The Officers of Women in Logistics
To view a brief biography of each WIL officer, click on the name of the member whose information you wish to see. To send email, click on the address link provided in each biography.
Karen Vellutini has been in the international transportation industry since 1988. Her professional experience encompasses many facets of the industry, including ocean carriers, terminal operators and trucking companies. She is currently Vice President, Sales & Marketing for Devine Intermodal, an intermodal trucking company headquartered in Sacramento, CA. Karen's previous positions include sales and marketing with Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) and American President Lines (APL). She is a Northern California native and a graduate of the California State University, Fresno in International Business. Karen has been a WIL member for several years and is looking forward to growing the organization and walking in the footsteps of its previous Presidents.
Kyra Kindon, an Account Manager for APL in Oakland, CA, has been with APL for over six years working on both the east and west coasts. Kyra received her bachelor's degree in Management and International Business from Penn State University and her MBA from San Francisco State University. Having studied abroad in Sweden and in Spain, Kyra enjoys traveling whenever possible. Since 2005 she has been a Women in Logistics member, and she looks forward to taking an active role in Women in Logistics.
Helene has been an Export Customer Service Team Leader since July 1, 2000 and has been in the International Division since February 1992. In this position, Helene leads a team of 5 people that have responsibility for Clorox’s expanding operations in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Europe, Middle East, Russia and Africa, known as the Asia Pacific Division. Helene has 35 years of experience in International business, including management positions at steamship lines prior to joining Clorox. A native of New Orleans, LA, she is a graduate of Soule Business College in New Orleans.
Erin Jenkins is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area. Raised in the transportation industry, she has a passion for logistics and supply chain. Her professional experience has provided opportunities to interface on many levels of the shipping industry, including domestic over the road and rail services, international shipping, distribution facility management, foodservice/industrial operations, and unsurpassed customer service. Erin extensively studied Business Management from the school of hard-knocks as well as her local community college, San Joaquin Delta. Since 1993, she is employed by Best Logistics, Inc., her family-owned asset-based third-party logistics service company and currently serves as Vice President of Sales & Marketing. She has served as Secretary for the Transload Distribution Association (2005-2006), Secretary of Northern California Chapter of Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC 2010-2011), and has proudly accepted her new position as Executive Secretary of Women in Logistics recently (WIL 2011-2012). She is also an active member of the International Warehousing and Logistics Association (IWLA), the California Trucking Association (CTA) and a premier transload operator for Union Pacific Railroad and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company. Erin has filled many roles throughout her career including finance, operations and opportunity development with M & L Trucking Company (Oakland), Active Distribution (Stockton/Fontana), Building Material Distributors (Northern CA), and PepsiCo Foodservice (Stockton). She is an avid sports fan and especially enjoys family, water sports, football, music, evolving her business, and helping others flourish within the industry.
Anne Landstrom is a native of Colorado and a graduate of University of Colorado. She moved to the Bay Area in 1981 to pursue a career in international business after having studied abroad in France and Spain during college. She has been in the international transportation and logistics industry for over 25 years and is currently working for a transportation consulting company called TranSystems as a Senior Consultant. She is very excited to bring all of the various experience and expertise she has had in the industry to the consultant role. She has worked in the industry in various capacities for APL, UPS Supply Chain Solutions, DHL Exel Supply Chain and Hapag Lloyd. Anne has been a member of Women in Logistics since it was founded in the early 1980s and is very excited about her new role as Vice President.
Barbara Dubbs has worked in international ocean transportation and for an international export trading firm. She is from the Bay Area and has been in the industry for over 20 years. She is currently the Sales Manager, Northern california and PNW for US Lines, a subsidiary of CMA-CGM. She has also worked for Hamburg Sud, Fesco, APL and Mitsui Trading in the past. Barbara graduated with a degree in International Business and a Minor in Japanese at California State University, Sacramento and also spent a year abroad at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. She has been a member of WIL for the past seven years.
Susan Rosin is a founder of Reclipse Group, a management consulting company that works with companies who want to think outside the box and optimize their business chain to increase their productivity and profitability. She has extensive experience in operations, technology, and business process improvement in the areas of supply chain, international network logistics, and transportation/distribution. Susan has helped companies to optimize their international logistics networks, implement new supply chain visibility and contract management systems, as well as conducted site and service provider selection projects. In her over 25 years of business experience she has researched and recommended transportation and distribution process and technology solutions, managed people and projects for 3PL service providers and ocean carriers, and conducted supply chain optimization projects for international manufacturers and retailers.
Mary Thomson, an independent marketing consultant, has been actively working in the field of marketing for 15 years, developing strategies for traditional “bricks and mortar” organizations as well as start-ups. She has a background in pre-IPO e-commerce distribution and supply chain management companies, where she managed product marketing, public relations, and brand development. In 2002, Mary was featured in the Journal Of Commerce magazine honoring women in international trade. She has an extensive background in marketing, strategic planning, and technology research, including regional marketing and program management for GTECH, the $1 billion online gaming systems conglomerate. She has held key managerial positions in the consumer packaged goods industry, including Gallo Winery, Dun & Bradstreet’s Dataquest, and A.C. Nielsen Company. Mary holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Master’s degree in Economics from San Jose State University. Mary currently sits on the Board of Women in Logistics, a non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating professional learning in all aspects of the supply chain and logistics arenas. She is also a member of the Catholic School Advisory Committee.
Katie has her BS in Business Logistics from Penn State and has worked in Operations since graduation. She has worked for Toys "R" Us in their operations department and then moved on to Cooking.com which brought her out to the West Coast. She now works for Down Etc. which is a small manufacture/importer of Top of Bed products selling mostly to the hospitality industry as a manager in their Operations department.
Theresa Brennan has enjoyed a successful career in ocean transportation since 1987 with ‘K’ Line America, Inc., a fully integrated global transportation company, and is currently the Regional General Manager in Northern California for ‘K’ Line America, Inc. Prior to relocating to the Bay Area in 2000, she has worked primarily in the Pacific Northwest in sales management with ‘K’ Line America in Seattle, WA; and prior to that in traffic management with a furniture importer and a wearing apparel importer. Love of languages and Mt. Fuji is what first caught her interest in import, export, and the transportation industry. Beginning as a boarding agent and dock runner for a Customs House broker in Seattle is what first inspired her curiosity in ships, cranes, trains, and docks — the underbelly of transportation. Theresa is a graduate of Seattle University. She has been an active officer of Women in Logistics for the past five years.
Jane has enjoyed a career in ocean transportation for the past 20 years. She is currently employed with Hyundai Merchant Marine Company. She is a Graduate of University of Oregon and has been on the boards of Women in Logistics and Pacific Transportation Association for five years.
Christina Williams, an Operations Support Manager in Oakland, CA, has been with APL for eight years working at both the Middle Harbor Terminal and Americas corporate office. Christina received her bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Naval Science from the California Maritime Academy as well as her USCG Third Mates Unlimited Tonnage License. Having spent a great deal of her career in the IT sector developing and implementing global business solutions, she enjoys traveling abroad, golf and karaoke, all of which are job requirements. This is the first year for Christina as a WIL member and she is excited about her participation in the upcoming network opportunities and events.
Susan has shuttled back and forth between academia and industry for the past 15 years. She has worked as a consultant for Aspen Technologies implementing supply chain solutions in manufacturing and distribution and as a project manager specializing in replenishment systems for Evant. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Decision Sciences at the SFSU College of Business, where she teaches Operations Management and Supply Chain Management. Even when she is not in the classroom or at her computer, logistics pervades her life as she enjoys recreational travel and exploring the great outdoors. Susan earned her BSE in Electrical Engineering at Princeton University and her Ph.D. in Operations Research at Stanford University. She advocates closer ties between industry and academia and is very excited to take on the role of WIL Scholarship Director.
Mindy Arhontes has enjoyed a successful career primarily in ocean transportation for 26 years. She is currently the Director of Inland Transportation and Port Services for The Pasha Group. A Bay Area native she has held a variety of positions with APL, Ltd., “K” Line America, Hapag Lloyd and Kerr Steamship. Mindy has been a member of WIL since 1999 and is also an officer of Pacific Transportation Association and National Defense Transportation Association.
Stacy Roth has enjoyed a dynamic career in Logistics and Supply Chain Management for over 20 years. Stacy is currently currently a Sales Manager with Panalpina responsible for business development. Previously, Stacy worked for APL Logistics, UPS Supply Chain Solutions and FedEx Trade Networks.
As Founder of Women in Transportation (now Women in Logistics), Stacy is remains committed to the original mission of the organization, which is to provide educational and networking opportunities for women in the logistics industry. At the same time she is proud of the diversity of WIL membership in the 21st century, with men representing 35% of our event attendees, a validation of the broad range of resources the group offers to all wishing to begin or to develop careers in this exciting field. Today Stacy maintains a leadership role with Women in Logistics.
A celebrated raconteur and bon vivant, Rand Careaga is the author of scores of scholarly monographs on subjects as disparate as orchid breeding, fluid thermodynamics, abstract expressionism and semiotics. His paintings are included in the permanent collections of several major museums around the world, his erotic origami are much prized by a few private collectors, and his opera Alphaville (based on Godard’s seminal 1965 film) was performed last year before the President of the Czech Republic. A distinguished agronomist and holder of the coveted Trofim Lysenko Lifetime Achievement Award, Mr. Careaga recently learned that his prizewinning beets have been optioned by the Monsanto Corporation. He inherited the job of maintaining the WIL site back around the turn of the century as part of his obligations under the Federal Witness Protection Program, and does this on a pro bono basis, asking only for an occasional cup of gruel or now and again a stale crust of bread. The present site iteration is notionally his work, although in assembling it he has leaned very, very heavily on vast stretches of code licensed from “Project Seven Development,” a web design firm based in North Carolina.