Transitioning from Supplier Diversity to Economic Inclusion: A Sustainable Model Driving Social Impact and Business Value

Wendy Tate, Ph.D. is the McCormick Endowed Professor of Supply Chain Management and a Professor of Supply Chain Management in the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management at the University of Tennessee. She teaches Strategic Sourcing and Sustainability to undergraduate, MBA, Executive, and PhD students. She has an interest in the financial impacts of business decisions across the supply chain.

Dr. Tate enjoys research and takes a special interest in translating academic work into classroom learning activities and disseminating her work globally. Her research can be broadly classified under the umbrella of purchasing, but focuses primarily on two different types of business problems; the first is in the area of services purchasing, including outsourcing and offshoring. This area of research has recently expanded into “reshoring,” or bringing manufacturing back to the home country. The second area is on environmental business practices and trying to understand how these initiatives can be diffused across a supply chain and a supply network. She presents at many different venues including both academic and practitioner-oriented conferences. Wendy has published research in many top tier academic journals, including the Journal of Operations Management, Journal of Supply Chain Management, California Management Review, and more. She serves as co-editor-in-chief for the Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, as associate editor for three other supply chain journals, and is on the editorial review board and performs ad hoc reviews for multiple other journals. Prior to receiving her Ph.D., she spent 17 years in corporate planning, supply chain management, purchasing, and operations management within the furniture industry.