the world.

A discussion of what constitutes an “autonomous” supply chain, the functions that it controls, and how far it is from becoming a reality, with two executives from aThingz: Vijaya Neela, president and chief executive officer, and Kannan Ramachandran, chief artificial intelligence officer and chief commercial officer.

Benjamin Ruddell, Professor in the School of Informatics, Computing & Cyber Systems at Northern Arizona University, offers advice to both the private and public sectors on how best to carry out President Biden’s recent executive order on creating more resilient supply chains for essential goods.

David Wiseman, vice president of secure communications with BlackBerry, explains the importance of a unified communications system to respond to, and recover from, cyberattacks.

A look at the innovative application of quantum computing to the problem of optimizing ship and vehicle routes, with Amy Herhold, Director of Physics and Mathematical Sciences, Corporate Strategic Research with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering, and Jamie Thomas, General Manager of IBM Systems Strategy & Development.

Andrea Sordi, clinical assistant professor at the University of Tennessee’s Global Supply Chain Institute, weighs the risk and rewards involved in Taco Bell’s decision to introduce a major new product to its menu during the pandemic.